Navigation for LGV/HGV

[G]

I am soon going to be driving HGV's (appose to forklifts what I drive now) so I have bought a Dell x50v and TomTom Navigator 3.

As I have never had a HGV driving job before or a PDA I have a lot of questions and any help will be much appreciated.

Could someone please tell me if you can use this setup without having any knowledge of the roads (am I going to get lost if I go somewhere I have not been before only using TomTom )?

Will it get you from A to B from door to door, or will it just take you near?

Does this software eliminate the need for a map?

What are the main problems with TomTom and driving HGV's?

Will it take you down roads that lorry’s can’t go down?

Is the PDA that I have bought any good for this job?

I have done some research into all of this but my research has brought me here. I have learnt a lot from reading the forums but some info. aimed at my own questions would be great.

Many thanks
Chris Hill :D

[lbendlin]

TomTom is pretty much ok except it doesn't have any HGV friendly options like avoid narrow turns etc. You can set the road speeds to prefer major highways - those tend to have wide turns ;-)

CoPilot Live has a special "RV" mode that takes this into account.

In any case the navigation system is merely an aid so you don't get lost. You have to keep judging road quality and suitability yourself.
_________________
Lutz

Report Map Errors here:
TomTom/TeleAtlas NAVTEQ

[alix776]

g ill post back with some settings on saturday when i get home they should be ok for hgv use as they're the settings i used
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currently using aponia truck navigation on windows phone. Good bye IOS don't let the door hit you on the way out .

Oh the joys of being a courier.
device Lumia 950 xl

[Skippy]

[G]

Thanks for your posts, its good to know there is someone there to help when all goes wrong.

Many thanks
:P

[alix776]

hi belive it or not youve probably got the best system at the moment there is nothing that is truck freindly aoround. but the is hope if you adjust the speed settings in the advanced properties tab the thing to rember it to set the speeds just below the hgv speed limits so for example and you coulduse these if you wish

motorway 53-54 most hgvs are set at this speed dispite what the speedo says

duel carrigeway 45 - 50

single carrigeway 35-40
etc
if you set the speeds you will get a warning up saying it can lead to slow routeing ive nopt yet had this problem it wont do door to door but will get you usually to within 50 yards

you will have to take care when driving and if it tries to take you down a weight limit then carry on and let it find another route its cheeper (i know this from experiance)
as for low bridges then id down load the low bridge poi from the database the list isnt complete but its getting there. the best thing you could do as well as using the tomtom is to get an AA truckers atlas this has all low bridges on most main roads and also get a good london A 2 Z as i would trust it in london on its own as theres so many wieght,height and width restrictions. also theres to many rat runs these are the only maps i now carry myself now

copilot 5 with rv mode it isnt really that good and doest really make that much difference to the routing so i couldnt recomend it
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currently using aponia truck navigation on windows phone. Good bye IOS don't let the door hit you on the way out .

Oh the joys of being a courier.
device Lumia 950 xl

[G]

It’s really great to hear that you think I have a good setup. I found it very hard finding out what to get. I first was going to get TomTom Go but after a lot of research I come across this site. It has changed a lot for me and helped me more then you could imagine, it really is invaluable for people with no experience like me.

Thanks for all the advice, it’s helped allot.

One question though. When you are inputting the route info. what do you use? Is inputting the postcode the most reliable or does it not find some of them, especially when entering a business postcode.

Many thanks

[alix776]

usually city and street work well for me though if you want full post codes then the aa navigator is the one to go for its nohwere as freature rich as tomtom but will do full post codes without addtional downloads or you could stick with tomtom and down load the postcode programe (personally i dont use it) as i can usually get close enough to the delivery
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currently using aponia truck navigation on windows phone. Good bye IOS don't let the door hit you on the way out .

Oh the joys of being a courier.
device Lumia 950 xl

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