I’ve just been browsing on here and noticed that a lot of people use Google Maps on their smartphones to get an accurate final direction for places where their sat nav has messed up. Thing is, until I start earning better money than I am on now (£6.61 per hour for van driving), I genuinely couldn’t afford one, and I don’t like contracts either as I prefer not to be locked in. How necessary are they? How did we all cope before the internet (the grumpy old biddy in me says that!)?
With regards to sat navs, I currently have a Garmin car one that His Nibs bought me for my birthday, and it’s been great, but as I’m new to these things (directions scribbled on bits of paper was getting to be an unsustainable method for getting around), can the software be upgraded to trucker’s sat nav, or would I have to buy a new one? (Yes, been using the search facility, still not seen the answer to this specific question).
Ever heard of a map they also exist on paper. Phillips ones are great they do them for individual counties if stay in a certain area and have farms and all sorts on them.
A car satnav will be ok if you have your wits about you and keep your eyes open and look for signs, height and weight limits, width limits etc. the only problem is that if you avoid something you’ve seen, the satnav will just assume you can go around the block and have another crack at the same route.
Any satnav isn’t perfect. Truck satnavs can help if they’re set up right, but in my experience, they don’t acknowledge those little blue signs you see at the end of country lanes that say “road unsuitable for hgvs” this is because they don’t understand bendy and tight, they just look out for physical, numerate hazards.
If all you are using the smartphone for is Google maps and Street view, it doesn’t need to be the latest generation of smartphone, you could pick up a very cheap Galaxy S2 sim free, and buy sim card for it. Would work just fine if that’s all you used it for.
I doubt if you can upgrade the car sat nav to a truck one.
My old Navman had a truck mode on it. You only got a month or so trial though, I paid the £60 to enable it permanently. Wasn’t snooper standard, but kept me pretty well sorted.
Thanks for the replies, I’m looking at an eventual combo of sat nav, brains (if I can find mine!) and paper maps. Belt and braces approach, if you will.
I might have to see if any of my friends have an older smartphone I can borrow, been told I need an Instagram account and obviously, that’s only available on smartphones (nothing to do with trucking, but for something else). Will have to investigate that further, see what’s suitable.
I programme my TomTom 5150 for the destination and then look at the destination on the Tomtom to make sure the post code was right (amazing how many times planners give you the wrong one) then my S3 goes into action maps then postcode zoom in and select satellite for an aerial shot. The Tomtom is absolutely spot on about 85% of the time but the satellite map has got me out of trouble when it has been a tight space to get in, for example I had a delivery for poundworld at Castleford. Tomtom was going to take me to the front door which when I looked at maps was in a pedestrianized area on a Saturday! looking at the map and zooming in I could see a massive car park with bags of space at the back and hey presto in that shot was a lorry delivering to the shop next door. I went straight there and made the delivery no headaches
How did we manage before internet and sat navs well there were no planners either and few agency drivers so you got trained and went on the runs with a guy who knew them and that is still the best method. Failing that an old hand would have told me to not go in the high street at the poundworld example above. He would simply said go around the back “Bridge Street” the river is on your right and turn left into the car park and you will see where all the deliveries go at the far end.
i normally use tom tom 5150 with a chinese one tucked in the top locker “just in case” . yesterday and today neither of them have been able to find a signal ■■? lost it at milnthorp and its still missing at reading ? as a lot of my drops are in out of the way places they aren’t easy to find with a atlas so have used google maps on I phone and with a little bit of common sense got where I needed to be ok . the test will be tomorrow when I deliver to east London n15aa.
My advise get a samsung galaxy 3 99£ new on ebay or close to that mark. get 10£ 30 day rolling phone contract with 1 to 2 gb internet. I have it on 3 network.
And use it together with your garmin. it will do just fine. Truck satnavs are in a region of a 300£ and all they do is keep you on the main roads and maybe off some low bridges.
smart phone (google maps) and car satnav works just fine.
I have stupid tomtom 5150 and he did me well but im selling the bugger now. Learned enough and no longer need it.
Sometimes I have to take the truck off and select car to go in areas that have 7.5 weight limits. Tonight for instance the yard is in castleford that has this restriction. Tomtom goes loopy if I try driving through with a truck so I e d up ha ing to lie to it just to shut it up! Bit like wives aren’t they?
Dan ze Man:
My advise get a samsung galaxy 3 99£ new on ebay or close to that mark. get 10£ 30 day rolling phone contract with 1 to 2 gb internet. I have it on 3 network.
And use it together with your garmin. it will do just fine. Truck satnavs are in a region of a 300£ and all they do is keep you on the main roads and maybe off some low bridges.
smart phone (google maps) and car satnav works just fine.
I have stupid tomtom 5150 and he did me well but im selling the bugger now. Learned enough and no longer need it.
See my post above is for a truck satnav on smartphone personally I’d go for a cheep windows phone as there much more stable than a cheep Android unit
im afraid I have got to say why do they still have satnavs, the modern mobile now has just about everything anybody could need, if your young or old , just get a decent window holder and bobs your uncle, Im on 3 with 500gb of data, so I can watch films on my tablet,im an old git but this new digital age now makes life a lot easier. if im parked up, anybody nearby can use my wifi free of charge, 500gb is impossible to use, all it costs me is £25 pm including unlimited calls and texts, plus when on holiday now 3 mobile is just the same abroad in most popular countries, the actual 500gb of data is £4.99 which is included in the £25.if your an owner driver you get your vat back, so the actual price for everything is only just over £20, that’s on a 2 year contract with a Samsung note 2 massive screen great phone… getting back to satnavs, the google streel level mapping is brill, when you get to an address a full size pic comes up,
positive mate 500,000mb =500gb or I/2 terabyte whichever you want, Ive had it for 3 years on 3 business mobile, like I say I do coaches as well I tell passengers free wifi, when I check the bill at the end of the month, I bet I have only used about 3 or 4 gig its so hard to use,
royhebb2:
im afraid I have got to say why do they still have satnavs, the modern mobile now has just about everything anybody could need, if your young or old , just get a decent window holder and bobs your uncle, Im on 3 with 500gb of data, so I can watch films on my tablet,im an old git but this new digital age now makes life a lot easier. if im parked up, anybody nearby can use my wifi free of charge, 500gb is impossible to use, all it costs me is £25 pm including unlimited calls and texts, plus when on holiday now 3 mobile is just the same abroad in most popular countries, the actual 500gb of data is £4.99 which is included in the £25.if your an owner driver you get your vat back, so the actual price for everything is only just over £20, that’s on a 2 year contract with a Samsung note 2 massive screen great phone… getting back to satnavs, the google streel level mapping is brill, when you get to an address a full size pic comes up,
Holy ■■■■, that’s fantastic!
On topic, I use an eBay truck satnav which is great but as said above it can still send you down narrow roads that aren’t signposted ‘No HGVs’. It and some common sense have seen me ok so far!
I used to use my Windows phone with Here maps which was brilliant at finding places, the only downside being it was a pain in the dot to use constantly and got confused fairly easily. A good backup however.
they also exist on paper. Phillips ones are great they do them for individual counties if stay in a certain area and have farms and all sorts on them.
