| I recommend that everyone go with a laptop, because only with a laptop do you get a panoramic view and because only with a laptop can you multitask and do several jobs simultaneously besides just navigation. Plus it’s a much more flexible solution, because you can also surf the Internet, send and receive emails, watch movies, download music, etc. Try multitasking or sending and receiving emails with a GPS stand-alone navigation unit, you can’t do it, but you can with the laptop.
Now there are several solutions on the market but the one I don’t recommend anyone go with is Co-Pilot by Alk Technologies. I used the Co-Pilot 9 for almost two years and I constantly stayed on the phone talking to tech services or sending emails. Not to mention, when I was on truck routes, the software used to tell me to turn around and not only that, but when I would try to route HAZMAT, it would try to route me down residential areas. In other words, it was a comedy of errors.
Anyway, they kept telling me that when Co-Pilot 11 comes out, all the problems would be worked out. Accordingly, when Co-Pilot 11 finally came out after a long delay, they told me that I could have it for free if I paid the shipping and handling cost, I guess because I used to bug them all the time. To make a long story short, I tried the new Co-Pilot 11 version for a week and after a week I took it off my hard drive because it kept crashing!
In any event, I switched to Microsoft Streets & Trips and also bought a new product called the Truck Stops Plus 08. It’s a template that converts Microsoft Streets & Trips into trucker’s software. Besides giving you a quick way to check and verify your routes are truck legal, it also contains thousands of truck specific points of interests like truck stops, Wal-Mart Supercenters, rest areas, picnic/parking areas, turnpike service plazas, weigh stations, etc.
The best part was both products together cost a small fraction of what Co-Pilot cost and together they are a much better product. Hell, I never even read the instructions! I just started using it out of the box, it’s that intuitive and I’ve been able to do every thing I want. Plus now I can plan and route my trips in about 1/10th the time that it used to take me using Co-Pilot.
And the truck stops and other points of interests…man if I would have had something like that when I first started trucking and before I learned where the truck stops were, I would have spent a lot less nights sleeping at exits. Not to mention, that I’ve finally found some truck stops I never could find even after years! | 
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