PC Miler PCM430 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Truck Navigator
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Amazon.com Product Description PC Miler Navigator, powered by CoPilot, is changing the way commercial truck drivers work, making it possible for spoken street-level directions to be generated anywhere within seconds. It’s the first GPS navigation system specifically designed for company drivers, owner operators, and leased operators, and it’s the only way to get industry-standard PC Miler directions in the cab. PC Miler is used by more than 22,000 motor carriers, shippers, and logistics companies around the world.
The first GPS navigation system specifically designed for company drivers, owner operators, and leased operators. Click to enlarge. |
PC Miler Routing: Practical, Shortest. Click to enlarge. |
Truck stops, rest areas, weigh stations, and 6 million additional points of interest. Click to enlarge. |
Easy-to-see driver safety screen. Click to enlarge. |
2D and 3D map views. Click to enlarge. |
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Navigation Features
- PC Miler Routing: Practical, Shortest, 53′/102″
- Trailer, HazMat, National Network, and Toll Avoidance
- 13′ 6″ height, 48′ length, 80,000 pound weight, and 96″ width restrictions
- Large, clear 4.3-inch touchscreen
- Truck-specific, loudly spoken dock-to-dock directions throughout the United States and Canada
- Easily detours around unexpected congestion and avoids specific roads
- Optimizes up to 50 stops
- Miss a turn? With fast automatic route recalculation, drivers will never be lost
- Truck stops, rest areas, weigh stations, and 6 million additional POIs
- Easy-to-see driver safety screen; flexible and clear
- 2D and 3D map views
- Pre-installed software and map data; works out of the box
Driver and Fleet Benefits
- Reduces out-of-route, empty, and deadhead mileage
- Reduces fuel costs
- Improves driver efficiency and dispatcher productivity
- Helps avoid costly fines and vehicle damage
- Provides accurate pick-up and delivery times
- Safe and stress-free driving on truck-legal roads
- Improves operational consistency with PC Miler in the cab and back office
Truck-Specific Map Data
- 794,000 highway miles and more than 7 million street-level miles
- 140 million nationwide U.S. street addresses
- 30 million nationwide Canadian street addresses
- More than 850,000 miles of truck restrictions (e.g., bridge heights, load limits, left-turn and dangerous turn restrictions, and urban road classifications)
Additional Features and Benefits
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Text-to-Speech
Provides spoken dock-to-dock directions with street names in a natural and clear voice for hands-free truck-legal navigation -
Load Profitability
Preview trips before hitting the road. Analyze trip cost, time, and pay to make smart load choices, with HOS break times factored in -
Customize Vehicle Dimensions
Enter the exact height, weight, length, and width of the vehicle for optimal routing. Maximum values are 13′6″ (H), 53′ (L), 120″ (W); 132,000 pounds -
Warnings
If a driver inadvertently turns onto a restricted road, a warning appears on the screen, and the best alternative route is automatically calculated -
Career Enhancement
Improves driver retention and recruiting planning
What’s in the Box
PC Miler navigator, pre-installed CoPilot truck GPS navigation software, quick start guide, windshield mount, truck charger, home charger
Features
- GPS for commercial truck drivers, with truck routing via HazMat, Toll Avoidance, Shortest, Height/Weight Restricted, National Network
- Dock-to-dock directions throughout the United States and Canada; multi-point routing (for up to 50 stops) with Route Optimization
- 6 million Points of Interest (POIs), including truck stops, rest areas, and weigh stations
- 850,000 miles of truck restrictions
- 4.3-inch TFT widescreen touch display
- Dimensions (W x H x L): 1 x 3 x 4 inches
- Weight: 1 pounds
Reference Tool Only
Bought the PCM430 at a local Pilot Truck Stop on sale. From the start, it had to be charged fully before use. Setup was a bit difficult as there was no manual in the box.
Unit has failed to operate on many occasions, relies solely on battery for power, though can be charged while in use. If the battery dies, the unit dies as well.
Maps are seriously outdated (by about 10 years), despite so-called updated application software. Customer addresses I’ve been going to for many years do not show up at all, and unit won’t accept their addresses.
