A few days ago, I wooted a GPS Navigation system. Living in Texas means, unfortunately, that I have to pay taxes on my woots, since they’re based in Texas, too. But it has its advantages! It looks like I was among the first to receive my unit, and I started playing around with it this morning.
First impression is that it feels a bit cheap. I’ve had the opportunity to use a TomTom One, which is a very similar unit, and the TomTom unit just feels better built, more solid. After taking the Evesham unit for a test drive, I’ve discovered that it has other shortcomings… Read more for my short review, and instructions for TomTom installation.
The very first route I attempted to calculate (after achieving a GPS fix) was from San Antonio, TX to Spiro, OK. After thinking about it a few minutes, it gave me a non-specific error, something like “Unable to calculate route.” Gee, thanks! I also had some errors that said my start point was invalid, that froze the unit occassionally.
Next, I tried navigating to a street not too far away, which worked flawlessly. I intentionally missed my turn, and it automatically recalculated a new route for me. The points of interest database seems pretty good. It knew about grocery stores and movie theatres nearby, but that’s as far as I got.
The unit does NOT show your speed while traveling, nor did I notice an option for an ETA (estimated time of arrival), both of which can be done with TomTom software. [EDIT-those options are there, but it's nowhere near as intuitive or legible as TomTom] I had already made up my mind to try to install TomTom, if possible, and the deficiencies in the included navigation software only strengthened my resolve.
A quick Google search later, I found this page, which shows that someone was able to do it, and gives a bit of information about how to access Windows on this device. I used that information, and did some simple hacking to get TomTom installed.
I’ve moved the instructions to separate pages.
Click the following for:
- instructions for booting Windows
- installing TomTom
- Frequently Asked Questions (and answers).
- tweaks, including a replacement menu
- Donate (if you’re so inclined)
Please feel free to continue discussing/adding comments here.
my previous message for startup.txt read sys.txt. In addition verify that data.zip has ui_mio folder or replace the two lines (igo or igo_se1) accordingly
after i accidentally let my battery die. I had to do a hard reset to clean up the device and reinstall my software. I’ve got TCPMP and TomTom running fine, the menu seems to install from the navcam7700restore.exe, but when I try to run it I get an error “Error en Navigator.ini” and then in a box it says “FileNotFoundException” I’m not sure what file it would be looking for. I’ve reverted to the default Navigator.ini from the Unlock\Navigator folder. do you know what file it might be looking for? could it be one of the icons listed in the .ini file? is it possible it cant find the .ini file at all?
any insight you could provide will be helpful.
thanks
nvm, I forgot to copy my custom icons over.
Thanks for the work on miomaps, I would like to try it but when I try to load it using your system.txt I get an error loading uip_mio/daylight/main_320_240_scheme.ui
The thing is th file exists but it’s named 240_320… am I doing something wrong here?
OK I have no idea what I did but finally miomaps is working for me, however a lot of the menus and such seem to be coded for a different resolution with menu bars not reaching the whole way across sometimes and often buttons covering other buttons and such… I am trying other skins but getting the same unable to access 320 240 error…
And now after a few more hours of tinkering I still can’t get it to pick up the GPS signal. The stock software shows a 3D fix, but the mio just won’t get a signal… I get the feeling I am using a slightly wrong version or something….
I tried installing via the setup.exe but it fails mid install.
So I downloaded an “alternative” method of using it and it’s labled Miomaps3.2 and the program shows that it’s mio Digiwalker 3.2… is that the right one?
Thanks for any help…
OK i got it working… there was some trickiness to enabling the detect GPS button (adding the sys.txt lines didn’t do it for mine) and getting the skins to run properly in portrait mode.
Now that it works I do really like it because there is so much tweaking to be done with it… the skin community for this program has done a LOT and it’s quite a fancy little program…
Which is it’s downside…
Just a bit too fancy and complex… maybe on a 5 inch or bigger screen it would all work out better but it’s a bit cramped on the 7700 screen and it really isn’t as intuitive as tomto although it has some cool features that tomtom is missing.
For me the big part is now I can record track logs which is going to save me from buying an etrex just to do that on my upcoming trip to China (I Want to load where I go into google earth).
I actually went out and got a few other GPS programs to test out and see how they work so this 7700 could really become awesome as a 5 GPS prog in 1 plus media player device
I have both and i like TomTom better. It seems like Tomtom works better on a smaller screen, like John mentioned there a lot of stuff cramped in the small screen. Although in terms on graphics, MioMap sure its pretty, but i thini ill stay with Tomtom.
Yeah I think for 95% of my normal driving it’s TomTom, but it is definitely fun to tinker with Mio and of course there is the track log thing that I can only get with Mio.
