Hema or not to Hema

[jensan01]

Hi,

new to the forum and thought I might add my 2 cents. I have a Nuvi with Garmin Topo loaded and it is OK - just. Although I must admit I am often surprised by how many fire trails etc exist in the Garmin mapping software. I also have an Asus Eee PC netbook with Ozi Explorer and external USB GPS. It is fantastic. About the only limitation with OziE is the inability to do automatic route planning. The Garmin does this well, so I tend to use both.

The only other thing I have seen with the guys that have the HEMA and VMS systems is that they come standard with 1:250,000 scale maps which are not really adequate for following forestry trails etc. I use 1:25k and 1:100k topos in OziE and can pinpoint most goat tracks...

Sandy

[TF2]

Omvander said in an earlier post there are cheaper optons out there instead of Hema and VMS. Any suggestions of good units with at least a 5 inch screen?
thanks

[bmurray2250]

Originally Posted by TF2

Omvander said in an earlier post there are cheaper optons out there instead of Hema and VMS. Any suggestions of good units with at least a 5 inch screen?
thanks

Have a read of 4wd Action no. 144, it has a GPS comparo

[markus_g]

Originally Posted by jensan01

Hi,

new to the forum and thought I might add my 2 cents. I have a Nuvi with Garmin Topo loaded and it is OK - just. Although I must admit I am often surprised by how many fire trails etc exist in the Garmin mapping software. I also have an Asus Eee PC netbook with Ozi Explorer and external USB GPS. It is fantastic. About the only limitation with OziE is the inability to do automatic route planning. The Garmin does this well, so I tend to use both.

The only other thing I have seen with the guys that have the HEMA and VMS systems is that they come standard with 1:250,000 scale maps which are not really adequate for following forestry trails etc. I use 1:25k and 1:100k topos in OziE and can pinpoint most goat tracks...

Sandy

Hello Sandy,

Just wondering why you say the "garmin topo's are ok, just". Are you able to elaborate on your coment as I am deciding to either get garmin topo or oztopo for a nuvi 765.

Regards,

Mark.

[Ekki Adventurers]

Did the same research as you guys about 6 months ago. Started off liking the idea of the Hemma but looking at cost relativity decided on the nuvi. Came with Citynav and I loaded shonkymaps. When we did the O'tooles trip she worked well. Only lost signal when we were in the Grampians but was all good in the high country. Switching between both sets of maps depending on our location, eg towns/country, seemed to work well but would like to get my hands on even more detailed outback maps. I don't mind the mapsource software that came with it either.

[100LockedLoaded]

Hi All, im running a Lilliput carpc with a 7" flip out screen. 1GB CPu and 512Mb ram 40Gb Hard drive. Both are dash mounted and very easy to use. No looking down nothing to hold press a button and out it folds. It runs Ozi and also Hema maps depending on location




Top map is OZi and the bottom 1 is Hema. best of both worlds

[jackaroo31td]

I have a Garmin Nuvi 330 how do you get shonky maps to work?

[CHUAH1]

Originally Posted by mikl

I am purchasing a GPS soon, want to branch out a bit from the usual spots and need to embrace some technology (do you really need to cart a 14 year old round for tech support?) so I am pretty well settled on a Hema, what real life problems will I find with one, is there a better system on the market? I am reasonably competent with computers etc. so not living in fear of the purchase.
Any advice appreciated.
Michael

Hi,

I have a HEMA and would highly recommand it! It has Route 66 for the burbs and OziExplorer for with all the HEMA loaded maps... it tracks my every step and I love to know that I know exactly where I'm Lost!!!

I must say that the maps is up to date and I am very impress with the unit.

if you get one, invest some time in reading the booklet and learn about the unit.... other functions also include using it as a reverse camera screen etc...

The system has a faster processor then the previous one and the battery last about 5 hours...

Good luck!

[kruzer]

Originally Posted by Mushroom

I have a mate who bought a VMS AVNC 3000, VMS's top of the line double DIN unit at $2500. He went on a 2 week trip from Adelaide, to Cameron's Corner and around Lake Eyre, and apparently the thing worked for about 35 minutes the entire way. It constantly froze, wouldn't play the DVDs and the menu system was terrible. He called the store halfway through his trip and apparently VMS were quite happy to refund him completely.

He bought the HEMA afterwards and that constantly froze, funny enough it uses VMS's hardware. From what I've read, there is a new HEMA Navigator available in 2nd week January that is all new hardware, with a HEMA rep saying they have severed their contract with VMS.

In the meantime, I use a Nuvi 760 with Tracks4Australia, although the Garmin Topo mapping is excellent in a Dakota or Oregon handheld (but terrible in Nuvis).

Hi Mushroom,
I bought the new Hema 5 last month and I wouldn't go without it again going off road.
We tested it for the first time, uploaded a route from one of the club member and followed it. It was working beautifully following the route and almost at the end of the track but the bridge were burnt down and there was no other way to go around it.

So we did back track and got lost...haha... for few minutes.. so what I did, I turned the 4wd mode off and turned the route 66 on road gps on it, punched in my home address and it directed us to the main road...experimented it and it worked... wheeew...

I was just going to use it for once and see how it will perform and then return it as it is a bit costly...but now..I'm keeping it and we are going to try it again this coming Sunday....

I'm still trying to get used to it... another good thing with Hema5 is they preloaded the whole map of Australia so you don't have to keep uploading map here and there.

Cheers....

[GPS Guru]

The Hema also will run on a 16 gig card. I'm going to test drive it with a 32 gig when they become available. The beauty about the ability to run different card sizes with the Hema is that you can just cut and past from one card to the other without any licencing issues. I have all of the preloaded Hema maps, all the Spatial Vision maps of Victoria, the Rooftop collection, Memory Map 1:25,000 Victoria East plus some aviation ones and am using just under 12 gig. The reversing camera works really well too. With the Hema you also get the preloaded maps on DVD with Ozilite so you can run the maps on your computer.