Planning your trip in advance can help you to get to the destination faster, and more comfortably, and to spend less time and fuel on it. You may also like to plan your stops at gas stations or truck stops.
To plan a truck driving route more accurately and easier you might need GPS applications or special devices. We have collected some of them for you here.
All these special GPS devices were developed especially for truck drivers and take into account certain factors that are required and important to any truck driver, such as the availability of truck stops, truck maps, rest areas, heavy traffic jams, route planning, and gas stations.
The most famous GPS devices are:
Rand McNally TND 740
This device helps to choose the fastest road and can pinpoint the location with the usage of latitude and into a correct path to go.
Garmin dezl 780
This device features a truck and trailer service directory, including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It also can be paired with your smartphone or tablet and records hours of service.
TomTom Trucker 600/620
This GPS device also includes Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and can be paired with any device. But unlike the Garmin, TomTom Trucker doesn’t require a smartphone app to work correctly. It is compatible with Google Now and Siri and helps you to plan routes considering your trucks’ height, weight and length.
OHREX GPS
This device is distinguished by its low price among other GPS devices, and it can serve both trucks and cars for that you just need to switch the mode. It supports truck, car, RV, ambulance, bus, and even taxi routing. It includes Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and provides spoken alerts and on-road directions.
However, nowadays not many truck drivers use physical devices like Garmin or Rand McNally. GPS mobile apps are more widespread and commonly used among truck drivers. GPS applications have almost the same functions and features as physical GPS devices. The most distinguishing feature of the GPS apps is that its software can be updated more easily and frequently.
Good GPS apps help a truck driver to choose the most efficient and short route including safety measures: weight, speed, and height limits. As the software on applications is updated on a regular basis, the GPS apps are thought to be more up to date and reliable.
They assist while you’re behind the wheel with verbal alerts and on-road directions.
Sure, these applications may help to decrease not only the expenses on the road but also the time spent there. Being on time means fewer delays and higher customer satisfaction, higher compensation, and better feedback on your performance.
GPS apps provide useful information such as fuel usage, tire condition, and mileage.
A few of the best truck GPS apps are the following:
TruckMap App
This application is built for trucks, not passenger vehicles as the needs of truck drivers vary greatly in comparison to personal vehicle drivers. The real-time data on truck restrictions, hours of service regulations, and truck-specific amenities are supplied there. It tracks your hours of service and helps the truck driver to find a perfect spot for HOS rest breaks and off-duty time along the route. This application provides drivers with access to the driver community and updated information about truck parking availability and parking locations 24/7.
Sygic App
This application provides truck drivers custom routing according to the truck parameters. It helps drivers to avoid roads not suitable for their trucks or trailers, the sizes of which can be configured and selected. Preplanning of the route helps the truck driver to avoid toll roads, U-turns, or prefer right turns. It also offers offline mode and speed camera warnings.
Waze App
The community of 140 million users helps each other on the road. This application provides the quickest navigation routes because data is submitted automatically as users drive around. The app constantly updates drivers with notifications about accidents, traffic jams or a slowdown in traffic. The application is also translated to 16 languages. There’s also a model for taxi drivers, motorcycle riders, and car drivers.
Many users highlight that this app is loading much faster than the other and provides directions and time to destination more accurately.
There’s also a special scheduling feature which takes note of your planned drives and includes your route and exact destination. Later the app offers you the best time when you should leave.
Conclusion
There are a lot of GPS devices and applications which provide best services for truck drivers, including advanced and online navigation, live traffic data, parking availability, speed limits and camera warnings, spoken alerts and on-road directions. Everyone can choose the most suitable option for himself depending on the required features and the budget.