I'm posting this here because I think it might be a problem with the radio and not iGo, but feel free to move it if it's better suited to that forum.
I recently purchased a Chinese custom car stereo for my dual-climate Honda Accord off eBay. Some of the specs are:
- Code:
MCU ST ST8AH6189T (TQFP64-12.5X12.5X0.5MM)
Solution ARM 11(A4)
Memory/RAM 128 MB Hynix H5DU5162E TR E3C
Flash 128M (IC: Samsung k9f1g08uoc-pc80)
Power Amplifier IC ST TDA7388
The unit came with iGO Primo 1.2 installed. While setting it up, I had plenty of sound, in fact it was so much louder than the radio I had to lower iGO's volume almost all the way down. I tested it multiple times and had no problem hearing it, although the sound wasn't "clean." Every time it took the front speaker to give a command, there was an electronic hiss. I was willing to live with it because the radio and iPod sound are perfect.
After messing around with 1.2 for awhile, I decided to install Primo 2.4 from NaviTotal as well as some US English TTS voices. Same thing with the sound, way too loud at first, but totally usable. Then I made my first actual trip with the navigation turned on. I got to the end of my street and the TTS voice said "Turn left" and then nothing. No sound at all from the GPS for the rest of the trip. It navigated just fine but gave me no verbal instructions.
After work I changed to a different TTS voice and tried to navigate again. This time the electronic whine told me the front speaker was being taken over for a command, but I got no command. Then the nav system stayed in control of the front speaker and didn't return to playing the radio. Turning off iGO didn't fix the sound, so I had to turn off my car at a red light to reset the sound.
The next time I tried it was like the first: one command, then silence the rest of the trip. The speakers work great and the sound from the radio, iPod, DVD, Bluetooth are perfect. It must be something in the internal interface where it's trying to let the GPS take over the front speaker that's not working correctly. Any fixes for this problem? I'll try a non-TTS voice next time to see if that makes a difference.
On a related note, is there a forum out there dedicated to making these kinds of units work better? The eBay seller has been as helpful as they can, but I'd like to see if anyone is hacking them to fix minor issues such as:
- Temperature in C only (stupid Americans and their F, I know)
- Unit thinks 11:00 is 11:00 PM not AM (this is not a clock setting issue--it will roll from 10:59 AM to 11:00 PM)
- Even on full cold, the Air Conditioner does not seem as cold or forceful as the stock controller
- The Air Conditioning display remains visible for less than one second if nothing is being actively changed. Not long enough to read the temperature you're trying to set
These and other issues have me wishing there was a direct interface to the unit's software and not just the navigation side.