HGV drivers - Sat Navs

Flyboy152

scotsman4th wrote: »

What happens if the sat nav breaks?

I have owned the same satellite navigation system for the last seven years and it has never once gone wrong. What happens when you spill coffee on your atlas, find there is page missing, or has been printed incorrectly?

Flyboy152

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

Indeed, the canny driver uses a combination of both, and years of knowledge to where the likely hold ups will be at certain times of the day and certain days of the week.

Satnav is an excellent tool if used sensibly, ie as pocket sized street atlas, where at one time you'd have a box of street maps to cart around.

I like many other old road hands have managed perfectly well for a lifetime of truck use without the latest electronic toy, i sometimes do use a satnav, being a Garmin it has traffic search facility, its the nearest to though not a patch on the excellent Trafficmaster YQ units now without a signal to home in on.

The Garmin being large screened is good for final homing in on a strange destination, though like all these toys, for thats all they are, any info from it needs to be viewed with a pinch of salt.
And of course like all navs has its limitations when in heavily built up areas, arguably the time you need it most.

But that is no different to any street atlas, is the point I am making. A street atlas does not give me anymore information than my satellite navigation system.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Flyboy152 wrote: »

But that is no different to any street atlas, is the point I am making. A street atlas does not give me anymore information than my satellite navigation system.

Except you can easily see the whole route with ease due to page size, and the driver makes their own decision, not the machine.

You seem happy enough to trust the nav on its own, i'm not.

GT60

scotsman4th wrote: »

What happens if the sat nav breaks?

You get lost!

BUT you can all ways ask someone or for traffic turn on the TA button on the radio!:)

Flyboy152

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

Except you can easily see the whole route with ease due to page size,

You can do all of that and more with a satellite navigation system (it gets a bit boring saying that more than a couple of times ).

and the driver makes their own decision, not the machine.

I agree, only idiots let others make their decisions for them. But even when people used only maps, they came a cropper.

We are not talking about letting a machine make decision for you, we are talking about sensible use of such systems. The lack of which is not confided to those who only use satellite navigation.

You seem happy enough to trust the nav on its own, i'm not.

Really? How did you deduce that?

Notmyrealname

katies_mum wrote: »

Thank you for replying. Do you use a sat nav?
Please can you tell me about this: Low Bridge heights POI file. How would you get this?
Thanks

Yes. Since 1997 I've used standard Tomtoms. The Tomtom Home software has low bridge height POIs available which you can transfer to your Tomtom. Alternatively there's a forum on pocketgpsworld for truckers.

Notmyrealname

Flyboy152 wrote: »

You can do that with a satellite navigation system as well.

Not as easily.

In fact, you can avoid traffic altogether. Which really makes no advantage for the atlas above satellite navigation.

When I've relied on that, it has failed me.

Also Satnavs are designed for cars and will create a route based on the fact a car can do 70MPH on DCs and motorways which in some cases creates a completely different route than would be optimum for a truck.

Take Sheffield to Tamworth. Car Satnav will take you all on motorway/DC - M1, A42, M42, M6, M54. Experienced truck drivers will go M1, A38, A5, A460, M54 - the latter being a bit quicker in a truck despite several miles being 30-40MPH single carriageway.

Another one is Hull to Reading. Satnav will send you M62, M18, M1, M25, M4 - 239 miles. Truckers will go M62, M18, M1, A43, M40, A34, M4 - 214 miles. For a car, the M25 route is a better balance of time:distance. For a truck the route round Oxford is a better balance of time:distance. I've done that route both ways many times and in a truck, the latter way is about 10-15 minutes quicker.

There are also places especially for trucks where a route into a town which is ideal for cars is not the best for trucks even though a truck can go down that road.

In the hundreds of thousands of miles I've driven, much of it with Satnav availability, I've found that Satnav really comes into its own for a trucker for the last few miles. Outside of that, knowledge and an atlas is better.

Flyboy152

Notmyrealname wrote: »

Not as easily.

Explain.

When I've relied on that, it has failed me.

How does an atlas give you traffic information?

Also Satnavs are designed for cars and will create a route based on the fact a car can do 70MPH on DCs and motorways which in some cases creates a completely different route than would be optimum for a truck.

Take Sheffield to Tamworth. Car Satnav will take you all on motorway/DC - M1, A42, M42, M6, M54. Experienced truck drivers will go M1, A38, A5, A460, M54 - the latter being a bit quicker in a truck despite several miles being 30-40MPH single carriageway.

Another one is Hull to Reading. Satnav will send you M62, M18, M1, M25, M4 - 239 miles. Truckers will go M62, M18, M1, A43, M40, A34, M4 - 214 miles. For a car, the M25 route is a better balance of time:distance. For a truck the route round Oxford is a better balance of time:distance. I've done that route both ways many times and in a truck, the latter way is about 10-15 minutes quicker.

There are truck specific satellite navigation systems available.

However, I still don't understand how an atlas will give better information than a satellite navigation system, in terms of what you have described.

You are talking about "experienced" LGV drivers, I presume the "experience" refers to those who have done the same journey before. I wonder how they found out what the best route to take was, did the atlas tell them? Does it give them detailed information about the size, shape and width of the road? Does it give them details about the average speed of the traffic on that road? No, it doesn't, neither do most satellite navigation systems, so, an atlas has no more advantage over a satellite navigation system, in respect of the information given.

There are also places especially for trucks where a route into a town which is ideal for cars is not the best for trucks even though a truck can go down that road.

An atlas is not going to give you any more information than a satellite navigation system, to enable you to establish that.

In the hundreds of thousands of miles I've driven, much of it with Satnav availability, I've found that Satnav really comes into its own for a trucker for the last few miles. Outside of that, knowledge and an atlas is better.

An atlas is not going give you the experience and knowledge you are referring to.

banger9365

you cannot beat a good map book,and common sense,
satnav's do have a place ,usually the last few miles if you do not know where some place is ,but using it has a guild not the be all and end all ,like some,
its like the satnav taken over the old AtoZ's,and lost common sense, which we had with the AtoZ's,
i do not use a satnav just a map book

Notmyrealname

Flyboy152 wrote: »

Explain.



How does an atlas give you traffic information?

How do you come to the conclusion I was saying the atlas was?

There are truck specific satellite navigation systems available.

And if you read the trucking forums, those who have used them have said they're crap.

However, I still don't understand how an atlas will give better information than a satellite navigation system, in terms of what you have described.

It isn't "better", it just presents a view of a wider area better. When you zoom out on Satnav to cover the same area as an atlas page, it stops rendering unclassified roads then C roads, then B roads and finally minor A roads.

You are talking about "experienced" LGV drivers, I presume the "experience" refers to those who have done the same journey before.

No.

I wonder how they found out what the best route to take was, did the atlas tell them?

Yes in many cases.

An atlas is not going to give you any more information than a satellite navigation system, to enable you to establish that.

As I said above, it'll give you more detailed information AT ANY ONE TIME for a larger area than a Satnav screen.