I've had Garmin GPS units in various forms for over a decade. Prior to that Magellan, when it was just an LCD with lat/long. Before that it was a topo map and a silva compass.
Have often toyed with the idea of getting one of the 'satnav' style units - tomtom/nuvi/HN7/VMS etc. however there is a huge caveat...
They pretty much use the same baseline data, and it's just bells & whistles on top. Not very satisfying when you're shelling out huge sums of $$$ for a 'navigator'
My current gps is a garmin oregon 550 - it's about 10 years old, runs 2xAA batteries has a color touchscreen sunlight readable lcd, is backlit, has a usb thingy to power it without batteries (incar)... stores the complete 250K australia topo set and has a multitude of easy to use features (too many to list)
But the dilemma I have is one of SIZE. I want something as big as an ipad pro for a display to replace my oregon 550. I have not found anything that can track satellites as quick, update the speed (better than a car speedo) so fast (0.5s) and most importantly, can allow me to download maps / satellite data, and use it, or save a custom map to the gps as an overlay and use that image as a map - without me paying for a subscription or needing a mobile phone data package subscription just to make everything 'useful' - and by that I mean to actually be a useful real-time handheld navigation tool.
I thought the HN7 would cut it, but it's crap compared to my 10 year old garmin. I thought the VMS would cut it, but it's got some pretty horrendous flaws in the user interface - and I almost bought one until someone told me to buy an app for the ipad... which I have been hesitant to do (but it looks like the best non 'gps' gps solution).
Do I want to buy another garmin? yes and No, not really - they are moving to birdseye satellite subscriptions and each device needs annual licensing, so it's a money gouge. Not only that, the inability to download an entire map set is just BS. So garmin gets a huge thumbs-down from me, and I'll never buy one while they continue with their subscription antics. I don't need an up-to-the-minute recce map. I need a reliable well detailed topo and if there's aerial photo overlay, that would be awesome.
Mudmaps looked ok, but not sure about it. oziexplorer is as bad as hema... no names on gazetted roads etc. (even the 10 year old garmin and australia topo are more accurate)
Insofar as papermap to gps 'learning curve' then I would say, buy a handheld Garmin unit with the Australia Topo map on the sd card or a dvd, and leave it at that. It's been an awesome device to me, and the newer ones are so much better than what I have, the only reason I have issues is because I want satellite data mapping overlay on my topo raster, and I want to be able to store it offline - i.e. cant do it where there is no internet to download a map set you don't have stored, and you can't download them all in one hit, cant buy it on dvd! huge faux pas on garmin's part.
Stick with the paper topo maps and your silva compass. I still keep mine in the ammo box, because you never know when technology will fail you. But maps are getting every bit as expensive as the GPS..... but at least they last.
