I’m looking at buying a sat nav next weekend, I’ve been told to get a truck sat nav since im new the trucking world
I’ve been looking at these but there is quite a few bad reviews
halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor … yId_229906
halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor … yId_229906
Have any of the fellow trucknet members had any experience of the above? Are they worth the money? Or shall i just get a tom tom, garmin an get the hgv updates?
Thanks scott
Here:-
search.php
If you get a tomtom 520 / 530 / 540 or 720 / 730 / 740, then you can put truck maps and navcore on, they’re ■■■■■■■ brilliant, not perfect by any means, but they’ve gotta be the best.
None are going to be perfect, so an idea of where you’re going can knock miles off, keep your eyes peeled etc, But they’ve never taken me under any bridges, have once or twice tried to take me down 7.5t or ‘unsuitable for artic’, but these are limits that’ve been added for NIMBY reasons rather than safety reasons and are normally safe for you to pass, but you could get a nasty letter or a fine.
btw, you mean Which 
waynedl:
If you get a tomtom 520 / 530 / 540 or 720 / 730 / 740, then you can put truck maps and navcore on, they’re [zb] brilliant, not perfect by any means, but they’ve gotta be the best.None are going to be perfect, so an idea of where you’re going can knock miles off, keep your eyes peeled etc, But they’ve never taken me under any bridges, have once or twice tried to take me down 7.5t or ‘unsuitable for artic’, but these are limits that’ve been added for NIMBY reasons rather than safety reasons and are normally safe for you to pass, but you could get a nasty letter or a fine.
btw, you mean Which
Thanks for that pal
I’ll look into it
Scott M:
waynedl:
If you get a tomtom 520 / 530 / 540 or 720 / 730 / 740, then you can put truck maps and navcore on, they’re [zb] brilliant, not perfect by any means, but they’ve gotta be the best.None are going to be perfect, so an idea of where you’re going can knock miles off, keep your eyes peeled etc, But they’ve never taken me under any bridges, have once or twice tried to take me down 7.5t or ‘unsuitable for artic’, but these are limits that’ve been added for NIMBY reasons rather than safety reasons and are normally safe for you to pass, but you could get a nasty letter or a fine.
btw, you mean Which
Thanks for that pal
I’ll look into it
A TT520 refurb will prob set you back around 110 or so, then a 4gb sd card (may have to use a smaller 1 to update the firmware 1st though) about a tenner, then the software is free on a searchable website 
Why waste your hard earned money buying a sat nav ? Buy a good transport friendly road atlas for god sake. On my travels through this world a few things I have learned and one of them is that sat navs are a waste of money.
I have driven trucks that have them instaled by the company and linked to the computer but a raod atlas is far more reliable. I constantly hear guys asking for directions and when you give them over the CB you get the “Thanks, thats about what my sat nav says” or “but my sat nav say’s different”
If you can’t trust the thing (which I don’t) don’t buy the damm thing. How do you think we got around befre the things were invented ? We never got lost, all deliveries were on time, I could drive from Oxford to Hamburg after just galncing at a road atlas.
If you wan’t to drive a truck/ lorry whatever learn to drive without your damm sat nav ffs. what are you gonna do when you have programed the damm thing to go to a destination and it goes down or switches off for some reason ? phone the boss ‘Sorry boss, can’t make the delivery on time, my sat nav is down’ 
Get life and be a man for god sake.
Pat Hasler:
Why waste your hard earned money buying a sat nav ? Buy a good transport friendly road atlas for god sake. On my travels through this world a few things I have learned and one of them is that sat navs are a waste of money.
I have driven trucks that have them instaled by the company and linked to the computer but a raod atlas is far more reliable. I constantly hear guys asking for directions and when you give them over the CB you get the “Thanks, thats about what my sat nav says” or “but my sat nav say’s different”
If you can’t trust the thing (which I don’t) don’t buy the damm thing. How do you think we got around befre the things were invented ? We never got lost, all deliveries were on time, I could drive from Oxford to Hamburg after just galncing at a road atlas.
If you wan’t to drive a truck/ lorry whatever learn to drive without your damm sat nav ffs. what are you gonna do when you have programed the damm thing to go to a destination and it goes down or switches off for some reason ? phone the boss ‘Sorry boss, can’t make the delivery on time, my sat nav is down’Get life and be a man for god sake.
Errrrr, Yes whatever you say. 
“Get life and be a man for god sake” You saying if you use a Sat Nav you ain’t a Man and you haven’t got a Life? Sad
“never got lost”, yea right, of course you didn’t. How many people did you have to ask?
There are more Roads, RDCs, Ind Est etc now then in your day
I have found the TomTom really misleading in Central London as it does not recognise the time restrictions put there by London Lorry Control 
Because of this it tries to find ways around roads that you can go down and just ends up sending you the longest way around possible. You can change your vehicle type to a van but this kind of defeats the object of having a truck satnav. Having said that I always use a map in Central London now i find it safer and easier.
