TWONAV GPS units

[Sparky]

Hi,
Has anyone on here got any experiences or comments on the Two Nav GPS units i.e the Sportiva or the Aventura?
I am considering the Sportiva as they are similar to the Garmin Oregon units but appear to be far more flexible with the file types of maps that can be used. Any thoughts?

[http://www.twonav.com/]

Thanks,

Brett

[Ent]

Be interested as well. The site is a bit light on for information to get much an idea though.

Cheers Brett

[photohiker]

The Aussie Distributor runs the GPS Australia Forums and you will find all sorts of TwoNav info buried there. - Search for Twonav or Aventura or Sportiva or compegps and you should find a lot of info.

The compegps/twonav company is based in Spain, however I cannot guarantee that the hardware is not made in China. I couldn't find an ethical label anywhere on the box when I checked one out, but I can tell you the hardware is pretty good and the software is coming along nicely.

Aventura is a larger touchscreen handheld unit, while the Sportiva is smaller, similar to a Garmin Oregon in size. Both run the same or similar software, and can read digital maps you may have scanned yourself or freely downloaded from the net (although you may have to calibrate them). Will read Oziexplorer calibrated maps, so if you have them, you will probably love this capability.

Well worth a look. I tried to buy one last year, but stock issues plagued the purchase and I landed up doing something else. I believe stock is available now though.

[Ent]

Now, now Michael lets keep debates within threads or you will wind up like me and have to be taken outside and be moderated (just joking, really just joking moderators )

Anyway thanks for the links Michael. I will check them out as the ability to handle Oziexplorer format is the go for me. Obviously price, battery performance, battery type, weight, toughness will be factors as country of origin is likely to be same for all units Basically pefection would be a ruggerdise IPAQ type unit that has a memory card capability to hold all the the Tasmap series (around 4GB) with the ability to run on AA batteries or have a replacable battery.

I like the look of the Garmin but their rip-off approach in keying the maps to the unit meaning a lost unit means you lose the maps as well was an example where I though their ethics stunk so took back my credit card and brought a very basic unit instead.

Cheers Brett

[photohiker]

Speak for yourself

The Aventura has the best battery options - when I was looking at it, an AA battery holder was in the wings and it comes with a decent rechargeable. Not quite as good as the SatMap, but not far short either.

Beware IPX ratings, not many of these units are truly waterproof, I think the Sportiva (IPX-6) might be the best, Aventura is listed as 'rainproof' but I think it was previously rated IPX-4 IPX Ratings

[Sparky]

Photohiker,

Thanks for the info and the links, Iv'e had a bit more of a read and think I'm leaning towards the Sportiva.
I see that it takes a Nokia style battery so it would be feasible to carry a charged spare, storage expandable to 32Gig and IPx6 - should be fine with rain but not a swim so some care would be needed. The Garmin is IPx7 so could be immersed but I share Brett's concerns on restriction with the maps. Most of the reviews of the product that I have read are favorable.

I plan to purchase in the next month or so (Tax refund put to good use!)if I end up getting the Sportiva Ill post again with a local review.

Regards,

Brett (the Sparky)

[Ent]

Hi Michael

Yes I like the bigger unit but agree non waterproof or at least reasonable water resistant gear gets fast tracked to silicon heaven in winter Tassie. Toasted two IPAQ type units and C/F card GPS The smaller unit looks tempting. I tried the Starwars guru's site but it the shop was was down. All the basics are there, three dimensional compass and barometer so looks like a winner over the Garmin.

Cheers Brett

PS

I always speak for myself as nobody else will

[walkinTas]

There is no need to risk your electronics whilst bushwalking. Check the IPX, and if your gear doesn't measure up, purchase something like this. There is a range of bags available - just google "waterproof bags for electronics", or similar.

[Ent]

I had the waterproof bag for the IPAQ but then condensation would make the screen unreadable so out it came and off to silicon heaven it went. I much prefer nowadays a unit to be tough enough for the environment but this does come at a cost. Rain is not so bad but cold and snow is deadly.

Cheers Brett

[photohiker]

Also note that these are touch-screen devices. They don't like many enclosures if you want to use the screen whilst inside... Choose carefully.

[walkinTas]

The idea is to put the device in the bag before it gets wet, so there is no moisture on the inside. They are available for touch screen, so yes, choose wisely.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Or you could just get a water proof unit

MJD and I have the Garmin 60CSX. I use mine is all kinds of weather and have had not problems. MJ even dropped his in a creek a while back, still no problems

[Ent]

The idea is to put the device in the bag before it gets wet, so there is no moisture on the inside. They are available for touch screen, so yes, choose wisely.

Yes, but it was in the bag, put in safely at home but the bag still fogged up Nowadays I decided that if it is going bush in winter, what ever it be, best if the thing is water resistant to avoid tears.

Any back to the TWONAV units, here was their response to my two questions about toughness and OZI explorer formatted map files.

No GPS can handle the OZF file format but ours can handle the world standard ECW raster map format.

Both are just as tough as each other.

Now can you convert and how easy is that?

Cheers Brett

[Son of a Beach]

Tell them that the iPhone (as a GPS) can handle the OZF2 file format just fine, and OZF3 support is probably coming soon.

