Setting up a Chinavasion 5" Gen2 GPS

paulcb said:

Hey Phil. That's good to hear. Would like to try it on mine... can I get some instructions?

Click to expand...

It's working fine on two of my 5" 800X480 units. Because the install is a bit involved, I'd need your unit so I could copy all the pieces. You would need to back up what you have now though beforehand in case it went south (copy the entire root directory and all the files to your PC hard drive). Are you going to be in my area any time soon or maybe at Moonshine?

If there is a way you could give instructions that would be great, as I am in the UK. Would understand if that is not practical, though.

Here's the link that I got the 800X480 download from -

http://www.gpspower.net/igo-discussions/339511-igo-primo-2-4-skins-trip-data-bottom-3.html?posted=1#post1056447

Look at post 36 for the download link. You may have to join the forum to be able to do the download. You will have to have the Dutch language in your LANG folder as it comes up in Dutch (in the CONTENT\LANG folder it is Lang_Dutch-nl.zip on mine). If it is not there, it hangs at PROGRAM LANGUAGE. Then you go through the menus in Dutch to change it to English (have Google Translate handy).

Suggestions -

1. Copy your current install on to your hard drive (the entire root directory from the GPS which will usually be PRIMO something or other). That way if all fails, you can delete it on the sd card and copy it back to the sd card and be recovered.
2. Read the entire thread above from the 1st entry to the last. It sort of explains how to install.
3. If your GPS is not 'native' 800X480 it will not work.
4. You will still need most of your PRIMO files including the LANG, VOICE, MAP, and PRIMO.EXE. This is a 'replace certain files' as they tell you to do.

As I said, it's a bit complicated, but it sure is sweet if you can get it to work for you.

Thanks for that, Phil.

I'll have a play,but might decide to stick with the standard decent skin as that works fine for me and the folks on the forum you linked to see to have some reservations about the Moto edition.

I'll see how it goes. The best of both worlds would be (for me anyway) to get the Moto edition routing put into the standard decent skin.

I think their 'reservations' were more about the 'how it was done' than the functionality. So far, it has worked really well for me. The best feature is the 'waypoint discard' which is pretty handy when your routing software and the GPS software 'disagree' as to exactly is a location. Like I said, if you copy what you have to backup location, you can always copy it back without any problems. The original 'DECENT' skin appears to be the source for the M C 1 9 and it's not a bad option. I really like the info bar on the bottom of the screen and the MENU button transitioning to the VEHICLE SPEED when you get underway. Working through the Dutch on setup is a little strange, but with Google Translate, it doesn't take long.

I am trying to get it to run on a memory card for now. So far, I get the option under Display to change to the skin, but it doesn't look like it should. The file linked to in post #15 on GPSPower isn't available anymore. Are these files included in the one in post 36, or extra? If the latter, would you happen to have them?

Further to my previous post, I have now found a way to add the kind of waypoint routing option that the Moto edition skin has to the regular Decent skin (and possibly to any other skin).

I came across this on the GPSPower forum. There are lots of different UX files, which are kind of like plug ins that add certain functionality to iGo. There is one called "skip waypoint" that does what the Moto skin does (it might well be that this is actually how it is implemented in the Moto skin), i.e. you can set a certain distance around the waypoint where the routing will assume you have reached the waypoint and dismiss it and route you to the next waypoint, so you don't have to hit it exactly.

You copy this UX into the UX direcectory of Primo (create the directory if not already present) and you can set the radius around the waypoint that will let the programme assume you have reached it. I haven't had opportunity yet to try it with an actual route, but it installs fine and I can set the radius/distance, so hope that it will work.

So, I will just stick to the Decent skin (on which the Moto skin is based), which runs fine on any resolution and has a display which I like.

