TomTom GO 720 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator by TomTom
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Digital camera reviews of TomTom GO 720 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
Digital camera Review: A "Class Act". That's all there is to it...TomTom GO 720 is a hit!
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm no GPS expert, but I am an aerospace engineer and spent a lot of years in quality assurance, and I'd be proud to have this TomTom Go 720 as one of my products.
I looked for a long time for a unit with a certain feature-set including good sound quality, a good 3D display, fast position acquisition, multile waypoints, the ability to pre-plan a trip with an intinerary, and some extra features such as a variety of voices and icons to personalize it. And I defintely wanted something that looked as good in my Porsche 911 as in my Hummer. No toys! I wanted a primarily black body with a quality fit and finish, and I found all these in the TomTom Go 720.
Just a look at the packaging told me the unit would be nice. The quality of the box and packing was excellent, and I hadn't even gotten to the GPS yet.
Everything was in the box that I needed except for an iPod cable and a protective case which I bought separately from Amazon. The TomTom Home software was a little clunky, and took a long time to perform certain functions, but hey, it's not like I'm going to be using this every day, so I won't fault them for it. It works, and that's what counts.
Using it the first time was a little awkward, but that's mostly my fault because I never read directions. But I still had some concerns even after a bit of reading: Specifically, when I came to a stop at a light, the unit would "drift" well to the left of the roadway, although I wasn't moving. And while driving, it would sometimes display my car moving well off to the left of the road, as if in a field. Finally, I would sometimes notice that my route would move to a closely parallel road, such as a service road, and then the unit would tell me to turn to get back on the main road. Hey, I was already on that! All these seemed related, so I decided a telephone call was in order.
I also noted that after arriving at a destination, there seemed to be no way to cancel the route. The 720 always wanted me to go back to the original destination or start a new one. The only solution seemed to be turning it off.
I came home and called TomTom expecting a lengthy hold time, but got a great technician within minutes. After explaining the issues with drift, he diagnosed this as a software issue, helped me upload a newer version, and all trouble with stationary drift AND parallel routes went away.
He also told me to tap the screen until I saw a Clear Route icon which cancelled a trip and let the unit just idle along with me as I drove or until entering another destination. By "idle", I mean that it kept track of where I was at all times, but didn't give any directions.
I also chose a voice for my unit that was British, which I thought was a touch of class, but found that I needed a computer voice to announce roads by name, so I opted to go back to a US-accented computer voice. I really like the directions it gives which are timely, and with the road names, are so much more meaningful.
It's really a great unit, and I'm very happy with it. Wall Street Photo got it out to me right away, so hats off to them for a good price and quick response. I highly recommend this to anyone wanting a mid-high end GPS that looks and works great in that nice car.
KLR
Alexandria, Virginia
Digital camera Review: A Must Have GPS
Summary: 4 Stars
The 720 is superb. The features you get for the price make it well worth the money. I love having the ability to update it online without any pesky monthly or yearly fees like some other brands and factory installed GPS in most vehicles. My only negative comment is on the bluetooth feature. It only works with certain networks and specific models of phones...of course you dont know this until you get home and try to interface it with your cell phone. I have Sprint and of course it doesnt work with Sprint. However its no big deal if you dont care too much about weather and traffic jam data. You can get that info off any radio station anyway. Not having the bluetooth features available does not take away from the versatility of the device at all. It is highly accurate but no GPS will ever be 100% especially in new neighborhoods or when businesses come and go so often. Still havent figured how to make map/route corrections yet and share them. Overall, I highly recommend the GO 720. You gotta get it.Digital camera Review: A Very Satisfactory and Easy to Use GPS, BUT---
Summary: 4 Stars
The TomTom 720T does what it claims IF you have the right cell phone. (Had to change to Motorola from LG) The maps are updated frequently but it doesn't appear updates get around to my area often. There is a new final section of I-795 from Wilson, NC to Goldsboro, NC that the map still doesn't know exist althought the highway itself has been completed more than six months. Though I am complaining about this, I notice that MapQuest may be worse where accuracy is concerned. As for the mapshare feature, I have it set up on my cell phone, but I don't know how to correct a route yet. I can use the detour and all of the built-in corrections, but these do not solve the seemingly ridiculous problems. I gave my son a Nuvi and I believe it is worse than the TomTom with maps, but it is far superior to TomTom for finding dinning places, and other points of interest. I guess TomTom will get around to my needs "sometime, somewhere, someday" or I will have to "find a new way of living" Ginger is my mini dachshund's name!Digital camera Review: A couple years after buying it, I give 3 out of 5.
Summary: 3 Stars
I have had the GO 720 for a couple of years now, and it was the first GPS I've ever owned. It can connect via bluetooth to a mobile phone for handsfree operation, as well as receive SMS and email if your phone has a data plan. It can receive realtime traffic info, but Tomtom charges what I view as an exhorbitant monthly fee for this feature (my phone GPS software does it for nothing). It has an SD card slot for slideshow imagery, MP3 music files, and also allows you to transmit via an FM frequency to your car radio. The 720 also can interface with your Windows or Mac PC via a program called "Tom Tom Home", which allows you to update the firmware and modify the imagery, points of interest and other data to suit your preferences.
