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: Battery Life lags, but still the best GPS I've seen and used!
Summary: 5 Stars
Alot of in-depth review but some reviewers missed alot of key things. The Tom Tom 720 is a much better device than you would think.
Things I want to add.
1. The menu layout is completely user changeable so you don't have a cluttering of numbers and information on the bar. The reviewer doesn't mention that although he criticizes the 720 for having a cluttered info bar. That is simply a factory default setting that anyone can change.
2. The map layout, colors and ease-of-use is much much much better than both Garmin's and Magellan. The company I work for allows us to have private car service home when working late and I've seen and studied just about every brand of GPS in the various Town cars during my 1 hours commute home from NYC to Westchester. So I've gotten a sense of how cities and suburbs/rural areas are displayed on all these GPS units and the Tom Tom brand has the best, cleanest graphics. The reviewer fails to mention that when said and done, quickly understanding the screen graphics during a quick look up from the road during your journey is just as important as anything else.
3. The 720 also allows you to pick alternate routes based on how and when you want to get to your destination. The factory default settings on the 720 will obviously be way off and will have you driving around alot more than you would want to. Which is why I suspect the reviewer detracted from the 720 mapping intelligence when paired alongside the Garmin's Nuvi and Magellan's GPS units. I'm 100% sure he was routing under the factory settings so the 720 gave him longer and incorrect routes. Simple adjustments to your 720 factory settings will allow the unit to pick the best routes based on where you live and drive(whether in a city, near highways, or rural areas)
4. Outside of GPS function the 720 has a myriad of feautures that are on par if not better that Garmin's pricier Nuvi 700 line. In his Nuvi review he praises the Nuvi for having the "Where Am I" feature as if it is a rare and super cool thing. Whiles the 720 has the same features and he fails to praise the 720 for the same proficiencies.
5. The 720 does fail big time in the Battery Life department. I previously owned a Tom Tom 300 and once did a round trip from NY to DC (6-8 hrs of driving) on one charge before the unit's battery died. So I expected similar results from the 720 even though the Tom Tom 720's box advertises 4-5 hours.
needless to say, after a full over night charge I only got about 1 hour use before the battery died my first time out with it. After lowering the brightness to 50% I got about 2 hrs max.
I don't like wires across my dash so this was important to me; having the unit work only off its battery for the duration of my round trip commute of 3 to 4 hours max. I soon found out at a few GPS forums that to get about 4 hrs from the 720 you need to lower the brightness to 0% (and even at 0 it is still pretty bright), completely turn off the FM and BlueTooth features, take out any SD Card and turn down the volume and refrain from playing MP3s. Which worked to get me 3 to 4 hrs of battery life but totally elimated all the cool features that made me want to get the 720. At any rate, I went to a local car stereo shop and got a power lead installed behind my dash that goes up thru the windshield area and plugs into the 720 whiles it is mounted on the windshield. This is the best deal since the wire is pretty much hidden and not in front of my dash. I now not only get unlimited battery life whiles driving, but I can have the screen at 100% brightness, Bluetooth, FM and everything else that made me buy the 720 on and working whiles I'm on the road.
When said and done, the Tom Tom 720 is a stellar device!
OCTOBER UPDATE:
Last month I was in a car accident (a drunk driver plowed right into me) and my Tom Tom Go which was mounted on the windshield got destroyed (luckily I'm okay). I've since replaced the car and my Tom Tom 720 with another 720. I realize the battery life is much better on the newer 720 which leads me to believe I most likely had a faulty unit before. With all functions running I get about 1 hour more than I would have on my previous device (so 3 hrs instead of 2).
Also the software seems updated and the newer 720 performs routing and corrections much quicker.
I've also been using the MapShare and TomTom Home recently and find these features to be very useful and cool. It's like bringing you car inside and being able to plan your next road trip mile by mile on your computer (even download and install voices for your navigation to suit where you travel-i.e You can get a Southern accent for those driving thru the Dixie states or a Boston accent for those going up that way).
