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Our Verdict
Rev up your fleet management game with Samsara Route Planner! This dynamic cloud-based solution is your ticket to optimized routes and turbocharged efficiency. Harness the power of GPS tracking and AI for real-time visibility and razor-sharp analytics. Tailor it to your needs with customizable IoT solutions and explore its self-support options. Don’t settle for the slow lane – supercharge your fleet operations with Samsara Route Planner! To use Samsara Route Planner, simply sign up for a Samsara account, pick a routing, and dispatch solution that works for you. You can also track and manage your routes from the Samsara Driver App or the Samsara dashboard.
To contact Samsara Route Planner support, you can use one of these methods:
- Submit a case online by signing in to your Samsara account, clicking on “Get Help,” and clicking on “Contact Support.” You can also call 1-800-472-7272 (USA) or +1 415 655 5000 (Canada) for phone support.
- Email [email protected] with your questions or issues.
- Chat with a support agent online by clicking on the chat icon at the bottom right corner of the Samsara website.
Pros
- Has a strong reputation
- Generates comprehensive reports.
- Offers customizable IoT solutions.
- Develops well-rounded self-support options.
Cons
- Involves long contract lengths.
- Incurs higher costs.
- Obscures pricing details.
- Lacks phone support.
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Who Samsara Route Planner Is Best For
Consider Samsara Route Planner if you want to:
- Plan and track routes for trucks, buses, delivery vehicles, and more in real-time and receive alerts for any delays or missed stops.
- Optimize the routes, reduce route inquiries, respond to changing conditions, and improve the service and bottom line of your vehicles
- Save time, money, and fuel by planning the best routes for your vehicles.
- Add multiple stops, repeat routes, configure stop settings, and assign the route to a vehicle or a driver.
Who Samsara Route Planner Isn’t Right For
Samsara Route Planner is not right for you, if you:
- Do not have a fleet of vehicles or do not need to plan and track routes for them
- Want to manually enter your routes
- Do not have access to the Samsara dashboard or the Samsara Driver App.
What Samsara Route Planner Offers
Samsara Route Planner offers different products and solutions that help you manage your fleet better. Some of them are:
Telematics
Samsara’s telematics solutions let you track your vehicles, trailers, and equipment in real-time. Explore Samsara’s vehicle gateway to access ELD, Wifi hotspots, and other features.
Fleet Maintenance
Samsara’s fleet maintenance tools help you diagnose your vehicles and trailers in real-time. Take advantage of Samsara’s smart trailers to monitor load conditions and reduce operating costs.
Apps and Driver Workflows
Samsara’s apps and driver workflows make your operations easier and your driver experience better. You can use Samsara’s apps to capture documents, communicate with back-office teams, submit DVIRs, and more. You can also use Samsara’s driver workflows to manage HOS, compliance, documents, and messaging.
Video-Based Safety
Samsara’s video-based safety solutions include AI dashcams that detect incidents and alert managers in real-time. You can also use Samsara’s camera connector to add side, rear, or interior cameras for enhanced visibility.
Data and Integrations
Samsara’s data and integrations platform lets you view your entire operation in one cloud-based dashboard. You can also integrate with various sensors, cameras, and workflows to get the most out of your data.
Samsara Route Planner Details
The pricing for Samsara Route Planner depends on the number of vehicles, drivers, and routes you have. Request a quote by filling out a form on their website or contacting them directly. Some of the features that may affect the cost are:
Real-time GPS tracking
This feature allows you to track the location of your vehicles, monitor the distance they travel, and check if they reach their destinations on schedule. The cost for each vehicle is $0.10 per mile.
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Automatic ETA alerts
This feature enables you to send messages to your customers and stakeholders about when to expect your vehicles to arrive based on your planned route. It costs $0.05 per mile for each vehicle.
Route optimization
This feature allows you to find the optimal route for your vehicles by calculating the fastest route and providing an estimated time of arrival for active routes. The cost for each vehicle is $0.05 per mile.
Route notes
This feature helps you to write notes for each stop that are visible to the driver through the Samsara Driver App. The cost per mile for each vehicle is $0.01.
Route reports
This feature allows you to generate reports on your adherence to the planned route, the duration of each stop, and various other metrics. The cost per mile for each vehicle is $0.01.
Where Samsara Route Planner Stands Out
Some of the things that make Samsara Route Planner different are:
- It lets you create routes and track them in real-time as a driver or vehicle follows those route plans.
- It lets you adjust routes for your fleet by adding multiple stops, making recurring routes, setting stop options, and arranging route orders.
- It uses the average time-on-site data from the last 3 days for addresses (up to 2 hours) to estimate how long to spend on a stop on a route.
- It lets you see vehicle location, route progress, and late or missed stops instantly.
- It works with various telematics devices, GPS systems, and dispatch platforms.
