Just windering on opinions of the VMS Touring 7000 HDX

[First Pooy]

I am looking at the VMS Touring 7000 HDX from 4wdsupercentre I mainly need it for of road and it needs to be detailed and off line operational so when the GPS drops out I can still access the maps,any one with user experience ?

[mudski]

I am looking at the VMS Touring 7000 HDX from 4wdsupercentre I mainly need it for of road and it needs to be detailed and off line operational so when the GPS drops out I can still access the maps,any one with user experience ?

I've been wondering the same. I currently have Memory map on my Tablet. But rarely use it purely because of the PIA it is to have it mounted and being quite large etc etc. Im thinking one of these might be quite good.

[Brisey]

I am looking at the VMS Touring 7000 HDX from 4wdsupercentre I mainly need it for of road and it needs to be detailed and off line operational so when the GPS drops out I can still access the maps,any one with user experience ?

I bought one a year or so ago rather than go to the expense of a Hema HN7. All software & maps are on the SD card as the device is locked & can't load anything onto it. There was a problem with a batch of software they were using & the devices were crashing very often. After contacting VMS about it they sent out a new SD card but it didn't fix it it still was crashing but not as often, others I have heard about have had no more trouble after getting a new SD card. The on road mapping is Tom Tom I think & the offroad mapping is nothing special with only 1:250000 scale maps. An unlicensed version of oziexplorer is installed so a license has to be bought for it. Oziexplorer is my mapping software of choice so eventually I replaced the other software & maps and it now only runs oziexplorer which loads automatically at bootup. Maps in varying scales can be bought for ozi at most mapshops.

I find the GPS in the VMS is not as sensitive as the Hema it can take a while to get a GPS fix especially in cloudy weather & I have noticed the speed display in ozi wanders about a bit & isn't as accurate as other GPS devices.

VMS & Hemas don't use online maps they use the GPS only with maps loaded onto the SD card

I'm not 100% disappointed with the VMS but I should have bought a Hema HN7 before they stopped making them.

Cheers
Bri

[GQtdauto]

Have both the Hema HN7 and VMS , the VMS worked ok the street map worked well but the Offroad maps were clunky at best ,it had the software glitch and was forced to buy the HN7 because of time constraints on our lap of oz .
The Hema off road maps work and are better than VMS there is also many different functions that make this unit superior imo to the VMS such as Bluetooth and I love the index function which moves the map not the arrow so for someone that gets lost in a car park like me I know the direction of arrow is my travelling direction and tracks on the left are tracks on the left etc .
The street map on the Hema is garbage and unreliable but it's a third party function not owned by Hema just licensed by them .
The VMS did shit itself with a software glitch but I eventually got a patch from them that seems to have fixed it and it still works after six or seven years .
My Hema has been back for repair twice and is about to go back again and all for the same fault the battery ( or so they say) .
Talking to one of their techs I was told their batteries last between 6 and 18 months on average depending on use and I never seen this fact anywhere on the box or from the salesman at ARB .
I do prefer the Hema though although there are some inaccuracies their maps and functionality is superior .

[the evil twin]

Hema has shit batteries otherwise is better in all respects 'cept price... but... if you aren't a 'nerd or a tinkerer' the extra $ and better performance make the Hema attractive I spose.

[First Pooy]

Have both the Hema HN7 and VMS , the VMS worked ok the street map worked well but the Offroad maps were clunky at best ,it had the software glitch and was forced to buy the HN7 because of time constraints on our lap of oz .
The Hema off road maps work and are better than VMS there is also many different functions that make this unit superior imo to the VMS such as Bluetooth and I love the index function which moves the map not the arrow so for someone that gets lost in a car park like me I know the direction of arrow is my travelling direction and tracks on the left are tracks on the left etc .
The street map on the Hema is garbage and unreliable but it's a third party function not owned by Hema just licensed by them .
The VMS did shit itself with a software glitch but I eventually got a patch from them that seems to have fixed it and it still works after six or seven years .
My Hema has been back for repair twice and is about to go back again and all for the same fault the battery ( or so they say) .
Talking to one of their techs I was told their batteries last between 6 and 18 months on average depending on use and I never seen this fact anywhere on the box or from the salesman at ARB .
I do prefer the Hema though although there are some inaccuracies their maps and functionality is superior .

So with the batteries can you keep them on power wll the time when the batteries go bad or do the effect the performance, I was just thinking that if they are like lap tops when the battery goes bad you keep still use them if kept on constant charge

[GQtdauto]

Nah mate when the battery goes the screen goes and it just won't display anything ,you can tell when it's not far off happening because the screen goes multi coloured lines on startup .
I'm taking the VMS with me on this years trip as a backup but need to send the Hema back if I can get onto them tomorrow

[threedogs]

I had the VMS touring for awhile now had to problems.
either city or outback no probs at all.
I do miss the bread crumb feature that my Garmin 12 had.

[GQtdauto]

Hema has the bread crumb trail .

Seems as though the problem with the Hema might be my power source ,it's not getting the amps it needs to charge up from the USB port and now I'm starting to wonder if I've been using the right port , the Hema tech was great on the phone and pointed out what happens if you charge at under 2 amps and that's what is happening .
Used the USB for the iPad at 2.4 amps and straight away it fired up and is charging so I may owe them an apology if it charges up and works again .