TomTom GO 720 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
by TomTom
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of TomTom GO 720 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
Customer Review: Not bad, could be better....
Summary: 3 Stars
Preface- I recently took a new job which required me to move from Colorado to California. I decided I wanted to get a GPS for the trip and for the time while I was in CA, since I didn't know anyone and have never been. I felt it might make my trip easier. Based on my research I decided to purchase the newly released GO 720 from TomTom.
How I came to decide on the TomTom Go720. Initially I was going to get a Nuvii 350 from Garmin. Here is what sold me on the TomTom:
* Text-to-Speech -- to me this should be standard on any GPS in any price range. For the first part of my trip I had actually set up the TomTom in an incorrect voice and I didn't get the text-to-speech. I will say that this is NOT perfect, as pronunciation of some words is hard to make out exactly what she is saying.
* Hands-Free / Bluetooth Enabled -- I liked this feature, I will admit that I did not set my phone to connect to the Go 720, but my phone is recognizable by the TomTom so I imagine it would work. Maybe I'll play with this later.
* Map-Share -- How great is this, to be able to share maps with other members. I personally have not shared any maps or explored shared maps, but I think it is a great idea, and was an idea that sold me.
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Well over all, I'd call it a success.
When I set the GPS up for the first time, I didn't select a computer voice, which is the only voice that can do text-to-speech, so I was getting the `in 500 yards, turn left' type message instead of `in 1/2 mile turn right on Grant Ave' or whatever. Got that sorted out.
Love the searching for POI's..Made planning breaks for gas very easy. I had a disucssion with a co-worker today, who had actually started about 2 weeks before me and moved from Connecticut. He and and his wife purchased a GPS from Garmin (don't know model number). The two of us basically came to the conclusion that these GPSes were good for getting you in the general area, but with new construction and maps that aren't real-time it isn't 100% accurate.
Only thing I didn't like was I searched for a McDonald's and it actually turned me around and took me back about 5 miles via residential areas..could have done w/o the going backwards part, but we can blame that on my inexperience.
One other thing that I'm not particularly fond of is in a city, around interchanges and what not, it will tell you to keep left, or keep right, etc. What it doesn't say is, are you supposed to keep left to exit or just keep left to not exit? I'd like a clearer view of why I am keeping left, and how far left do I need to be? When there at 6+ lanes here in CA, how far left do I want to be? The work around for this would be the `Zoom-In' and `Zoom-Out' buttons in the upper corners. A + or - sign in the upper corners allows you to scale the map to see your destination in a different view depending on the view you selected.
The window suction cup thing won't hold...I have a sticky foam pad, but for some reason it won't stick to my dash (no real flat place I think). I may try and find a mount for something other than the glass. So I guess my biggest gripe is just the inability to mount this thing in a good location that is easily manageable.
The FM transmitter is nice, until I got to CA where all the frequencies have something broadcasted. Then I just had to turn it over to the internal speaker, which is loud enough for me. I didn't hook it it up to my phone yet to see if it would dial POI's or set it up to do any hands-free dialing and what not.
--Additional Thoughts--
Navigation of the menu system to me seems to be lacking...too many clicks necessary to get where you want, but again this could just be my lack of time spent with the device and over time I may find a quick means to find what I'm looking for. One feature I would like is maybe voice navigation.
So...if I had to do it all over again, I would buy this. In the past I would just Google-Map something and have a short stack of papers for Metro areas and what not to get me around. No more killing trees for me.
Here in my particular area, there is a lot of new construction. With construction, TomTom is not updated. POI's are no longer where TomTom says they are. This is of course new construction only. For most POI's this is not a problem.
TomTom sent me in the wrong direction on a couple of occasions. This is frustrating for me in the area that I'm in, and wish it were more accurate, but understand this is not real-time. Again these particular issues were related to (new) construction where traffic may be diverted.
So my TomTom has become more of a `get me in the general area' tool, more so then how do I get to the door step tool. When looking for a retail store, it'll give you the bulk of the trip, once you can see a sign and what not, I just take over and navigate myself. So initially I was a little more dependent upon the TomTom, now like I said, I'm just using it to get me close, and I take it the rest of the way in.