It does handle HazMat routing okay, does alert for low bridges fairly accurately, but needs serious update for general truck routes. Unit also needs to tell the difference between gas stations (for cars only) and truck stops.
Use this for a tool only, do not rely on it for actual routing and planning. For what it does, it should be less than half the price.
Isn’t all it’s cracked up to be
We bought the Pc Miler becouse we were told its the best, Well my husband just started over the road trucking and we had to buy a TOM TOM to do what the Miler didn’t. Save your money and buy a tom tom
unacurate maps and freezes up
I bought this right when it came out in december 08 while with my trainer. I used it for my first solo trip and then the next 11 months after. It just stoped working last week. The low battery warning came on even tho the unit was plugged in. It powered off and now will not turn back on. Just replaced with a garmin 205 (99$ at walmart) that so far is impressing me. The garmin is nice because when looking at the directions it will tell you the exit numbers you will be taking to compare them to directions you get on qualcomm. The PC miler did not do this, also the pcmiler would freeze up and worst of all the maps weren’t accurate. Many times it would show the ramp to change highways on the right when it would be on the left, or tell me to take 495 when it was really 95 it wanted me to take. The worst was a run to brooklyn I did..This thing got so damn confussed the route it gave basically went in circles all over, so I shut the navigation off and just looked at the map to figure it out on my own.
Besides those problems which are bad enough there were many other things I don’t really care to remember. Two that stand out right away..with the copilot you have to manually pick the time zone you are in.. they list like 80 time zones and you have to scroll threw them all. Every time the battery dies you have to do this. Another is everytime you want to dim or brighten the screen you have to exit the whole navigation program. Then go back to it and reprogram your route after. The garmin automatically knows what time zone you are in at all times so you dont have to do anything. Also it has an automatic mode for the screen brightness. It will dim the screen slightly at dusk and then dim it all the way when the sun goes down. All this while still navigating I pretty much give up on truck specific GPS systems, Just buy a cheap garmin for cars and cross reference with your atlas while you use it. If the garmin puts you on a parkway or something just add a waypoint or two until it keeps you on the roads you want to be on.
a GPS? hardly….
I saw this at a truck stop for $300 plus tax $316 and read about it online (Jan. 2009) and the only info was the paid reviews. It said “Good luck finding one” and the price was $350 online. I SCOOPED IT UP as they had 3 units right there. I sat in the restaurant and unpacked the unit and played with it on battery power for over an hour. I was VERY disappointed with it in every aspect. Size, Shape, Style, Quality, (very cheesy plastic) looks like PC Miler slapped their name on a $20 unit. Taking it further and the actual GPS functions were nothing like any of the 3 other units I had used before. Not user friendly or nice looking graphics NOTHING appealed to me about it. I returned it right away and never even took it out of their building.
I went on Amazon and picked up a Navigon 2100 max $169 shipped and 2 years (8 updates) free!!! and Lifetime traffic. EXCELLENT unit beautiful looks and graphics and works great. LOVE the real speed limit signs and the warning (5, 10, or 15 MPH over warning) if I see a cop and unsure of the speed limit a quick glance and I know. UNLIKE other motorists that jam on the brakes and slow 10 MPH below the limit because they are unsure and seeing a cop they just automatically jam on the brakes at any speed. ALSO lane assist is very cool showing you how many lanes split to the left or right at a split and highlights the lane(s) you will need to be in as long as you have a route programed in and it know where you are going.
Now onto the Rand McNally TND 500…. Last night I found a REAL working unit at a PILOT and WOW… WOW… this thing is top notch! I am hoping it exceeds how I feel about the Navigon as it is an actual “truck gps” but the features it offers including hours of service log book, state line miles, calculator, converter (miles/kilo)and from what I read it shows the speed limit like my Navigon just not sure it has real looking speed limit signs. The design including the 5 inch screen is very nice. It seems to have a rubber like housing, but you would not know it until you touch it. Very sharp looking unit. The touch screen was very responsive. VERY RESPONSIVE! Nothing worse than having to tap 3 times to get a reaction. FIRST TAP every time. $500 is a bit more than I am WANTING to pay right now… I would be willing to as I think it is worth it, but I have a nice GPS unit right now and this is just something I WANT…. not NEED. Will jump on it when it drops $50 or $100 I am sure.