Overall, I'm even more impressed with my Tom Tom Go 720 now after a month of usage, than when I was under "wow-factor influence" as I unboxed it.
Digital camera Review: Be Careful! My Go 720 Was Refurbished And Sold As New!!!
Summary: 1 Stars
I purchased the Go 720 from Amazon and the product was listed as a new item. When I received my TomTom and tried to use it for the first time it completely crashed and became unusable. I couldn't return it to Amazon because the box was opened so I contacted TomTom support. While speaking with the support team I discovered that the TomTom that I bought from Amazon as a new GPS was actually refurbished. The operator could tell from the serial number on my device that it was refurbished. I was also informed that this was NOT the first time that they had had that same issue when people had bought the TomTom from Amazon. So this has happened on multiple occasions and was not just a fluke with my order! I was able to receive a brand new GPS from TomTom support because my receipt from Amazon stated that the GPS was new and not refurbished but it took weeks to receive my new unit. I tried to contact someone from Amazon to see if I could get my money refunded but searched the entire website and couldn't find any way to contact anyone. So I payed new price for a refurbished unit. I have purchased multiple electronic items from Amazon and this incident did make me question my other purchases and whether I will ever purchase from this site again. I wonder how many of my other electronics could have been refurbished as well? I have definitely lost confidence in Amazon's services.Digital camera Review: Be careful on this one !
Summary: 1 Stars
It has a lot of bells and whistles on it. I bought this for my husband and he tried downloading the new maps on it 4 times (N.America/Guam). He followed download instructions. The only map that downloaded was Guam and that is the only map the GPS sees,... all the N.American maps were deleted with the download of the N.American/Guam new download. So, now he has a GPS TOMTOM 720 that is only good if you are in Guam! Tech support is only Mon-Sat during business hours. I wrote an email but I'm sure I won't hear anything until it is Mon-Sat 9-5.Digital camera Review: Best GPS
Summary: 5 Stars
I have now bought 2 TomTom GO 720's one for myself and one for a present. I did alot of research and for the money you can't beat them. I dont know how i ever traveled without it. I take it with me everywhere.Digital camera Review: Best Review Possible
Summary: 3 Stars
Pros
* Handsome -- best looking GPS I've tested to date
* New windshield mount is an improvement over previous TomToms
* Hardware feels solid and well engineered
* Text-to-speech voices sound natural
* Tons of configurable options
* Fast power-on time (boots up quickly)
* Timesaving address entry features, such as displaying recently used city and street names
* Strong FM Transmitter works well. So strong it can even broadcast over another radio station without issue
* New (Tele Atlas) maps are excellent
* Ability to customize which POI categories are displayed on the map
* Supports multi-destination routing (although not route optimization)
* Broad language support
* Lots of routing options to choose from (fastest time, shortest distance, bicycle, pedestrian, etc.)
* Ability to download and install additional voices
Cons
* Poor documentation (important items are either briefly explained, or not covered at all. Manual is also UK-specific)
* Manual makes reference to features that the GO 720 doesn't actually have, such as voice recognition (European version has this feature, US version does not (but the manual doesn't explain that))
* Cluttered user interface
* Slow to accept missed turns: the GO 720 either insisted I make a u-turn, or went nuts and showed me driving off road
* Can't search across all States, only within a specified State
* Important functions are hidden by default, and must be manually enabled (for example, the ability to cancel a route)
* When entering an address into the GO 720, you must choose the State, even if you're using a zip code (sort of defeats the purpose of allowing the use of Zip codes here in the United States)
* Major GPS Drift when stationary (GPS position "drifts" around in circles)
* Poor GPS signal reception (as of this writing, using version 7.0.0) compared to other SiRF enabled GPS units
* "Night" mode only changes the color scheme on the map, not the other menu screens
* Multi-destination (itinerary) route planning is cumbersome
* TomTom PLUS services require the use of a compatible Bluetooth-enabled cell phone
* Short list of compatible cell phones (for Bluetooth enabled hands-free calling and TomTom's PLUS services) means most cell phone owners in the US will be unable to use TomTom's PLUS services
* Automatic screen dimming feature is too sensitive. When enabled, the GPS switches in and out of night mode constantly if you drive anything other than a convertible in the California sun
* Routing engine not as good as Garmin or Magellan
* MapShare doesn't let you see which specific roads were updated -- it just tells you that "updates were applied"
* Some menus return you to the previous page, others dump you back to the map view for no apparent reason
* Screen not as bright as other GPS units
* When announcing highway names, the GPS says "highway six-hundred-and-eighty-four" instead of "six-eighty-four"
* Fingerprint prone exterior case
Conclusion: 65/100
I really wanted to love the TomTom GO 720. With enough features to make a grown man drool, the exceedingly elegant GO 720 is one good looking piece of hardware that lets you customize just about every aspect of the interface. I was especially fond of the powerful built-in FM transmitter, the ability to broadcast music and spoken navigation instructions over different sources (i.e. music via the FM transmitter and instructions via the built-in speaker), and the ability to make map corrections on the fly. I also appreciated the ability to easily create custom POIs and POI categories, and TomTom's unique time-saving address entry features.
