As you well know, safety is often considered to be one of the most crucial factors in running a successful trucking business. 

Because of this, your ELD provider should have an arsenal of features and devices to help your business improve its overall safety.

Equipment like cameras, asset trackers, and telematic capabilities can play an important role in securing your fleet from theft, complying with regulations, and preventing major breakdowns while on the road.

Customer support plays another crucial role, as you’ll require assistance in the case of a hardware malfunction, for example, to keep you ELD compliant.

Lastly, the usability of the ELD you choose should be optimal. If an ELD is prone to issues or is difficult to use, it can have a negative effect on your driver’s compliance.

As the premier provider of a highly-rated ELD, we’d like to lend some insight on some of the ELDs on the market that provide essential safety solutions and can keep your safety scores up.

ELD Provider Choices

GPSTab

GPSTab has a comprehensive set of safety tools to help trucking businesses secure their fleets. They offer users a variety of useful equipment such as cameras, trackers, and truck diagnostics. 

Among their various trackers, they also offer Tail Light Trackers, which are unique to them as no other provider on this list has them available. Tail Light Trackers can be much more effective than standard trackers, as they can be hidden in plain sight while working and looking just like regular tail lights.

GPSTab offers its customers 24/7 live support and are fluent in Russian, Ukranian, Polish, Spanish, and English. With a mix of plug-and-play hardware and a simple-to-use ELD that requires no contract, GPSTab provides a robust set of features and benefits that can be leveraged to improve your fleet’s safety scores.

KeepTruckin

KeepTruckin offers its customers a variety of safety tools such as GPS tracking, cameras, and telematics. They provide customers with 24/7 support, however there have been reviews that point to issues with wait times and unanswered calls.

Their solution is considered to be simple to use and doesn’t require professional installation, but does require a one-year contract. They offer some monthly contracts as well.

Samsara

Samsara’s software provides users with a vast amount of data reporting–something that tends to be more beneficial to larger fleets. Their safety hardware is comprehensive, providing a multitude of different products such as cameras, trackers, wireless sensors, and truck diagnostics.

While their 24/7 customer service can be useful for customers, phone support seems to be sparse according to reviews. Samsara also requires users to commit to mandatory 3-year contracts.

Their focus on data makes their solution less intuitive for small-to-medium sized fleets, who don’t have a need for so much information. If your business is ready to deal with a steep learning curve, however, the backend data could be useful. 

Geotab

In addition to having a variety of telematics and fleet data features, Geotab offers customers a variety of safety solutions such as cameras, tracking, and telematics.

Geotab’s customer support seems to struggle to meet expectations, specifically by not meeting customer demands in a timely manner. However, they are available 24/7 for users. They have a unique feature in the form of a community page on their website that allows users to post and ask questions. 

In terms of usability, Geotab has received an abundance of reviews suggesting that the interface is not very user-friendly, which could make it difficult for businesses to easily adopt. Some of their most useful solutions such as their fleet optimization and truck diagnostic features are also behind an additional paywall, making them unavailable in the Base and Regulatory options.

In summary:

  • GPSTab offers a comprehensive set of features and hardware to improve overall safety, along with 24/7 live support and an easy-to-use ELD solution.
  • KeepTruckin has the features and hardware to get the job done, but isn’t up to par with their customer support and also requires a one-year contract.
  • Samsara has got a boatload of data reporting to go along with their safety solutions. The learning curve, along with less-than-ideal customer support and required 3-year contracts, can be an issue. 
  • Geotab’s reporting capabilities are great but are only available behind additional paywalls. They’ve got all the necessary features and equipment to potentially improve safety, but their customer service can be spotty and they lack a user-friendly solution.