Post 15 was the first shot before a couple of tweaks that he made later that he had mentioned because I didn't have the older version of WINRAR to properly recreate the skin zip. Post 36 is the one you need. You will have to 'unzip it' after you download it and then copy the files to replace the ones already there. Thanks for the explanation about the UX folder - I wondered what it did. I actually was able to make one small tweak myself to the 800X480 skin and didn't manage to mess anything up! The Decent Skin is pretty close to the MC skin, especially if you can activate the 'waypoint' feature.

It's quite interesting how customisable Primo is, but like you mentioned on the other forum, some sort of manual would be handy.

pieterv said:

some sort of manual would be handy.

Click to expand...

I finally found a manual for IGO Primo. Has anyone found a more recent manual for this software?

I just got one of these it came loaded with Primo how do I transfer rotes to the GPS? I know it has to be a KML file and I have a 16G SD card for it. Is it as simple as saving the route to the SD card?

PM on the way!

There needs to be a folder called ROUTE created. The full path is usually -

xRIMO(or whatever it is called)\CONTENT\USERDATA\ROUTE where x: is the drive.

If the unit has an micro SD card installed, it will appear in WINDOWS EXPLORER as two 'disk' drives when you plug in the long-snouted USB cord (standard USB cords do not work well). If two drives appear, chose the 'higher' letter as this will be the micro SD card. Some installs come with the USERDATA folder already created. If not, then create it in the CONTENT folder, then create the ROUTE folder in the USERDATA folder. Then you just drop and drag the .kml files into the route folder whenever you want to add a route. The routes should show up when you go to the LOAD ROUTES button.

Thanks Phil I think I have it figured out well at least I got a couple of routes on the GPS via the SD card. Still much to learn but I think I have it set up and usable.

It's one of those things that the more you use it, the 'smarter' it gets ... BTW, buried in the options is the ability to do a 'fly over' of your route on the GPS at 16X the speed so you can see if it's gonna take you somewhere you don't want to go.

FWIW, the 5" Chinavasion GPS that's Windows CE based is no longer available. I was considering getting a 2nd as a backup.

Seems it was replaced with an Android based device. Looks like the same hardware. Wonder what software it can run... anything that an Android phone would run?

Also, the 4.3" Rage is still available.

The one big problem with the Droid based GPS is the screen. A capacitive unit like a Droid phone, so special gloves or a stylus needed.

No GPS software included, so Co-pilot or google maps would work. Think of it as a tablet in a waterproof case.

T_C said:

The one big problem with the Droid based GPS is the screen. Still a capacitive unit, so special gloves or a stylus needed.

No GPS software included, so Co-pilot or google maps would work. Think of it as a tablet in a waterproof case.

Click to expand...

Interesting. One of the things I like about mine is that it works well with standard gloves.

Thanks for that.

paulcb said:

Interesting. One of the things I like about mine is that it works well with standard gloves.

Thanks for that.

Click to expand...

One place or another is a thread I wrote about using the capacitive screens while riding. I have motorcycle gloves that claim capacitve fingertips, but not so very useful in reality
My solution was to use a retractable key/badge fob and attach a small stylus attached on it. I clip the retractor the the right handlebar and the stylus is close by for use.

I bought a pack of 10 aluminum mini stylus from Amazon for a couple of bucks and have badge retractors from various companies for free. If it disappears or the rubber pads wears out from the weather, cheap to replace.

paulcb said:

FWIW, the 5" Chinavasion GPS that's Windows CE based is no longer available. I was considering getting a 2nd as a backup.

Seems it was replaced with an Android based device. Looks like the same hardware. Wonder what software it can run... anything that an Android phone would run?

Also, the 4.3" Rage is still available.

Click to expand...

That stinks, but it makes me glad I've got a few back in 'storage'. What they usually do is obsolete one model, leave it off the market for a while and then bring it back slightly different like they did with the Rage. They sold a boatload of these so I bet they are switching vendors and will be back in a year or so if past behavior is any indication.

Interesting... just for grins, I checked the 5" CE based GPS and it's back in stock for $103!