The GO 720 has excellent text-to-speech that sounds natural, and can announce actual street names instead of generic maneuvers (although for some odd reason this feature is disabled by default). I also loved the ability to enter a preferred arrival time, and have the GPS report exactly how early or late I would arrive at my destination.
The GO 720 ships with TomTom's software version 7.0 installed (also known as NavCore 7). A significant update to previous GO software, version 7 is literally busting at the seams with new features. Nearly every aspect of the GO 720 can be customized, from compass preferences to custom vehicle icons and voices, to TomTom's much-touted MapShare -- a unique set of features that allow the user to make map corrections and POI corrections/updates directly on the device.
Unfortunately, the TomTom GO 720 suffers from many of the same drawbacks that have plagued TomTom's products for years.
Despite being equipped with SiRF's high performance GPS receiver, the GO 720 had a hard time maintaining reception, and occasionally thought I was driving off the road altogether. The GO 720 also had a hard time dealing with missed turns, frequently asking me to make U-turns and double back instead of re-routing based on the new course. The GO 720 also exhibited some of the most severe GPS 'drift' I've ever seen (a condition that causes the GPS to think it's moving even though it's not).
Adding to the frustration, for some inexplicable reason TomTom hides many important features on the GO 720. For example, by default there is no way to cancel a route. In order to cancel a route, you'll first need to enable the hidden menu, and even then it will take 4 screen taps to cancel the route (very annoying when driving). The Bluetooth integration is a nice feature to have, but so few cell phones are supported that the functionality is seriously limited. Speaking of which, in order to make use of any TomTom PLUS features, such as real-time traffic data, you must have a Bluetooth compatible cell phone (and accompanying data plan) paired to the GO 720. By contrast, both Garmin and Magellan provide traffic services via an included antenna and don't require any additional hardware.
Like previous TomTom products, things feel rushed with the GO 720; the included documentation is for the UK and references features not available in the North American version. TomTom's support website doesn't even list the GO 720 as a valid model, and TomTom's PLUS site has been "down for maintenance" for over 48 hours as of this writing. Trying to download the product manual for the GO 720 from TomTom's website results in an error message stating that no such manual exists yet. The interface feels cluttered, as TomTom's software engineers have packed the GO 720 to the gills with features and options that haven't improved the most basic requirement of getting you from point A to B.
The GO 720 has a long list of great features that just might keep you distracted long enough not to notice that the core functionality of the GPS doesn't work that well. TomTom's routing engine remains poor compared to Garmin or Magellan, and the GO 720 consistently chose the worst route in my testing.
If TomTom spent as much time on software development as they clearly spent on hardware design, the GO 720 would be a fantastic GPS indeed. Unfortunately the GO 720 still needs work, and I can't quite recommend it just yet.
The TomTom GO 720 is a beautiful GPS that will impress at first, but disappoints soon after the honeymoon wears off.