I’ve grown up with all the modern conviniences such as microwaves, sat-navs, electrical lighting , running water and all that.
Bloody Hell! Running water■■? Only when it rains - otherwise it’s a trip to the well for me. Dunno about all these microwossnames and electrickery nonsense; what was good enough for my ole dad is good enough for me. They’l be making trucks that change gear by themselves next (ha ha).
BRB - got to shovel another load of acronyms into the stove.
Yeh and windows that open downwards at the side of you rather than push out away from you…haha
Maps! Now that’s a blast from the past. I don’t have any anymore. I rely totally on the satnav and have for years. I don’t need a back up, just like I don’t need a backup phone/laptop/cooker. If it goes wrong I’ll buy a new one.
In all the time I’ve been using a satnav all over Europe I’ve only been stuck once, atop an Italian mountain in a tiny village square with on old Italian man yelling at me and another telling him to shut up and give me a break all the while he was stirring a pot of pasta (!). He then got in his Fiat Panda and told me to follow him. I’m sure your thinking ‘bloody satnavs’. I ended up there because I IGNORED the magic speaking box, which as it turned out was taking me the right way.
These are what ive heard about bouncing around the forum.
tomtom 7100, Snooper S6000, Snooper S7000 and Pronav 300.
Ive used car orientated tomtom and a couple of different ones but i think tomtom is the best for ease of use, instruction etc so i would buy the 7100 and see how it copes with the truck instructions.
SmashedCrabFace:
I bought the AA Trucker’s Atlas at the same time but I’ve never used it.
…and Kindle beats book everytime. It is a book, it is thousands of books in a space no bigger than a book.
We live in modern times Mr 1908.
Until the battery goes flat and the accessory socket in the truck doesn’t work…then it’s just another useless piece of technology that doesn’t work…whereas a book is still a book!!
I reckon a mix of old and new gives you the best coverage- you get the best of both then. Technology is fine - in fact it’s excellent, but it has it’s faults just like old stuff!!
switchlogic:
Maps! Now that’s a blast from the past. I don’t have any anymore. I rely totally on the satnav and have for years. I don’t need a back up, just like I don’t need a backup phone/laptop/cooker. If it goes wrong I’ll buy a new one.
In all the time I’ve been using a satnav all over Europe I’ve only been stuck once, atop an Italian mountain in a tiny village square with on old Italian man yelling at me and another telling him to shut up and give me a break all the while he was stirring a pot of pasta (!). He then got in his Fiat Panda and told me to follow him. I’m sure your thinking ‘bloody satnavs’. I ended up there because I IGNORED the magic speaking box, which as it turned out was taking me the right way.
I must admit, my sat nav has always been spot on in Italy, even in the smallest of villages in the most rural of places (as many collections are in italy)
Mike-C:
Some will say…a sat nav is a map, and of course it is. But with generally a small screen its hard to get a good overview of your route and a minds eye of your journey and where you might need to go if you come across something unsuitable and or closed off, diverted.
As a young man of 26 I am able to switch to 2D map mode, zoom out a bit and do everything you just said on the five inch screen using my healthy, youthful eyes.
Yeah, i’m sure you would. Maybe going over cat and fiddle or woodhead (summat like that) and you come to a road closure, just zoom in on a sat nav and look for a route. Sounds simple to me, don’t know why i never thought of it.
The first time I used the cat and fiddle I used my satnav to guide me due to horrendous thick fog.
Btw I use google maps on my I phone and satnav for the last couple of miles.
SmashedCrabFace:
…and Kindle beats book every time.
Truckulent:
Until the battery goes flat and the accessory socket in the truck doesn’t work…then it’s just another useless piece of technology that doesn’t work…whereas a book is still a book!!
Kindle’s battery lasts for weeks if not months on a single charge. What if your book catches fire?
Well I see alot of you do recommend a Satnav too, ofcourse I will still have a map as backup as Truckulent mentions, all good until no Battery power or it packs in for some reason.
Guess will be tomtom 7100, as I have always used tomtom.
Really good to see how everyone has their different methods. Keep them coming
SmashedCrabFace:
…and Kindle beats book every time.
Truckulent:
Until the battery goes flat and the accessory socket in the truck doesn’t work…then it’s just another useless piece of technology that doesn’t work…whereas a book is still a book!!
Kindle’s battery lasts for weeks if not months on a single charge. What if your book catches fire?
Unless you’ve a 3G one with a newspaper subscription.
Buy an old sat-nav off ebay, widescreen is best. Make sure its one with a SD card slot.
Then wing your way over to navitotal.com or gpsunderground.com, the homes of sat-nav upgrades.
Download the latest maps onto your sd card, twiddle the settings, job’s a good’un.
I’ve got an old NavMan sat-nav with 2006 maps on it. Them maps can’t be upgraded unless you pay NavMan for the latest maps.
I now got TomTom Navigator 7 with Q3 2011 maps on it, Igo Primo with the very latest maps on it and the original Smart ST maps.