Has anyone noticed when using the screen blanking button on the menu (dark screen which makes the backlight go off) the backlight comes back on to a black screen after a few minutes more or less negating the value of turning off the backlight?
I had the same problem with no GPS data going to TomTom (got the “no valid GPS signal” error after briefly having it working properly), with TT loaded on the SD card. Tried hard reset/soft reset, power on/off, going outside, yadayada. I wasn’t getting GPS output in the original Evesham app, either. That didn’t give me the warm fuzzies at all.
I ended up doing a hard reset, relocating Evesham app folder “Navigator” to SD card, copying TT to “\MyStorage\MobileNavigator” and running it from there. I also was sure *not* starting GPSViewer at all, and finally got GPS output working again.
It’s been a bit of a struggle to get it worked out and functional again.
I am using TT 6.0.0 from the mobilenavigator.rar file posted by Capitan in another forum.
Ordering Teletype GPS Pro to try to get it running on it as well (need topo/off road since I want to use it on my motorcycle)–they are running a special at the moment on US/Canada for with both PC & PPC software included, and it can use topo from the terraserver-usa.com servers (or stuff you scan yourself). TT will be my backup if that doesn’t work out.
Have anyone noticed the POI in TT6 has limited information, not even a piece of information on Walmart, Home Depot or Lowe’s. I am here at zip 75070, if anyone does get the information, please let me know at jasperlws@hotmail.com.
Thanks!
Jasper,
It’s the TomTom maps, unfortunately. You can get third party add-on POIs, just Google for TomTom POIs. The ones I know of are mostly speed traps or red light cameras, though. I found one that has all the Target locations nationwide, though!
MioMap seems to have a much better POI database, but I don’t care for the interface… I’m going to keep MioMap on an SD card for the rare occasions I need to find a Wal-Mart in a foreign location, and can’t use my cell phone to call 800-GOOG-411.
Randy
Randy,
You are right, it is the Tom tom maps. Anyway, I created my own custom POI for common business like Walmart, Target, McDonald’s, Wendy’s. Home Depot, Lowes, and so on. Now I’ve got all the POI information in TTN6 and it is real useful. They are just small piece of kb files that I put on my 1GB SD, but the map was lag when I turn all the POI categories ON, but once I disabled certain POI, the map works flawlessly like before with no lag or slow response, anyway, I still get a chance to search for all the POI information I saved.
Jasper
Hi all,
Just a quick note and a plug for my new application. I’ve written a front-end GUI application somewhat similar to the Navigator-type program that Randy has found except that my application is totally and completely configurable and is ready to go. If you are interested in having a nice “launch” front-end for your device check out my application at the following site: http://www.aycardus.com/launchce/default.htm
I’m hoping to get a bunch of people to use it and interested in user-skins to change the look (it is totally configurable/skinnable).
I learned a lot about this device because of sites like this and the help of our small “NavCam” community so I wanted to give something back. I hope you guys enjoy it.
I seem to have bricked my navcam
I had only set it up to start explorer but not loaded any extra software (tomtom, etc) and I left it in the glovebox in the car for a few weeks. It rattled around a bit, and now it won’t turn on. I can flip the reset switch and then the backlight will come on after a few seconds, but nothing else.
I popped the top and check things out a little just in case something obvious was the problem (bad solder joint, etc), but it’s a pretty simple.
Bummer. I wonder if I can get it exchanged or my money back. Anyone have any ideas?
@codesuidae
Try charging it overnight and then restart.
I found some files on the net purporting to have the “last” version of the TomTom maps which supposedly have better POI info in them. I’ve yet to install them though as I have had a bunch of other stuff going on. My POI backup plan currently will be a dump of my route out of Streets and Trips w/20 mi POI radius to a different SD card. Streets and Trips for the PDA doesn’t route.
I tried charging it, I left it plugged in for a couple of days, no change.
Evesham has a 12 month warranty on these things, I’m going to see if I can get it repaired or replaced. If I can’t get that done I’ll see about accessing the GPS portion of the unit, I imagine that still works. Maybe I can get it to talk to a microcontroller so at least I can have a display-less gps (with a nice SD card slot)
Can *anybody* point me to where I can get the correct Tomtom software for this hack? I’m having zero luck on ebay winning it. Does somebody have a copy they’d be willing to sell?
Hey Rob, thanks for the front end. Works well for me! Keep up the good work.
It was a little hairy getting .Net and TomTom AND your app all installed internally, but I finally got it done. I think some bits are oozing out the sides because I’ve got it so crammed full now.
” hchanrn Says:
May 14th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
Anyone out there figure out the usb connectivity problem? I have an email out to nav-cam. Got tired of waiting on the phone.”
Check your firewall settings. The ActiveSync software uses tcp to connect. Most fire wall block this.
