IGO Primo was published several months ago. It took us a while to lay hands on a copy and test it on two different devices: Mio MOOV and a Chinese made Nextar. Here are the results:
Primo looks a lot like Amigo. The opening screen is nearly identical to Amigo’s and it uses a very similar graphic interface. This is about the limit of similarity. In general we found Primo to be better than both version 8.3 and Amigo that it replaces.
Those familiar with Amigo know that it has very limited customization options. This is not true for Primo. There are numerous adjustments available through both the menus and the sys.txt file. Primo seems to be as customizable as iGO 8.3. We highly recommend the gurjon skins which make customization even easier. As an aside: these skins used to be easily found at gurjon.com. Not anymore. Apparently Nav’nGo pressured gurjon’s internet host to take the site down. It is back up again but offers no downloads. Nav’nGo’s action is completely inexplicable seeing as the skins enhance the Nav’nGo product and add value to it without costing the company a dime.
In our tests Primo proved superior to version 8.3 at least in one respect: it is much more stable when run from an external memory card. Our Mio MOOV rebooted once in approximately every 5-6 power downs with iGO 8.3. Meaning that after power is disconnected and iGO shuts itself down and than power is reconnected and iGO powers up again the Mio will reboot on the 5th or 6th cycle. Primo doesn’t do that and keeps working. According to Nav’nGo this was one of the improvements in the program introduced in Primo.
Primo’s interface and graphics are much better than iGO8.3 resulting in an more readable map display and a very convenient menu structure.
Primo can use Text To Speech (TTS) files and voices from both Loquendo (the original TTS used by iGO versions up to Primo) and a new one made by Nuance. We found the Nuance version much better than Loquendo. It requires much less memory and processing power to run and is easier to customize.
Primo has also much improved traffic radio detection and interface. It easily discovered the TMC receiver in our Mio and also discovered that the two available broadcasts are pay for use. Previous versions of iGO couldn’t find the receiver. To actually use the broadcast traffic data one needs a subscription to either of the two providers’ services.
Nav’nGo also introduced an intelligent routing option. We had no opportunity to test it as it is supposed to work best with TMC active and with TeleAtlas maps that have a database of past average speeds at different times of day on specific roads.
Since Primo uses the same maps and other information as iGO 8.3 it is easy to transition to for anybody who already owns version 8.3 maps.
In summary: we highly recommend Primo. The stability and improved graphic interface are worth the switch.
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