Im a young rookie class 2 driver and just wondered which is the best truckers atlas out there I can buy and where from to go alongside my sat nav any help?
i’m sure the AA do one but i rely on my satnav/instinct/phone.
I paid £20 for Phillips truckers atlas nearly a year ago… It’s never been used, save yourself a few quid and just get a £59 truck nav off eBay.
maps are like spanners so many sorts
if your driving a rigid running at 4.0m
do you need to be that worried by bridge heights
or would you need Philips 1 to 100000 scale for stuff in
the sticks
Sat Navs great but in London (or any major conurbation) take a map for back up
A-Z master Atlas
The standard AA truckers atlas takes some beating, but a Collins is handy as back up as they show every roundabout (no bridge heights) and the urban area maps are very useful.
Amazon is as good a place as any.
edit, Sat nav is not the tool a professional should rely on, its a useful pocket sized street map of the country, if it has traffic its handy to keep an eye on potential jams, and it comes into its own being used to spot unmarked junctions or roads with no name plates, and in strange towns.
But the pro driver finds his/her own routes via a real map.
I’ve got Phillips Navigator, County atlases, Sat Nav and mostly use Google Maps. I switch off the phones’ standby function and use it like a sat nav. I prefer it as it’s an atlas whch shows where you are. I find I don’t learn routes as easily with a sat nav, not good when in London.
I have the Phillips truckers map. 20 quid from most motorway services.
I generally get by with google maps on my phone which is handy for locating certain things via the satellite view.
To be honest the map rarely comes out unless I’m struggling to find a farm as they are named on the map.
As said I don’t use it often but when I do it does the job well.
I’ve just got the phillips truckers atlas for general routing. says £20.00 on the cover but actually under £15.00 at the till in WHSmiths.
For more localised routing you’d do well to beat the Phillips street atlas’s. That said if your all over the country even the top spec truck sat-nav would probably be cheaper than buying all the individual atlas’s you’d need.
save yourself the money and buy a decent sat nav. I’m sure i’ll get shot down for saying that but ho hum.
using a decent sat nav, google maps and your loaf you won’t go wrong. My first year I was sent to central London everyday in a 6 wheeler and managed perfectly fine without paper maps cluttering the lorry.
Get a good truck map, if you rely solely on your sat navigation you could come bad stuck somewhere someplace anytime it happens. For the sake of about £20 get a decent truck map with all the road dimensions ( height, weight etc ). With out a signal your sat navigation is no good!, you need to know the essentials about the roads/ routes . Phillips truck map I have , it’sa vital piece of equipment for some of the places I have to go, & always the first thing in the kit bag , you can get one from waterstones, w h smiths, possibly eBay,
well worth the investment.
I’ve never owned a map with bridge heights in it. I used whatever road atlas I could find cheap and bought a Phillip’s county atlas whenever I had more than two or three drops to do in an area. This was in the days before sat navs, but I don’t think I’d do it any different now. Although now I’m trunking to the same two or three places every single night, I have no need of navigational aids of any sort.
Juddian:
But the pro driver finds his/her own routes via a real map.
Oh dear, Im just a pretend driver then it seems. I haven’t a single ‘real’ map in my lorry, haven’t had for years
I have a Phillips truckers atlas but I only use it if my sat nav sends alarm bells ringing when I’m checking the route,I will then have a quick check of the map just to be sure.
To be honest I checked the map yesterday but can’t remember the last time I did before that.
AA truckers atlas, General european sat nav, common sense (for gods sake dont turn left down that no entry 1 way street just because the "satNav" said to go that way) and the best advice is to ASK a driver who
s been there before if possible. theyll tell you anything you need to know about the area as they
ve done it already (not always possible tho )
The cheap AA atlases you find cheap in shops like The Works are a great scale for glancing at. Unlike the Navigator ones.
Phillips navigator, but with a satnav you will probably never use a map again.