Hello, I have just recently passed my class 2 and am looking for a hgv sat nav, has anyone got any recommendations on where to buy and the best one.
Can I trust getting one from eBay.
Seems like a shortage of input, but I’d vote for a decent professional model, something like the (now discontinued) TomTom 6250, I think it was replaced by the Go Expert Plus. You want something with live traffic updates, preferably where this is included for the life of the model.
Ebay for me is only for when I can’t get a product from a regular outlet - caveat emptor!
I got mine direct from TT themselves, with a 25% discount because I’d previously had a car TT and they kept sending my emails offing discounts on a new model. I got the discount simply by contacting them through their website, they didn’t ask for any proof of the old car TT sat nav.
Thank you for the info
Congratulations on your pass!!
This is the most comprehensive test I’ve ever seen. trucknetuk.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=170466
But personally, I’ve found the free App Road Lords to be adequate for my past 2 years. That’s what I would recommend until you find a job and work out what you need/want.(Only available for android. You could try Sygic if you are Apple)
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Thank you for the link, wow that is a long read but very informative.
You won’t go wrong with a brand name satnav such as TomTom or Garmin, but the truck ones are quite pricey.
I don’t currently need a satnav, but I did use the Sygic app when I started class 1 about 4 years ago. Before that I must admit that I did use a car satnav for my 7.5 tonne and class 2 work for a number of years.
My old car TomTom had a facility to put a roadblock wherever I found a low bridge and I actually added a few I knew of anyway. I don’t know if the current car TomToms still have that facility or not.
Thank you very much for your information, I think I will go with a basic car sat nav for now and once I am in a driving job I will be extra careful on where I drive, low bridge, restrictions on width,length etc.
Phil. T:
Thank you very much for your information, I think I will go with a basic car sat nav for now and once I am in a driving job I will be extra careful on where I drive, low bridge, restrictions on width,length etc.
Most low bridges or weight limits are sign-posted quite far out at previous junctions, roundabouts etc.
My thinking at the time was that if a company isn’t providing navigation, then they must be prepared for drivers having to double-back when encountering routes they cannot get down (and all the time, fuel etc that this costs).
I did rethink things a bit when moving to class 1, mainly because getting turned, reversing out etc is significantly more problematic.
Noremac:
Phil. T:
Thank you very much for your information, I think I will go with a basic car sat nav for now and once I am in a driving job I will be extra careful on where I drive, low bridge, restrictions on width,length etc.Most low bridges or weight limits are sign-posted quite far out at previous junctions, roundabouts etc.
Totally agree, but I don’t need to tell you that bridges get whacked with regularity (on average around 2000 bridge strikes per year).
Noremac:
My thinking at the time was that if a company isn’t providing navigation, then they must be prepared for drivers having to double-back when encountering routes they cannot get down (and all the time, fuel etc that this costs).
I reckon most companies expect a driver to have his own means of navigation, rarely has anyone given me a vehicle with a truck sat nav included (either internally or externally).
Phil T, here’s my (non-sugar-coated) input, not as a driver (I’m unlikely to go back to that at my age), but as a TM (amongst other duties) who takes his responsibilities seriously, and often has some input on who might be the right candidate for the job(s) on offer.
Be aware that new passes are “up against it” from the outset, there is no driver shortage (certainly not in my locale) only a shortage of people operators are happy to hand a set of keys to. You owe it to yourself to do what you need to, in order to be in that “happy to hand the keys over” category, because the hard truth is that “it’s a buyer’s market”.
If you’re going to go with a car sat nav, be aware that an operator with a good TM will look at what you are using for navigation and will probably have a company policy in place saying “no Google Maps on your phone” or “no car sat navs”.
Company policies can be what ever the company wants them to be, there’s no recourse to spurious “legal arguments”, there’s no “Well you supply me with a truckers sat nav then!”, certainly not when (and I’m not exaggerating) there are sometimes between 100 to 400 applicants for every job advertised.
Consider this: two guys turn up for a job, both equally inexperienced, one has a car sat nav, one has a proper trucker’s sat nav: Who would YOU think looks better to a prospective employer? Which one is presenting their self as committed and professional?
Consider a proper Sat Nav as an “investment in your career”. You getting a job when you’re competing against others who are after it, would be well worth a few hundred quid in the long run, it’d “pay for itself” within the first week.
