Garmin Truck GPS - UPDATE

[paul102a3]

I just received the new to market Garmin 465T GPS which was designed to assist truckers.

First impressions are pretty good. It allows you to load all significant parameters of your vehicle, height, length, width, total vehicle weight, heavyest axle weight, etc. Based on the data input by the operator, it is supposed to warn you if the road you are on will accommodate your vehicle.

A quick 7 mile drive around my area in my SUV demonstrated the feature I was most interested in which is avoidance of restricted roads. It popped up a warning stating that I should seek an alternate route when I went down a side street with no exit.

I am leaving FL on Thursday heading to NC in my pick up but will run the GPS in the truck/Bus mode to see what happens. I will post some feedback after I put the unit through it's paces.

One thing I found real nice was the NTTS database. I wish I had this when I had my blowout last week while waiting for the shuttle to launch. I called up the database and there is a subsection for truck repair, towing, tire sales and repair, and many others. pressing the tire sales icon lists all the truck tire sales and repair facilities within a 100 mile radius of the GPS. Sure beats cold calling when traveling in a new area.

Another nice feature is the power cord has an FM radio receiver in it which can listen for traffic  updates. When active, a small icon shows on the screen letting the operator know the status of traffic flow. Green is good and red indicates stop and go conditions.

Paul

UPDATE

I just arrived in NC last night so I thought I would update my impressions of the 465T.

To set the stage, I have used multiple in-car and aftermarket GPS units since they first came on the market. That does not make me an expert however I have logged many road miles looking for specific addresses and points of interest so I know what works for me.

The unit I have relied on for many years has been the Garmin Street Pilot III. My Street pilot has been continuously updated with maps and software upgrades throughout its life. The only complaint I have of the Street Pilot is the slow recalculating time when you deviate from the recommended path.

The purchase of the bus gave me the opportunity to try a new GPS as I don't want to go down roads I shouldn't be on.

In another life, I logged many, many thousands of miles cruising Florida and the Bahamas. I have both a Garmin and a Furuno chart plotter on the flybridge of the boat which run side by side. The one feature of the Furuno I really like was the ability to set the minimum depth of water for a given path. If I were to set a course that crosses a shallow spot, the Furuno would pop up a warning giving the operator a chance to correct the course before any damage. Hitting a propeller on a coral head gets very expensive and don't ask how I know that.

I wanted a GPS for the bus that would warn me before I hit the top of the bus or reached a bridge that could not support the bus.

My normal Garmin calculated route between FL and NC is St Pete Beach to I-275 passing through Tampa onto I-75N.  Exit I-75 at Ocala onto US-301N up to I-10E then onto I-95N then I-26W through Ashville, and finally, US-19 to Burnsville.

My new Garmin Nuvi 465T calculated the same route listed above when in the car mode so it was nice to see the algorithms used were the same as before. When switched to the truck mode, the calculated route varied in two areas.  I have two primary ways to reach I-275 from my FL home. Both take about the same amount of time but one route gets you to the interstate with no side roads but you must pay a toll. The other route takes side roads but no tolls. The car mode uses the side roads to the interstate and the truck mode takes the toll road.

The second calculated change was in the Ocala/301 area. The calculations for the truck route took me 26 miles farther north on I-75 and had me exit onto US-24 which then intersected with US-301. Again, the primary difference was more interstate travel, less local traffic. As an aside, I will take the truck route from now on as it was a nicer drive.

I have logged the last eight trips back and forth (left over from my boating days) so here is actual real life data. Car route was 706.6 covered miles, truck route was 713.0. Actual driving time was 11:08 vs 11:19 so no real difference there.

Things I liked and disliked about the actual unit are as follows. The traffic delay feature really works. As I was heading towards Tampa, the GPS predicted a 3 minute delay which was about right. I was heading towards Tampa just as rush hour was beginning so I was not able to maintain posted speed limits. It did not catch a delay on I-26 which was caused by a roll over but to be fair, the accident was relatively new.

The unit has pop up warnings for weigh stations, narrow sections of the road, sharp exits, etc. Warnings were fairly accurate however I estimate the database is 2 years out of date (which is really pretty good considering the amount of construction). For example, the unit warned of a narrow bridge on I-95. This bridge has just been widened so it is no longer an issue.

The unit displays the speed limit of the roadway. I found it uncanny that that it would switch within a few seconds of passing the sign posting the new speed. Again, the information was a little outdated but I would say it was accurate 98% of the time.

The NTTS database was real nice. All along the route I kept simulating the need for truckstops, repairs, towing, etc and each time up popped numerous options arranged by distance from my actual position on the road.

Calculation and recalculation of routes was very fast. When I would exit the interstate for fuel/food, I wasn't a few yards off the interstate before the unit started to recalculate and display how to get back on.

The display has very good resolution and I was able to read and/or understand 90% of what was displayed without my reading glasses.

One thing that impressed me was the accuracy of the touch screen. All functions of the GPS are accessed by touching the screen including typing on the QWERTY keyboard. I drive a Chevy 2500HD which does not have the smoothest ride and I made very few errors while enter information bouncing along the rough sections of I-95 (are there any smooth sections). I see no reason for problems while using it in the bus.

