REVIEW - Hema Maps VS Mud Maps 3 (App)

Mud Maps 3 and Hema Maps both provide excellent offroad maps for your iPhone or Tablet. 
Both Apps do a great job at pinpointing your location and displaying the track your currently on. So which one should you choose? Well lets have a closer look at both options.

Hema Maps

Hema Maps was first established in the early 80's and were the true pioneers of providing 4wding maps that first started with print only options. When the first GPS was offered to 4Wding enthusiasts it was extremely expensive and considered a luxury item. As technology advanced and time went by it lead to a more reasonably priced option starting at around $100 being the (Hema Explorer App).

Key Features:

- Hema Explorer Map (Max Scale 1:150K)
- Satellite Imagery & Street mapping.
- 40'000 Interactive Points of Interest. (Campgrounds, Picnic area's etc )
- Quick Routing. (Very Useful)
- Auto Sync trip data to the explorer cloud.
- Available on Android & iOS
- Australia wide map coverage
- Can create Point to Point Routes
- Can be used offline
- Real time GPS tracking
- Generates Travel Statistics
- Save the Log of your Trip
- Geo Tag Pictures
- Social Sharing capabilities
- Weather updates (online)
- State government topographic maps for NSW, QLD, TAS, SA, VIC

The above extensive list of features is bound to satisfy the most experienced of 4x4 Tourers.
But it leaves you wondering what about Mud Maps? Is there anything more they can offer over Hema Maps? Lets take a look.

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MudMap

To find actual information about the company itself was indeed a challenge. Which makes you wonder, why the secrecy? According to my research it was first launched in 2003 and is located in Victoria. MudMaps is owned by a company called equip solutions and has been trading under a different name since 2010. We filled out their contact us form on the mud maps website to try and get further background information on the company. We have still not received any response so the above info is all we can provide at this stage.

Key Features

- Comes with 2,500+ 4WD and Topo maps
- All maps can be downloaded for OFFLINE.
- Right down to 1:25,000 along the east coast.
- Australia wide coverage + specialty maps for 4WD hot-spots.
- Real time GPS.
- Ability to record your route.
- Share your trips right from the app.
- Comprehensive Campsite database. 10,000 sites Aus wide.
- Outback touring tracks 1:250
- East Coast Touring tracks 1:25
- Over 2,500 maps in total and they are all come bundled with Mud Map 3. No more in app purchases, no more confusion on what maps you get.

Overall they both provide an excellent array of features and will easily do the job. One thing that really stuck out with Mud Maps 3 was no more in app purchases. Lets be honest, nobody likes in app purchases.

Dislikes:
- The lack of background information publicly available on the company. I couldn't help but notice the several complaints about the product support or lack thereof on blogs.

Handy Tip: When running both of the apps on your iPhone or Ipad ensure ALL other apps are closed. They will run much smoother when other apps are not chewing up processor capacity in the background.