Hema HX-2 Navigator

The HEMA HX2 really has not met my expectations for a sat nav / off-road GPS unit worth $750RRP Even if you get it for $650 it’s a complete letdown.The lag in start up is completely unacceptable. We’re talking 38 seconds with the latest update before you get to the main menu and before you have to do everything I’ve listed below to get the application/s going. And then on start up sometimes the unit wouldn’t even turn on with ignition switched on. Then sometimes it would start up automatically despite being set to turn on and off with ignition in settings. It lagged by about 7 seconds when pressing a menu button while in navigation mode before it would open a menu up. It reminded me of my first Navman in 2005.The on road maps are horrible, the curser for car ... MoreThe HEMA HX2 really has not met my expectations for a sat nav / off-road GPS unit worth $750RRP Even if you get it for $650 it’s a complete letdown.The lag in start up is completely unacceptable. We’re talking 38 seconds with the latest update before you get to the main menu and before you have to do everything I’ve listed below to get the application/s going. And then on start up sometimes the unit wouldn’t even turn on with ignition switched on. Then sometimes it would start up automatically despite being set to turn on and off with ignition in settings. It lagged by about 7 seconds when pressing a menu button while in navigation mode before it would open a menu up. It reminded me of my first Navman in 2005.The on road maps are horrible, the curser for car position is in the middle of the screen not at the bottom like Google maps or almost any other GPS. The angle of view is horrible even after adjusting it in settings. Seems like you’re looking across a map not down on it. Every time I start on road maps it shows your current position is in Canberra despite being in SA. Then you have to hit the arrow icon every trip to recenter the map to your location, then you have to use the + icon to zoom into your street location because every time you start it is so far zoomed out it makes a country town of 10,000 people look like a small cluster of houses. It did not announce speed/red light cameras that were facing our car at intersections. That was hugely disappointing and the GPS speed was 1.5km slower than all other GPS units that I have used including my iPhone 12. The GPS speed also fluctuated constantly from 106-115 when I was on cruise control 110 on a flat country road. There was surprisingly no spoken street names, I had spoken street names on a sat nav I previously bought in 2008! The HX2 simply says turn left in 300 meters despite other turn offs being before that it makes it difficult like it was in 2005 to judge where to turn. The over speed warning would not trigger until Its too late at 15-25km over the speed limit. Then it would be too sensitive as I’m slowing down to a new speed zone by beeping constantly until I had slowed reach the exact speed as signposted.Off road maps were not as good as I expected. I had Google maps direct me to a beach in SA that the Hema didn’t even know there was roads for. There is no night time dimming mode for off-road maps and this is disappointing as I want to use off-road maps the most. But i couldn’t use it at night without going back to the android settings to turn the brightness down. When launching off-road maps you also have to press the arrow icon button to centre your position then press the + button again to zoom in same as on road maps. This should be automatic and set as I left the unit before it was powered off.Waypoints are not accepted directly through the GPS for example if navigating to a supermarket and you want to stop past a liquor store you can’t add it as a stop. You have to restart a new route and then re route to the supermarket.The first big warning on the included quick start printed sheet states “DO NOT LEAVE IN DIRECT SUNLIGHT, remove and store when parked or when not in use”. That’s going to be inconvenient. This is Australia.The unit shut down and restarted by itself while driving a few times and acted very glitchy. Understandable being a new product and waiting for bug fixes in further updates but didn’t feel reassuring that I’d put my $650 to good use. I note HEMA isn’t fast at fixing stuff. Just look at the reviews for their apps.I’ve been looking forward to this product for a long time but am so disappointed. If you’ve ever used a Navman or Tom Tom or even Google maps to get around you’re going to dislike the Hema HX2 experience.I’ll be returning mine and maybe just downloading their off-road map for $99.This review is for people like myself who are wanting to know what it’s really like to use before parting with a large amount of money. $750RRP Is way overpriced for a unit this poorly executed.

Great vector maps, really, but the GUI of the unit itself (some version of Android) is glacially slow to the point of uselessness. Keystrokes take seconds each and eventually catch up to your typing, sort of. Power-up times are a top opportunity to go get coffee, and the general snappiness of the unit is snappiless. It's basically unusable - even with all software updates applied. The suction cup mount is also a terribly dinky affair which wobbles a lot before the suction cap loses suction - even on pristine glass. Overall it was a bad experience. A shame, because those vector maps were great.

1 - you have to reset the map screen every time, the system should retain your last settings and return to these on start up.2 - it is impossible to set and maintain the correct brightness level3 - the glass is far too reflective, I cannot mount the unit in the same place that I had my HX-1 mounted for the past 5 years, the light reflection from the same angle turns the unit face into a mirror4 - publish a better user's guide, the current one is as much use as an ash tray on a motor bike. The 'Hema University' does not cover everyday user's needs