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: TomTom 720 users: be careful when updating
Summary: 1 Stars
I need a GPS this new year for my driving from Los Angeles to San Francisco vacation. I first bought a Tomtom XL-W. The box inludes only a quick set up. The quick setup neglects to mention that the TTS is not on by default (it is advertised prominently on the box though), it took me a few days just to find out how to set up the correct TTS (change the speech to computer voice). On the box, there is a bluetooth symbol, but I found out, again after a few frustating days trying to connect my phone, that the XL-W bluetooth is only for traffic report not handfree phone. The last straw is that it refused to connect to my computer. Calling tech support did not sems to help, they recommended that I returned it for another one. I decided to return it for a different one, a TomTom 720 because it has handfree bluetooth. Since I already have experience with the XL-W, I know how to change the default speech (no TTS) to TTS. But the TTS has a problem of correctly pronouncing the many spanish street name in California. If you did not read the name on the GPS before hand, you would not know what in the world it was saying. The 720 however, connected to my phone just fine. My trip to SF from LA through Santa Barbara was uneventful with the 720. It worked fine most of the time but with a annoying flaw: it always announced that I have reached my destination about 50-100 ft away from the Hotel or at my home. Some of the tall buildings in downtown SF caused the 720 to lose the satelite tracking for a few minutes. It was unerving to drive in downtown SF in the rain trying to find your way in bad traffic & had the map screen suddenly rotated around when the car was iddling or was going straight. It directed me to turn left on some streets with no left-turn. The battery only last 3 hours, may be four with the power-saving on. After, I got home from the trip, I tried to update the 720 using the latest TomTom Home which I download from the TomTom website. The software update downloaded and installed fine as report on the TomTom home screen but after I tried to turn on the updated 720, it gave me the TomTom version of the blue screen of death and refused to work again even after I pushing the reset button. I have to return this one too.Customer Review: Great first GPS!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
After wishing I had gotten factory-installed GPS on my '08 Toyota Highlander, I started shopping around for a portable unit. I looked at the Garmin 660, but didn't want to spend that much(even the $550 you could find it for online). When I became aware of the 720, that seemed like a good prospect. Circuit City had for $450 last week and with a 10% coupon, I was able to get it for $430 out the door, so I was very pleased with the price.
Anyway, for my first GPS, I'm very happy with the 720. Here are the features I like best:
Accurate routes and very quick reroutes
Great graphics - nice-looking day/night colors - very current-looking icons.
If you have an auxilliary input in your car, you can choose to ouput instructions and/or music through your car stereo without having to use the fm transmitter. With the optional cable you can buy, I like being able to use the 720 as an interface for my ipod while I leave the ipod in my glovebox.
Very clear and pleasant audio - the computer voice for text-to-speech really doesn't sound that robotic and the internal speaker has pretty decent sound quality. As mentioned above, you can output the instructions through you aux input if you have one, which sounds great, but it can be a bit much if you have your stereo cranked.
Was able to get it connected to my AT&T Samsung Sync's bluetooth, even though this phone is not one listed on the TomTom website and am able to use it for traffic also. Even though the traffic is activated, I have yet to see how valuable this feature is.
TIP: If your vehicle has built-in bluetooth, and you want to be able to use it, as well as the bluetooth functionality of the 720, try this:
Turn on the GPS and let it connect to your phone before you turn on your car. Then, when your car links up with your phone, you'll be able to make and receive calls on your vehicle's system but also make calls to POI's on the GPS, if you have occasion to do so.
In conclusion, this is a really cutting-edge GPS with a lot of great features for the money, and I wouldn't hesitate recommending it.
Customer Review: An Expensive Paperweight
Summary: 1 Stars
I had been looking for the right GPS for quite a while, balancing whether I wanted the bells and whistles along with a hefty price tag or go for a bare bones unit.
Then the Go 720 crossed my screen. Bluetooth, MP3 player, large screen, the features are impressive with a price tag that the stores would have a hard time to match. Also, sad as it sounds, wanted the Homer Simpson voice as I thought it would break the boredom on an upcoming trip I had planned. Unfortunately, that's where my praise ends.
The first GPS I received refused to sync with my computer and in fact, got corrupted almost straight out the box.
Second unit had no initial problems and synced with the PC fine, downloaded the latest map, signed up on Map Share, added some points of interest and even managed to download the Homer Simpson voice I was after with no problems (cost $13 though).
