Opinions on HEMA maps and GPS

[Supaduke]

Lately I have been gearing up to delve a little further into the bush and national parks. I usually hunt at a property near
Mount Dissapointment for Ferals. I also have shot deer on private property but never really tried just wandering off into the wilderness.

I would like some opinions on HEMA maps on a smartphone. Also after some opinions on handheld GPS up to around the $300 mark.

Thanks in advance.

[on_one_wheel]

I'm looking at a gps as well.

It looks like Garmin make the best handheld GPS if you want maps

Another cheap option I'm looking at is a Bushnell Back Track. Perfect for if you're only worry is getting lost.
They can memorize 5 locations and simply point you in the right direction, not much bigger than a stopwatch.

[Gamerancher]

For a hand-held GPS I'd recommend Garmin e-trex. There is a range of them depending on your budget but get one that supports an SD card and you can get topo maps for them. Don't rely on "free" inbuilt maps on any GPS, they are usually out of date and not very good, that's why they're free.

[AusTac]

I occasionally use HEMA on my phone but without internet its pretty much useless/struggles to keep up. They also updated it and it seems to have lose some zoom which is really annoying.

An app to do use to double check, is AUSTRALIA TOPO MAPS in the play store, its flawless so far


I usually use a good ole' paper map

For hand held i use just a little garmin 402 wrist mount, it only leaves a little bread crum trail but it works, when free style exploring its saved me a few times when i've gotten a little carried away

Heard dear,seen pigs in dissa but its pretty busy really

[bladeracer]

I bought a Magellan eXplorist 110 two years ago (about $100 I think).
I'm not at all electronically gifted (my phone is a Nokia N95 8gb from '07). I don't really "navigate" with it but I can put in a waypoint for wherever I'm standing if I put my pack down, or take a shot, then wander off and find my way back okay - at night I'd probably hang a cyalume stick or a flashing red dog light from a nearby tree as well. I'll also put in waypoints whenever I come across a useful reference point like a track junction, car body, a good spot to sleep or scan a valley from, or any kind of hazard. It will make a track showing me where I've been but I haven't found any real use to play with that. For actual navigation I stick with topo maps, compass and rangefinder.

I do need to get a better GPS though, to hunt public land in NSW I need a GPS with more than 1gb of memory to download their maps. I'm leaning toward some kind of tablet with a decent screen size and greater versatility like a camera, notepad, email, PDF reader but really haven't made a thorough investigation yet.

[WayneO]

+ 1000 on the 402 wrist mount. Its saved my bacon on more than a few occasions. Next to my boots, its the first thing I pack when going into the bush.

[Gamerancher]

"leaning towards some kind of tablet" ? You gunna get a mobile skinny soy decaf latte` machine to go with it?

[bladeracer]

"leaning towards some kind of tablet" ? You gunna get a mobile skinny soy decaf latte` machine to go with it?

What else would anybody need a backpack in the bush for
I don't carry much food. I don't drink tea or coffee anyway, and just live on muesli bars and canned fish when I'm out.

Mainly I think I struggle with switching from studying the maps on my 27" computer monitors to a 1.5" screen in the bush and trying to make any sense of it
If it were only a GPS I could never justify lugging a tablet around, but if it gave me other useful functions I might use then it's more likely.
Actually, a tablet itself isn't too big, but the amount of protection you need for it bulks it up significantly. I figure I could attach it to the back of my binocular chest rig to keep it out of the way.

I like to know what NSW hunters are using for their GPS compliance though, that would help give me some direction.

[albat]

When hunting in the nsw forests i use garmin etrex 20 my mate uses garmin gps 62s the screen is a bit small on the 20 but the clarity is about the same as the 62 dont bother with the birdseye view maps they are not clear enough on those screen resolutions in all honesty the device i look at the most is my samsung phone which i load with pdf maps supplied by the dpi and i also run a program called backcountry navigator and download free satellite images of the areas im going i find this much better than the garmin although the satellite reception is not as strong in dense covered areas i pack one of those backup batteries as phones tend to drain quick hope this info helps thx

[bladeracer]