I still love it for finding me POI's and just general navigation as I get around town. Over time it may spend more time in my glove box than out telling me how to get somewhere.
Still a great tool, and still recommend for someone who travels to new places often. As I decide to travel more throughout Cali, I'm sure it'll come in handy.
Customer Review: Two thumbs, way up
Summary: 5 Stars
When I received the 720 from Amazon, I was impressed with the packaging. It was boxed and padded quite well and arrived in excellent condition. Before doing anything I decide to read the Quick Start Guide, a dark gray pamphlet included in the 720 box. It advised me to charge the unit at least 2 hours before proceeding. So without even turning the unit on I plugged the base unit into a USB port on my computer. This base unit is used, via the USB, to connect to the computer as well as recharging. My regret here was that I would not be able to recharge the unit in my house unless the computer is on.
While the unit was charging I went ahead and installed the software using the CD which was included in the package. The installation went smoothly on my computer which runs on Vista Home Premium. After the recommended charging interval of 2 hours I activated the 720 and it immediately connected to the software, Tomtom Home, which I had just installed. Almost instantly I was informed that there was a software update for Tomtom Home. I told it to continue and my computer downloaded an updated Tomtom Home version 2 point something and proceeded to uninstall the version I had just installed using the CD and to install the new version. I was mildly annoyed, but I was grateful that the update downloaded and installed without incident.
My 720 then asked permission to download some updates into itself, which I allowed it do. Everything went smoothly and I continued by setting some preferences in the 720 by using Tomtom Home. I then spent about an hour with the unit, unplugged from the computer, to get familiar with the menu structure. The last GPS that I had was a Garmin IQue 3600 and I found the 720 structured very differently. Nearly every choice in the menu structure of the 720 is graphically based using pages of icons with which to make your selections or set your preference. I found it very intuitive and comfortable.
Later, when I took the 720 on its "maiden voyage", I found that using the unit was very simple. Choosing a destination and creating a route was easy and the unit calculated the route very quickly. Generally the unit selects routes that are nearly identical to what I, as a local, would also pick. Only once has it routed in what I would consider a round-about sort of way but after I considered what it had done I realized that its chosen route would be nearly identical, in travel time, to what I would normally use, so I can't really criticize it.
Since then the 720 has performed consistently and dependably. The map data had some minor errors, most of which, incidentally, I have already corrected and shared with the Tomtom database using Map Share while connected to the internet. It even uses the 2 road name corrections I have made for a couple of local streets, using them in route calculations and even pronouncing them correctly when making navigation announcements. I have had no technical glitches at all.
I have interfaced the 720 with my cell phone using Bluetooth. Making and receiving phone calls using the 720 works flawlessly. It downloaded my entire list of telephone numbers from my Starcom and can easily recall them and place calls. The 720 internal speaker sound quality is good considering its size.
The 720 locates and locks on to the GPS satellites and provides a position with a speed I would have thought impossible a couple of years ago. It is exquisitely sensitive to the satellite signals and I am routinely able to lock on to 6 or 7 satellites sitting in front of my computer, near the center of my house. Amazing! In my vehicle I have installed an external antenna and the 720's performance using this is phenomenal.
I have recently downloaded several songs and pictures into the unit and it plays and displays these without any hitch. I use the FM transmitter, built into the unit, to play music over my vehicle's radio. I have discovered that I need to turn up the 720's volume slide to 100% in order not to turn up the radio's volume too much; this helps avoid an annoying hiss that you hear when an FM radio is turned up too loudly. Incidentally, the 720 politely mutes the music when a navigation announcement is made and then resumes. The quality of this sound is reasonable for casual listening in my pickup. The color of the screen when viewing pictures is good (not great) and the display resolution is acceptable for this purpose. Using the slideshow option to view the pictures gets rid of the aggravating gray bars which I otherwise have with pictures. I have added a 2 GB SD card to provide storage for these files. I am adamantly against using my internal storage for this. For me the 2 gigabytes are more than adequate. However, I can easily understand that 2 GB would seriously limit some people. The unit will interface with an Ipod although I have not done this since I don't own an Ipod.
