HEMA Navigator HN5i

[Stanly]

anyone have one of these or used. im looking for an all in one GPS for road and offroad use.. this looks good on paper. but its also $899.00
happy to invest in it if its had good feedback.

[MightyMouse]

Hi Stanley,

No experience with the HEMA mavigator, but an important question is what do you actually need it for ?

If its for road use and light duty offroad there are LOTS of cheaper Chinese GPS options from $50 to $200 for BIG screens. Personally i'd avoid the brand names - not becuase they are bad - simply because they tend to lock the units up in such a way as to make addition of programs and files difficult. The cheap and cheerfull units are exactly the other way around - very flexible.

If you want to extend its use for genuine TOPO then you can add OziExplorer to these units for about another $50. Lots of free maps for Ozi.

if you head down that path, i'd suggest the operating system is CE5 ( avoid CE6 as some freeware programs don't like it... ). There are units with 2+GB of INTERNAL flash fitted as well as a card reader.

You get the usual MP3, video etc etc built in along with wireless link, reverse camera and sometimes bluetooth.

These units - frequently sourced form fleabay are VERY cost effective.

[glend]

Not worth the money. You can buy a number of larger screen all-in-one WinCE6 based systems on ebay. Then load OziexplorerCE and your maps. That will give you both on road and off-road system (that supports both Hema and the usual Topo maps). Suggest you also get the PC based version of Oziexplorer to run on your home computer (as it allows the full waypoint and route planning functions, and can easily transfer these to the All-in-one unit for the Jeep. The All-in-Ones GPS with 7" HD screen, games, video play, music etc can cost as little as $100 on ebay. Add on the cost of OziexplorerCE and the regular PC version of Oziexplorer, and you will still save $500 over the cost of the Hema Navigator (over priced for today's market).

I run a WinCE 6 based All-in-one GPS (as described above) and it does everything (and more) than a Hema Navigator. You do need to be able to understand how to load files on the WinCE system but its just like Windows so most people have no problems and there is plenty of online resources that link out of GPSOZ mainsite. Maps, and other files are also available via GPSOZ.

[Stanly]

hey Jack,
dont really need the TOPO maps, just looking for a good onroad GPS, but i would also want a GPS that has all the tracks in Victoria. so if i ever do want to head out on my own for a casual trip i know where im going.. cant seem to find anything that has all the tracks in vic..

as a guide i would love to get a GPS with high country tracks.

[Stanly]

thats interesting Glen.. does anyone know if your standard GPS from harvey or dicksmith has tracks on them ? or just onroad stuff

[MightyMouse]

Originally Posted by Stanly

hey Jack,
dont really need the TOPO maps, just looking for a good onroad GPS, but i would also want a GPS that has all the tracks in Victoria. so if i ever do want to head out on my own for a casual trip i know where im going.. cant seem to find anything that has all the tracks in vic..

as a guide i would love to get a GPS with high country tracks.

So you do need topo.... nothing worse that a road system that gets itself lost when tracks aren't listed or moved. Just try and find your way from a road navigator when all you have on tht screen is crosshairs in the middle of a big green rectangle.

At least with TOPO, the track might not show up, but you'll know where you are and whcih way to go.

[Stanly]

ummm interesting zac... y is life so freakn hard...