Hema vs VMS GPS

I cannot stress how much this is true. After using a Garmin for street navigation i decided to try a Hema for its other capabilities of topo maps etc. The topo map side of the unit is good however Route 66 would have to be the worse street navigation software available. I have now returned to small Garmin Nuvi for street navigation and it does not miss a beat.

This is all OK if you are only interested in the off road side of the hema, but the price at approximately $900 is far too much given what the unit is actually capable of doing.

I use a GPS unit daily in my own business and travel extensively in Victoria, Route 66 will constantly try and take you on tracks or non existent roads, and even after tweaking all the settings it does not seem to change. The Nuvi always chooses the most logical and practical route without an issue. I now use the Vic Spatial Maps that I have loaded onto the Hema if I need to find an address or location in Rural Victoria. Other wise it has become a very expensive MP3 player!

Thanks for that guys, I gathered the Hema is pretty awfull
for street navigation. Any suggestions on where i can get a VMS at a good price?

Robin

You are of course joking. Any unit that utilises OziExplorerCe (or any half decent GPS mapping program) is far from "not much good for real outback navigation". We have of course discussed this before and the issue you raised (re: navigation) was caused by a lack of experience/knowledge/prior preparation within your “group” in using OziExplorerCe. You can easily enter a track into OziCe and navigate it.

As I said many times the Garmin 276c is a good unit and suited to many off road applications but it also has one or two limitations (apart from being a discontinued product) which need to be pointed out before proclaiming the units in question are “not much good” and suggesting a 276c is better. Could be true in some circumstances but feel you being a little bit too specific.

Cheers
Greg

With Ozi you can add any maps you want? So I don't understand the no good for navigation comment.

I've just got a copy of the 1:50,000 CFS maps for the Mt Lofty ranges although I am having trouble reading the co-ordinates on them to convert them from PDF files to .map files.

I guess I'm the odd one out here......I have absolutely no problems with the off road capability of the Hema...it all depends on the maps you have. They don't have a 'database' of map data per se but rather us raster maps. They come with the all Hema and 1:250k series of maps and I have added a number of others eg 1:25K and 1:50K and if you can't find you way anywhere with these I think the problem is one for the individual and not the unit.
I've also used Route 66 now in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, a number of regional cities and small towns in these states and while there are some areas not covered or out of date...this is the case with all GPS street directories even if you have the very latest copy. I also quite like the presentation of Route 66 - especially its night setting.
Guess we all have different likes and dislikes and that's what makes the world go around.

Greg , Oziexplorer simply cannot navigate a track and I know of no other unit that can other than the 276c and its of shoots , I really wish there was something else as ours are geting on.

Just to explain , in Ozi etc , you look at the track on the screen and make the descisions to turn etc. I.E. its essentially dumb.

The 276c actually navigates a track the user can generate in the same manner the your normal car units do with there built in maps of surburban roads.

I.E. It computes ahead - warning you when to turn, generating headings, adjusting the direction pointer giving etas etc based on computing the entire track.

Our recent sprint up the Canning showed just how powerful this can be as we consistently provided better and more timely track info.


Zorro - I would not say the Hema is pretty awful - its more that with the move to more road based mass Car nav systems lots of real features have been lost.

Things you forget , like the 276c are fully waterproof and marine rated.

The VMS based unit in a pathfinder in our family , has proved so clunky that the user now runs a cheapie on the windscreen for the around town stuff.

Technology marches forward into more user friendly type features each of which cuts into the really useful features.

The real winner for the future IMHO will be something like Google Earth 3D streaming live no matter where your are.....but this is probably a ways off yet for most folks as the cost may not be viable. Can but dream:-)

Hi Robin

I can not make any comments on the VMS, as I have never had a look or play with one. As for saying that about the Hema is unfair and not true. You are talking about doing the Madigan Line this year. Load the waypoints into the Hema, as you would do for any outback trip like this and it will be good from one side of the Simpson to the other, no problems at all.

