TomTom GO 740 Live 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable Live Internet Connected GPS Navigator by TomTom
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Digital camera reviews of TomTom GO 740 Live 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable Live Internet Connected GPS Navigator
Digital camera Review: Horrendous. Gone through SIX devices. Massive problems on east coast.
Summary: 1 Stars
I have a *ton* of consumer electronics, and I really explore the features of what I have, so you can imagine that I've had more than my fair share of interactions with customer service and technical support departments of consumer electronics companies. I have to say that TomTom wins, by a substantial margin, as the least competent, most infuriating customer service I've ever experienced, and to this day I do not have a working GO 740 LIVE.
I'll first note that this is their flagship product, at least within the U.S.
I initially purchased my GO 740 LIVE in June 2009. For several months it was working fairly well, EXCEPT it would quite often spontaneously reboot while navigating. Of course, this is quite annoying in itself, but it's particularly annoying because once the unit reboots it goes to a screen where you have to click a button to agree to certain terms of use. So if you're driving and it spontaneously reboots, you have to reach over a press a button on the screen while driving if you want to continue the navigation. This is unsafe.
I spoke with tech support several times about this issue and they denied ever having heard of such a thing happening with the GO 740 LIVE. They suggested several fixes, none of which worked. Yet a cursory Google search reveals dozens of other people reporting this very problem.
So after several months I decided to send the unit in for warranty service. Big mistake. They do not offer a cross-shipment option! That is, you have to send in your unit and wait for them to fix it before they'll send you a replacement. This is frustrating, but what is really horrendous is that I have done this process FOUR times now and still don't have a working unit!
The replacement I got was a refurb. Right after powering it up I noticed that it wouldn't connect to LIVE services. Note that I'm in a coverage area, and moreover checking the Network settings showed that I had a data connection. Still, I would get an "Unable to connect to server" error whenever I tried to access *any* LIVE service.
So I sent back, and this time was sent a brand new unit to replace it. Same issue! And this process repeated twice more. That is, I have had a total of FOUR warranty replacements, the first a refurb, and the next three brand new units, and they all have the same problem. They simply won't connect to LIVE services.
I'll add that this isn't just a problem in my area (Philadelphia), as I took one of the replacements to Boston at one point and it still didn't work.
TomTom customer service has no explanation. Well, one supervisor I spoke with at one point claimed that there's a widespread problem, but he refused to clarify whether it was hardware related, or a problem on the server-end. In any case, they seem content to keep on sending me warranty replacements that don't work until I die, or give up.
Just for kicks, I went to a BestBuy in Philadelphia today and purchased a brand new 740 LIVE -- sure enough, same problem! It wouldn't connect to LIVE services. So that's FIVE units with the same issue.
Clearly there's a massive problem here.
BUYER BEWARE!
Digital camera Review: Horrible customer support
Summary: 2 Stars
I have been a gadget lover for many years and in that time I have had to deal with tech support and customer support from many different companies with varying degrees of success but the support from Tom Tom is abysmal. They bring a whole new and depressing meaning to the word arrogance. I have a 740 Go live, which is a decent product. The Tom Tom website is almost completely useless but the lowest part of the Tom Tom experience is dealing with the cutomer service people. My device would no longer accept the subscription update after 5 months of ownership and yet they insist that I return the product to Texas at my expense and wait 2 to 3 weeks for a replacement. When I expressed my displeasure I was transferred to a supervisor who was singularly unpleasant and unhelpful.Digital camera Review: I <3 my TomTom
Summary: 5 Stars
This TomTom is my favorite road trip companion! It keeps me on track, out of traffic, and helps me plan my entire trip.Digital camera Review: I am really disappointed
Summary: 3 Stars
GPSs Used: Garmin 205w, 255, STREET pilot c330, 765t, 780, Magellan Maestro 4370, Magellan 5310... Yea, I have used a lot of GPSs and am still looking for one that is close to perfect. Next on my list is the Garmin 885
I use my GPS for work. I drive all over the nations fifth largest city and the surrounding communities. I need to know where addresses are easily, where gas stations are by name (my company only has chevron gas cards, names of places to eat, and much more information just to have fun with. I also like to have decent Blue tooth access.
