BEST GPS & TRIP PLANNING

I’ve purchased two Rand McNally and one Garmin GPS devices. Hands down Garmin is a superior GPS. It’s going to take 10 years before Rand McNally gets their technical issues under control. As most of us know, Garmin has been in the GPS business for many years. So, it’s no surprise their device is better overall.

However, the trip planner in both devices needs a lot of help. They will have you do a lot of out-of-route miles if you follow them blindly. I personally use Google Maps and Rand McNally road atlas for trip planning. As a beginner, you have to be very, very cautious when using Google Maps for trip planning because it was not meant for trucks. This is when knowing how to use a road atlas comes into play. From my experience, 95% of Google Maps trip planning is a truck route. You just have to figure out which parts are not for trucks.

 

This is how a road atlas can come in handy:

- To know if your trip plan routes have a low clearance or restricted route
- To view toll routes (marked in green)
- To view “freeway” routes (marked in blue)
- To locate roadside parking (picnic tables) on two lane roads that sometimes are not found in Trucker Path

 

I miss the older atlases that had a small map on each individual state w terrain type, kind of a mini topographic map with colored elevation changes such as mtn ranges.
I don't think I'm mistaken but having just bought a discounted 2018 I don't see that any longer.

 

Google Maps has regular, satellite, and terrain maps.