My overall experience with the 720 has been great and I think the Tomtom 720 is surely one of the acme products in the GPS market. I congratulate Tomtom for coming up with a product like this and give the 720 an enthusiastic round of applause. Two thumbs up! Forgive my rather lengthy post.
Customer 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.
Customer Review: TomTom 720 Failed Me
Summary: 1 Stars
Back Ground:
I bought the TomTom as a Christmas Present to myself since The Wife gave me an Amazon gift card, A Friend has one he's been using for a few months and it seemed to have some features I liked.
What I Liked:
The Bluetooth, The 4.3 inch Widescreen, The Built in FM transmitter to be able to play sound over your car speakers and the MapShare feature that allows you to upload/download Map corrections.
What I did not Like:
Besides the Fact it was way off in it's accuracy (More on that later) I thought the menus were to confusing, packing too much into each menu, Once I started to get use to it, it wasn't that bad, but the fact it took me a full day just to figure out how to cancel a trip didn't bode well with me. I've used Garmins before and to cancel a trip in a Garmin is a simple 2 step process, Touch menu - Touch Stop - Trip Cancelled. So I found that aggravating on the TomTom since the Trip Cancel is somewhere on like the 5th menu screen. The Bluetooth would not sync with my phone no matter what I tried and yes, my Bluetooth phone was in 'discovery' mode. The Bluetooth was mainly what appealed to me since my job requires a lot of travel time on the roadways I liked the idea of not having to use the cell phone and try to talk and drive. So at this point my reason for buying it was a mote point. The real kicker came when I tried it out for navigation. I first made sure it was charged up, Connected to TomTom Home and downloaded any updates per the instructions and spent the night before familiarizing myself with the menus, features and how to enter destinations etc.
My Trips:
Trip Number ONE was to my Doctor's office, about a 30 mile one way trip using back roads, half way thru the trip after turning onto a side street it kept telling me to turn around, finally it corrected itself only to try and take me on a longer un-necessary route (Luckily I knew where I was going) The Real kicker came when I got to my Doctor's office, the TomTom insisted I was still a 1/2 mile short of my destination. Ok, that was the first trip no big deal, probably just a fluke.
Trip Number TWO: Leaving the Dr's office I'm going to head to downtown Baltimore to my Office. The TomTom did a Good job of getting me there until I got to my office. Parking is in short supply so I ended up driving completely around my office building until I found a parking space. the TomTom still insisted that my office was a 1/4 mile past where it really is, At this point I'm beginning to think I made a mistake buying this thing.
My Last Trip Number THREE: I leave the office and map a route to my house. The TomTom did ok up to the point of reaching my House. TomTom insisted I lived 1/2 mile in the Opposite direction and was in fact telling me to turn the wrong way. And no, it was not a shorter route since there is only one way to my house and that was the opposite direction from what the TomTom was saying, I think I actually did a double take to make sure I didn't drink some bad coffee the night before. Nope the TomTom was telling me to go the wrong way.
The Turning Point:
I ignored the TomTom, drove to my house, parked the car and removed the TomTom to be boxed up and returned to Amazon. I had read a few reviews on Amazon about people having a similar experience but just figured maybe they were just Technically Challenged and went ahead with my purchase, After all my buddy has used his in several States with No problems. From what I've read there doesn't seem to be a fix for the problem and it doesn't seem to be every TomTom, I assume TomTom probably has some bad processors out there, which happens. Hopefully TomTom is taking proper steps to get the bad units off the market and into the shredder where they belong. As an interesting side note, I've noticed that since Christmas is over all the TomToms seemed to have gone up by $50 while the Garmins have come down even more in price.