I don’t know if the Snooper has the same issue?
dinosteveus1:
Pat Hasler:
Why waste your hard earned money buying a sat nav ? Buy a good transport friendly road atlas for god sake. On my travels through this world a few things I have learned and one of them is that sat navs are a waste of money.
I have driven trucks that have them instaled by the company and linked to the computer but a raod atlas is far more reliable. I constantly hear guys asking for directions and when you give them over the CB you get the “Thanks, thats about what my sat nav says” or “but my sat nav say’s different”
If you can’t trust the thing (which I don’t) don’t buy the damm thing. How do you think we got around befre the things were invented ? We never got lost, all deliveries were on time, I could drive from Oxford to Hamburg after just galncing at a road atlas.
If you wan’t to drive a truck/ lorry whatever learn to drive without your damm sat nav ffs. what are you gonna do when you have programed the damm thing to go to a destination and it goes down or switches off for some reason ? phone the boss ‘Sorry boss, can’t make the delivery on time, my sat nav is down’Get life and be a man for god sake.
Errrrr, Yes whatever you say.
“Get life and be a man for god sake” You saying if you use a Sat Nav you ain’t a Man and you haven’t got a Life? Sad
“never got lost”, yea right, of course you didn’t. How many people did you have to ask?
There are more Roads, RDCs, Ind Est etc now then in your day
Yeah, what he said. Bloody 'old skool map reading blah blah muppet - used to fix our own trucks, change our own wheels etc… ’
I got my 1st sat nav when I was doing B+Q home deliveries, you know to houses, find those in your truckers atlas you muppet.
Most houses only order 1 kitchen, so different addresses everyday, from Carlisle down to Stoke, Over to Grimsby or Hull and over to Snowdon, that’s a ■■■■■■■ lot of A-Z’s to accompany your Truck Atlas.
Now, take in the weight of all those A-Z’s, the cost of them at £5.99 each and the fact I had a different truck everyday, then compare that to a Tomtom 1 (that I had at the time).
I still carry a Philips Truck Map in my bag, but can’t remember when I last got it out though.
m4rky:
I have found the TomTom really misleading in Central London as it does not recognise the time restrictions put there by London Lorry ControlBecause of this it tries to find ways around roads that you can go down and just ends up sending you the longest way around possible. You can change your vehicle type to a van but this kind of defeats the object of having a truck satnav. Having said that I always use a map in Central London now i find it safer and easier.
I don’t know if the Snooper has the same issue?
Yeah, I’ve noticed this and pointed it out on here, if you’re only delivering through the day, just take the restrictions off (Map Corrections) or look at where your destination is and then look where it’s trying to send you and use your head.
No idea if the Snooper’s the same, but none are going to be perfect, a Snooper wanted to send me from Freightliner in Trafford Park to Olympic (just off Hyde Road, Bennett Street) in Manchester via the M60!!!, Tomtom sent me Mancy Way as expected.
Gotta agree with wayned , tomtom go520 or any go is the best and tomtom is easy to hack .I just put the latest map on and sorted the everlasting problem of restriction on dartford crossing (some car driver prob put a 32 weight limit and other stuff on). it’s never let me down,i use my other senses (eyes/ears/mouth) and have one of those “old fashioned” paper truck maps for back up along with google maps to take a real close look if needed.
Those people who harp on about just using paper map need to join the real world, sat navs are the best addition to a drivers kit (if used with a bit of common sense) for ages. after all it is only a map when all said and done but it just electronic rather than paper and can be updated easily rather than keep buying a new map book every year.
Cheeky young kids
I came over here in 2000 and never have needed a damm sat nav here either, driven the eintire US mainland without the sat navs, If you can’t read a map what are you gonna do when your sat nav stops working ? which it will do one day and at $500 a shot for a piece of lazy assed crap compared to $30 for a full transport friendly atlas I think Ill stick to being a man and not a panzy
Pat Hasler:
Cheeky young kids
I came over here in 2000 and never have needed a damm sat nav here either, driven the eintire US mainland without the sat navs, If you can’t read a map what are you gonna do when your sat nav stops working ? which it will do one day and at $500 a shot for a piece of lazy assed crap compared to $30 for a full transport friendly atlas I think Ill stick to being a man and not a panzy
Well, because I’m a panzy, I carry 2 sat navs, just in case, but also a map.
Trust me, I’ve driven enough trucks to know, that some ciggy lighters don’t work and no sat nav is going to last all day on battery, so then it’s down to map to area and sat nav to house.
I just don’t think you can beat them though, they’re frigging brilliant as long as they’re not relied on or have too much faith put in them.
