Cheap Navigation gear

Hema Maps just launched its app for North America! with their app you get access 4x4 or overland routes. you can track your GPS location in real time using offline maps. you can save a log of your trip with track recordings, geotagged photos, waypoints and trip notes. you can even back up all your data to a FREE Hema cloud account. One of the coolest things you can do is see other peoples routes and share your own to build a collection of routes. I'm going to get the Delorme InReach unit when it goes on sale tomorrow at REI so I want to see how that navigation App works but I also want to see how well this Hema App works. I definitely think its going to be better than Gaia and MotionX. The App is only $20 just like Gaia. Here is the link to the article on ExPo: http://expeditionpor...-north-america/
 
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I have been using the Tom-Tom for a while, so far so good....the tablet idea came about as the specs on it are very basic...so to open up a PDF or image map is not a problem...anything else it struggles...and yes Hema have a great product....maybe one day i will lash out and buy the navigator....cheers

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BEAR said:
I definitely think its going to be better than Gaia and MotionX. The App is only $20 just like Gaia. Here is the link to the article on ExPo: http://expeditionpor...-north-america/
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Well it is GAIA. Just look at the screen shots. I downloaded the app so I could review it and well they are the same thing but this appears to be lacking some of the functionality in the current versions of GAIA. Only main difference is road route routing which didn't work at times, you have to save them to view them, and well I have Google or Apple maps for that so I don't see this as a strong value proposition. GAIA is going to add that feature down the road according to a member of the development team. It may not be until the end of the year though.
 
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I use a combination of my delorme & magellan


I've tried pdf maps & downloaded USGI topo maps with the add on thats required
they work great but jumping from map to map felt too awkward

I have my notebook loaded with delorme topo, thats quick, cheap & easy with a nmea puck
 
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Gaia on a tablet has been the best method I've found so far. Tried Garmin, Delorme, OnXmaps, and others, none of them come close to the functionality and ease of use that Gaia has developed. I'm interested to see how Hema does with their new system, but until it has some run-time I'm sticking with Gaia.
 
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I like Gaia, but I'm curious about Hema...I love that routes can be shared and stored on Cloud.
 
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SLO Rob said:
I like Gaia, but I'm curious about Hema...I love that routes can be shared and stored on Cloud.
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Hema IS Gaia. They are licensing everything from them. Gaia has had cloud support for a long time and yes you can make your routes public for sharing. I bought Hema because I review apps. If you have Gaia there is ZERO need to but Hema. If you have neither and think Hema is going to become more innovative down the road than Gaia then buy it. I doubt it. You can always search Hema cloud or Gaia for routes and import them into either app or any other app that supports GPX files.
 
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I'm loving my Gaia App and Gaia Pro account. I'm in the process of mapping out a hybrid route using the Shadow of the Rockies trail map from the TransAmerican Trail folks and my own preferences and POI's. I can't wait to put rubber on the road and see how it turns out!
 
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Just an FYI the routing feature in Gaia has been much improved. If you put the routing function into "Driving" mode the app will try to snap to the forest road lines on the map between points. This means a lot less points are required when drawing manual routes. It's not perfect. If the app draws a straight line and doesn't snap to the trail lines just drag the last waypoint closer to the previous one until it does.

I still prefer Gaia. There is a lengthy discussion of Expedition Portal about how layers are handled in Hema. In Gaia Pro you have a percentage bar for each map layer visible so you can blend maps together. A good example would be USFS Raster and Google Satellite imagery. In Hema each is unique and you can only swap one for the other. While it was thought this is a bug someone from the Hema team confirmed that no that's the way they wanted to implement it.
 
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I've been using the DeLorme inReach Explorer with Earthmate on my iPad mini. Works great for preplanning routes, marking waypoints and tracking my progress. Earthmate has so far been detailed enough for my solo adventures. I'm sure there are better options. I use the communications feature the most to stay in touch with my wife when out of cell range. I have a short review on my blog.

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OregonTrail4runner said:
I'm sure there are better options.
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Pairing your InReach with the Gaia navigation app gives you a lot more map options. Where available the USFS Raster maps are the best and easiest to read. Gaia removed Google Maps for Terms of Service reasons but as an individual you can manually reinstall them via your cloud account. I am writing up a tutorial to do this. But if what Delorme offers works for you stick with it. I like the higher level of detail which Gaia provides.

Hema is way behind and a lot of the early adopters are getting angry because no updates have occurred. One bug which I didn't even notice in Hema is that it only records in Metric. This is MURICA dang it!!! Also, if you are on an Android device you cannot move the map storage to a SD card. That's bad....

Here's an article I wrote on dealing with zip files in iOS. While it is geared towards Gaia it would also work with any other navigation app that lets you import GPX tracks. http://www.4xoverlandadventures.com/open-zip-files-ipad-iphone/
 
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