I am in the process of writing a blog about our Geo trip 5 years ago, that honestly makes the Madigan Line a very easy Simpson trip. We were using Ozi out there and in some stages relied on it heavily to get us around some on the massive virgin dunes that were just impossible to drive over, they were just too steep, virgin, mogul potted slopes, and then to add to that had up to 2 metres of live sand at the top.

I do have a Hema and given the same details that I was using when we did the Geo Trip, I know that the Hema would have done a brilliant job and got us through also.

But then to be fair again I never use Route 66, I still find my old Nuvi better.

In reality, a lot of people that do buy products like the Hema and VMS do so for their ability of using Ozi and the ability of adding more detailed maps.

Take one of these unit on your next outback trip and you will be very happy


Cheers


Stephen

Morning Stephen - did you mean me , or another poster - my only comment on the Hema was that it "was not awful".

I also said that 276c was only unit that is aware of the track and can auto navigate it - everything else puts the image of track over map and user provides the intelligence.

I will be interested to read your blog on Geo/Madigan , as none of the useul suspects looks like they are available for a Madigan trip and I am contemplating it solo.

Hi Robin
Be very careful about thinking of a solo venture. That country is very different to the normal Simpson runs. Lots of boggings and if you have to get yourself out, would not be much fun.

Put up an intending members trip and you may get a reply. Purely for a safety point of view, I would make 3 vehicles the bare minimum, 2 at the very least.
Later in the season, ie late July/early August are the better times for that country. By then you will have had a number of groups through to clear the track and with tracks to follow.

Cheers


Stephen

Robin,
If you want to delve deeper into oziExplorer you can build voice guidance for routes that are user created. You can even use your own voice if you like. It is time consuming, long winded but I did it a few years ago before realising it is overkill. Each route needs to be built separately.

I cannot agree with you assertion that Ozi cannot navigate a track, it simply does not give you voice guidance, that's all. OziExplorer is only as good as the maps you have loaded onto it and in my opinion is the best system for off road navigation around.

WBS

Hi WBS

How can you not agree that Ozi can't navigate a track - I am quite familar with that program , but if you can show me the menu options for this I would appreciate it.

The map underlay is simply a bit mapped image with no logical connection to an overlaid plot and this is the difference , in navigators a track exists as logical array of thousands of vectors.

Perhaps you are reffering to the limited and very time consuming ability to enter some waypoints and assemble a rough route as opposed to a track.

My 276c can't talk - well it can - but I removed the speaker.

Hi Robin,
I now understand your point and I agree that there is a very big difference between vector and raster data.

Yes I was referring to the "very time consuming ability to enter some waypoints and assemble a rough route as opposed to a track".

WBS

Sorry for late reply - been out bush navigating poorly (I don’t have a 276C:(

Robin – I wasn’t disputing whether or not Ozi could navigate along a track in the same fashion as a 276c. I was just somewhat bemused (again) by your comment that suggested OziExplorer in not any good for navigating (in the “real’ outback). It is of course great for this purpose (if set up correctly). I think you are exaggerating the benefit of this single capability, but just that’s my opinion.

Over the last week I just walked over 50km through the bush (ie not along a "4x4" track, but in the bush) following a preloaded track file and had no trouble staying within 5 or less metres of the centreline using a program similar to OziExplorer (TwoNav) on a handheld unit - all done by simply looking at the screen to see where I was and where I was heading in relation to where the loaded track was, pretty simple. If your were navigating along an actual 4wd tracks (in the "real" outback or some other less real place:) it would even be easier. I have used Ozi et al many times for navigating..which is why I think your comment is, with all due respect, wrong.

Cheers
Greg

..confusing the issue now - that's a handheld unit. Dont even think there is a car mount kit for it yet :)

Cheers
Greg

....actully just spotted a windscreen mount on a US website ...not sure if they are avaiable in Aus just yet.

Cheers
Greg