Proper truck drivers don’t need a sat nav!!
I have one, use it about once every two months to keep an eye on the traffic if i’m on an irregular journey running into the Friday afternoon Lemming release.
To be fair a satnav is a very handy pocket sized street map of the country, they excel at that, and if you’re on unfamiliar ground handy to find unmarked roads especially in the fog or at night.
A lorry driver chooses their own route to a destination, and doesn’t rely on a toy.
volvo keef:
Proper truck drivers don’t need a sat nav!!
Was wondering when this old chestnut would appear!
Proper “insert any profession here” Use whatever tools and technological advancements are available for the job, next you’ll be telling me “Proper Farmers only use a scythe!” or “Proper Soldiers only use Spears”
Are you telling me that Coffeeholic with his inside out invaluable knowledge of all the driving and WTD rules and regs and pretty much the go to guy for any dispute or issue concerning said regs is not a proper driver? Because I can tell you he used to use a Sat nav!
fyi a Sat Nav is a digital map with the added feature of step by step voice guidance instruction, a digital map is a hell of a lot easier to carry around with you than a crate full of A to Z’s (I know because I’ve used both) and the step by step instruction should be used as intended “as a guide”, NOT a mandatory “you must follow these instructions blindly!”
There is nothing wrong with Sat Navs or their proper use.
A proper driver will use either a Sat Nav or a map correctly (in conjunction with Mk1 eyeballs and good decision making skills)
I suggest you log off the internet as I fear it may be to technologically advanced for you and may disrupt your “Proper driver karma” maybe go sit in your armchair and listen to your valve wireless instead old chap.
volvo keef:
Proper truck drivers don’t need a sat nav!!
Proper truck drivers don’t need a night heater but ignoring advances is er, dumb.
a sat nav if you use it to its full potential is helpful.
café guide
parking guide
camera guide etc etc
its easier to update then transferring info into a new notebook
Bought a wee cheap £45 Binitone Sat Nav out of Argos 4yrs ago to help with artic multi drop decker work to 420 Spar/Vivo stores in EVERY wee corner street/village in NI.
Still use it for “boat chasing” fridge work on “mainland” alongside map book,
quite frankly would be regularly lost without it as never did ANY truck driving in England/Wales/Scotland previous to July this year 
I use A - Zs and tech as back up. Google maps, phone satnav and google (sometimes to get a phone number). If all that fails then I follow my instincts
sat nav inconjunction with collins atlas and common sense
5 or ten minutes planning if destination is unknown or new
also most places are internet marked ie you can bring up full address on google
i still have a large box of A2Z which are Much better than sat nav but heavy and bulky to carry
so sat nav wins on that count what i would be interested in is a sat nav crossed with streetveiw in real time
(probably is available but ive not seen it ) to get a very good sense of where you are going
sat navs are a great tool and driving aid but NOT to be trusted by any means
nope!
Try doing home appliance multi drop to customers houses for the likes of Next or John Lewis. 30-40 drops per shift to residential addresses using just an a-z.
Yes it could be done. But a sat nav will take you right there instead of having to stop and check a map every few minutes. Ive done this type of work on 7.5T before and I always wondered how it would be possible without a sat nav.
I use map book as primary as it has bridge heights etc, and it needs no internet connection, battery.
Secondary is google to check address and google maps to have a look round for an escape route in case I miss my turning, if theres time I will use satellite image to have a look round.
Last but not least is sat nav, this is always on as it gives me a good arrival time estimate and I can also pinpoint the location, also it will warn of traffic but is not allowed to reroute as this is best left to me.
However id do like to have the sat nav on voice only at times as I need to look at the signs and try my best to find locations old school style.
Its bound to happen one day that the GPS satellites will go off line, sun spots, alien invasion etc and I dont want to be stuck.
As agency driver 90% of drops are new.
Map for route to town. Truck nav on when getting close or off main routes for advance warning of any low bridges.
Find destination using Truck Nav (£50 ebay jobbie). Back up with google maps, prefer to do google search for business to see if has ‘directions’ that put you straight into maps for exact location.
Flick through route guidance on both. If they are the same happy days 99% sure to take u straight there. If different alarm bells come on. Normally get close and ring company and ask if any bridges/restrictions.
Having to enter a 7.5t limit to get to delivery point sends truck nav loopy…
I use a Car Satnav daily in conjunction with a " A-Z Merseyside Street Atlas " Got a truck Sat Nav last week and just havent got round to messing around with it.
I am slowly begging to remember where certain sites are so I have my sat nav on but use it as a rolling map rather than using it for directions.
But we do have some crap drops in little housing areas so I will look at my map first to see what the area is like before Just blindly following the sat nav.
Need to invest in a Chester and a North Wales A-Z.
As a new driver, having the Sat nav is a god send, but I do want to get to a stage where I just know where to go like one of the lads in our yard. Anything new I ask him and 99.9999999% of the time he is spot on.
I use a Garmin truck sat-nav which doubles as a phone hands-free. I’ve got quite a collection of map books but they’ve been on the shelf for years. Actually last week I used the atlas that another driver had left in the cab, but I rarely have use for them.
BTW, Collins don’t make A-Z maps. That’s the brand name of the Geographers map company, based in Sevenoaks.
I do, but more for distances and arrival times. If I visit somewhere new, I work out the route and then programme the satnav to guide me in. Even though its a truck one I won’t trust it completely.
I’ve been driving Hgvs now for 11 years,I have only ever used a car sat nav in my wagon,also I have ever owned 1 A-Z that if Huddersfield and Halifax mainly because we had quite a few deliveries that way and anyone that’s been there knows there are a lot of narrow lanes ect.
I’ll be honest if I HAD to use a a-z for a day it would probably take me quite a while longer to get my 12-15 drops done,but I will continue to use my sat nav even if it doesn’t make me a “proper” driver as I find using the sat nav lets me concentrate on the road ahead rather than where I’m going.
I do always have my sat nav on silent though,so I’m still aware and looking where I’m going,it’s just personal preference though.
What’s a satnav? 
Never had one in a truck. Managed to get as far as Thessalonica, Greece once in a Land Rover without getting lost.
To be fair though, I was recently driving around Detroit, Michigan, USA and a satnav was invaluable.
great for euroland coupled with your eyes,brain and some initiative. if you think its telling you mince,then stick to your instinct and work it out down the road a bit. but great for the last bit when your getting close with the roads not getting any bigger.useless in eire,not too shabby in n.i. the nearer to civilisation you are,then the better it is. follow its instructions to the letter and ignore all common sense and end up like Bulgarian bertie here . its posted elsewhere but worth a grin… dailymail.co.uk/news/article … stuck.html 26 tons of handballed spuds…looks like hes had his chips… 
Driveroneuk:
What’s a satnav?Never had one in a truck. Managed to get as far as Thessalonica, Greece once in a Land Rover without getting lost.
To be fair though, I was recently driving around Detroit, Michigan, USA and a satnav was invaluable.
Funny that ,I went through thessalonica before I had satnav ,I forgot to turn off to go round ,but came back round it ,then borrowed a sat nav to go to Sweden but it took some getting used to ,I was turning off when it said turn a head rather than looking at the screen !
sinclair89:
As a new driver, having the Sat nav is a god send, but I do want to get to a stage where I just know where to go like one of the lads in our yard. Anything new I ask him and 99.9999999% of the time he is spot on.
Have you any interests that you can relate to that might help you? For example I like old historical and industrial stuff, so often I remember seeing old abandoned railway buildings, disused canals, roadside monuments etc. I might not remember a town or villages’ name, but an old disused factory etc I will recall.