On the down side, the audio was pretty poor. The speaker is located on the rear of the unit and with the volume set at 80%, I could not hear directions very well. Many times I had to turn the radio off to better understand what was said. I tried the volume at higher levels and while it was louder, the speaker buzzed and created too much distortion. They need to put an auxiliary out port so it could have an external speaker.

The only other issue I had was that it shuts off after 30 seconds if the 12 volt power is shut down. It is not a big deal but you do have to remember to override it each time you shut down the vehicle or find an always on power source.

So far, I have not been able to test the functions that really interest me such as height and weight restrictions. Now that I am in NC, I will find some low overpasses and some bridges that have weight restrictions and report back.

Hope this helps

[DaveG]

Thanks for the quick review Paul. Saw it in the latest edition (printed magazine) of some type that came across my desk...sure glad there are still printed media out there....and was thinking how nice it would be for all  my big trucks to have one. Didn't think about the added bonus of the bus/rv community.

I thought the $500 list price was a bit high, but I have a Zumo 550 for the motorcycle and wouldn't trade it for anything.

[boxcarOkie]

Where do you purchase a unit?  Truckstop or some other source?

BCO

[junkman42]

I have the teletype gps 7" screen that has truck/bus specific software.  I have not had a problem with the software yet!  It is too large to use in the car so have only tested it in the bus.  The large screen is very good for old eyes, do not to look for the bifocals.  Available on line and in truck stops and eBay.  John

[paul102a3]

I purchased mine on-line at the GPS Store. The price is the same no matter where you look but the Best Buy was backordered for two weeks and I wanted it now.

I also tried the Teletype GPS but shipped it back after one day. The unit I had kept locking up while zooming in or out if you weren't real accurate with the + and - buttons. It also drove me nuts that it would proclaim "turn right on senior 686" rather than "turn right on State Road 686".

It's just my opinion that if they don't take the time to get the text to speech conversion right, what else did they skip over. The final straw for me was that it routed me about 65 miles out of my way over a 755 mile trip. I drive back and forth between my FL home and NC home at least once every three weeks. Large trucks run the same route I do but the Teletype would not allow the use of secondary roads thus adding excess miles.

I agree, the large size of the Teletype was real nice for those of us that need reading glasses but as stated above, there were too many negatives for my liking.

Paul

[paul102a3]

I think I goofed. I just updated my original post but it didn't jump to the top. I guess this will push it up.

For future reference, is it best just to continue adding sequentially as opposed to updating an original post, or did I do something wrong?

[JackConrad]

For future reference, is it best just to continue adding sequentially as opposed to updating an original post, or did I do something wrong?

If you modify an existing post it will not move it to the top, if you are adding additional information, better to make a new post.  Jack

[RJ]

I have two primary ways to reach I-275 from my FL home. Both take about the same amount of time but one route gets you to the interstate with no side roads but you must pay a toll. The other route takes side roads but no tolls. The car mode uses the side roads to the interstate and the truck mode takes the toll road.

On the down side, the audio was pretty poor.  They need to put an auxiliary out port so it could have an external speaker.

Paul -

Nice update.  I have a Street Pilot 7200 and thoroughly enjoy it.  A little wonky sometimes when it bus/truck mode, but otherwise pretty accurate.  Really like the 7" screen and the automatically adjusted volume as speed increases feature. . .

As for your new unit, on the truck routing difference you noted, go into settings, and you should be able to find, (under navigation, IIRC) an option to bypass toll roads, avoid u-turns, avoid ferrys, etc.  That should correct that little hiccup.

And for the audio, check and see if you unit offers an FM output - all you may need is to turn it on, again in the settings mode, and tune to an empty FM frequency on your radio.

Again, thanks for the feedback, I'm sure others will find it helpful.

FWIW & HTH. . .

[DaveG]

On my Zumo 550 the voice made some names sound funny, so I changed the voice to a different one and that resolved the issue.

Have you tried the Zumo forum?

PC Nation had the 550 for $648.80 with free shipping FWIW

[jackhartjr]

Paul, for future reference...we send several dozen trucks a week to Tampa and Fort Myers.  On the way back we take 326 which is Exit 358 at the 2 Pilot truck stops east to 301, then north to Baldwin, staying on 301 to Callahan, then taking A1A to I-95.  Of course the do the reverse going down!
Watch out for the speed traps in Waldo, Lawty and Baldwin.
Jack

[paul102a3]

Thanks Jack,

I'll try that route on the way back to St Pete. I appreciate the info as I am allways looking for alternate routes to make the drive more enjoyable.

Paul

[paul102a3]

Jack,

I just tried to plot the route you suggested but am a little confused as to where to go once I reach Callahan. It appears on my mapping program that to get to I-95 from Callahan you take route 200 through Italia, Hero and onto I-95. I can see US 1 branches off up to the northwest at Callahan but I don't A1A. What am I missing?

I clearly see the advantage of your suggested route from I-75 to 301 so thanks for the advice.

Paul

[jackhartjr]

Hi Paul, 200 and A1A are the same road,  had not seen that.
Jack
Remember, Waldo, Lawty and Balwin are Revenue Enhancement Speed TRAPS!
JAck