For example, 1 day I’d used it in my car then in my truck, forgot to change it back to truck mode, thought why’s it taking me that way, I’ll go a different way, and it kept trying to take me down roads I didn’t like the look of, so I ignored it.
Only when I pulled over did I realise what I’d done (set as car), but if I was an idiot I’m sure I’d have made northwest tonight that day
Also, as we’ve already discussed, leaving Kent to Essex, sat nav taking me straight towards London, not on M25■■ Thought, this is weird, but I KNOW Essex is just the other side of that bridge I can see, so I’ll go through that Tunnel there, and sat nav started bleeting about me being on a road unsuitable for trucks, it thought there was a weight and length limit on it, so I removed them, then it was fine.
Othertime in London delivering to an old style market, looked at map, but sat nav was navigating me round, couldn’t understand why so I approached junction nice and slow and taking all the road, looked at the road and thought, that looks fine, so I turned up it, it had a 16t weight limit at certain times, but the sat nav didn’t know about the times so just thought there was a 16t weight limit.
They are a drivers AID, like cruise control or abs, there to make your life easier but not to be relied on.
So, back to OP’s question, Tomtom are doing a 530 refurb at around 130 quid, get that and a 4gb sd card and then google search navitotal or gpsunderground for assistance in getting the truck maps on.
If you have an iPhone or iPad then the Renault Trucknav available for those is the best I’ve ever used. Far better than my old TomTom or Garmin!
waynedl:
Well, because I’m a panzy, I carry 2 sat navs, just in case, but also a map.
I can beat that, I carry 3 Sat Navs in my Truck and 1 in my Car. Saddo 
I do have the old fashioned paper map but I’ve not used it in ‘anger’ yet.
I have about 15 TT920s in my ‘lockup’, I used to buy them from feebay and convert them to Trucking sat navs for a Company in the Midlands but alas they went into liquidation 5 Months ago.
dinosteveus1:
waynedl:
Well, because I’m a panzy, I carry 2 sat navs, just in case, but also a map.I can beat that, I carry 3 Sat Navs in my Truck and 1 in my Car. Saddo
I have about 15 TT920s in my ‘lockup’, I used to buy them from feebay and convert them to Trucking sat navs for a Company in the Midlands but alas they went into liquidation 5 Months ago.
I did loads of 520’s which I then flogged to my workmates, but I’m out of stock now, just my daily use 540 live and a 520 backup.
The 920 is a decent 1 due to the hard drive, maybe strike a deal with the OP?
waynedl:
dinosteveus1:
waynedl:
Well, because I’m a panzy, I carry 2 sat navs, just in case, but also a map.I can beat that, I carry 3 Sat Navs in my Truck and 1 in my Car. Saddo
I have about 15 TT920s in my ‘lockup’, I used to buy them from feebay and convert them to Trucking sat navs for a Company in the Midlands but alas they went into liquidation 5 Months ago.I did loads of 520’s which I then flogged to my workmates, but I’m out of stock now, just my daily use 540 live and a 520 backup.
The 920 is a decent 1 due to the hard drive, maybe strike a deal with the OP?
What’s the 540 live like compared to the 520?
I have a 4gb SD card full of music cos the trucking map is on the hd. I’d recommend the 920 over most other TT that don’t have a hd.
I use a Pronav with the latest software, works fine and is a lot cheaper than a Tomtom, customer support is ecxellent too.
In London, if you go in at night, you can set it to take into account the LBTS, and if you go during the day, just set it to ignore the LBTS. Yuo can set it to “prefer main” roads, or to use any LGV suitable route. It keeps me away from bridges too. Aslo good for finding the nearest fuel stations by brand
I have a tom tom one europe. Does anybody know if its possible to down load on to that particular model. Thanks.
mr lordi:
I have a tom tom one europe. Does anybody know if its possible to down load on to that particular model. Thanks.
Don’t think so, the Trucking Maps are 2.4GB in total.
I bought a refurbed mio from ebay, when I went back to Hgv driving, it has been great for me
in going into most areas and I have to agree with previous comments in that if you know it
is not giving you info you agree with use your common sense, what I find is that in area’s
where I dont know where I am it may take me around the city but gets me where I need to be
it is mostly when I know the area I make my own choice.
Yes I still carry a road atlas, but I have found that the sat nav has given me confidence
at times, it also is good for telling you when you expect to be at your destination and
giving your exact speed , I have found some of our trucks don’t give exact speed.
to the original poster I would recommend getting a sat nav in my experience it will help you
many truck drivers use them these days. But a word of caution if you feel the road it take you
to is not right trust your judgement as I have heard of at least one case of a driver going up a
country road he should not have been on and putting the truck over into a ditch.
After 3 months my sat nav stays in the bag along with my road atlas some days but I like
both to be available 
Glencarron