Gadgetory

the car tech guys here at FEMA spend a good deal of time on the road every week testing the latest cars GPS devices and in-car gadgets but you know who puts us a shame when it comes to Ross seat time truckers isn't it about time somebody designed some car Tech specifically for these masters of the road enter the PC miler navigator 450 GPS for truck drivers the PC miler looks like your average consumer GPS device it's got a 4.3 inch touchscreen a mini USB connection for charging and an SD card slot for loading data and maps going a step further this unit also features a headphone jack and the TMC antenna input for an external traffic receiver there is also an input for the included magnetic external GPS antenna that increases positioning accuracy when the units mounted in a compromised position of course there's also the internal GPS antenna if you don't want to fool around with rudder and the cable for this guy powering up the PC Milo reveals that this is no typical in-car navigator running a version of the co-pilot eight navigation software that's specific to trucks the PC miler has a host of features that make it useful to big rig drivers users can input the height length width weight and weight per axle of their truck to receive truck specific routings users can also save multiple routing profiles to hold these presets for later retrieval presumably after inputting this data the PC miler won't try to send you under low overpasses or across bridges that won't support your payloads weight the unit also features state mileage logs which is quite useful for independent operators for billing purposes the co-pilot software is very flexible with routing presets for automobiles motorcycles bicycles and RVs as well as walking directions so you can even use the PC miler outside of your truck however there are a few things that we don't really like about it from a thumb or standpoint the copilot software can be a bit too complex and tricky to use one adjust the volume good luck finding that on your first attempt the hardware also suffers from a tricky car cradle that makes it difficult to adjust and tricky to connect the external GPS antenna so do the advantages of the truck specific hardware and software outweigh our nitpicks about the interface and cradle designs check out the full review at cnet.com to find out I'm Antoine Goodwin this has been your first look at the PC miler 450 GPF force runners