[photohiker]

No GPS can handle the OZF file format but ours can handle the world standard ECW raster map format.

Now can you convert and how easy is that?

Cheers Brett

What do you want to convert? Most maps I have bought are in ECW or (ECW and OZFx [Hema]) Have you checked your original media, you may already have ECW's there.

GPSAustralia forum seems to have the answer on conversions: OziExplorer OZF Format to a Twonav Sportiva/Aventura

Could be painful if you have a lot of maps only in OZF...

[Ent]

Hi Michael and Nik

What the world needs is me banging on about killing yet another phone, in this case the likely candidate is a IPhone Actually Nik you ought to buy your daughters an Ipod, and Ipad and your dear wife an Iron and then you will need an Ipood to dig yourself out of that hole

I have the complete Tasmanian 1:25000 series so would like to use them as the base to start from. I will check out the link. The TwoNav units are still rare to get a handle on how they work. Basically the Garmin has the unit with the Oregon series but then in typical Garmin style stuffs up with using propriety maps. Also based on a couple of Garmin products I have my doubts over the reliability of the more trendy units. The basic ones are bullet proof but their Edge series are subject to more than their fair share of problems.

I like the idea of the GPS maps been the exact same as the printed maps as it makes for much easier navigation and getting the big picture.

Cheers Brett

[mcav]

Hay Sparky or anyone. Did you get around to purchasing the twonav sportiva? If so what did you think? I have been looking at the Oregon 450T but the sportiva certainly seems to rate pretty well without the hassles of being tied into Garmin software limitations.

Mcav

[photohiker]

Hay Sparky or anyone. Did you get around to purchasing the twonav sportiva?

Ordered one yesterday. Will post more info once it arrives and I have had a chance to use it a bit.

Are there any specifics you would like to know about?

So, including the iPhones, I will now have or have had 6 handheld GPS devices, 5 of them capable of mapping. Still, cheaper than a boat

[Sparky]

Mcav,

Just read your post, I haven't been on in a while and given that I don't part with my cash easily I am actually sitting on the money and .....still yet to decide on which way to go My main concern is getting a unit that will hold a good satellite lock in more difficult situations, tall timber etc. My current unit is an old Garmin, non mapping easy to use, accurate but loses lock fairly easily which I find annoying and no good if you are trying to record a track log.
I will look forward to the review being posted on here and are still seriously interested in this unit although have read some mixed reports on the compegps forum which is specifically for these products.

Regards,
Brett

[photohiker]

Well, I've had the opportunity to bounce around the Adelaide hills a bit with the Sportiva, so here is an initial review. I've not yet done the whole plan/upload/follow route thing, but I'll get around to that in due course.

What I have done is to grab a map, upload it to the unit, walk around and muck around with some of the features.

The mapping that comes with the unit is being revised at the moment. As a result, I only have 1:250k mapping at my disposal and being the picky bloke that I am, 250k mapping isn't that good for walking, so I used Mobile Atlas Creator to make a local map from the OpenCycleMap mapping resource. As most of the local OpenStreetMap data that the CycleMap relies on was mapped by yours truly, it would give a good idea of the relative accuracy of the Sportiva vs the Vista HCx I used to plot and map the original data.

Transferring the map wasn't much hassle, but I need to point out that while its relatively straightforward, you may have problems with it if your computer skills are all fingers and thumbs. Basically the map needs to be opened in the software included with the Sportiva (CompeGPS Land) and an area selected for transfer to the device.

Once the map was loaded, I wandered outside and switched it on. Lock came up in about 30 seconds and looked to be spot on. I did a 5km walk around the hills which includes a timbered area with restricted vision of the sky, and even though the unit was in my trouser pocket, it held lock and stayed on the path. I was able to create a new waypoint and select it for navigation, upon which the unit displayed the bearing to the waypoint and also the bearing I was walking on. Bearings are shown as either GPS bearing while moving, or 3 Axis electronic compass when not (Selectable, I think) The 3-axis is important for getting an accurate reading when the device is not level as it might be when mounted on a bike or car.

The Sportiva is a touch screen GPS, and there are only two physical buttons. One on the left to switch between 'Pages', and one on the right for power and sleep. When in sleep mode, the GPS will continue to track even though the screen is locked and the unit is in low power mode. It will take a while to get familiar with the functions, but at this point, the touch screen functionality seems to be well conceived. For instance, to create a new waypoint, one scrolls the map and holds the finger or pointer down on the spot for a second, a menu pops up and the new waypoint function can be selected.



In the short amount of walking I've used the device for so far, the location data seems to be spot on, even when in relatively challenging circumstances. I have yet to take it into a deep valley with tall timber, but at this stage I think that its reception is at least as good as my Garmin Vista HCx (which is pretty good)

If there is anything you would like me to test, I'll be happy to oblige. As noted in the TasMap Data thread, I now have some TasMap 1:25k data to load on the unit and test on my next tassie trip.

[Sparky]

Michael,

Thanks for the detailed review, I am almost sold, be very interested how it goes in a tougher environment i.e. deep valley, tall timber etc.
I have noticed they have now released a case with velco / crab attachment to suit the Sportiva and I have spoke to the Australian distributor who has now placed an order to get some of these in stock.

Thanks
Brett