Hema HX1 Navigator.

[Cuppa]

Anyone got one? I’m keen to get some first hand thoughts.

Finally Hema have brought out a navigator which is Mac friendly. I want to get one but reading the few online reviews I can find (which aren’t from Hema) makes me a bit nervous about shelling out what is not an insubstantial amount. There are some pretty crap reviews detailing numerous glitches & issues. If you have one or have used one what do you think? Please lets stick to the HX1 - not the HN7 or other brands of off road navigators as they will not be mac friendly.

[GQtdauto]

Sorry cuppa but couldn't resist , my still under warranty hn7 has to be started with a toothpick , the onroad function is a piece of crap but it's still better than my VMS .
We had an ARB wang open day recently and the guy was trying to demo the HX but it was almost as if he'd never used one , from what I saw it's as complicated as mine with a few less functions .

[GQtdauto]

This link takes you to the only unbiased review I could find of the Hx1
http://www.productreview.com.au/p/hema-hx-1-navigator.html

[Cuppa]

This link takes you to the only unbiased review I could find of the Hx1
http://www.productreview.com.au/p/hema-hx-1-navigator.html

Yep, that’s the review I was referring to.

[GQtdauto]

I shelled out $800 for the VMS and $800 for the Hn7 , I must be mad , now when I want to buy something like this I google the name of what I want and add "complaints" then check the entries discounting any from the company or reseller .
I also check forums like this one but sometimes people put up with stuff they shouldn't and sometimes people complain about stupid things and just like to whinge .

[outback]

Anyone got one? I’m keen to get some first hand thoughts.

Finally Hema have brought out a navigator which is Mac friendly. I want to get one but reading the few online reviews I can find (which aren’t from Hema) makes me a bit nervous about shelling out what is not an insubstantial amount. There are some pretty crap reviews detailing numerous glitches & issues. If you have one or have used one what do you think? Please lets stick to the HX1 - not the HN7 or other brands of off road navigators as they will not be mac friendly.

Yep bought one, the HX1, and promptly ditched it.
1.You can not add extra maps , i.e. 1:25,000 or 1:50,000 etc.
2. all route etc must be done via the Hema Cloud.

Went for a VMS 700HDX. still a bit cruddy but at least I can add maps that run with OziExploria in 4X4 mode. Just have to upgrade the onboard sim card.

Also if you are in places such as SA and using street mode with the HN7 and I suspect the HXN1 will not show street speed limits that are under 60km/h.
Hema won't accept this as an issue but pass you off to Here maps, which is useless.

Lost faith in Hema since they went to Here Maps.
Also discovered that Here maps don't correctly show fixed average speed cameras and others so they can cause a few problems. $$$ here they come!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cuppa]

Since I posted previously a sale price at BCF was sufficient for me to take the plunge & get an HX1. $559.20 was the cheapest price I've seen.
My thoughts on it so far ..... I don't think it's as bad as some reviews suggest, but it is not very intuitive for new users to suss out. However it seems to do the job ok & regular use/familiarity will help. Surprisingly the level of support in the Hema FAQ/knowledge base is very limited. I get the impression that there is far more effort put into 'sales' than there is support. Nevertheless my one phone call to Hema, prior to purchasing, was well handled & helpful. Yes the ability to scan paper maps & use them in the navigator has been lost, but this was never of any use to me before anyway with the previous navigators which used Oziexplorer maps which required Windows software to convert & were not compatible with my Mac. However the HX1 can get more maps at larger scales. (to 1:9000 depending on area) This is achieved via download & requires a wifi connection. I've only played with this a little & still need to get more familiar with the process, which as I said, is not particularly intuitive, but is achievable with a little persistance. Basically you get the machine in the right 'mode', highlight the area on a map that you want a more detailed map of & download it. There is no cost to do this (other than bandwidth cost). Once downloaded you then need to ensure that you have enabled the downloaded map (otherwise it sits in your map list in a 'standby' mode. So you enable it when you need to use it).

