Verizon Connect Review: Nothing Beats Reveal

The Verizon Connect Reveal platform is a powerful web-based fleet management solution already being used by tens of thousands of businesses to track their vehicles.

Earning an impressive 4.7/5 in our research, Verizon is our top pick GPS tracking system for US fleets, offering fast updates, a comprehensive alerts system, 24/7 support, and tracking tools like geofencing and automatic route optimization. These features make it perfect for any owner-operator who wants to streamline their operations and minimize their overall fuel expenditure.

In this review, we’ll run through some of our findings from testing the Verizon Connect Reveal web app, as well as how it performs across several crucial areas from reducing fleet costs to vehicle and driver management via our hands-on testing of its extensive features.

Verizon Connect Review: Reveal’s Pros, Cons and Test Summary

Here’s a quick summary of what Verizon Connect’s Reveal platform shines and could improve, according to our research and testing of its platform.

Verizon Connect Review: Reveal’s Layout

Verizon Connect Reveal’s default landing page is the Live Map view, which differs from other fleet tracking software like GPS Insight which uses a directory of different tools as its home hub.

With all of Connect Reveal’s other tools clearly signposted along the top-of-screen banner – which stays in place across all pages you visit – I quite liked being put straight into the tool that many people will use the most.

I think Verizon Connect Reveal has the aesthetic edge over GPS Insight, Linxup, Fleetio, and many other competitors too. It is much more visually appealing with a modern flavor to the interface, whereas GPS Insight offers a more functional-first design that appears a little dated by comparison.

And that’s not to say Verizon Connect Reveal lacks functionality. I found it easy to navigate during my time with it, with clear signposting of tools and an intuitive button design that lets you explore its features without getting confused.

Verizon Connect Review: Features on Reveal

Just ahead of Samsara, Verizon Connect Reveal has the most extensive range of features of any fleet management software we’ve tested.

Here’s a run through some of the most important feature-related aspects of the web-based software, what each tool can do, and how we felt about using them.

Map interface

On the aforementioned Live Map view, Verizon overlays your live vehicle tracking data. I found it incredibly intuitive to immediately understand what is happening with your fleet.

Each vehicle has a symbol and a color to indicate its current status: a green arrow for a vehicle on the move; an orange pause sign for a vehicle that is idle; and a red stop sign for a stationary vehicle. In other words, the color scheme and associated meaning you find with regular stoplights.

To find a particular vehicle, you can scroll on the left-hand pane – which lists all your tracked vehicles by brand and model plus which driver is driving it – or use the search bar to save you from scrolling too far searching on the map. Clicking on one of the listed options will jump the map view to where that vehicle is at present.

Both on the left hand-pane and the map view (when a vehicle is clicked) you can see live information about each vehicle. It details the last updated location and current speed/time since idle or stopped, which provides plenty of information about your fleet vehicles as and when you need it.

If you want to see where a particular vehicle is, you can click on the street view button via the on-driver map view (or use the hamburger icon beside a vehicle on the left-hand pane). I found it particularly useful to see if a stationary vehicle is parked in a safe location.

Handily, the street view updates whenever the vehicle moves. It doesn’t give you a true-to-life ride-along experience, since the live position only updates every thirty seconds.

While that’s slower than the industry-leading 15-second refresh rates by tracking solutions like Bouncie and GoFleet, Verizon Connect Reveal still offers a speedy refresh time compared to other top fleet GPS tracking systems, which often take a little longer on average at 60 seconds per refresh (such as GPS Trackit). I do wish there was an option to manually refresh the data like on GPS Insight, however, which also has a 30-second refresh rate by default.

And there are a few other map options to use too. Found by clicking the map icon on the right of the map display, you have options to change to a low color or satellite view depending on your preference, as well as get display Google’s live traffic data, any geofences you’ve set up, and further custom labeling as you desire.

The live traffic data helped me better understand the situation of my fleet, often explaining why a vehicle was idle or allowing me to prepare for any unexpected delays on their routes.

Adding new drivers and vehicles

Adding a new driver to your Verizon Connect Reveal account is also very simple.

You need to open the account drop-down in the top right-hand corner and click on Admin. From there, you should click the phrase that says ‘Create a New Driver’ to open a new window that should look like the below image. Then you simply input all the fields that are required and hit save.

If you are also adding a new vehicle, you’ll need to install a Vehicle Data Device (VDD) to the respective vehicle and then link it to your account using the Verizon Spotlight app on a smartphone. After that, you can link the driver you created with that vehicle.

Scheduler

To organize all the job requests your company is receiving, and get a full idea of how each technician is getting along with their respective jobs during the working day, the Scheduler tool in the Reveal Field app is a superb asset of Verizon Connect.

It’s pretty easy to dispatch a driver on a job when job requests arrive. Simply create a job in the scheduler – inputting all the various required fields such as job type (via custom IDs for quick selection), time, date, and location – and then select a technician to fulfill the job. You can also get smart recommendations about who to pick based on each technician’s skill set and availability for that particular job.

After you input the jobs, you can view a calendar view for all drivers. Jobs are labeled and color-coded similarly to the Map View based on the status reported by a technician: green for a completed job, orange to show a driver is on their way to the job, and blue for a job that has been started. This gives you complete visibility over the work your fleet is carrying out, and its current status, so you can give your customers an accurate ETA.

You will also be able to see if a driver has read that they have been put on a particular job or not, as this is indicated on respective jobs (as shown in the image above). Drivers must have installed the Reveal Field Mobile App on their smartphones to receive these notifications on the move. Here, technicians can also capture job notes, photos, and signatures should any of them be useful or required.

