Nothing against sat navs, use a basic one myself. Don’t want to get into a general debate about the use of either, as it has all been said.
However, just reading some of the posts on other threads where some are paying 3 to 4 hundred quid for one 
… out of their own pocket, what percentage of your wage is that just to go to work to do your job.
I know I’m maybe repeating myself ( yeh, I know yawn yawn 
) but how much guidance, assistance, and help do these guys need ffs, to get from point A to point B. Do they have to be told every ■■■■■■ detail about wt limits, low bridges, traffic reports to the point where zero actual brain power is being used in terms of initiative, decision making and awareness.
If you are a brainless bufoon fair enough, but an average driver should not need this level of virtual control to the point of where the only time you make a decision by yourself is when you wipe your arse.
A satnav or maps should be considered tools of the trade like a mechanics spanners
Mine is a £50 cheapie ‘truckers’ satnav off Fleabay, which performs as well as the TomTom XL I have as backup in my bag. Yep I admit it, I am a two satnav toting driver, but you’ll find conventional maps in my bags too. Biggest benefit I have found is it tells me when I am exceeding the speed limit, as REALLY don’t want to be doing that when I am hourly paid on agency… noooooo 
i’v got a £70 truck generic sat nav and a workmate has a £400 truck generic sat nav, we were both sent too the same place last month so set the sat navs too see what difference there would be.
the difference was 9 miles over total milage and a half mile at the destination.
the cheap one went quickest route and was correct at the destination, the expensive one sent him through the centre of birmingham and sent him a half mile further on than the destination which was on a different street so it shows expensive not always the best
Have to `fess up that i went the big bucks route. Mapping is nothing to shout from the rooftops about - they all pretty much use the same satellite database/mapping, regardless of truck or car format. Bridge heights and weight/speed limits are little more than an overrated extra which, as has been frequently said, you should only need if you drive with your eyes in standby mode. What i do like - A LOT - is the built in DAB radio tuner, MP3 player, Phone bluetooth, Freeview TV, and a quick change of memory card when parked up lets me watch any number of pre-loaded films, youtube clips/vids etc. etc.
Tbh, my old XXL was one of the most reliable units i ever had, and i regret not keeping it as a backup.
I brought the overpriced Tom Tom trucker 6000 thinking it would be the ideal tool for the job, I would not recommended it as all it wants to do is send me down country roads regardless is settings when there is an obvious main road route, I no longer use it as I find the google maps app on my smart phone is a lot better but only down side is not being routed sting restrictions in towns
In response to RobRoy’s OP…
I bought a £280 TomTom Trucker 6000 off Amazon
I got a 10% discount from this by using discounted Gift Cards -£28
I also got 20% Tax relief from the value of the gift vouchers (LTD co/Tools Allowance) -£56
So that’s £196 I paid for a £300 device.
With that, I can be sent anywhere in Europe and be assured that I will not be sent towards a low bridge and I am also aware of any traffic events/closures on route, which gives me the option to re-route.
I am not a “Company boy” doing the same run day after day, I could be going anywhere without notice. I can get anyone in the office to point to it on my phone, click “Send to navigation device” and by time I have put my digi card in, the sat nav has a suitable route to my destination. I also save all my destinations as *'s on the map, visible from the phone app and the device itself so there is no messing around when it comes to going back to that hard to find drop.
Going back to the cost, £196 is less than what I would get for a Sunday shift. I expect the device to last me many years, so it certainly will pay for itself many times over.
my sat nav cost a bomb
it even gets channel 5 for big brother
couldnt do the job without it
robroy:
the only time you make a decision by yourself is when you wipe your arse.
But which side of the paper do i use Robroy?
robroy:
However, just reading some of the posts on other threads where some are paying 3 to 4 hundred quid for one
Surely there’s no difference between that and buying tat for you truck? People will ridicule others for expensive sat navs but get all ■■■■■ when you mock them for buying frilly curtains and spotlights.
The only thing I’ve used recently is Google Maps, left on without a destination set and with my phone standby disabled. I Iove the traffic indicators, with all the simultaneous roadworks going on around Oxford it saves me quite a lot of time. Quite satisfying, listening to other drivers on the cb stuck in the jams I’ve just avoided. 
The side that hasn’t yet been used ?
I have a tomtom car one that I picked up for £50 4 years ago off eBay,still going strong I may replace it for a cheap £40 truck one when it packs in,I’d rather get lost than pay £300+ for one the fuel to find my way again ain’t coming out of my pocket 
robroy:
I know I’m maybe repeating myself ( yeh, I know yawn yawn
If you are a brainless bufoon fair enough, but an average driver should not need this level of virtual control to the point of where the only time you make a decision by yourself is when you wipe your arse.
You’re obviously incapable of understanding that many people use it as an aide rather than to do all the thinking of them. Do you know where every single weight, height and width restriction is in the entire country? No.
Would you rather take a route knowing that there aren’t any or would you rather deal with all the frustration and stress of planning a route on paper or on a non-HGV tailored Satnav, driving down it then finding suddenly you can’t make the right turn you wanted because there’s a weight limit you didn’t know about?