As for the street navigator mode (Igo) it's not the best, but I think it's 'good enough'. Mostly the speed limits are accurate, but not 100%, eg. there is a place I drive regularly where the limit was reduced from 80 to 60 about 2 years ago, but the Hema still tells me it's 80. Not sure about sub 60 speeds, but it does tell me clearly when approaching school zones & warns me of school times.

The only speed camera it's told me about didn't exist, but was at some roadworks where a 40 limit had been imposed for a few weeks, so I expect that it was a camera location which had been advised but not used.

I like that it can be set to 'early warning'. I now have it telling me "turn right in 1km" & then "turn right in 300m".

I still need to use the off road navigation more but I think it's going to be useful. No better than I have on the Hema 4x4 ipad app, but more convenient in the cab, & hopefully less prone to shutting down due to overheating than my old ipad3.

One issue I found a couple of days ago was after being switched off for several days it took quite a while to find satellites after being switched on, but this may have been due to very heavy cloud cover. I drove around 10kms into town & it eventually locked on to the satellites when I parked in town (& then found & maintained connection ok on the way home, despite being put into sleep mode & hidden in the glovebox whilst I left the car). When away on trips I dont think this will be an issue as it will generally not be powered down.

Another issue was battery life. I left it in sleep mode in the car for 2 or 3 days & then found the battery had dropped from 100% to 0%. This was one thing the Hema online support helped with. I learned not to leave the wifi connection switched on when in sleep mode as this drains the battery (it was in range of our home wifi). Since turning off wifi on the hema it has maintained it's battery charge ok.

Overall, my view is that in 2017 the new HX1 could be, & should be better than it is, mainly in terms of user friendliness when compared to most current computer based equipment. 10 years ago it may have been considered 'cutting edge'. But I think it will do the job that we want it to do, which is as a primary navigation aid for touring australia off the beaten track.

Oh, & the only GPS navigator I've owned was an old Igo unit we had in our bus back in 2007. This version is better, but if you are used to a late Garmin or Tom Tom I guess it's possible you may be disappointed.

Even at the 'bargain' price I paid for it, it's expensive for what it is, & this can only be justified by the fact that there is little else that is comparable. The fact that although a bit clunky to get, that it has free downloads for life of extra maps for the off road section improves the value. Folk who want to be able to add their own favourite maps as was possible with previous HN models will be disappointed, as will those who want the Hema screen to double as a rear vision monitor. The 3 years of updates of for the Igo street nav means that maybe in 3 years time the mapping may be more accurate for 2017!

[Cuppa]

Also if you are in places such as SA and using street mode with the HN7 and I suspect the HXN1 will not show street speed limits that are under 60km/h.


Went for a little drive locally after posting this morning. No problem with 40kph & 50kph speed limits. Just once it told me the limit was 50 when the signs said 60.
The speed camera issue got a bit irritating though, it kept telling me pork pies, saying there were speed cameras where there are none. In a 12km stretch (of country road) it claimed there were 4 different speed cameras, none of which were there, & all of which were right on speed zone changes. If I were prone to conspiracy theories I'd have to wonder if these are based on the authorities telling Igo there are cameras there just as an added incentive to get folk to slow down. As it is I suspect that they are past locations for speed cameras. So now I have to decide whether to put up with the 'lies' it tells me in the hope that it also knows where current speed cameras are, or just turn off that feature & just keep the usual look out for the speed signs & boys in blue.

Clearer skies today - it found the satellites much more quickly when I took the car out of the shed than previously.

[GQtdauto]

One thing that really burns by gasket with both Hema and VMS is the massive price drops after you shell out $800 and not even two years later you see them for basically half what you paid or less .
Hema street navigator is the worst I've seen but the 4wd side of it is great , my true bug bear is having to reset it if not used for a while , because it just displays a rainbow colour screen and locks .

[magsit]

Dissapointing to hear these products are not up to what they should be.