Reporting

To keep abreast of how your business operations are progressing, there are an extensive number of reporting options available via Verizon Connect Reveal. Reports are split into eight categories to make it easier to navigate: Journey, Activity, Field Scheduler, Admin, Safety, Fuel, Vehicle Health and Work Order.

You can hover over the bar chart icon for an individual report to see what metrics are included, as seen in the image below, as well as favorite any that you come back to regularly.

Looking at the Daily Report, for instance, you can see what your drivers have been up to on a particular day.

I found this to be an insightful debrief of what each driver has been doing in the aggregate and across specific details via shorter route lengths. It also allows you to spot any recurring issues before they become a regular problem – such as extensive idling. And, should you want to do some further sums on the data, you can export via CSV in one click.

It’s painless to get a visual understanding of a driver’s day too, since you can click the replay button and get a visual walkthrough of a specific route section and a driver’s actions, making it easy to review any activity.

And handily, if you want to find a report with a specific detail in it, you can search for keywords in the top right-hand corner. For instance, when searching “idling”, three different report options appear for you to dive into.

Fleet maintenance and lifecycle management

Importantly, for fleet managers looking to carefully manage and monitor their vehicles from acquisition to replacement – as well as assure driver activity is efficient – there are several other tools available for deeper insights in this area.

Dashboards

In the Dashboard tab of Verizon Connect Reveal, you can access several customizable dashboards for your specific needs based on available data – and that includes many for fleet lifecycle and maintenance management.

One example is the overarching category of fuel. The below image, for instance, shows the view you’ll see once you click into a dashboard designed to show all the details about Wasted Fuel: in other words, how much fuel was used via idling above the threshold you set. Here you can see the overall trends, as well as how it is broken down by vehicle with costs given for how much that fuel wastage could set you back.

From the example image, it’s clear that the vehicle FD 0156 is clocking up a lot more idling time than others, costing $72.30 per month. These are the kinds of details Verizon Connect Reveal allows you to spot by providing a complete picture of your vehicle metrics. And that all allows you to optimize fleet operation by spotting where any wastage lies.

Service history notifications and logs

Located under the Fleet Service tab, you can create vehicle service plans to ensure your fleet is always in good health – and the process is pretty straightforward.

You first name the service plan you are creating, then select the vehicles you want to include and what intervals you want to perform this service (whether that’s time-based, down to the number of engine hours, or based on distance).

For instance, you can get a reminder every 4,800 miles that an oil change is required every 5,000 miles, as the below image shows. You’ll then receive a notification via your smartphone or the web app whenever it is triggered.

These alerts allow for preventative maintenance of your fleet, automatically alerting you of when a vehicle needs a checkup rather than having to use a separate calendar or maintenance app for the same purpose.

Thereafter, you can mark when a service has been completed with the current data for that specific metric you are tracking. This will reset the schedule as it counts down to the next interval point.

To get a complete overview of all of this data, you can also make vehicle maintenance reports through the Reports tab discussed earlier.

How Much Does Verizon Connect Reveal Cost?

Verizon keeps its pricing for Connect Reveal private. In other words, it provides custom quotes for every business depending on individual requirements.

Consequently, prices vary based on contract length, fleet size, and depth of features – which is something of the norm for the fleet tracking industry.

That can make it difficult to assess exactly how much it’ll set you back. However, we do know that you can get Verizon Connect bundled with its integrated dashcams and tracking hardware for around £35 per vehicle, per month, according to our know-how in the UK market. Converting that figure to dollars, the US audience will likely be looking at around $45 per vehicle, per month costs.

You can also get a 30-day free trial to test the software. Plus, Verizon also offers a Reveal Starter plan which is around $20 per vehicle, per month, according to the market consensus. Again, Verizon is tight-lipped about pricing for Reveal Starter – and you’ll get much less functionality too, with it including just the live map, route replay, and speed/location data – but this is a figure that is widely reported at present.

Verizon offers a standard 36-month contract for all plans, after which, the term will be reduced to one year. You can still go for a two or three-year term thereafter though, as you may be able to strike a lower rate deal.

To get an accurate quote for your business, try out our Verizon quote-finding tool.

Verizon Connect Reveal vs Other Fleet Management Systems

After this thorough explanation of what Verizon Connect Reveal has to offer, you might be asking yourself: how exactly does this all stack up compared to the other top fleet management systems?

Here’s a table showing some topline comparisons between Verizon and other providers, before we discuss some key differences in greater detail below.

Verizon vs Samsara

In our view, Verizon’s most comparable competitor is Samsara. They both offer similar features in general (such as detailed vehicle diagnostics and extensive integration options) and both have an attractive design that appeals to the eye.

I would argue that Verizon’s iconography for its vehicle’s status is a little clearer at first look, with bright circled green arrows rather than the duller green arrows minus the circling as seen below. But there’s not much in it overall – especially since Samsara also has a bespoke pricing model that sits around the cost of Verizon’s $45 per vehicle, per month, according to our research.

Verizon vs GPS Insight

GPS Insight doesn’t have the same aesthetic charm as Verizon Connect but it does provide robust vehicle and driver management features as part of a cheaper, transparent pricing structure.

During my testing of the platform, I found I could complete all the core functionality a fleet manager would require to do such as re-running and assessing driver routes.

Where it falls comparatively short is the extent of features compared to Samsara and Verizon Connect, which shows why they demand large investments through more extensive reporting and analytics capabilities.

Still, since GPS Insight offers flexible month-to-month contracts at a much cheaper price, it does offer exceptional value for money if these more limited tools do the job.