In the long-haul trucking sector, a truck’s cab is not just the driver’s cockpit; it is also their living room and occasionally the kitchen table. Therefore, highly useful truck gadgets and accessories are vital for the safety, efficiency, and comfort of the drivers due to the considerable time spent on the road. It is for this reason that we present several best trucker gadgets that can legitimately turn a basic truck into a fully equipped mobile home-office, optimizing every aspect of the trucker lifestyle.
Contents:
- How to Choose the Right Cool Gadgets for Truck Drivers
- Why is it Essential to Equip Trucks with Cool Gadgets for Truck Drivers?
- Best Trucker Gadgets Every Driver Should Have
- Conclusion
How to Choose the Right Cool Gadgets for Truck Drivers
So, you want to equip your truck with the most useful gadgets? Not so fast; there are some considerations that every buyer should keep in mind, such as:
- Purpose and Need: Assess what you need to make your daily trucker routine more bearable. Is it about staying connected, navigating with ease, or making your cabin more homely?
- Compatibility and Installation: Ensure the gadgets are compatible with your truck’s manufacturer and model. Moreover, avoid complicated installation and integration processes.
- Durability and Warranty: Avoid spending on gadgets that will succumb to the shakes and temperature diversity on road trips. Additionally, a warranty can be a lifesaver and a money-saver in the long-term.
Why is it Essential to Equip Trucks with Cool Gadgets for Truck Drivers?
Truck gadgets are not just enhancements; they are tools and instruments that save your mind and sometimes the day. Cool gadgets for truck drivers ensure efficiency and safety for both truckers and big rigs. These innovative tools can transform tedious journeys into comfortable and controlled experiences.
- Safety Enhancements: For instance, the latest GPS units come with real-time traffic and weather information while dash cams can record accidents and assign blame to the culprits..
- Efficiency and Productivity: For example, a well-mixed route saves a lot of money and time, from fuel to perks and incentives. Additionally, gadgets like laptops and a reliable source of internet ensure that paperwork and correspondence are handled objectively.
- Comfort and Well-being: Trucking is heroic because of how grueling it can be. Gadgets like a portable fridge, microwave, and comfortable headphones make the truck homier and better life on the road.
Best Trucker Gadgets Every Driver Should Have
Below are gadgets any truck driver would utilize and find beneficial while providing the required tools to enhance safety and productivity on the road. From the advanced navigation system to gadgets that would assist in providing information on when the fatigue level is high, these are essential gadgets every truck driver should have to make a smoother and more productive trip.
GPS Device
A reliable GPS device is also part of the modern requisite in trucking, containing features that not only display directions but also supply vital information about the routes, including height and weight limits for bridges. The greater part of these consists of live traffic updates to allow one to avoid delays caused by accidents or even roadworks. Bear in mind that navigation software in the GPS device must fit the needs of commercial transportation. One very important and helpful safety function of semi-truck GPS systems is to alert you to the safest truck route for your size, weight, and type of freight you are hauling. It even provides specialized parking information for truckers. The most advanced GPS devices offer image-based prompt systems and plan arrival routes at destination – points.
Your employer – carrier – would have your truck equipped with a reliable GPS unit or a tablet with a choice of installed navigation software. But if you wish to have more features and much better reliability, not to mention larger screens, hundreds of vendors offer dozens of devices.
Truck GPS devices can cost around $50 to well over $500. More expensive alternatives usually include more route planning features and more frequent map updates. GPS devices that cost less than $100 and come with added route planning for truckers receive quite moderate feedback. The most satisfied users are those of Garmin devices.
This manufacturer offers five GPS devices with solid navigation software, which meets every trucker's demand. Garmin’s top-of-the-range product features an onboard dashcam, allowing you to easily choose from the best trucker gadgets in their lineup.
