Is there a special GPS for truck drivers?
Yes, there is. If you are considering starting a box truck business, you have likely seen trucks stuck under bridges or whose roofs have been ripped completely off. There are a few good GPS for box trucks, but today I want to focus on one I use myself: a Garmin truck GPS.
Photo Credit: Doug Bowman https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
It is essential to understand that a truck route is different from a regular route used by cars. The height, weight, and length of commercial trucks are immense compared to the height and width of most cars and will not fit underneath all bridges.
If you travel to large cities such as New York City or Philadelphia, you will quickly discover that the streets are narrow and crowded with cars. These smaller streets make it impossible for commercial trucks to turn into them, and sometimes you can get stranded on these streets without any quick way of getting out.
A commercial truck GPS is designed with the weight and size of the truck in mind and will give you optimized GPS routes. Considering that commercial trucks can range from 15 to 80 feet, they cannot fit on regular streets in the same manner as a regular vehicle.
Additionally, a box truck can have a height of up to 13.7 feet, which will not be able to fit under all bridges. Trees can pose a significant threat to box trucks or semi-trailers, so you will need a route where low-hanging branches will constantly be trimmed.
What is the best trucker GPS?
There are a few good trucker GPS, but the Garmin Dezl OTR700 is the truck GPS that I use personally. Rand Mcnally is another good one, but it’s a matter of preference.
What is the best GPS for truck drivers, if you ask a truck driver? It’s like asking a pickup truck owner which is better, Ford or Chevy? You know how those conversations can go; they can get ugly fast. The truth is, they are both excellent truck GPS.
GPS for semi trucks is the same as GPS for box trucks, and you have to add your box truck’s height, weight, and width. Adding your truck’s dimensions will allow it to find the best routes based on your actual dimensions.
Here is the video I made on how the Garmin Dezl OTR700 works, which you can watch by simply clicking on the image below.
Can you set Google Maps for trucks?
The use of Google Maps for commercial trucks can be extremely dangerous, and very costly. Many trucking companies have suffered serious losses due to drivers using Google Maps or not using GPS at all.
Google Maps is a great GPS and is excellent at spotting traffic and stops ahead, but it does not account for low bridges and subways.
In my first experience with driving a box truck in New York City, I was using Google Maps and found myself driving into a parkway. The first bridge I came across was 11 feet high, and I was driving a 13-foot box truck. It was a nightmare trying to back out of there in New York traffic.
There are free trucker GPS apps available, but they often conflict with each other and can lag badly, so when it’s time to turn, you’ve already passed the street.
A truck drivers GPS is dedicated to your route and will work without interruptions that you usually get with a cellphone GPS.
How much does truck GPS cost?
A good truck GPS can run anywhere from $300-$900 or more. The one I use (Garmin Dezl OTR700) cost me about $400 when I bought it, so it’s on the lower end when it comes to cost but is among the top when it comes to a trucker GPS.
What is the best trucker GPS?
My favorite GPS for box trucks is the Garmin Dezl, but it’s a matter of preference, as I said before.
I use my Garmin to see what cities are ahead and find truck stops, food, and hotels. When I am running out of ELD hours, I start looking ahead to find hotels in upcoming cities. I use it to check elevation and average speed when I am in the mountains.
It’s one of the best investments I’ve ever made, and I always recommend it to anybody going over the road.
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