What drew my attention to this product is the voice commands. i would like to be able to enter addresses without having to press to many buttons, I know I am looking to be spoiled but if it makes my job easier, than why not. The voice functions work great for things like zoom in, zoom out, 2d map, 3d map, clear route and simpler commands, but entering an address can be down right frustrating. Here's an example. You state the name of the city you are looking for the address in (phoenix) and then the street name, Camelback... but the second syllable (back) sends the GPS back one screen asking you what city you are looking for. For most people, this will not be a problem, but I see a lot of people on Camelback. When trying to name street names, the GPS failed over half the time, so if you are wanting to speak addresses, pass this GPS by, but like I said, the other cammands worked rather well most of the time, even while driving on the freeway with the A/C on.
The best part of this GPS is the Blue tooth. I have a iPhone and this is the first GPS that had ever downloaded my contact information, but when making a call, the GPS would register that I was making a phone call but would not switch over to where I could make the phone call using the GPS, but incoming calls were not a problem. The caller ID did not work. Also the phone boasts of having the ability to read text messages, this function did not work with my iPhone.
One thing that is really missing is the GPS calling out the road names where you are turning. One mile from the turn the GPS may say ,"turn right on Camelback" and that will be the last time you here the name Camelback ever mentioned. Another BIG glaring error is the GPS will not show you the house number you are looking for so after several minutes of driving around and getting close to the address on camelback, you have to look at where the address is written down because the GPS will not display the address when you approach your final destination.
The only real possitive note that I can come up with (other thean my contacts loading from my iPhone) is the road detail. You can clearly see on ramps, off ramps, where a divided highway starts and where it ends.
One real bad note is the battery on the unit would not charge, I think the cradle maybe the culprit. But my rating of 3 stars has nothing to due with the battery.
Traffic: While journeying 27.4 miles during rush hour, the GPS reported that there was no traffic on the route that the GPS had planned. 5th largest city, rush hour, no traffic??? I think the GPS may have been taking drugs. There was lots of traffic.
another annoying aspect of the GPS is the very top of the screen (go look at the picture and enlarge if needed) You will see the very top of the screen is blue. The picture shows some information, but when there is no information on the screen "(which is most of the time) there is just a big blue line across the screen. Why? Magellan and Garmin do not have this trait.
Navigating: This first trip I did with the GPS it tried to send me an additional 4 miles when the address was less than 0.5 miles away, but the GPS did do a better job after that one incident. Maybe the GPS was just warming up, the amount of detail NOT shown by the GPS is amazing. The map data that came with the GPS did not list the location of my house. My house is 5 years old, with the map and software update, the GPS will show the street my house is on but still not the address. I also had the same thing happen when I was looking to navigate to a customers house. Good thing I had a Garmin GPS with me.
A few positive things to note. Safety canera is pretty much right on, although it will warn of a red light camera with one the free way, and speeding cameras facing the other direction. Also the lane assist was rather good, almost great.
The "Navigate to address" function (voice) really stinks only works half the time.
All in all the performance of the GPS is troubling at best. The GPS did not perform better than my street pilot 330c that is still in use today. Out of all the GPSs I have tried, I place this GPS right below an etch-a-sketch. I would not recommended this GPS for anyone, and the extra 10 dollars a month for the live service.... the first thing tomtom needs to bring alive is a decent GPS, because this is not it.
Digital camera Review: I had to upgrade because I couldn't find any tech support for my old TomTom XL One S
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm not a techno-savy kind of guy. I learn just enough to get a product to do what I want and then don't want/need to go deeper. My old TomTom kept losing the satalite signals after a couple years and I couldn't find ANY support mechanism that could even answer questions....... so I simply gave up and bought a new one. Seems a shame but I guess that's the world we live in now.