Dash Cam
A dash cam is a crucial tool for documenting on-road incidents. This can greatly assist in providing evidence for insurance claims and surely allows the perspective of truck drivers to be included in the analysis of any road incidents. We’ve already touched upon this topic in a previous article. To sum it up, a Dash Cam is truly a must-have for truckers. As a rule, even if all the carriers equip their fleet with dash cams in pursuit of the same purposes – collection and preservation of evidence – you as a trucker may still use your dash cam together with the one already installed. A consumer dash cam, on the other hand, will most likely boast a better lens and sensor, capturing everything in view at 4K resolution on a sunny day and during the night. It can also serve as a security monitor while the driver is asleep. What’s more, as an owner of the dash cam, you have full and easy access to the recorded footage.
CB Radio
Some people say that CB radio was the first social media for truckers. Communication today has passed that kind of primitive communication. But still, most 18-wheelers, even the newest models, carry with them a CB radio. So is the same for trucks in the fleet of HMD Trucking.
With the advancement of technology, the CB radio still exists in the consignment of every trucker, giving a chance for truckers from road conditions to safety tips, even for the sake of keeping a social visit during those long trips on the open highway.
This revision improves grammar and clarity while maintaining the original message.
USB Charger
Any device you have needs a power supply in your staple as a trucker. Most of the devices you will be using are supplied with energy through the use of a USB cable. The more the devices you have, the more the USB ports you will require.
Luckily, it has been replaced by a big choice of USB chargers. Choose that charger, which is able to hold at bay all your devices' number at one time. If you would follow our advice, then consider looking for the most powerful chargers with the ability to give at least 50 watts and have 4 USB-ports.
Do not shy away from picking chargers that have both USB-A and USB-C types of ports. The latter is the USB-C type of port, which is the most modern one, and many, if not most, of your devices over the coming years will be equipped with it. A powerful USB-charger with multiple USB ports of both types is one of the best gadgets for truck drivers.
Laptop
In that case, a laptop may be a very significant tool not only for CDL truck drivers but also for the more experienced owner-operator truck drivers. The latter ensures smooth communication between the dispatch and the clients, hence facilitating timely delivery of the schedule because you have access to information that he sends and receives in real-time. They will also be in a position to update, in digital form, any delivery documents, receipts, and maintenance logs to make sure that all the documents are up to date and ready for access. This would cut down the risk of losing documents and the ability to clear any discrepancies rapidly. Along with this, it also serves as an entertainment medium, wherein they can watch movies, listen to music, and even complete some of the works which they have for a long time while taking a long break or during overnight stops. It offers an opportunity for the drivers who want to take online classes either in relation to a truck driver job or personal interests.
Last but not least, if there is anything one wants to find around, like a repair shop, he would have to look for information with a laptop, and therefore a laptop will be very helpful on the roads.
That means a laptop is a tool in its capacity, but multifunctional, aiding quality and productivity to CDL truckers.
To be fair, the laptop is not an essential thing, as the company provides their drivers with tablets to perform work duties. All arising problems upon delivery are taken care of by a dispatch.
Headset
Headsets are really helpers of truck drivers because they increase safety and good communication on the road. For the first, the use of Bluetooth headsets allows truckers to communicate through hands-free activities, which is a way of the law towards road safety and hence the reduction of many cases of distraction while driving. Its hands-free feature allows the drivers to concentrate on the road, manning the steering and navigation without necessarily having to hold a phone.
Besides, in noisy areas, the headsets increase the clarity of communication that is required. The other help may include noise canceling to filter the engine sounds and road noises, up to clarity of speaking and hearing even in phone calls for the trucker. Such comfort is of much importance to truckers who are on the road for long hours for them to stay attentive and free from fatigue.
Portable Fridge
The other thing one is not surprised to find in the big rig sleeper is a portable refrigerator. Another companion of every OTR trucker on the roads is a portable fridge. The fridge will be portable and will allow the trucker to take up less room to store home-cooked healthy meals and reduce the dependence on fast food and truck stops, which are unhealthy and expensive. That ensures good, healthy living and general wellness – a very important factor, keeping in mind the long hours of work spent out on the road. A portable fridge is, therefore, ideal for food, snacks, and drinks that are perishable, hence providing convenience and saving time due to minimal stops. Most importantly, the portable fridge makes an essential addition to the general comfort and homey feeling in the cab. It can also be quite morale valuable when working over long mileage. Thirdly, it allows for the management of diet and much more controlled food consumption to better ensure healthier living while at work.