When hunting in the nsw forests i use garmin etrex 20 my mate uses garmin gps 62s the screen is a bit small on the 20 but the clarity is about the same as the 62 dont bother with the birdseye view maps they are not clear enough on those screen resolutions in all honesty the device i look at the most is my samsung phone which i load with pdf maps supplied by the dpi and i also run a program called backcountry navigator and download free satellite images of the areas im going i find this much better than the garmin although the satellite reception is not as strong in dense covered areas i pack one of those backup batteries as phones tend to drain quick hope this info helps thx

Thanks for that, great information.
I agree, I can only think the NSW politicians that made the law had shares in GPS companies.
I print maps from GoogleEarth and ForestExplorer as well as buy the topo map of the area.
I'm sure GPS has its uses but if you can navigate anyway it's not essential.
My phone does have some sort of GPS capability but I've never used it.

[albat]

Just a quick follow up to that other stuff the dpi requires you to carry printed colur maps for the areas you are hunting in i print them on a3 and pack a basic compass as well you shouldnt rely on electronics alone !

[bladeracer]

Just a quick follow up to that other stuff the dpi requires you to carry printed colur maps for the areas you are hunting in i print them on a3 and pack a basic compass as well you shouldnt rely on electronics alone !

Thanks again, I hadn't noticed the requirement for printed maps as well as GPS.
But I would guess both still include a statement that it's your responsibility to ensure you are in the right place regardless of what the maps and GPS download tells you

[Supaduke]

I haven't looked at the wristwatch style gps yet. I mainly want a GPS to mark some waypoints but mostly to help me get back to the ute should my maps and compass (or my lack of orienteering skills) get me a bit off track.

I have a battery pack for the phone that will charge it full about 8 times so no issue there.

I thought about a tablet too, but they seem a bit large and fragile for the bush.

Needs to all fit in a small daypack that contains a 2 litre water bladder and enough storage for a day trip.

The Garmin etrex 20 looks ok and is in my price range.

Really looking for more opinions on HEMA maps before I drop a c-note on buying it. Doesn't seem great so far.

Thanks for the replies

[on_one_wheel]

This thread has reminded me that I've been thinking about it for too long.

I've bitten the bullet and bought a Bushnell Hunt Track.

When it gets here I'll have a play and post a quick review in this thread.

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[bladeracer]

Just been looking at the Hema Navigator.
It appears to be designed for vehicular use?
I like the screen size but from what I can gather from the website it doesn't use maps I could use in the bush, and I don't think it allows you to use maps downloaded from elsewhere, as required for NSW hunting.

[albat]

For hunting the nsw forests a smartphone loaded with the pdf maps provided by the dpi keeps you within the rules so you dont have to spend big money to get started

[Gamerancher]

The Hema program is designed for the 4x4 crowd and built around known tracks. Unless it has been upgraded lately it ain't much good for cross-country work. Saw that first hand on an expedition across the Great Sandy Desert. We were retracing one of Len Beadells tracks that hasn't been on a map since the '60's. One fellow was trying to use it to log the trip but it couldn't handle the fact that we were not on a track. At one point it showed him being 20 km out to sea when we were still 300 km from the coast.
Get appropriate 1-25000 topo maps of where you're going, learn how to read them and use a hand-held GPS to pin-point your location on the map.

[Supaduke]

This thread has reminded me that I've been thinking about it for too long.

I've bitten the bullet and bought a Bushnell Hunt Track.

When it gets here I'll have a play and post a quick review in this thread.

Screenshot_2016-09-19-13-15-15.png

Would be very interested to hear your thoughts on the hunttrack. Very mixed reviews, some glowing , some scathing. The scathing ones seem to often be by people with not much clue though. Seems like a good price and exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for.

[juststarting]

I have a Garmin eTrex 35 Touch + maps. $528 from Johnny Appleseed in St Kilda. It's pretty good, purchased last year.

I am not sure about water proof, but most certainly moisture/water resistant.
Rugged, have been dropped a couple of times - no issues. I put an anti-glare screen protector on it (mostly for bumps, not glare).
The screen is excellent.
Haven't lost signal (I log all walks, so I know if there would be a drop out when I export the track) yet.

Garmin's Basecamp software is good, takes a bit of getting used to, but it's the same with everything. The software lets you take your track and export it to Google Earth (the app, not maps). Or you could use Basecamp to roughly plan a trip with waypoints and then move them to Google Earth for a more detailed research/wise versa.