The Bottom Line:
I have to give this a 1 star rating since it failed at it's very primary function. That function being to get you to your destination accurately. However as stated the TomTom does have some Cool ideas with the MapShare feature being one. I may buy another TomTom someday but for now I'm switching back to Garmin, who BTW has never failed me, and I'll wait for TomTom to work out the bugs in their Gps's. I give Amazon a perfect 5 Star rating for their No Hassle return policy, This was the first ever item I had to return to Amazon and they made it easy. They scheduled UPS to pick it up from house and within 5 days I had a Credit for the full amount back in my account. Kudos to Amazon.
Customer Review: An amazing GPS unit, period.
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this TomTom 720 after weeks of research - this IS our first GPS after all! I purchased one for my husband and I, plus one for my mother's companion as her gift to him. She told me whichever one I chose was good enough for her, and she trusted me. (no pressure there!)
I originally purchased a TomTom XL 330S, but returned it because it did NOT have an SD card slot.
This one DOES have an SD card slot (which is good for storing maps, poi's (points of interest), music files, etc.) so that you have the option of expanding the memory of the unit. This helps keep it from becoming a dinosaur too quickly.
The unit is compact, has a bright screen, clear graphics, easy to use software (TomTom Home is a bit "old school" - I'll explain later in this review), and is easy to use period.
I made sure to purchase additional accessories:
4gb SD card
carrying case (take it with you when you park your car - do NOT leave the GPS visible in your car or it will be stolen!!)
screen protectors (matte)
beanbag mount for the dash
alternate mount kit (from TomTom)
The day after I received it, I used it to navigate my way to a job interview. It tried to take me a VERY roundabout way out of my own development, so I just drove the way I wanted to. It recalculated (silently, thank you, instead of stating "re-calculating" like I have heard other machines do) quickly and continued coaching me on where to turn. Since then, I learned how to change the route BEFORE getting into the car so it doesn't do that, and so far I have been pretty successful.
I had bad luck with the "neck" it comes with. It was too short to use with my beanbag mount (it actually made the device come out of the beanbag), so I ordered the "alternate" mount from the TomTom website. This works GREAT with the beanbag!
I kept it plugged in to the cigarette lighter for the entire trip, just to be sure it wouldn't poop out on me - TomTom's are notorious for their short battery life - and it worked fine.
It connected to my Palm Treo 700p as a bluetooth device with absolutely NO problem - actually, it asked ME if I wanted to connect. I didn't expect that. I wasn't even thinking of using bluetooth (I do NOT have a bluetooth headset, rather I have a wired headset for my cell phone), but now I like it. The only thing that is a little weird is that it WON'T connect to my cell phone when I am making an out-of-state call (go fig!).
The updates were really easy to do, but the downloads were a little tedious. The "Home" software is a little "old school" in that once you find something you want to add to your device (such as points of interest) and download it to the device, you have to return to the very first page of the software and start searching all over again. It SHOULD have a "sticky" interface that could remember what page you left off on before the download started. This makes it VERY time consuming.
I made sure to download the 2 free "computer" voices so the TomTom would speak the street names during navigation. It comes with one, but I really like "Susan" out of all of the computer voices.
You get 12 months of mapshare downloads for no charge. At the end of that time you must purchase a full map upgrade to continue with free downloads for another 12 months. The full map upgrade averages between $80 to $120 depending on what you need. (BTW, this is comparable to the prices for map upgrades from Garmin, Mio and Magellan, but these companies do NOT allow for free downloads during the rest of the year.)
Also, you can submit map changes to TomTom - that means if something has changed since they did the map, you get to add your info! Garmin, Mio and Magellan do NOT allow you to do this, either. What does this mean for you? The power to help yourself and others. Heck, why not? Maybe your correction will help someone from getting lost and in return maybe someone else's corrections will help YOU from getting lost!
I purchased this unit (new) for $199 (that was my max budget). Since then it has jumped up to $300+. I guess that means it is in demand, but the newer models are around that price, so if you are in the $300 budget range I would research the newer TomTom's to see what they have to offer before buying this at $300.
If you are new to TomTom's or even just GPS in general, make sure to check out the user groups at: forums dot gpsreview dot net. You can find help for any and every brand/model.
That's all I can think of for now. If I forgot something I will re-post. Happy Travels!