I am wondering with all the expierence out here who has the best GPS for hauling large 5th wheels in your opinion ? I know some of you are truckers and some have just been traveling a long time. I would like to hear from you that have big rigs and know what works best.

 

I have a Magellan it works great and gives advance warning of turns and even gives which lane to be in. Invaluable when towing a big trailer. It gives a blow up of interchanges and turns when you get close as well as the voice commands. It has a "traffic" feature you can subscribe to that gives up to the minute delay times on route but up here in Canada there are so few cars you don't need it. My kid has a Garmin that is very similar to mine and works almost the same.

One other feature I like is the data base knows when there is no entry point on a freeway or a one way, and it chooses the route with this in mind. If you look at a map you sometimes wonder why it didn't take you this way then you see the bridge goes OVER the freeway.

 

Which Magellan do you have ?

 

Garmin 465T is truck specific. You can configure it to various dimensions: weight, length, height, axles, hazmat. You can save several truck configurations and use them as needed.
It is also switchable to use as a car GPS.
Very Nice GPS. Highly recommended.

 

I've heard that 465T is nice. I was talking with a trucker thge other day asking him about his GPS, his is just a regularone, and not showing truck routes about got him in some real trouble driving thru D.C. he ended up right down by the pentagon, cop pulled him over and said he's lucky he doesnt have m-16's pointed at his head, lol.

But just to throw my .02 cents in, I just bough a Garmin nuvi205W, its pretty basic, but it is very easy to use. The lady at Best Buy said Garmins are about the easiest to use, and are updateable online, along with traffic info you can get for it. I have found out though, not to always rely on GPS, which ive heard from several other ppl too. Every once in a while it takes ya some stupid ways, and using to find gas stations doesnt always work. I searched for a Marathon, and ended up in the hills of Morgantown, WV with no gas station.

 

I've got a PC miller which is for trucks it will warn you if you are going to turn om a road that is not for trucks ,haz mat routes rest areas truck stops weigh stations.I like it very much have used it about one year now.When I bought it it was $320.00

 

http://www.gps-planet.com/truckgps.html

 

I have 2 Garmin units. Both menus are easy to navigate and very intuitive. 1 is an old EMAP that I've had for 10 years, and a NUVI205W that I bought for the wife.

I have tried magellan, several years ago, and found the menus to be VERY confusing.

HTH

Tony

 

Magellan Roadmate 1430, it was a Costco special at $199CD.
I might add that when GPS first came out commercially around 1990 I had a company that sold them for use in aircraft as well as hand held ones. We sold Magellan, Garmin and Trimble direct from the factories. Garmin was the most popular because of price and easy to use. Trimble and Magellan were higher end units and at the time Magellan were the only one selling a gps differential correction model. Garmin gave the most problems BUT we also sold them the most so it kind of offset.
Like I said my kids Garmin looks and works almost the same as my Magellan..

 

Just bought a RoadMax vmax 484 with the backup camera included. So far it is very good.

 

I have a Garmin, its been ok. Also run Microsoft Street and Trips GPS on my laptop. Its been handy but it occasionally locks up or looses GPS signal and of course its always at a bad time. My latest toy is the new Motorola Droid and it runs Google Maps, its awesome. Accurate, easy to use, voice activated, and the internet search ability makes it find almost anyplace. Plus you even get a street view picture in some locations to help find a place.

 

My vote is for the Garmin Nuvi series. Super easy to use.

I have an older Magellan I use for off road that I love and works great, unfortunately Magellan has been bought and sold a couple of times in the last few years and isn't making the same quality of units it once was.

 

If you get Garmin, don't buy it based on the MSN Direct feature. That feature is being discontinued, so don't waste your time. If you want traffic reports, get the one with the FM traffic support.

Besides, the traffic reports on the MSN Direct version are pointless. Mine tells me there's slow traffic and there isn't, or it'll tell me there's slow traffic after I'm already in it. I can't remember it ever actually being right beforehand. Its about as useful as weather forecasting.

Rob

 

The 465T has Lifetime FM traffic, where available.
Not sure of the definition of "where available". Larger cities I expect.

 

I DRIVE OVER THE ROAD AND RUN THE MIDWEST TO THE WESTERN U.S.I bought a PC Miler it is for trucks has t stops weigh stations rest areas works great the only trouble I had was that a lot of your bigger citys are in one to three diffreent counties. Sioux Falls S. D. has two co it will ask you which co you want if you don't use the right one it will take you to sioux falls but not to the right place.Once you get on to it works great. ROD