Garmin vs. Rand McNally: Which Truck GPS Is the Best?

Freight Relocators

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Staff member
When it comes to trucker-specific GPS devices, Garmin and Rand McNally are two of the biggest names. Both offer features tailored for truck drivers, but which one delivers the best navigation, ease of use, and value? Have you used either or both of these GPS units? Share your experiences with their strengths and weaknesses, and let’s help fellow drivers decide which one is worth the investment

 
NEither or.

Ya just watching a Gps screen both brands will lead ya on no truck roads have ya doing uturns on side streets.

Get you a map and do a "Pre-Plan" kinda have an ideaabefore ya go.

Think of GPS as "Guidance" but if it tells ya turn someplace and it dont look right "Dont" just keep going when ya can stop somewhere get your bearings again
 
I use CoPilot on my tablet with a traffic subscription. Don't remember what the app itself cost, if anything it would have been a one shot purchase because I'd notice repeated billing, but traffic is $10 a year and well worth it. It automatically updates every minute or few minutes and has a visual color coded bar for you to see in mileage terms where the delays are and a delay calculation in minutes (hours if it's a true clusterfuck).

If there's another route that is faster than the delay, it will pop up a message and ask you to accept or reject the suggestion.

It's so good, when my subscription to traffic ran out last year, I pulled over onto a ramp to renew it. And I don't stop for shit.

It helps me especially bigly doing these Upper Marlboros that require me to run 66, 495, and 270.

You still need to keep your eyes open and your brain active for the routing portion. It doesn't always calculate routes that make sense. I'll call it 90% accurate.
 
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Caveat: I have no idea if this would be good OTR going to an unknown customer. As a local doing familiar routes every day, I use it for the traffic.

When I go to a new place, I do the Google satellite view thing and scroll the heck out of it. If street view is available, I also use that.

If neither are a thing (brand new build), I feign sickness/mechanical and nope out then ask the group chat about it. :D
 
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