Specialized GPS devices designed specifically for truckers can make your life on the road a whole lot easier.

A reliable GPS device is vital for folks whose job it is to be on the road day and night.  Truckers need to ensure the road/highway data they have is accurate which allows them to take the most efficient routes, saving them time and ultimately money via less money spent on gas and being able to make more trips.  In order to ensure they’re taking the shortest and safest route they need to know things like:

• What are the weight, height, and load restrictions?  Important if the route contains bridges or tunnels.
• What are the lane widths, and can the route accommodate wide loads?
• Where are the nearest travel centers, and what do they have?
• Does the route require U-Turns?  These can be difficult depending on the size of the truck.
• Where are the closest weigh stations?
• Does the route allow for transportation of hazardous materials?

One of the first things that should be determined before the hunt for the perfect truck GPS begins is a clear understanding of what is needed.  Is it a single GPS device for one truck, or are you looking for a total fleet tracking management solution?  There are different solutions based on what you’re looking for.

Individual PND’s (Portable Navigation Devices)

In the event you’re looking for a single GPS device, Rand McNally offers their IntelliRoute® line of GPS devices that are made specifically for truckers.  You can enter in all the weight/height/load/hazmat info of your truck before heading out and these devices will tell you the best route to take based on the entered info.  The TND 700 model claims to have 35% more truck routing information than other GPS units, which sounds good, although I’m not exactly sure what that means.  If you’re only looking for a basic routing functionality, the TND 500 will work just fine, but if you’re looking for calendar functionality with a larger (7” compared to 5”)  HD screen and a stylus, then the TND 700 is the way to go.

Garmin also offers two unique lines of GPS devices for truckers: dezl™ (higher end, more expensive starting at $470) and nüvi® (more affordable, starting at $349.00).  Garmin has always had great routing functionality, which is arguably the most important feature on any trucker’s GPS device.  One of the downsides of these Garmin lines is that they don’t offer a 7” display option like Rand McNally, so if screen size is important to you this is one thing to keep in mind.

PC Miler is the other popular line of trucking GPS devices that should be mentioned in the same class as Rand McNally and Garmin, although it appears to be a step down from the others.  PC Miler does offer a 7” screen although some of that screen is taken up by elements that other GPS devices simply overlay on the map, so it’s not a great use of screen space.  I’ve also read some complaints about poor routing which could be a deal breaker.

Fleet Management Solutions

In the event you’re looking for GPS devices and/or software for a whole fleet then Telogis is worth mentioning.  They offer a robust fleet management platform.

It’s also worth noting that both Garmin and Rand McNally have fleet solutions.  Rand McNally has their TruckPC powered by DriverTech which is a Windows based platform, while Garmin offers both a PND based mobile resource management (MRM) and a handset MRM solution.
Jill Hanson is a contributing writer for TruckertoTrucker.com, a site devoted to the trucking industry which offers a variety of products including dump truck and flatbed trailer sales.

Yeah, GPS is for the dogs.

Seriously.

Garmin just released the latest version of it’s Astro Dog Tracking System.

Geared towards hunters, it allows you to keep track of your dog from miles away so he can do his job of tracking and flushing out game and you’ll still be able to find him and up to nine friends.

List price is $599 but if you should be able to pick it up for $500 of less online (Amazon had it for $488 last I checked) .

The latest one, the DC-40 now allows you to track up to 10 dogs on the same receiver.

Garmin Astro DC-40 Dog Tracking System - GPS

Looks really cool, but haven’t actually used one of these systems myself since I don’t actually hunt or even own a dog for that matter – anybody care to chime in with their thoughts?  I’ve noticed the old system, the DC-30 is pretty well rated on Amazon and people seem to really like it.

When will it become socially acceptable to put these things on our kids too?

If you want your smartphone to focus on GPS and navigation first, and then do other smartphone stuff, like check email, Twitter, and tell you what song is playing on the radio; the Garminfone available on TMobile might be right up your alley.

Specs

From a pure power an specs point of view, this phone is really nothing to write home about.  It has a 3.5″ capacitive touchscreen just like most smartphones.

The phone only has a 2GB microSD card, a 3 megapixel camera, and completely omits a 3.5mm headphone jack which seems like a major oversight on a smartphone these days.  (Update: Price has been reduced from $200 to $130 with contract – much more reasonable).

However, the phone comes with a windshield mount and a car charger which is, of course, extra with pretty much every other phone on the planet these days.

Software

While you wouldn’t know it immediately from looking at it, the Garminfone is running a highly customized version of Android (seems to be 1.6 and it is unknown if the 2.2 update will ever make its way to this phone).

Navigation

While the specs and software are otherwise underwhelming, this phone is built to navigate and navigate it does.

Let’s start with one of the nice features – it works offline!  No network connections required so if you find yourself in the middle of Montana with no cell service to speak of, your GPS can still get you where you want to go as it does what all PND units do – uses it’s GPS chip and stored maps to do the navigating.

Bottom Line

As far I’m concerned, this phone actually is a very acceptable replacement for your dedicated PND and while not as fully featured as the iPhone 4, Evo 4G, or Droid Incredible, it still has plenty of “smartphone” capabilities that should serve all but the most demanding users.

I’m calling this phone the best GPS navigation phone on the market right now and for the heavy GPS user who wants a device that can do it all, this phone is worth considering.

I’d like to see the price come down as $199 with two year contract is simply too high when phones like the Evo 4G and iPhone 4 occupy that price point and in addition to a ton of other features on those high end phones, they remembered to include a 3.5mm headphone jack.