[the evil twin]

Long Boot up times - usually due to you turning off the device and moving to a different location then turning it back on so it becomes a "cold boot" usually 5 mins give or take and common to almost all PND's... especially if you keep moving during the cold boot
Warm boot of 1 to 2 minutes is because the device remembers its last fix and when the device gets an initial lock and LDOP at/very near the same place it was last turned off so is happy to go with it and fine tune the LDOP later.
Hot Boot of 30 seconds or so is when the PND comes out of sleep or standby modes so is happily tracking the birds and knows where it is.

Speed Cams - not really worth a pinch of poo as the data file relies on user feedback and often take up to 24 months to update new ones and nobody ever tells them if old ones are gone so lots of artifacts.

Speed limits - relies on base data from Navteq/Whereis and again can take ages to have bugs fixed or changes updated BUT I have found them to be very good overall esp for school zones

Street Nav - Up until I last paid attention Hema use IGo so easiest thing if you are unhappy is to backup the installed one and update to the latest IGo NOTE the more 3D buildings etc you have running the slower the device.

Offroad Nav - Used to be an OziE lite software... they must have changed it eh?

Battery times - WiFi is a killer as you found out.
Purely as a point of interest the GPS trackers I use that log continuosly and report twice daily via Iridium last for 18 months on 4 AA's
This illustrates the extremely low power needed for the GPS side to continuously operate.

[GQtdauto]

Nah ive found the culprit its where the power socket plugs into the unit .its been playing up really bad and was talking to a guy with the same unit .
He was an electrical or electronic wizz and discovered that the cord shouldnt ztick out at 90 degrees but should drop and hug the unit ,he said the cord connection to the unit was also a problem and had his sent back for repair only to be told it was a battery fault which he told them BS and apparently they fessed up about the faulty connection.
Given his advice ive managed to get mine going again by rerouting the cord behind the unit but its going back for its second fix as soon as I get back home .
As for out of date mapping Hema would the one youd think would be pretty much up to date but ive been on bitumen that was laid over 5 years ago still shown as dirt on the HN7 and their latest maps .

[Cuppa]

Some good & not so good news about our Hema HX1 experience.

In my last post in this thread, 2 years ago I had recently bought one & whilst thinking it was not as great as I thought it should be for the cost, I considered it would do the job. There were a couple of niggles which were cured by a software update since. We have been using the HX1 regularly since then & it wasn't until very recently when a problem arose that I realised just how much we had come to rely on it. Being able to see where you are on the map as you travel really is very reassuring at times.

The problem is that the glass screen began to lift away from the unit body causing the screen to go black in the top right corner where some of the touch controls are located. Over the course of several days the black area increased in size. The control buttons still work if you can remember what they are & where they are, but the concern is that the black area will continue to spread, eventually blanking out the entire screen. That's the bad news, especially as the new unit is only supplied with a 1 year warranty & it's a tad over 2 years since I bought it. The good news is that following contact with Hema & explaining the predicament it leaves us in, away from home & travelling, & only at the current address for 4 more weeks before heading into more remote parts where we need the HX1, they have waived their requirement for it to be returned, examined & repaired (if possible) at my expense, (a process which could not guarantee my repaired unit would be returned to us in Broome before our departure date) & instead offered to send me a fully refurbished unit, which has been posted off to me today, with me to return my faulty unit to them in their supplied post paid satchel......... and all at no cost to me ..... a one off goodwill gesture. 24 hours ago I was feeling pretty dark about Hema, but their subsequent actions have restored my faith. My best guess for the reason that the glass had begun to lift is heat from the sun (it is mounted by suction to the windscreen) softening the adhesive used to mount it in the unit. However with our aircon due to be fixed on Monday coming we will be able to keep the replacement unit a bit cooler on hot northern days than has been possible recently.

78477

[the evil twin]

Well done, matey,

Amazing what happens with most (unfortunately not all) decent companies when you have a sensible conversation with them.

So many people these days just chuck a hissy fit about a company/product and hoik things in the bin without even trying any contact.