: ActiveSync files include:
Wcesmgr.exe
Wcescomm.exe
Rapimgr.exe
Inbound TCP:
990
999
5678
5721
26675
Outbound UDP:
5679
check out: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/help/activesync/default.mspx
For more details…
Problems with home location not saving: delete the *.cfg file in the map folder
Not a bad idea to delete the cfg in the tomtom main folder too. Seem to help with my gps lock on. still no green bars but I deleted my oem map software. Tomtom will rebuild the .cfg files upon restart. = no harm. I get a lock in less than 1min on starting app.
Not sure if any of this has been posted yet. Did not se it.
To all those having problems acquiring the GPS signal… I too would often get “Waiting for valid GPS signal”, and I *think* I may have it figured out - or at least part of it.
It seems when you boot the device, and goto GPSViewer first, and then go into TomTom, it can’t see the GPS hardware. This is complete guess, but it seems GPSViewer keeps a lock on something that TomTom needs to access. In all cases, I was able to reset (sometimes two resets back to back), and TomTom would acquire the GPS signal in under a minute (of course, I would go into TomTom first after booting the device, and loading Randy’s menu.
I hope this helps - and thanks for this blog! I couldn’t have gotten this far without it!!!
Is there anyway to restore the Navcam 7700 to its absolute default/factory condition? I can’t even sync it anymore, so I can’t access the MyFlashDisk etc from windows. TomTom installation failed horribly. Thanks for any help.
Has anyone been able to get TomTom working on the nav-cam 7000? I just wooted one. I’ve tried the steps laid out for the 7700 but I can’t get it to work. Thoughts?
Nav-Cam RMA department replaced my dead GPS unit. Hopefully the new one will keep working.
Can anyone have the steps to install another navigator software in nav-cam 7000.? Can i hack the desktop.?
Hello all, this is a wonderful source of info for this device. I am having one last problem though. The GPS viewer shows the GPS connected on COM 7. TomTom only gives me two com ports to choose from (2 & 5). Any way to get the GPS onto one of those ports verus COM 7?
Any help appreciated greatly.
Jim set it up at com 2, and baud rate anywhere from 9600 to 57K
I successfully installed iGuidance v4 on navcam you can lookup instructions on gps passion forum “iGuidance v4 on Mio C310x”.
GUI is average and far inferior to mio/IGO but but NAVTEQ maps,best routing algorithm and TTS (text to speech - spoken street names) make it a good chioce for some users.
miomap v3.3 with TTS available at http://rapidshare.com/files/73948017/ItWorks.rar works on nav-cam with some changes to the sys.txt file i.e.
[interface]
landscape=0
width=320
height = 240
mio=1
base=”mio\320_240\”
basel=”mio\320_240\”
Hi Qaiser
Can you help me if i need to change anything else to install after moving itworks.rar to sd card and change the add above text to sys.txt
@ Gopi
I kept playing around with it so I don’t remember exactly but I think that was the only change. I don’t visit this page regularly so u can email me at qaiserpk at gmail dot com.
My navcam battery didn’t last long now. If i didn’t use it for a couple of days, it won’t retain the temporary settings like desktop shortcuts. I had to manually update my shortcuts and run the gps software.
My solution was to use mortscript (http://www.sto-helit.de/index.php) . I call this script through registry at start up. This automatically updates my desktop shortcuts and runs the software Igo.
To use the script use PNA folder in mortscript download and rename the autorun.exe to anything like start.exe and create a new file start.mscr and put the script in this file.
I am posting the script for reference. you can modify it
#This script restore a clean shortcuts to windows
If (DirExists(”\MyStorage\links”))
Delete “\Windows\Desktop\*.lnk”
XCopy “\MyStorage\links\*.lnk”, “\Windows\Desktop\”
EndIf
# Run iGO and run taskbar after exit
RunWait \MyStorage\igo\iGO.exe
run \MyStorage\tools\Taskbar.exe
exit
Now with battery dead (hard reset) I just plug in the power turn and I am ready to go.
Alrighty, somewhere along the way I messed up. Trying to get back to factory defaults for everything so I can at least use the Navcam software. Could anyone link me or hook me up with the files from the Original Navcam CD? Thanks in Advance!
i need help ! can you help me. i bought a sat nav off of e,bay about 5 months ago, it was working perfectly normal until one day it came up fatal application error. now every time i touch the screne for navigation the display comes up fatal application error. is there anyone who can help me. many thanx.
Is there any way to make Windows CE recognize traditional Chinese in it?
I moved back to Taiwan and I downloaded tomtom’s Taiwan Map pack, but I just can’t get it to work…it won’t recognize the files due to the fact that Windows CE doesn’t ready Chinese. Any methods?
Ed