iGo 2006 USA Review

[Nurhisham Hussein]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.gpspassion.com/fr/articles.asp?id=209' target='_blank'>http://www.gpspassion.com/fr/articles.asp?id=209</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Ever since I saw the early press on the release of iGo Navigator in Europe a year or so ago, I’ve wanted to try it out. It seemed to have a lot of the features I wanted and it had an interface that was attractive and functional. Recently, I got to work with a pre-release version of the application and USA maps and I put it through its paces."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/hisham-20061127-igo8.jpg" /><br /><br />GpsPasSion.com has a nicely detailed review of the iGo Navigator program that ought to be released for the US shortly. Overall, the program gets a thumbs up, with some caveats of course, but the bundled maps are a let down - they're at least a year behind. Hopefully, that will be remedied with the full release version. Personally I'm a little wary of having the program locked to a memory card as (1) you can't use your memory slot for other programs, and (2) you have to go back to iGo if anything goes wrong with the card. Still, I've seen other good reviews and user feedback on iGo, so if you're in the market for a good map program, this one should be on your shortlist.

[ctmagnus]

Personally I'm a little wary of having the program locked to a memory card as (1) you can't use your memory slot for other programs...

But can you not just copy the contents of the card to a bigger card? Is the program locked in some way to prevent this?

[Nurhisham Hussein]

But can you not just copy the contents of the card to a bigger card? Is the program locked in some way to prevent this?

Apparently so, at least that's the impression I got from the review.

[rdrose61]

There is a lot of interest in this nav app as it is the navigation engine of the Mio C310x (this WinCE 4.2 device was sold for $150 OTD at Staples and AR at Circuit City on Black Friday and $180 at CompUSA on Thanksgiving). It's on sale at CompUSA now for $200.

Very cool device. Easy to hack to get by the default shell to get to the WinCE desktop and then add your own programs. The most popular of course is TCPMP to play videos.

I bought one to play with and am impressed with iGO. The UI is very "pretty" and smooth. It has a unique feature of being able to tilt your 3D view to various not just preset angles. The position icon scrolls smoothly with movement. The nav UI can also be skinned.

The maps look nice (they look more like paper maps to me with nice text). The maps are Tele Atlas and not quite as up todate as the NavTeq maps I am accustomed to in iGuidance.

Overall, I am impressed with the device and iGO... especially for $150-$200.

[Deslock]

I picked up a Mio C310x for $150 on Friday. I concur with rdrose61: this is a very impressive little unit. The interface is quite good and It's definitely worth the $200 that CompUSA is currently charging. FYI, threads about getting to the CE4.2 sheel and customizing the mapping software's skins:

http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=69673
http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=61233
http://mioscripting.blogspot.com/

It reportedly has a 400MHz CPU. I haven't tried TCPMP myself, but it supposedly works well for 320x240 movies.

[rdrose61]

I did the "hacking" as detailed at GPSPassion...

I put TCPMP on it and it does fine. Videos look as good as any of my other PPCs. The device is pretty fast. Especially when I soft reset. It is almost immediate to the WinCe desktop.

I have not yet tackled the "hacking" to the Mio shell. I would like to do this to add TCPMP. I would then keep the shell active and let this be a simple PMP/GPS for my wife's vehicle.

It also comes with a nice cradle/holder and has mini-USB power connectivity with a nice coiled DC supply cord.

[Deslock]

A question for rdrose61 or anyone else who has used the software:

When you tap on the map, it adds a cursor (with an animated expanding circle) and brings up the route/camera menu. If I'm in cockpit mode, minimizing the menu gets rid of that cursor. If I'm in regular map mode, I can't get rid of the cursor easily (I can create a route and then delete the route, but that's a PITA).

Is there a quicker way to get rid of the cursor in map mode?

[rdrose61]

Deslock,

I have not had a chance to use it much yet but I simply let it disappear as indicated on page 26 of the manual. I also keep off the POI pop-up.

This feature is a little confusing at first but I anticipate it may be useful later. It would be nice if it had an X close or ignore option.

[Deslock]

Deslock,

I have not had a chance to use it much yet but I simply let it disappear as indicated on page 26 of the manual. I also keep off the POI pop-up.

This feature is a little confusing at first but I anticipate it may be useful later. It would be nice if it had an X close or ignore option.
I also turned off the info pop-ups. My cursor only behaves as page 26 says it should in cockpit view. In normal map view, it does not disappear.

Maybe that's by design? If you get a chance to try yours some more, can you let me know if the cursor disappearing both in map view and in cockpit view? Thanks!

[rdrose61]

Yep... it disappears in Cockpit but not Map view. In fact, I believe even though it disappears in Cockpit, when you go to Map it is there. It is annoying. Hopefully they change the trigger to a Tap/Hold gesture which would cut down on inadvertant triggers.

[Deslock]

Yep... it disappears in Cockpit but not Map view. In fact, I believe even though it disappears in Cockpit, when you go to Map it is there. It is annoying. Hopefully they change the trigger to a Tap/Hold gesture which would cut down on inadvertant triggers.
Yeah. I prefer map view because the cockpit takes up so much of the screen.

I also played with it some more... I could swear that yesterday the cursor went away if I created a route and deleted it (or completed it), but this morning that didn't get rid of it either. Oh well, it's only a minor annoyance anyway.

[cgavula]

But can you not just copy the contents of the card to a bigger card? Is the program locked in some way to prevent this?

Apparently so, at least that's the impression I got from the review.

The application is actually tied to the ID of the card it is stored on. It must run on that card and that card only.

--Chris

[Nurhisham Hussein]

The application is actually tied to the ID of the card it is stored on. It must run on that card and that card only.


Thanks Chris, for clearing that up!