Thought I would do some trial runs and it seemed to be pretty much on par with what I believed were the quickest routes. Then came the fateful day I put my trust in the TomTom. The route to say the least was bizarre. Even though I had specified no unpaved roads, it took them until eventually the sign read, road closed. Now, going up dark, one car width lanes, Homer's voice kept telling me to turn around, but to where, back home? I was lost and my downloaded celebrity voice was now the most annoying thing on the planet. Eventually, I got to my destination by ignoring it and using a good old fashioned map. TomTom told me to go straight on at an intersection, when I knew I had to go right. Having taken the right, it readjusted to the correct route and shaved 10 minutes off the eta.
As the celebrity voices become very irritating after a while (it would keep using the same punchline over and over again and would not tell you any street names), I resorted back to the computer voice. Then I noticed that it kept stuttering resulting in the voice not working at all. Then I would loose the Bluetooth feature though both issues would restore after continual warm starting.
Little less than a week after owning it, it died completely. A blessed relief in my honest opinion.
Customer Review: Feature rich GPS with horribly flawed interface
Summary: 3 Stars
Decent GPS. Catches signal relatively quickly. Routes and reroutes fast. Now the many problems:
1. The submenus are infinitely deep and when you are done and want to go back to seeing your route, there is no "exit" button!! You have to go back as many times.
2. Something as useful as seeing turn-by-turn direction is hidden in a menu 3 levels down.
3. No way to create shortcuts to your desired menus to alleviate problems 1, 2.
4. Somehow, I see multiple entries for most cities (e.g., Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Los Angeles CA). You try one, and then if you dont find your address there, try the next and so on. Frustrating many times.
5. There is no way to search with street names first instead of town/city. Moreover, tomtom does not search for neighboring towns if it does not find the address in the asked for town name. In California, town names change every 2 miles and most people dont realize the boundaries! The only reliable way to use Tomtom is to know the zipcode.
5. The bluetooth phone connection is unreliable. Few days back it completely washed out the synced up phonebook from the GPS and now wont let it back in. I have never gotten the text message part of it to work.
6. The POIs are old and not checked for correctness. Often I find restaurants listed which shut down years back.
7. The GPS does not show the address where it is taking you and there is no way to get it!! E.g., you follow directions to a shop using the POI search and then park your car somewhere nearby. Now you want the exact address to walk to but to get to it, you have to search for the POI again and make sure *not* to ask Tomtom to route to it. Showing the start and end addresses in the route should have been an obvious add on.
All in all, it seems that the interface was designed by someone who has never really driven in real life conditions! I find it so frustrating that half the time I just use Google Maps on my Blackberry instead of the Tomtom.
Customer Review: A top-notch GPS unit!
Summary: 5 Stars
I spent a fair amount of time researching the seemingly hundereds of GPS units out there, and finally settled in on those in the $450 - $500 range. After comparing the Garmin nuvi 350, the Magellan 4040, and the new TomTom GO 720, I opted to purchase the latter. Although I've only owned it a short while, I am very impressed.
The best thing about Tom Tom -- and the GO 720 -- is the flexibility it offers. Chief among these, to me, is the MapShare technology, which allows you to correct maps, block streets, rename roads, add POIs, etc. -- and share them with other TomTom users. The software (TomTom HOME) you install on your home PC is easy to use, as is the unit itself. Don't like the text-to-speech voice? Change it with one you download -- or even record your own voice!!
The list of neat features is exhaustive -- so rather than blab about them here, I'll let you read the specs yourself.
The one feature I wish it did offer was a direct link to traffic -- yes, you can get traffic updates via TomTom traffic, but have to do so through a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone. Unless you have a Blackberry or a phone with a data service contract, that means you'll have to pay not only TomTom for the traffic subscription, but also your cell-phone company for the data usage. Plus, my phone's Bluetooth is reserved for my wireless headset, which I'm not willing to give up. It would be much nicer if the 720 received TomTom Traffic updates directly.
Of no real issue, though, as I was unwilling to spend the $60 or so per year for the service (similar prices for Garmin as well).
Beyond this, I haven't found a single thing I dislike about this unit -- and am finding it head and shoulders above the rest. If you're considering the TomTom GO 720, compare the Garmin nuvi350 to it -- the latter is a top-notch, high quality, and well-received unit. I think you'll find, as I did, that the GO 720 beats it.