Just interested to see if many if you use a car Sat nav, Map & common sense instead of an hgv sat nav?
Main reason for asking is I changed jobs last wk and my previous company supplied hgv sat nav. New company doesn’t and last wk I just used my eyeballs an atlas and common sense, to be honest it was a nice change going back to basics.
Am considering just getting a car Sat nav and using an atlas for height and width restrictions etc.
Just after people’s thoughts and if any of good ladies and gents do the same
I had a car tom tom for about 5 or 6 years, all over UK and Euro, up as far as Norway and South as far as Istanbul, common sense and a decent paper road map, never had a problem with bridges or ending up down country lanes
i use car sat nav ,because my truck sat nav was stolen.but now i do delivery to CDS and collection from factory,where don t needed good sat nav just little bit planning,thinking and checking.and any time i have android phone and UK atlas.
Boo9729:
Just interested to see if many if you use a car Sat nav, Map & common sense instead of an hgv sat nav?
Main reason for asking is I changed jobs last wk and my previous company supplied hgv sat nav. New company doesn’t and last wk I just used my eyeballs an atlas and common sense, to be honest it was a nice change going back to basics.
Am considering just getting a car Sat nav and using an atlas for height and width restrictions etc.
Just after people’s thoughts and if any of good ladies and gents do the same
As your last company supplied a HGV sat nav you’ll and I guarantee you’ll do it at some point Rely on the Nav… and come a cropper and the worst thing is it could be a big ■■■■ up … if you want to get a sat nav for work get a HGV one.
I wouldn’t trust a truck specific sat nav to route me around low bridges, country lanes, 7.5t limits etc. Its quite easy if you have a good phone with Google maps to check things out. But I have never used truck sat nav, so they could be great for all I know. Should imagine you would have to be on the ball with keeping it updated as roads change all the time. I would probably never get round to updating it.
Being a grade A wuss, I,m packing a snooper truckmate, Philips Navigator atlas, and a HTC latest model smartphone. If I go adrift with that lot, I deserve whatever happens! Early days, I used a TomTom xxl car unit that was way better than their newer models, but the jury’s still out as to whether these supposed truck specific units are worthy of their high-end prices. You’re absolutely right arkin, about not putting your unconditional trust in any satnav. Eyeballs always have the last say anyhow!
The only thing different behind a car and truck nav is that the truck nav’s maps will have the restrictions on it. You’ll have fun when you miss your turning and the nav tries to send you don’t some really tiny streets to turn around because they have no weight, height or size restriction on them. To the nav it thinks its just another road for you, you should be using your set of eyeballs Mk1 and common sense 1.0.
Mobile phone with Google Maps and a truckers road atlas.
Don’t often go to new spots unless on days and the traffic office will print off maps for each delivery/collection which will tell you if there’s any low bridges etc.
I am old school in using maps, even though I do own a truckers sat nav. If going somewhere new I do look on google maps first and utilise the street view to give me an indication where to turn when almost there. All too easy to go shooting past entrances, especially where signs always seem to be facing the other way…
Radar19:
The only thing different behind a car and truck nav is that the truck nav’s maps will have the restrictions on it. You’ll have fun when you miss your turning and the nav tries to send you don’t some really tiny streets to turn around because they have no weight, height or size restriction on them. To the nav it thinks its just another road for you, you should be using your set of eyeballs Mk1 and common sense 1.0.
Er - that isn’t true (except the bit about eyeball usage, of course). Mine will generally only try to get you to turn round via tiny side streets if there appears to be no more sensible option available within a mile or two. This behaviour changes noticeably depending on the vehicle length you have specified.
A car satnav is an electronic map, a truck satnav is an electronic map with height & weight restrictions included, a good truck satnav will also take note of the dimensions and load type of your truck. Really its a no brainer.
If you have no brain you shouldn’t be driving a truck, if you do have a brain then a good truck satnav (with a bit of work on the side) will not get you into trouble and make life a bit easier, a car satnav will require a bit more work.
