about Myron and Davis
This is my first post here, but its not going to be a positive one. I bought the Myron and Davis headunit like 3 months ago. What can I say about it:
- GPS -- the maps are BAD. I will repeat that : THE MAPS ARE BAD. Do not buy the upgraded maps, they are as bad as the ones the unit came with.
I will explain at the end of the post how to replace the maps with iGo - worked for me.
Anyway, again about the maps: drive in a straight line, ask the GPS to take you from where you are to the last house on the street. Like 50% of the times (depending on the street you are on), it will ask you to make a detour, so you'll end up driving on 3-4 other streets, adding 2-3 miles to a 1 mile trip (if you were to take it in a straight line). The Gogo maps (thats what the unit comes equipped with) are so BAD that it doesn't matter which method of routing you choose, no matter how bad you want to use the highway system , it will choose to take you through a nightmare of adjacent roads (see my explanation above with stupid detours, etc), making your journey like 70-80% longer than it should be. If you still decide to buy the Myron and Davis unit, go to the end of the post where i'll explain how to get rid of the Gogo Maps From HELL.
- the backup camera: IT IS NOT AUTOMATED. You have to go to menu, then click on the Camera icon. It will not automatically switch to the backup camera when you enter reverse (although I connected the camera to the reverse / back up lights, so it powers on when reverse lights are lit. The headunit does not sense that the camera is on, therefore you have to go to the main menu and manually select the camera.
- the radio -- there are no presets, you always have to click on a line on the screen (line showing frequencies), so you'll have to know the frequency your favorite radio station is on. There's no save to memory or add to favorites.
- xm radio - i haven't tested it
- the dvd player - movies : plays nice, BUT i do not see any scroll or at least a fast forward . Turn your car off and start it again, movie will start from beginning and there's no way for you to resume from where you left off.
- the virtual cd player: there's no possible way of saving CDs into the virtual cd player, I have spent like 2 hours researching their headunit manual, the internet and the menus of the headunit. THere's no way and no buttons/options to save CDs in the virtual cd player
- the SDCard player: does not remember which folder you were on last, does not resume from where the music was playing last. There's no fast forward and no pause. There is no "scroll" so you also cannot jump in the middle of a long song. The interface looks like it was drawn by my 5year old kid.
- the dvd player - playing CDs or MP3s : no resume, does not remember where you left off, no pause, no skip, no scroll ; interface looks as bad as the one on the SDCard player
- audio quality : A LOT BETTER than the original/factory head unit
- steering wheel controls : they all work
- bluetooth : paired with my iphone and works nice
- microphone quality: NOT as good as the original factory/head unit. From a scale of 1 to 10 , where the original head unit had a 10, i would give the microphone a 6 or 7
Debugging: if your GPS goes berserk, first go to Main menu and press Nav restart. Go back to GPS and see if it did anything.
If it did nothing, press on the Radio button, then press on Menu, then press again on the Nav Restart button. When prompted, press yes, then , as quickly as possible, hit the Nav button, and then just hold your finger pressed on the screen for about 5-10 seconds. The GPS will boot in Debug mode where you will be able to format the flash (there'll be a 4 menu option, lift your finger off the screen when the 'format flash' option is selected.. MAKE SURE your GPS SD card is not in the device. After format is complete, your screen will go black. Hit the Radio button, then the Menu button again, and proceed with Nav Restart. Then go back to the Nav menu and see if its working.....
The above info should sort out some of your issues (I saw some posters complaining about their GPS freezing/not working/etc).
If your issue is just with the maps quality, then you do not need to perform the above procedure.
Just purchase the iGo for WinCE 5.0 software (the GPS is running on WinCE 5.0) and then put the newly uploaded folder on your SDCard (remember to backup your whole SD card first).. No need to delete anything, the iGO folder will fit in fine along with the existing Gogo maps installation.
Next, in your favorite text editor (vim , textedit , notepad, write , etc) , edit the file called "maplaunch.ini"
under [MAP1] , where you see path=Gogo\gogo.exe , replace with iGO\iGO.exe
put the SD card back into your headunit, go to Main Menu, then Nav Restart. Then hit the Nav button and you'll see the iGO software loading. You'll be asked to provide some info (language, voice to use for prompts, etc) then the software will be functional.
Please note that iGO will be a bit slower than the Gogo maps. At least, that was my personal experience.
Now, if all is working, you can make your GPS dual boot (so it boots either the gogo, either the iGo.
Your maplaunch.ini file should look like this for dual boot:
[MAP1]
path=iGO\iGO.exe
bmpiconpath=ui\Navione.bmp
bmpiconpathselect=ui\navione_select.bmp
showname=iGo
[MAP2]
path=Gogo\Gogo.exe
bmpiconpath=ui\Navione.bmp
bmpiconpathselect=ui\navione_select.bmp
showname=Gogo
[bmp]
backbmppath=ui\Sunrise 835x480.bmp
calibratebmppath=ui\calibrate.bmp
;note..
;whatever was here
After you reboot the GPS you'll have a brief window of opportunity when you can click on either of the two (when you see that splash screen with the earth as seen from space, there'll be two buttons on top of it , one saying "Gogo" , the other saying "iGo"
I presume this procedure can also be applied for Garmin for WinCE, but i decided I spent enough time and money for the headunit and new maps, so if anybody else wants to give it a try, be my guest. Please post your work results (versions) here so we can all benefit.
Cost: iGo maps for US - 69.95
Where to buy from: www dot naviextras dot com . Create a new account, select as device Pioneer AVIC-F130 (since it's based on WinCE 5.0 too - same as with our M&D head unit). A new page will open, on your left hand side click on Maps, you'll see a list of maps , you can get which ever you need.
I see that there are other devices that have cheaper maps (some ASUS devices will show maps for US as costing 17.95). Not sure if they will work or not.
You'll also need the iGo folder itself (where you can put the maps you just purchased).
If you do have another device running iGo on WinCE (like I did), you're good, just get the folder off of the SDCard from the other device.
...Otherwise, not so sure where you can get it from.
A possible idea would be google for "download iGo folder" (since i couldn't find that info on naviextras website. You would need iGo 8 or iGo9 .
Some extra files downloadable from here (mainly new voices - community contributed):
iGO8MODS.COM DIMKA SKIN - DOWNLOADS