TomTom GO 720 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
by TomTom
|
List Price: Our Price: $199.00 You Save: $250.95 (56%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $64.75 (click here) Category: GPS or Navigation System See more product details |
|---|
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of TomTom GO 720 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
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: 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!
Customer Review: The king of automotive GPS
Summary: 5 Stars
I really love the 720. I have tried the Garmin Nuvi and just didn't like the software nearly as much as the TomTom. Entering addresses is really fast and you only see towns in the state you are looking in. This means no more having to scroll through 30 different Springfields to get to the one you are searching for. You can hide the keyboard to see a long list of close matches so instead of having to type out the full city or street name you can just hit the first few letters and then pick from a list.
Mapshare seems like it will be a huge advance in the world of automotive GPS devices. Is a street marked as open when it should be blocked? Just correct the error with a few quick taps on the screen and it's fixed. What's really the big advance though is the ability to share my corrections with all other TomTom owners. I connect the 720 to the TomTom HOME software and it downloads corrections that other users have submitted.
What you see on the screen can be fully customized so that if you want the status bar on the side then you can put it there or you can leave it on the bottom. You can also decide what information is shown in the status bar. You can show or hide the time of day, remaining time, remaining distance, current heading, and your current rate of speed. If you subtract items from the status bar the other items automatically get bigger to take up the remaining space. You can also select if you want to show the current street you are on and the name of the next street you will be turning on to.
Text to speech quality is very good and will say the directions so for example it might say "in 250 feet keep right, then take the exit right, 204B towards Westview." Or "in 200 meters, turn right South West Madison Avenue." You can choose from multiple voices although I think the Dave voice sounds the best of the bunch. If you don't want to hear the "keep to lane" instructions you can disable this feature although I personally like to have it on. You can also record your own spoken instructions so for example you could have your kid's voice tell you to turn left in 200 feet. I haven't tried this though.
The screen is very bright and easy to see even when I have my sunglasses on. The 720 can be set to automatically turn the brightness down as it gets dark thanks to a built in light sensor on the front of the unit.
The mount is pretty clever and super easy to use. Just push it up to the windshield and it sticks right on. The 720 then just slides right on and is held solidly in place. You can turn the 720 in any direction to get it exactly where it's easiest for you to see.
With all the great features of the 720, I think what will really set it apart even more from the other GPS units out there is the Mapshare feature. Being able to fix your own map and download updates automatically to keep the map up to date is one of those things that is so fantastically great that you wonder why on earth it took so long to make to a shipping product. Whether or not it can live up to the expectations remains to be seen. Even if you took Mapshare away it's still the best car GPS I've ever used. With it, there's just no contest.
My biggest complaint is that there's no case in the box. You need to buy one separately although I've been using the plastic holder it shipped in so far which is OK.
Customer 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