Would you use a normal roadmap or a truck map if you were going to use only paper maps?
Radar19:
The only thing different behind a car and truck nav is that the truck nav’s maps will have the restrictions on it. You’ll have fun when you miss your turning and the nav tries to send you don’t some really tiny streets to turn around because they have no weight, height or size restriction on them. To the nav it thinks its just another road for you, you should be using your set of eyeballs Mk1 and common sense 1.0.
Er - that isn’t true (except the bit about eyeball usage, of course). Mine will generally only try to get you to turn round via tiny side streets if there appears to be no more sensible option available within a mile or two. This behaviour changes noticeably depending on the vehicle length you have specified.
I took a wrong turning off a roundabout in Knaresbrough, my Nav tried to get me to turn around on these really tiny side streets.
I don’t see that behaviour with my 5150 - It will instead normally take me a bit further on to make a longer loop via A- and B- roads (even if it adds a couple of miles to the journey). Maybe there was something else about the “wrong” road you had taken - possibly some weight/width/height restriction which made it essential to get you turned around ASAP?
Bottom line is, the inclusion of restrictions is not the only difference between the two types of SatNav (or even the same unit used in car vs truck modes). Ordinary routing is weighted much more heavily towards A- and B- roads in truck mode.
e.g. Ask it to route from Manor hospital in Walsall to New Cross hospital in Wolverhampton: Car route 5.9 miles, 14 minutes. Truck route 8.3 miles, 26 minutes. In car mode it will happily take the blatantly obvious shortcut straight through the industrial estate at Neachells Lane (a C-road which is not subject to any weight/height/width restrictions) whereas in truck mode it wants to keep on the main A-roads. It will route via Neachells Lane in truck mode, but only if there are significant traffic delays on the primary roads. There is another “shortcut” route via Deans Road which goes straight through a housing estate. Again it has no weight/width restrictions (there is a bridge, but unmarked so I assume it’s at least 16’ 6") but the TomTom appears extremely reluctant to route along it even if there are lengthy delays on the primary route. Again, in car mode it will happily use it.
Roymondo:
I don’t see that behaviour with my 5150 - It will instead normally take me a bit further on to make a longer loop via A- and B- roads (even if it adds a couple of miles to the journey). Maybe there was something else about the “wrong” road you had taken - possibly some weight/width/height restriction which made it essential to get you turned around ASAP?
Bottom line is, the inclusion of restrictions is not the only difference between the two types of SatNav (or even the same unit used in car vs truck modes). Ordinary routing is weighted much more heavily towards A- and B- roads in truck mode.
e.g. Ask it to route from Manor hospital in Walsall to New Cross hospital in Wolverhampton: Car route 5.9 miles, 14 minutes. Truck route 8.3 miles, 26 minutes. In car mode it will happily take the blatantly obvious shortcut straight through the industrial estate at Neachells Lane (a C-road which is not subject to any weight/height/width restrictions) whereas in truck mode it wants to keep on the main A-roads. It will route via Neachells Lane in truck mode, but only if there are significant traffic delays on the primary roads. There is another “shortcut” route via Deans Road which goes straight through a housing estate. Again it has no weight/width restrictions (there is a bridge, but unmarked so I assume it’s at least 16’ 6") but the TomTom appears extremely reluctant to route along it even if there are lengthy delays on the primary route. Again, in car mode it will happily use it.
I have the same unit. I ended up ignoring the lady shouting at me to turn around and just followed the road through the village. Yes it was a bit tight but it was doable, I’d be in even more trouble if I had tried to drive down one of those side streets to come back around. All the way through though it kept telling me to turn around using streets that aren’t restricted but are clearly too tight to get down and then back around. Overall it added another 10 minutes on my journey to follow the road round. Now, I would avoided all this if I was paying attention and remembered that is was the second roundabout that I needed to turn right at, not the first one.
