fuel stations with diesel fuel easy to access towing a 40 foot trailer by a full size pickup in western states.

This one covers all of the US but I find it works fine for me in all the western states:

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/26860

thanks

I am new to gps and wonder why I need to download any POI files as whenever I search for a fuel station or Flying J or costco or Mcdonalds it appears I find these already with whatever Garmin supplies out of the box.

Can someone explain why I should add more of the similar items from these POI uploaded files?

Thanks

Rusti

Rusti, between what Garmin provides with its mapping database and what is possible through a smartphone, POI files for this sort of thing are extremely obsolete. I stopped using POI for fuel many years ago, and rely on the normal GPS data and smartphone capability.

Any station that sells diesel will be able to accomodate your rig. No one is going to install a diesel pump without the proper clearance and the room for big rigs to drive in.

dobs108

Diesel pickups towing large trailers, especially livestock trailers, are common in western states. There are plenty of diesel fuel stations, and they are set up for big rigs. You should not have any problems.

Not uncommon in the east for small gas stations to have one diesel pump. Just because diesel is available does not mean the station will handle a big rig.

The OP is from Vancouver Island, the post title is: "Fuel Stations With Diesel Fuel Easy To Access Towing A 40 Foot Trailer By A Full Size Pickup In Western States"

Note WESTERN STATES.

I had diesel vehicles for some 20 years, did a couple drives out west. It is rare for a station out west to be setup exclusively for passenger vehicles such that a pickup truck with trailer could not be accommodated. It's more like the fuel stations out west are set up for everything possible. There are many card-lock (unattended) fuel stations. Diesel pickup trucks are very common in the western states, along with trailer towing, and the fuel stations are accommodating.

I did notice that the question was for western states. But your response said all, not just western. And I did qualify my response to eastern states.

Just to confirm, I used Google street view for the first gas station I could find in California. It has diesel. Also low clearances and tight turning radiuses. Last I checked California was in the west. So not all, even in western states.

The other thing you will need to know is that there won't be too many large RV/Truck stops in downtown metropolitan areas. Any stations with diesel fuel in a dense metro area will probably not be too enticing with a 40' trailer. Small towns and crossroads towns should be okay. So keep that in mind and realize that diesel refueling with a big trailer will be better to do outside of metro areas. If will be doing many miles in a big metro area, refuel before entering.

The user maintained files you find here on POI-Factory are normally more accurate than the ones supplied by the factory. The maintainers often (not all) verify locations using satellite images. The factory supplied POI are many times out of date as they will show closed locations or may have old data showing one name for a location while in actuality the location has changed hands several times and has a completely different name or affiliation.

The quality of the factory supplied POI can often be observed using Garmin's trip planning tool, Base Camp. Zoom into a residential area and you will often see business names as these are the mailing addresses supplied on business licenses while the "brick and mortar" location can be miles away. Additionally, the factory supplied locations are at best a "hit and miss" situation as not all locations would be listed. Garmin may supply six million locations but you won't find all locations for a particular chain listed.

diesel? given that regular unleaded is $1.6x9 AND zev mandates

Is unleded 1.6x9? Best I've seen is 1.889....

Go TDI!

In the name of full disclosure, Boxcar is a maintainer of the Exxon/Mobil/Esso POI files, so he has an interest in promoting POI files and discouraging the use of Garmin factory supplied POI. With that, I'll address a few things.

> I have used the factory supplied POI for fuel for many years and have never been disappointed. I have never come across a closed fueling station or a non-fueling station business address. I used to have some fuel POI files loaded on my GPS as backup options, but since I never used them in all the years of loading them, I have deleted fuel POI files and do not have an interest in using them anymore.

> I don't care if a location has changed hands, name or affiliation. That is none of my business or concern, and nothing I can control. Do I care if a Brand A station is now a Brand B station when I pull up? No. All I care is that I can refuel. As long as the station takes cash or credit card, I'm good. Gasoline and diesel fuel are fungible commodities, and are traded amongst the producers before it ever reaches the station, so what you end up buying could have come from many different companies. Furthermore, fuel is regulated by law for emissions control, so there is not much to differentiate quality. Fuel quality largely depends on the individual station operator and how well the fuel distribution system is maintained. You have no idea or a way to know about any of that. All you can do is believe the brand advertising. Hate to disappoint those of you that are loyal to a particular brand.

> Garmin may supply six million locations, and I really don't care if a few are missing from that database. Six million is still plenty and has never let me down during cross country trips and other long distance road trips. I've always had numerous choices when it came time to refuel. And I'm talking about remote areas with rare cell service so I could not use a smartphone.

> I wouldn't consider a refueling station in a residential area if towing a 40' trailer, considering all the other options available in the wide open big sky country out west. When searching for POI, I filter search results as needed at the time.

> The myth that diesel fuel is hard to find is a myth of galactic proportions. I drove diesel powered cars for about 20 years, no problems finding fuel. It is actually quite rare that a fuel station does not carry diesel fuel.

> My Garmin GPS factory fuel search facility lists the following options: All Categories, Convenience, Auto Fuel, Truck Stop. That is more than adequate, no auxiliary or additional POI files necessary.

Perhaps the best fuel availability utility today is the GasBuddy app.

This app lets you search for a particular fuel type. Since it is crowd sourced, it is about as real-time as you can get. Just use GasBuddy to see what is up ahead along your route.

When GasBuddy was new, there weren't many people using it, and search results were slim. Now that it has been around for a while and many more people are using it, I'd say that it is now a very productive tool. I find myself using it more and more. Not only does it provide fuel locations, it also provides pricing.

POI files for fuel are obsolete. Apps like GasBuddy are replacing existing ways (factory provided POI) for finding fuel, and will be the predominant technique for finding fuel in the near future.

Seeing as you have been very critical of Garmins and POI for the past several years, your comments don't surprise many of us. The use of POI files does mean you don't access the data allocation for your phone to find a fuel stop.

As to using Gas Buddy, it is a great app and I do use it often before leaving where I can access it using Wi-Fi rather than my phone's LTE connection. The problem with Gas Buddy's data is the price reported is often not the price at the pump unless you are paying with cash. However, it is great for seeing price trends and getting an idea of what you might be charged.

There are many choices for apps etc. to make it easier to find fuel. I use all that have been mentioned and they each have value.

We travel in a Freightliner Sport Chassis towing a 36 foot fifth wheel. Even outside of metro areas, there are stations that will have diesel available that are not big rig friendly..... Does not matter where you are in this country.

The safest way to insure easy access is to stick to the big truck stops if you are in an unfamiliar area. Plan ahead for refueling so that you can pick your stop to meet your needs. We carry 200 gallons of fuel on our truck, and by f following my Scan Gauge I usually start looking when I am down to 75 gallons. Most of the time I plan at least a day ahead using poi files and Gas Buddy.

It isn't a matter of being critical, it's a simple fact, simply pragmatic. Simply simple. Many if not most POI files are redundant.

The use of fuel POI files is redundant, and for what purpose? There is already tremendous fuel accessibility built into the GPS mapping database. And this does not even begin to consider the use of data allocation on a phone, this is strictly resident on a GPS. After all, how do you know that a custom POI file will have ALL locations, be vastly superior to the factory POI database, and not miss something? You don't. You only know what you have access to, and the certainty of that. A custom fuel POI file does not assure you that you will not have to use data allocation on your cell phone. You will have to be certain that your custom fuel POI file has all those missing fuel POI locations. And given how infrequent I will have to use my data plan to look for fuel because the GPS factory database was not helpful, it is a negligible impact on my data plan.