Depending on who you work for some companies don’t allow the use of any personal sat Babs whether car or truck devices and don’t provide one and expect you to use their pre planed routes which are given on sheets for locations.
Sent from my CPH2173 using Tapatalk
Having said that our new DAF’s have android auto and car play and there is a DAF navigation system you can possibly download onto your phone.
Sent from my CPH2173 using Tapatalk
Just to be clear, me saying I used a car sat nav when driving 7.5 tonne and class 2 isn’t me advocating that this is the correct course of action to take, it is merely what I did.
I did work at a supply chain company with a three letter acronym (beginning with D and ending in L), where the official policy was no sat navs (I can’t remember if truck ones were allowed tbh, don’t think so). However, in practice, they were turning a blind eye. Essentially, if anything happened out on the road, the company could blame the driver because of the policy. Of course they knew ■■■■fine that drivers were using sat navs.
Edit: I think the official policy was any sat nav had to be approved come to think of it.
Zac_A:
I reckon most companies expect a driver to have his own means of navigation, rarely has anyone given me a vehicle with a truck sat nav included (either internally or externally).Phil T, here’s my (non-sugar-coated) input, not as a driver (I’m unlikely to go back to that at my age), but as a TM (amongst other duties) who takes his responsibilities seriously, and often has some input on who might be the right candidate for the job(s) on offer.
Be aware that new passes are “up against it” from the outset, there is no driver shortage (certainly not in my locale) only a shortage of people operators are happy to hand a set of keys to. You owe it to yourself to do what you need to, in order to be in that “happy to hand the keys over” category, because the hard truth is that “it’s a buyer’s market”.
If you’re going to go with a car sat nav, be aware that an operator with a good TM will look at what you are using for navigation and will probably have a company policy in place saying “no Google Maps on your phone” or “no car sat navs”.
Company policies can be what ever the company wants them to be, there’s no recourse to spurious “legal arguments”, there’s no “Well you supply me with a truckers sat nav then!”, certainly not when (and I’m not exaggerating) there are sometimes between 100 to 400 applicants for every job advertised.
Consider this: two guys turn up for a job, both equally inexperienced, one has a car sat nav, one has a proper trucker’s sat nav: Who would YOU think looks better to a prospective employer? Which one is presenting their self as committed and professional?
Consider a proper Sat Nav as an “investment in your career”. You getting a job when you’re competing against others who are after it, would be well worth a few hundred quid in the long run, it’d “pay for itself” within the first week.
Totally agree with what you say, but how would you view a dedicated truck sat nav App that just happens to be free (Road Lords or Sygic)?
In my short career I’ve had a couple of employers provide sat navs…so it would be quite annoying if you land a job and no £400 sat nav was required. Equally annoying if you don’t land a job because you hadn’t shelled out. [emoji3061]
simcor:
Depending on who you work for some companies don’t allow the use of any personal sat Babs whether car or truck devices and don’t provide one and expect you to use their pre planed routes which are given on sheets for locations.Sent from my CPH2173 using Tapatalk
Our site stopped allowing drivers own hgv navs last year, after one guy didn’t set his height correctly and streamlined a trailer.
The in truck tablets with nav don’t allow you to set your running height, but rely on you declaring the trailer when you couple up to know what height you are running. If the mobile data isn’t working though you can’t do that.
I suppose its the same across all the big firms, but I find where forward h&s policies have been sculpted around the one off actions of one (former) employee, the rest of us are stuck with the consequences.
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Can confirm road lords is brilliant and free.
“Brilliant” is maybe A little strong! It can sometimes forget which way we go round roundabouts and which side of the road we should drive in this country! It actually told me to take the 3rd exit to turn left. (Not for the first time, hence I was ready to get a screenshot).
But it’s definitely worth the money 
As I haven’t actually tried these apps myself, I’d be circumspect about their use. And if you need to be actively online to use them to their full potential, that would be a definite reason to exercise caution.
Imagine the conversation at the Public Inquiry:
TC: “Driver, what prompted you to try to navigate the bridge that was too low for your vehicle?”
Driver: “I ran out of data so my sat nav didn’t warn me about the low bridge…”
TC: “Mr Abrams, as company TM, why did you believe it was safe for your driver to use an app that was reliant on continuous internet access when you could not personally ensure it was indeed continuous access?”
Not a good day out for me or the driver.