Looking at buying some sort of mapping system for 4wding. Have read some posts on the forum but still unsure which way to go. Don't mind spending the money but it needs to be good, so I'm just looking for people's experiences and opinions! Thanks.

I have a HEMA HN7. Takes a little bit of getting use to but all topo map programs do. Once you're use to it but it's the most amazing offroad tool. 

On road however, it's the most useless POS I have ever encounted. Most out of date on road navigation possible. One of the many times it has for me lost I ended up on someone's farm. Was told by the owner of said farm that what I was attempting to drive through hasn't been a road for 15 years. 

So in short it's awesome offroad and useless on road. 

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I am the Hema iPad app. As mentioned above the on road maps are pretty usueless and onlu shows major highways and roads. However you woul dprobably have a GPS for on road so that doesnt matter.

You buy Hema for the off road mapping. Not on road. The up side of Hema vs Mud Maps. Is Mud Maps are user inputted and can be very unreliable. But Hema have a team of 4x4 drives who map the tracks in person. So more reliable> I have used it in the Victorian High country and ACT high country.

SO my vote has Hema. Best mapping system I have used.

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We have and use Hema 7

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I've got both Hema and Mud Maps in my iPad and personally I prefer to use mud map. The maps seem to be better detailed and so far hasn't got me lost.

Im also now looking at the new VMS app and will run all 3 on my iPad.

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I've got a ram mount
With a tablet.
I haven't brought any maps, however I use two apps that I think are pretty impressive.
Memory maps is pretty good, however sometimes it has slow loading issues.....
The second is "map of Australia" I think it's awesome.
Tracks are accurate, features are relevant. And basic to read and follow if you have no passenger.

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The two I mentioned are free

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I have the Hema HN6 and it has been a fantastic unit for the topo maps. The really cool feature that gets overlooked is that in street nav you have the " Camps " series loaded ( mine has "Camps 6") and when used in conjunction with the book it's a great way to plan and find camping locations whilst on the road as sometimes you need to alter plans due to unforeseen problems. The HN7 will come with the latest in the series loaded and if you shop around you might even get the book thrown in. Software and map updates are usually free for 2 or 3 years which is when most of us are considering looking at the latest and greatest anyway. 

The iPad stuff has mixed reviews. You do need a sim compatible iPad though not necessarily a sim. Just the GPS functionality. 

The HN7 size makes it good for use while walking as well as in car though I'm not sure about battery life compared to hand held unit such as Garmins. 

The main problem with iPad over HN7 is in vehicle mounting. The size of the HN7 means it can be dash mounted with minimal loss of visibility. Not so with the iPad. 

A lot to consider but in my book the versatility of the HN7 makes it a better choice.

Happy shopping and enjoy your adventures. 

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+1 for the RAM mounts, regardles of the terrain they hang on tight. I use an Android Tablet, 10", with a poly cover so it holds well in the RAM tablet mount. Have used an early generation iPad however (and this may have changed) was not possible to dim sufficiently for night driving. I use a GPS receiver external to the tablet, the receiver then has an aerial on the roof of the car, prevents loss of signal under tree canopies, the GPS inbuild in tablets is often not much good. ideally get a tablet that charges at 12v and you are sweet to wire it direct.

Have used a few apps, the best I have used is Oziexplorer, I think it is a raster style solution but allows you to load an image of any map you can find, including downloading tiles from online mapping solutions, enables you to remain up to date and go with whichever map is most accurate and suits you at the time. Really easy to use and you can get the PC version to plot before you leave for a trip if you like. Ozi has the best features, Androzic is another option, uses the same maps but can be flakey, tt does 3 things I like better than Oziexplorer, can drag the map wththout disabling tracking first, can weight your position in the screen so that the map is split say 70/30 in the direction you are traveling rather than plotting you in the middle of the screen all the time (helps with the 25K maps), lastly it stiches maps together for better flow, Ozi  waits for you to drive off the map you are on before load the next (unless done manually), can be a pain when using the map to assist cornering speed etc.

Rookie

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The Hemmaa N7 I think is the latest GPS device is a top draw item for going off road remote around the block wherever 

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Have used the VMS 700, found the on road maps ok, the off road ones not so good, resolution makes it a little difficult to figure out what track you're on until you've travelled some distance on it. Recently switched over to using my iPad, the on road maps are quite good and have installed hema map app on it and so far has been quite good with an easy to read display, really like having it on a decent sized screen. Fitted Velcro tape to the top of dash and on cover of the iPad so it hangs down in an easy to reach unobtrusive spot

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I have the Hema app on my Ipad, fixed to my windscreen using RAM mounts, as other has said, these mounts just don't let go - very stable. As far as the maps go, I have found the maps are not deatiled enough partiularly in Areas like Mt Dissa, Toolangi and Wombat (All Vic for the interstaters) I did a trip recently in the Wombat State forest and logged my trip, most of the tracts we were on just were on Hema's maps. I had another app running on my phone which did. The app on my phone was Metro Map cost about $14 from memepory, it is not matrketed as an off raod app but did have the trackes we were on - go figure. 

Like to see the Map Australia one mentioned - what is the name of the app?? Also Oziexplorer was not compatibale with iPad last time i checked;. 

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I have a VMS unit running OZI - EXPLORER with Hema australia 4WD raster map collection.

I find this to work very well for me, The ozi explorer took some setting up, configeration wise, as I had no idea of the information required at first.once set-up I hasn't missed a beat.

On my ipad I have mud map. For which I have pechased a number of maps from thier website. 

Regards 

Kev

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I have both Hema and mud maps on an iPad. Both are great. I use mud maps for Victoria high country and Hema for out back touring. Both have there good and bad points. 

Ram mounts are the only way to go. Expensive but you get what you pay for 

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Like a few others on here, I have both Hema and Mud Maps on my iPad.   Just personal preference, but I find Mud Maps better off road.   You can get right down to 1:25,000 scale if you want.    Both have fairly clunky interfaces by iPad standard, but I find Mud Maps a bit more user friendly.    Haven't had much to do with VMS, but I've heard good things about it as well.    Best advice, try and get some hands on time with all of the systems and go with the one which seems easiest for you to use. 

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