Where Samsara Route Planner Falls Short
Some of the possible areas where Samsara Route Planner falls short or is deficient are:
- It may not be able to deal with complicated or unusual routes that need manual work or personalization.
- It may not be able to consider all the things that affect the route quality, such as traffic, weather, road conditions, customer likes, etc.
- It may not be able to avoid or fix data issues that may happen due to technical problems, human mistakes, or outside factors.
Alternatives to Samsara Route Planner
Consider these other solutions if Samsara Route Planner is not what you need or like:
AUTOsist
AUTOsist is a fleet maintenance and management software company based in Orange County, California. It offers a simple and affordable solution to manage your entire fleet of vehicles, equipment, and other assets. You can automate your maintenance workflows, track your vehicle health, manage your drivers and technicians, and integrate with third-party solutions like fuel cards, GPS devices and maintenance shops. You can also access real-time data and analytics to optimize your fleet performance and profitability.
Whip Around
Whip Around is fleet maintenance software that helps you automate your maintenance processes from end to end. You can create and assign maintenance plans for your vehicles, equipment and assets using flexible permissions for unlimited users. You can also track every detail surrounding your fleet while strengthening communication between fleet managers, owners, vendors, drivers, technicians, admins, and more. Whip Around also provides real-time visibility into your fleet operations with critical data and analytics.
Fleetio
Fleetio is fleet management software that helps you plan your multi-stop routes efficiently. You can optimize up to 500 stops per day using powerful route optimization algorithms that consider drop-off priorities, school zones, tolls, one-way trips and more. You can also track assignment and location history, in-house and outsourced maintenance activities, fuel and expense transactions, and more using Fleetio’s web or smartphone apps. Fleetio also provides real-time fleet tracking, compliance reporting, driver performance management, and more.
RoadWarrior
RoadWarrior is a route optimization app for creating and tracking multi-destination delivery routes. It helps you crush your routes by avoiding sitting in traffic or wasting time on detours. You can also get the quickest route in seconds using RoadWarrior’s AI-based technology, which considers traffic conditions, weather forecasts, road closures, and more. RoadWarrior also provides real-time driver tracking, SMS notifications, proof-of-delivery tools, and more using its web or smartphone apps.
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Onfleet
Onfleet is a last-mile delivery platform that helps you power your deliveries with advanced logistics software. You can streamline your operations by using Onfleet’s end-to-end route planning, dispatching, communication, and analytics platform, which handles the heavy lifting for you. You can also delight your customers by using Onfleet’s features, such as automatic SMS notifications, accurate ETAs, real-time driver tracking, proof-of-delivery tools, and feedback collection tools using its web or smartphone apps.
Rhino Fleet Tracking
Rhino Fleet Tracking is a GPS tracking solution that helps you efficiently monitor your equipment. The GPS tracker is installed into the vehicle or asset of choice (such as truck or trailer), allowing you to track its movement in real-time via Google Maps or other third-party services such as Waze or Google Maps Business Edition. Rhino Fleet Tracking also provides other features such as diagnostics, maintenance, report scheduling, driver performance, theft prevention, fuel management, compliance reporting, insurance integration, driver rewards, safety scoring, gamification, mobile app, dashboard, alerts, notifications, integrations, APIs, SDKs, custom solutions, training, and support
Customer Reviews
Trustpilot reports a rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars based on 272 reviews. The majority of these reviews are positive, highlighting Samsara’s features, functionality, and support. However, some negative feedback mentions concerns about high pricing, complex product offerings, sales practices, and customer service.
Forbes Advisor rates Samsara at 4 out of 5 stars in their review. They commend Samsara for its rich functionality, AI safety programs, real-time visibility, and workflows. However, they note drawbacks such as limited access to pricing information and a more generalist product approach.
Capterra’s rating stands at 2.9 out of 5 stars based on 1,000 reviews. The majority of reviews here are critical, focusing on issues like poor customer service, incorrect equipment delivery, limitations in route size, and high costs.
According to SoftwareReviews, Samsara receives a positive review with a rating of 3.8 out of 5 stars. The review highlights Samsara’s easy installation, reliable performance, and helpful support.
Pro Tips
Here are some pro tips on Samsara Route Planner:
- Track and manage routes as they happen with real-time updates from drivers or vehicles.
- Make routes your own by adding multiple stops, setting up recurring routes, and choosing stop settings.
- Make routes faster and more efficient by letting Samsara decide the best order of stops.
- Use Samsara reports to measure the route’s performance and efficiency.
- Give a route to a driver or vehicle and change the route starting and completion settings for your needs.
- Send route stop instructions with notes and use external IDs to sync with another system.
Recap
Samsara Route Planner is a fleet management tool that helps your companies to plan the best routes for its vehicles. It integrates with GPS trackers and offers real-time location tracking and communication. Other features include route optimisation, AI safety programs, real-time visibility, and workflows. However, it also has some disadvantages, including high pricing, a complex product ecosystem, unethical sales practices, and subpar customer service.
