Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/904267
1 Choosing a unit for your operation 2 Mid-game engine ruling creates winners, losers 6 Prices and specs on 64 ELDs 21 Highlighted products 22 Logging duty status, making edits S ince we published the previous version of this guide in the April Overdrive, electronic logging device options have continued to proliferate. That's evident in our best attempt at a comprehensive collection in the quick-comparison chart that begins on page 6. There are now dozens more options from vendors offering a variety of hardware and software to owner-operators and fleets. Many of them are new to trucking. Weighing options for complying with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's ELD mandate that takes effect Dec. 18 won't exactly be an easy pill for anti-mandate partisans. But it might be a little easier to swallow when seeing that whatever your needs, there's a vendor offering it, many of them at a surprisingly reasonable price point. Since April, new players have emerged that sell hardware and offer ELD functionality without the monthly fee. A relatively new one, Switchboard Mobile, did not come to Overdrive's attention in time to be included in the charts that follow, but its pricing model fits what is typical for such devic- es, a flat $250 for the electronic control module plug-in device. Android software for the user interface is free. Most devices take the opposite approach to pricing. They lock users into monthly sub- scription fees, typically assessed on a per-power-unit basis. As new players in the ELD market continue to emerge, we'll be updating a version of the page 6 chart that you can find online at OverdriveOnline. com/2015ELDChart. Exemptions from the man- date are few. Some changes to the most significant exemption, for trucks running pre-2000 engines, are explored on page 2. Otherwise, you're exempt only if you don't run beyond the short- haul air-mile radius for more than eight days in any rolling 30-day period. Many choices, some at low cost, for meeting mandate ELD BUYERS' GUIDE ELD BUYERS' GUIDE There are now dozens more options from vendors offering a variety of hardware and software to owner- operators and fleets.