I’ve also upgraded half a dozen old TomToms to the newest maps, a Garmin updated and the latest project is getting the truck maps onto this NavMan.
I’ve got 110 (ish) farms marked on my satnav, I have the same farms marked on my backup satnav, I have 110 (ish) crosses with the names of the farms on my truckers atlas, am I paranoid?
schrodingers cat:
I’ve got 110 (ish) farms marked on my satnav, I have the same farms marked on my backup satnav, I have 110 (ish) crosses with the names of the farms on my truckers atlas, am I paranoid?
Nooooo,you’re not paranoid,if you’re a man who finds his pleasure with farm animals then who are we to knock you.After all it gets lonely in that cab at night eh.
same website as above, you can convert a tomtom x20, x30, x40 into a truck nav by downloading the maps and navcore.
Sounds daunting but people will help, they’re very good, but as with all sat navs, not perfect.
For example, Tomtom truck (whether it be the converted or a bought 7100 or whatever) will try and navigate a 44t around the dartford tunnels on M25 North, because it thinks there’s loads of limits on there from 3t, 7.5t, 38t and even a height limit (not the real 1, but another 1). Now, these are all editable and you can take them off, but it’s an example of just HOW wrong they can be.
schrodingers cat:
I’ve got 110 (ish) farms marked on my satnav, I have the same farms marked on my backup satnav, I have 110 (ish) crosses with the names of the farms on my truckers atlas, am I paranoid?
Nooooo,you’re not paranoid,if you’re a man who finds his pleasure with farm animals then who are we to knock you.After all it gets lonely in that cab at night eh.
waynedl:
same website as above, you can convert a tomtom x20, x30, x40 into a truck nav by downloading the maps and navcore.
Sounds daunting but people will help, they’re very good, but as with all sat navs, not perfect.
For example, Tomtom truck (whether it be the converted or a bought 7100 or whatever) will try and navigate a 44t around the dartford tunnels on M25 North, because it thinks there’s loads of limits on there from 3t, 7.5t, 38t and even a height limit (not the real 1, but another 1). Now, these are all editable and you can take them off, but it’s an example of just HOW wrong they can be.
That has been happening on the last 5 upgrade of maps that i know of. As you rightly say it’s easy enough to go alter/delete the restrictions and once done when you get a new map you know where/what to do before using it. best bit of kit i ever bought ,have paper map for overview but very rarely need it . use it for every journey so i have a reminder about speed cams etc.
And yep been on the road for 42 years now so move with the times, forget the “use your eyes/mouth/ nothing better than paper maps etc”, that’s just Luddite talk.
waynedl:
same website as above, you can convert a tomtom x20, x30, x40 into a truck nav by downloading the maps and navcore.
Sounds daunting but people will help, they’re very good, but as with all sat navs, not perfect.
For example, Tomtom truck (whether it be the converted or a bought 7100 or whatever) will try and navigate a 44t around the dartford tunnels on M25 North, because it thinks there’s loads of limits on there from 3t, 7.5t, 38t and even a height limit (not the real 1, but another 1). Now, these are all editable and you can take them off, but it’s an example of just HOW wrong they can be.
That has been happening on the last 5 upgrade of maps that i know of. As you rightly say it’s easy enough to go alter/delete the restrictions and once done when you get a new map you know where/what to do before using it. best bit of kit i ever bought ,have paper map for overview but very rarely need it . use it for every journey so i have a reminder about speed cams etc.
And yep been on the road for 42 years now so move with the times, forget the “use your eyes/mouth/ nothing better than paper maps etc”, that’s just Luddite talk.
I don’t use Tom Tom, I use Snooper but I agree with you, Sat-nav is not perfect, but its a great tool if you know how to use it, the only difference between sat-nav and maps is how much room they take up in your cab. I have street level maps for every village, town and city in Europe stuck to my windscreen every day I go to work.
i use a pro nav and have to say its prety spot on but not perfect ie i been under a few bridges that were lower than standard hieght and the sat nav has not picked it up but that were the truckers atlas comes in also if im parked up for the night il google my drops for the next day takes 20 mins tops i can see the best way in and thanks to street view i can also locate service yard gates etc also i few phone numbers of the lads you work with come in handy
schrodingers cat:
I’ve got 110 (ish) farms marked on my satnav, I have the same farms marked on my backup satnav, I have 110 (ish) crosses with the names of the farms on my truckers atlas, am I paranoid?
marked ? what satnav you got mate ? i got a standard tomtom & i dont think i can ‘mark’ my farms .
im rarely use it for my usual farm deliveries , mor used for timeing for an ETA, although , new customers 'ill punch the postcode in to get as near as, & i have an old navigator atlas with hundreds of farms marked & highlighter markers crossing a web as to the lanes i need .
unlike an earlier quote , it’s the lanes it shouldn’t be leading you into that are the very same lanes some of us actually need to go down
i got sat nav & map , so i’m pretty well covered , although i do sometimes find myself in places i have no bussiness being in with a lorry
Never used a satnav probably never will, always used street guides until I got a phone with google on it. Use both now but more and more I use the phone.