ALL GPS UNITS are a TOOL! Just like a map. It can make mistakes just like you can looking at a map. Using a GPS combined with another tool is a must. I always use my DeLorme map program and get the big picture on my laptop then compare my smaller GPS unit and see what it tells me. I no longer carry a “paper” map. I have 2 back up laptops with the map program in the truck in case of failure. Depending on any GPS to “take you” where you need to go is not intelligent and a last resort if you absolutely do not know where you are. In a car you could, but no way in a truck. Even with a “truck GPS” they still may take you down a street you should not be on. Calling Shippers and Consignees is still a wise decision and relying on the GPS to get you there ONLY if nobody answers the phone. WE have ALL been there I am sure.
Sorry I got off track on the review of the PC Miler GPS, but I hope it helps anyone who reads this make an informed decision.
OTR trucker since 1992 (21 y/o)
Not worth the money
I am a owner/operator & I bought this because of the name PC Miler. Thinking it would help with restricted routes & such.
Problem is right after setting it up within minutes it froze up. I had to hit the reset button to get it to work. Then after driving
about 50 miles it froze up again. I also had a difficult time with the support team giving answers. They wanted me to send the unit in for them to look at. They wouldn’t even pay shipping cost. I also noticed that after 50mph the street names disappeared. Not a good idea if your looking for a street that is before your turen or exit. Sent it back for a refund.
Disappointed
Purchasing this product was a waste of time and energy. Within days of receiving this GPS it would not turn on. The on/off button would not respond. Just trying to set up the specs for the truck was frustrating. When using the pen provided for the touch screen we would have to try different angles to get the set up we wanted. When testing this products maps it only lead us to never never land. Many drivers rely on these kinds of products for employement and could be very costly for them when the product does not deliver what it says it will. Very disappointing. Happy to say we found another brand (Garmin 465t) that is very easy for us to use and reliable.
Has treated me very well so far
I got this in August from Dieselboss and it already had the new maps on it. It definitely made a huge difference once I set up my truck and road profile properly. It came with the settings on “default” which drove me like a car until I read their quick-start guide and saved a profile that matched my truck’s height, weight, length properly. It also has a further setting for favoring the larger roads (interstates) and telling it to NOT use local and smaller roads. I agree with other reviews about the speaker because once you have all of your truck noise it is difficult to hear what it is saying. I bought an FM transmitter and plugged it into the headphone jack and now it’s nice and loud out of my stereo speakers. I don’t need the voice out on open, long stretches of highway anyway and only turn on the FM transmitter to hear it when I get close to my destination. The new maps also seem to have the points of interest (truck stops, weigh stations, WalMarts, etc) very accurate. Nearly every truck stop I punched up was current and took me right to it. All-in-all it is no replacement for common sense of course, but has been very valuable so far in keeping me from going out-of-route and on time. I bought the Garmin 465T previously and though that one seems to have a few more raw addresses in it, this one has been much more accurate in keeping me on proper truck routes than the Garmin was.
Buyer beware!
This GPS has multiple problems, and the support center does nothing to help. Works ok many times, but just as many guides you out into the middle of nowhere and says you have arrived at your destination. My VZ Navigator finds addresses it can’t and is easier to use. It ran me straight into a low bridge the very first day! The restricted road feature navigates you onto a weight restricted road then tells you after the fact. It also likes to take you off of the highway through downtown areas. The support center promised an update, then charges $99 for it. You are much better off to buy a less expensive GPS with truck navigation feature.
Don’t waste your money.
This GPS is years out of date. Major roads are missing, Most addresses are missing.
I have a cheap GPS also that is twice as good as this one. I even emailed the Support center and ask for an update. They want $99 for and update. I think I will just spend the $99 for a better GPS and take a loss on the money I spent on this junk. THe GPS is great except for the maps. What good is a gps without the maps?
Waste of money
I bought this GPS and returned it within 24 hours.Can not hear the speaker inside a truck. Every road shows as a restricted truck route. Hard to view in the daylight. No truckstops are listed in POI’s. Tried to send me off on a county road.
A good auto GPS is a better buy.
PC Miller in any form is not a good buy.