The screen size I think is a bit too small, but it does the job just fine, especially if i setup waypoints, e.g. car, check-out-spot-1, etc. Hard to explain, but you get used to it pretty quick. The issue is that most of us are used to smartphone screens, but after you look at it for 20 minutes it's fine.

Battery - takes two AAA, not rechargeable and cannot be charged in device either way. Realistically they last for around 16 hours of use, reliably, I swap them out later. I keep a spare pack in the bag. they could last more, probably but I reload every 16 hours.

Gotchas: it beeps when you touch the screen when it's in 'locked screen' mode. Make sure to disable sound entirely.

Overall I am happy with it.

Alternatively, this is moving into $700 territory - Garmin Rino. I've been using them lately (borrowed) and I love it. Does everything eTrex does + 80 channel radio (configurable) + tracker. The tracker is useful if there are a few of you using the same device. You register with each other and can see where everyone is on the map, movement, etc.

(N.B. both devices have backtrack functionality - compass, way points, highlighted walking path, etc.)
===========

HEMA - they are reasonably detailed now. On a smartphone, you need to know the area you are going into, you then sort of pinch roughly 50km x 50km or 100km or whatever area you think you'll be in and tell the application to download the detailed map for that area. After that you only need GPS signal, no mobile. I have it on my phone (can use on all devices after you pay for it), but I generally have it on a 7" Android tablet in the car, if I get really lost. I never had to fall back on it though, but had it running and works okay.

Not sure about bush bashing on foot though. Can suss it out next time I am out (next weekend, if I remember).

===========

Backup, when alone, always have a compass and paper map of the area + DPI s**ty s**ty maps that I mark up with a pencil, so I can superimpose them over a map for normal humans.

===========

DIY
Another member posted a how-to here somewhere, I can find a YouTube video of something similar if you are interested and like tinkering. Essentially, you get (I don't recall application name) application X - get topographic maps for the area or Australia and then superimpose DPI map with slight transparency, so you can see your movement and hunting borders at the same time.

This cannot be done on Garmin or HEMA (emailed them couple of month ago about this - they said no)

===========

If you want to check out either, DM me, happy to show you HEMA and Garmin + basecamp or whatever.

[on_one_wheel]

This thread has reminded me that I've been thinking about it for too long.

I've bitten the bullet and bought a Bushnell Hunt Track.

When it gets here I'll have a play and post a quick review in this thread.

The attachment Screenshot_2016-09-19-13-15-15.png is no longer available

Would be very interested to hear your thoughts on the hunttrack. Very mixed reviews, some glowing , some scathing. The scathing ones seem to often be by people with not much clue though. Seems like a good price and exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for.

Ok my Bushnell Hunt track has arrived.

First impressions
Feels very light, all plastic construction, fits nicely in the hand.
4 buttons 1 usb port
Looks reasonably well sealed with a tight o ring style seal in the battery cover and sealed rubber buttons.
The battery cover has a coin slot turn buckle latch at the top and 2 small clips / tabs at the bottom.
The 2 small tabs look like the weakest link as they might be vulnerable to breakage if dropped. a A decent cover may be beneficial if your tough on tour gear.

So far I'm happy for the money.

Give me a day or two and I'll put some batteries in, get online for setup and give further reviews on it's operating system and user interface.

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3 aaa batteries inserted and easily turned on
Within 2 minutes I have a accurate compass working and a easy menu all without reading the instructions
Very logical operating system so far

Screen resolution is a little crude

Auto timeout looks to be set at about 5 minutes.

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.... ok time to read the instructions. .....

[Supaduke]

Nice one, look forward to hearing how well (or poorly) it works

[Supaduke]

I have a Garmin eTrex 35 Touch + maps. $528 from Johnny Appleseed in St Kilda. It's pretty good, purchased last year.

I am not sure about water proof, but most certainly moisture/water resistant.
Rugged, have been dropped a couple of times - no issues. I put an anti-glare screen protector on it (mostly for bumps, not glare).
The screen is excellent.
Haven't lost signal (I log all walks, so I know if there would be a drop out when I export the track) yet.

