Today, the Garmin brand makes some of the best GPS units on the market. Some of them are designed for cars. Others are manufactured for hiking. But some of these GPS units are made with semi-truck drivers in mind.
Garmin GPS devices provide truck drivers with safe driving routes making their life easier. These routes take into account any physical and legal restrictions on the road and re-route them to avoid any driving challenges truck drivers may encounter.
Some of these restrictions on the road might be steep grades, low clearance bridges, weight limitations, length and width restrictions, truck speed limits, dangerous bends.
Today, I am going to review the Garmin GPS devices for truck drivers.
Does Garmin GPS have truck routes?
The below list of Garmin GPS devices can download truck routes or low clearance information to an SD Memory Card or onto the device itself. This is stated on this Garmin’s website page.
They state the following:
“Garmin offers truck-friendly routing options only to some truck-specific devices. All other Garmin devices do not contain mapping software that supports truck routes or low bridge clearances.”
Here is the list of truck-friendly navigation devices:
- dezl 560LMT
- dezl 570LMT
- dezl 580LMT
- dezl 760LMT
- dezl 770LMT
- dezl 780LMT
- dezl LGV/OTR700
- dezl LGV/OTR800
- dezl LGV/OTR1000
- dezlCamLMTHD
- dezlCam 785LMTHD
- nuvi 465T
Find below the descriptions of the above GPS units above.
Garmin GPS's for truck drivers features
- The Garmin GPS for truck drivers provides lifetime maps and free live traffic updates. This means that the GPS unit provides free traffic routes on the roads that actually exist on the map.
- Most Garmin GPS units for truckers are preloaded with maps for U.S. and Canada.
- The GPS unit customizes your best route based on size and weight of the truck.
- If the Garmin GPS is connected to internet through a Wi-Fi then it gets the latest traffic and weather alerts.
- The Garmin GPS devices for truck drivers are 5-inch or 7-inch display wide.
- While driving, you can customize the GPS with your voice only without touching the screen.
- The Bluetooth feature allows to receive phone calls directly on the GPS unit. It has loud built-in speakers. This means that you can make hands-free phone calls so that you don't have to take your eyes off the road while dialing.
- Connect your GPS unit with the wireless backup camera, which is sold separately. Once it's connected, the Garmin GPS unit displays the camera footage right on its screen.
- The GPS unit generates alerts for the upcoming low bridges and weight limits.
- Configure the GPS unit to alert when it's the break time.
- The Garmin GPS unit has a Truck and Trailer Service directory (NTTS), which provides truck drivers with information about truck stops filtered by amenities or brand names. It helps finding truck stops, hotels, weight stations, outdoor Wi-Fi spots, parking, etc.
- It features a memory card slot that accommodates up to 32GB of storage.