The Expectations: I wanted the FM transmitter for my car stereo (I didn't have an aux-in jack when I bought the unit, though I do now), the SD card slot and the MP3 playback capability, since I have a huge collection of music. I also wanted the Bluetooth capability for hands-free mobile phone operation. I splurged for the bluetooth remote control - originally I found it not of much use but lately, due to the mounting location in my new car, I've been really glad I bought it.
The Reality:
1. The FM transmitter: big mistake. I live on the east coast and it is impossible to set the unit on a quiet FM frequency where bleedover from adjacent stations didn't cause so much static that this feature was useless. Also, the unit does not provide audible turn information via the FM link unless you're playing music at the time. At all other times it pipes it out of the tiny speaker in the back of the unit or the aux-in jack if you have a car stereo with this feature. On later Tomtom GPS units I note that the FM feature, as well as MP3 capability, seems to be lacking - perhaps Tomtom decided that the underwhelming performance didn't sell.
2. The SD card slot, as the unit shipped, could only take 2GB cards (thankfully, an automatic update via Tomtom Home later increased this to 32GB). However, I have noted that the unit tends to error out when you try to insert a card with more than 4GB of mp3's - no matter what the size of the card. Also, anytime the unit is used with Tomtom Home, and also at other times that I can't explain, it requires a reboot that causes the 720 to have to re-catalog all of the mp3's on the card before it can playback any of them. This can take 5-10 minutes. The buttonology of the mp3 player is very rudimentary and quirky - don't expect iPod-like performance.
3. Handsfree operation: My phone (AT&T/Samsung Impression) connects via bluetooth for handsfree receiving and making phone calls. Despite all efforts on my part, however, the 720 refuses to connect so that I can use my phone's data plan to receive SMS, traffic info, fuel prices and other available data. I give Tomtom a C+ for this feature, since they could easily add updates to allow the unit to work with newer phones from the major manufacturers. They choose not to. Since the 720 has been out now for about 3 years, newer phones like mine may have problems connecting to it. As far as handsfree operation, one thing they don't tell you is that the onboard microphone is not adjustable - either mount it close to your mouth in a car with very little ambient noise, or don't figure on using it much. There is no external mike jack.
All in all, I'm glad I have the 720 since it does well at the core job of navigation, but be very careful if you're looking for an all-in-one solution to GPS, music and handsfree concerns. It handles the GPS parts well, but it won't replace your iPod/iPhone and maybe you should look elsewhere for a handsfree unit.
Digital camera Review: A helpful tool, but needs improvement
Summary: 3 Stars
The bad:
- The TomTom Go 720 will not recognize my bluetooth enabled Blackberry.
- When taking a detour for planned route, the GPS will automatically guide you back to the route you took a detour from.
- Battery life is about 1.5 hours when not in power saving mode.
- Points of Interested data base needs to be updated, not all POI's are listed, i.e. ATM's, Gas stations, restaurants.
- Complex navigation menu, takes too many steps to find what is important.
- Not as slim as you think, it will not fit in pockets without printing.
- Short, flimsy, suction cup mount makes it difficult for average hight users to touch the Tom Tom.
- Hiss when using the FM output.
- Slow response time when calling customer service.
- No case included. Even a cheap silicone cover would be nice.
- Voice guidance feature does not pronounce names correctly. I'm sure most systems currently perform this way.
The good:
- High quality construction. Heavy weight non-clip plastics and metal accents.
- Descent screen resolution
- Multi funtional: plays MP3, views pictures, video, and documents (I havn't tested this yet, but its nice to know it's there).
- Map share, allows user to download free map updates from the TomTom users community.
- Fast satillite aquisition, when in open area, even while moving.
- User customizable menu
- Big screen
- This has taken me where I want to go, in and out of unfamiliar territory, even making unplanned trips to the gas staion while I'm traveling.
- Map of North America (Canada, US, Mexico?), I know US and Canada is included for sure, and thats helpful to me since I drive to both places.
- SIRF III chipset, 400 mhz processor,2 gb of on board memory, 64 mb of RAM, and an open slot for a high capacity SD card is a powerfull combination.
Notes:
I was conscidering buying a Garmin Nuvi 255w. But since the technical specifications is less than the TomTom Go720, I decided to purchase this GPS unit. It is a better value for me, since I found a good deal on a recertified unit that is priced bellow the market value for a new Garmin Nuvi 255w. If size where a major issue, I would go for any Garmin Nuvi, since it's slimmer.
I suggest finding an alternative mounting location, and avoiding mounting this unit on the windshield because it cuts your field of vision by at least 10%. I drive a compact sedan, and relative to the size of the unit, thats how I estimate that number.
I need to contact tech support to resolve my bluetooth issue, I will post and update ASAP.