Personally I’d rather do everything I can to take as much stress out of the job as possible. That’s why every single day and even before starting my return journey on a night trunk I check the Traffic England and Highways.gov websites to see what the road closures and diversions are so I don’t leave our Northampton depot, drive up the M1 to suddenly find its closed from J16-19. Instead I already know so I can turn left instead of right when I join the A45 and go via the A1 instead.
The problem you have with them is you’re treating everyone who uses them as a buffoon. Personally I think anyone who doesn’t use the tools available to make a job easier and would rather struggle like a mug whilst berating those who have the sense to is the buffoon.
You keep using those paper maps mate and trying to drive through the middle of Birmingham trying to read the map in one hand and steer in the other. And when you hit something because you had your head in your A to Z or you’re sat there at the side of the road tearing your hair out in rage because many of the roads you’d chosen were no entries or don’t even exist anymore, just ponder on all those posts you made about Satnavs.
hitch:
A satnav or maps should be considered tools of the trade like a mechanics spanners
Now there’s a debate in its self .
I don’t go anywhere without mine, it gives me ETA’s as well as routes which is sometimes needed when making timed drops.
Radar19:
I don’t go anywhere without mine, it gives me ETA’s as well as routes which is sometimes needed when making timed drops.
Liberty Guy’s idea of a timed drop - - “yeah I’ll be there sometime today, no worries buddy”…
Conor:
robroy:
I know I’m maybe repeating myself ( yeh, I know yawn yawn
If you are a brainless bufoon fair enough, but an average driver should not need this level of virtual control to the point of where the only time you make a decision by yourself is when you wipe your arse.You’re obviously incapable of understanding that many people use it as an aide rather than to do all the thinking of them. Do you know where every single weight, height and width restriction is in the entire country? No.
Would you rather take a route knowing that there aren’t any or would you rather deal with all the frustration and stress of planning a route on paper or on a non-HGV tailored Satnav, driving down it then finding suddenly you can’t make the right turn you wanted because there’s a weight limit you didn’t know about?
Personally I’d rather do everything I can to take as much stress out of the job as possible. That’s why every single day and even before starting my return journey on a night trunk I check the Traffic England and Highways.gov websites to see what the road closures and diversions are so I don’t leave our Northampton depot, drive up the M1 to suddenly find its closed from J16-19. Instead I already know so I can turn left instead of right when I join the A45 and go via the A1 instead.
The problem you have with them is you’re treating everyone who uses them as a buffoon. Personally I think anyone who doesn’t use the tools available to make a job easier and would rather struggle like a mug whilst berating those who have the sense to is the buffoon.
You keep using those paper maps mate and trying to drive through the middle of Birmingham trying to read the map in one hand and steer in the other. And when you hit something because you had your head in your A to Z or you’re sat there at the side of the road tearing your hair out in rage because many of the roads you’d chosen were no entries or don’t even exist anymore, just ponder on all those posts you made about Satnavs.
You’re obviously incapable of understanding my post, instead you are concentrating on coming back at me as a patronising superior prick, …a technique incidentally in which you excel.
I did say that I use a sat nav myself, but unlike you I do not feel the need to to use one at such a high spec, whether or not you feel that makes you a bufoon is for you to decide, but don’t be too harsh on yourself…mate.
Of course I don’t know every restriction, as for ‘struggling’ ?..again speak for yourself, as up to press I have managed ok thank you.
As for me using Ato Zs, another of your legendary wild assumptions … they were chucked years ago, and unlike you 100mile radius agency men, I have succesfully negotiated cities abroad quite far away from Birmingham without a sat nav , and later on with a standard one, again which was sufficient as far as I was concerned, not trying to be clever just stating a fact.
Just to clarify …especially for you Conor, and at the risk of repeating myself again, I was not berating sat nav users, I was questioning if a top range, all singing/ dancing one was truly necessary, and that was it. For example, a mate of mine got a low bridge feature on his for 20 quid, a bit more acceptable than 400 would you not say.
I think there is some weight with these fancy trucker Nag-Navs. The mapping is done by professionals and is updated on a regular basis, they have extra features like blue-tooth hands free which is great because you don’t need a massive ear-piece which can help you if you are an agency man avoid all the hate and abuse from the corperate slaves cough I mean full timers 
hitch:
A satnav or maps should be considered tools of the trade like a mechanics spanners
I agree but you miss my point.
Listen mate I don’t give a ■■■■ if you spend your entire wage on a fancy sat nav, it’s got nothing to do with me what anybody chooses to spend their hard earned on. I was just starting a thread to hear opinions.
The point I was making to discuss was.
Is an (in MY opinion) ott over specced sat nav really necessary.
Your mechanic’ s analogy does not really work. If you buy a 50p Sunday market spanner it aint as good as a £30 Snap On as it will not physically do the same job.
A £70:sat nav however, does the same primary function as a £400 one, the question is do you really NEED it (irrespective if it’s handy to have or not) as a critical piece of kit to do the job.
Evil8Beezle:
robroy:
the only time you make a decision by yourself is when you wipe your arse.But which side of the paper do i use Robroy?
That aint the first time a newbie has asked that question bud
I promise after a month I will stop rubbing it in that you are still green