Do I need a GPS in Alaska?

chiefneon wrote:
Howdy!

If you have a smarthone or a tablet with gps capibilty I would suggest using Co-pilot app. It also has a RV setting you can use. Maps are downloaded to you device so you don't need a data signal.

Co-Pilot gps app

"Happy Trails"
Chiefneon

FWIW- If you own a Kindle the Co-Pilot app is FREE

My handheld "trail" Garmin etrex units both have good accuracy. I just don't rely on the mapping of roads or trails. And we never rely on the routing features. That would have us turning down roads that became overgrown decades ago.

Topography doesn't change much over time and that is our primary need, for when we're in the backcountry.

A few years back I read an article by some northern professor talking about the accuracy of GPS units in the north. The article was well above my pay grade, but he did mention, that in Alaska, almost all roads/highways are built in the bottom of valleys, hence no high passes like the lower 48, so for planned accuracy, your GPS unit has to be receiving the signals from 3 different satellites by direct line of site. In some of the valleys, at different times of day, you may not be getting 3 good signals for the expected 10 meter accuracy. Now this is not a problem when flying or boating as you are not in a valley. He also mentioned that reflected signals off the mountain slopes, beside your road can confuse your GPS unit, as they are arriving later than they should. However with all that verbiage, I think poor mapping in the GPS units is mainly to blame, for any location errors we run into.
Plus the accuracy of the units go up with the usage planned. Most vehicle GPS units are in the under $200 range, move into the marine series and the price jumps to closer to $1,000 and get into the aircraft Garmin Gps/etc/etc untis and the sky is the limit, easily into the $20,000 range per unit.

I live in Alaska, drive all over the place, will be in Fbks. in a couple of days and so on. Besides driving, I use them all over the place on my snowmachine and off hunting. I never have accuracy or satellite access problems with my GPS'. GPS' don't operate off of equator satellites low on the horizon like satellite TVs or Globalstar sat phones.

Bill

Besides Anchorage & Fairbanks it is not like there are a whole lot of roads to make wrong turns on in Alaska.

Yes the GPS is useful but being so far north its accuracy is often very questionable. The GPS is one of those things that you get used to having & wonder how anybody ever found their way around without them before.

thanks, good tips.

scomike wrote:
...RV parks. Do they all have fuel stops?
Other suggestions would be welcome as well.

Not all commercial RV Parks have fuel stops. Some do, some don't. Best advice is to keep your tank on the top half as much as possible. It isn't uncommon for a gas station to run out of fuel or for a business to close mid-season with no warning. If you're passing a gas station and your fuel tank is at about half, stop in and fill up.

As well, carry enough cash to fill your tank. On occasion the debit/credit systems go down and if you don't have cash, you don't get fuel or might not be able to pay for other items you need. Even in Whitehorse, it happens often enough that I always have enough cash with me to grocery shop for the week.

We used the Garmin 760 last summer during our trip and was mostly pleased with the performance. Map database was very accurate. Screen size was very good. It does do some peculiar navigation tactics when you are in the RV mode in that it sometimes tries to avoid left turns and will not go down some roads that it determines are not suitable for an RV! No rhyme or reason to this it just happens sometimes! Overall we were pleased with the RV760. The POI database is HUGE, with campgrounds and fuel stops being very accurate. The RV760 would not be suitable for use on a hike. It is pretty large and battery life appeared to be around an hour.

Howdy!

If you have a smarthone or a tablet with gps capibilty I would suggest using Co-pilot app. It also has a RV setting you can use. Maps are downloaded to you device so you don't need a data signal.

Co-Pilot gps app

"Happy Trails"
Chiefneon

Thanks all for the input, I think I am going to get a GPS and now need to research which one would suit my needs. The Garmin RV 760 looks like a good unit with a nice size screen and some useful information on it like RV parks. Do they all have fuel stops?
Other suggestions would be welcome as well.