Microwave
Another gadget that can find a place in any sleeper of the big rig is a microwave. For any CDL trucker who has been on the road for weeks, microwaves are a must. Truck drivers can easily reheat pre-prepared meals in a microwave as long as they are in the truck, hence reduced dependency on fast foods with the freedom to choose healthy foods.
Microwaves provide a good, effective way of heating up meals very fast. In fact, this is very essential for the trucker, bearing in mind that he has very tight schedules; during meal breaks, he has very little time to spare. Thus, in general, use on the road of the microwave brings in a better quality of life due to the convenience and varied diets offered, with added savings in time and money required. This makes a microwave an indispensable tool for any CDL trucker.
Slow Cooker
A slow cooker is an optional gadget, yet most truckers find it to be a must. The slow cooker helps one prepare healthy home-cooked meals on the road, taking away the dependence on fast foods or the 'truck stop' style, which normally contains way too many calories and is far from being nutritious. Modern slow cookers are built for safe and easy traveling. They can be easily plugged into the power outlet of your truck and, with their tight-locking covers, they will assure you that the meals inside get cooked as you drive. Since it takes a great deal of supervision to prepare and cook, the slow cooker would be best suited for truck drivers who wouldn't be able to keep an eye on the meal while on rigorous, busy schedules.
Vacuum Cleaner
The 12-volt vacuum cleaner is one of those must-haves that offers huge benefits to CDL truckers, dealing with the peculiar needs of road life. First, they are portable vacuum cleaners with compact designs, and, therefore, it stores easily within the limited space of the cabin of a truck. Ensuring the collection of food crumbs, dirt, and debris is timely and effective definitely amounts to healthy and safe living within the environment. This actually provides help to truck drivers who spend long hours within these vehicles. A 12-volt vacuum cleaner would be quite a good investment for CDL truckers, since it would go quite a long way in making the interior of the truck, where they are going to spend most of their life, considerably clean to a healthy level and, therefore, comfortable.
Working gloves
Work gloves are important to the pair of gear for CDL truckers for a pair of reasons. In one sense, they protect his hands from the heavy and sometimes sharp things. Secondly, to enhance grip and control on machinery and equipment, be it heavy while in operation or when adjustments are to be made.
This increased grip helps prevent slips and mishaps that can lead to serious injuries. In cold weather, a trucker makes use of insulated gloves for further comfort without the development of numbness or a problem in proper drive or handling of controls safely. Last but not least, if they are worn, they will instill the spirit of professionalism in safety; hence, they shall contribute to the community of trucking in developing a sense of caution and care, in affecting overall safety on the roads. We’ve already covered the topic of the best gloves for truckers and share this information with you.
Reflective jacket or raincoat
The one piece of gear that no CDL trucker ought to be without is a reflective raincoat. Often, the loads are on flatbeds and require tying down and, at times, tarping in the nasty weather. The raincoat is reflective and thus guarantees high visibility to the driver. A proper jacket for truckers provides essential protection against rain and snow, which would avoid getting the driver wet, and therefore not feel cold. It is a characteristic of very great importance, since in addition to the comfort it gives, it prevents different diseases related to cold.
The premier graded reflective raincoats are now incorporated with added mechanisms of either insulated layers or adjustable cuffs to become more assisting in their function under varying conditions of weather. A reflective raincoat is, in the last regard, really not an article of clothing but rather an investment in the safety and comfort needed by CDL truckers, more especially in the flatbed division.
Conclusion
Priceless are the cool gadgets and accessories for the truck drivers, without which the trucker's efficiency, safety, and comfort on the road would not be enhanced. They actually go a long way in really improving a trucker's life and are thus important to be sought after by anyone who would want to derive the best out of the truck.
That might involve everything from being able to keep constant contact at home, managing living spaces, to even being able to get their deliveries on time. Ready to help steer the course of your professional career in a new direction? Look no further than HMD Trucking. Come work for one of the fastest-growing companies, with one of the newest fleets. You can also check out our lease purchase flatbed trucking jobs page which we update regularly.
