This should take you from wherever you are to having igo8 running...

(1) Download the Zip file
(2) Unpack it to a blank SD card (Your SD card should have Igo8, pnd19, and ~task_to_do.tag in the root
(3) Inside the PND19 folder there are two bin files, one is NK.bin, the other is NK(CE 5.0).bin
(A) if you want it to boot straight to igo 8 then delete NK(CE 5.0).bin
(B) If you want it to boot to CE 5.0 where you can start igo8 then delete NK.bin and rename NK(CE 5.0).bin to NK.bin
(4) Once you have done either A or B, there should be just one *.bin file in the PND19 folder
(5) Reset the device with the SD card in it
(6) It will go through update. If you choose (B) to boot to CE 5.0, click on the icon in the lower left of the screen when CE 5.0 loads. this will start igo 8 (the first time you do it it will install it... after that it will start igo 8)
(6.1) IF you have problems getting it to update. Turn it off. slide over the lock switch (bottom left of unit) to the left. Hold down the On/Off button while you slide the hold button to the right (keep holding the On/Off button) tap the screen when you see the countdown. You can now release the On/Off button. Tap SDMMC. It should now update.
(7) You now have igo 8.3.1.56007 running
(8) go to torrentz.com (or any torrent site) and search for "igo usa" there should be a torrent called "nav.n.go.igo.v8.3.1.onlyusamaps" those maps are completely compatible.
(9) Download that torrent
(10) once downloaded, copy the folders inside the root folder (maps, dems, pois...) from the download and paste them into the content folder in igo 8 on the sd card. DO NOT overwrite any of the files on the SD card, let it add files where it wants, but dont replace any of the existing files of the same name....
(11) You should now have igo 8 running with maps
(12) I suggest downloading the DIMKA skin, it makes igo 8 way better (tons of really cool features)

good luck, i have done this several times and it works every time so just follow it and it should work.. Hopefully the 20+ hours ive spent working on this thing saves you some times, and thanks to everyone who helped me, by no means did I figure this out on my own...