Garmin's Basecamp software is good, takes a bit of getting used to, but it's the same with everything. The software lets you take your track and export it to Google Earth (the app, not maps). Or you could use Basecamp to roughly plan a trip with waypoints and then move them to Google Earth for a more detailed research/wise versa.

The screen size I think is a bit too small, but it does the job just fine, especially if i setup waypoints, e.g. car, check-out-spot-1, etc. Hard to explain, but you get used to it pretty quick. The issue is that most of us are used to smartphone screens, but after you look at it for 20 minutes it's fine.

Battery - takes two AAA, not rechargeable and cannot be charged in device either way. Realistically they last for around 16 hours of use, reliably, I swap them out later. I keep a spare pack in the bag. they could last more, probably but I reload every 16 hours.

Gotchas: it beeps when you touch the screen when it's in 'locked screen' mode. Make sure to disable sound entirely.

Overall I am happy with it.

Alternatively, this is moving into $700 territory - Garmin Rino. I've been using them lately (borrowed) and I love it. Does everything eTrex does + 80 channel radio (configurable) + tracker. The tracker is useful if there are a few of you using the same device. You register with each other and can see where everyone is on the map, movement, etc.

(N.B. both devices have backtrack functionality - compass, way points, highlighted walking path, etc.)
===========

HEMA - they are reasonably detailed now. On a smartphone, you need to know the area you are going into, you then sort of pinch roughly 50km x 50km or 100km or whatever area you think you'll be in and tell the application to download the detailed map for that area. After that you only need GPS signal, no mobile. I have it on my phone (can use on all devices after you pay for it), but I generally have it on a 7" Android tablet in the car, if I get really lost. I never had to fall back on it though, but had it running and works okay.

Not sure about bush bashing on foot though. Can suss it out next time I am out (next weekend, if I remember).

===========

Backup, when alone, always have a compass and paper map of the area + DPI s**ty s**ty maps that I mark up with a pencil, so I can superimpose them over a map for normal humans.

===========

DIY
Another member posted a how-to here somewhere, I can find a YouTube video of something similar if you are interested and like tinkering. Essentially, you get (I don't recall application name) application X - get topographic maps for the area or Australia and then superimpose DPI map with slight transparency, so you can see your movement and hunting borders at the same time.

This cannot be done on Garmin or HEMA (emailed them couple of month ago about this - they said no)

===========

If you want to check out either, DM me, happy to show you HEMA and Garmin + basecamp or whatever.

Etrex 35 sounds good but a bit more than I want to spend. Will do some more research on maps. Compass I will get. Hunting on private property we always knew where we are and didn't need all this stuff. It's been a learning curve.
I did some orienteering when I was a scout but I'm a bit rusty. Thanks for the info JS

[on_one_wheel]

Nice one, look forward to hearing how well (or poorly) it works

So far it's looking good.

Basic operation

To tag your current location takes about 5 seconds with as little as 2 or 3 presses of buttons.

Turn it on, select the icon you want to save your location as ,(camp, vehicle, tree stand, deer) and hold MARK ..... done.

You can turn it off at this point

To get back to that location. .. turn it on, select the same icon that you saved your starting location as and follow the arrow.

It can store 20 additional locations if saved as numbers 1 to 20.

Easy as sihtting in bed and kicking it out with your foot !

It dose fancier stuff. .. I'm getting my head around that soon.

I'm having trouble registering it online which means that at this stage I cant use the HuntTrack software on a computer ... probably because I'm hopeless with computers.
TBH. I'm not really too interested in the extra fancy things it can do when plugged into a computer at this point.

[franc]

Next to my boots, its the first thing I pack when going into the bush.

Given up on hunting in thongs?

[juststarting]

on_one_wheel, how is the battery life on it? Hours, days, etc?

[SteamedHam]

I've got a Garmin GPSMAP 64S. It's expensive and i'm certain I only use about 10% of its capabilities, but it locks onto GPS/Glonass almost instantly (even indoors with the curtains closed, which is a bit scary) I bought the AU topographical map, which is handy. It comes with a 12 month free subscription to 'birdseye' satellite imagery, like someone posted earlier isn't as good as it sounds, things can be pretty blurry, and clouds tend to ruin it

[Turkle]

Glonass?

[juststarting]

Glonass?

European positioning satellites, afaik.