» TomTom GO 720 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator >> car gps systems, car navigation systems - Shop Compare and Reviews Store, Buy Cheap Best Prices on sale, review, price

A couple years after buying it, I give 3 out of 5.
I have had the GO 720 for a couple of years now, and it was the first GPS I've ever owned. It can connect via bluetooth to a mobile phone for handsfree operation, as well as receive SMS and email if your phone has a data plan. It can receive realtime traffic info, but Tomtom charges what I view as an exhorbitant monthly fee for this feature (my phone GPS software does it for nothing). It has an SD card slot for slideshow imagery, MP3 music files, and also allows you to transmit via an FM frequency to your car radio. The 720 also can interface with your Windows or Mac PC via a program called "Tom Tom Home", which allows you to update the firmware and modify the imagery, points of interest and other data to suit your preferences.

The Expectations: I wanted the FM transmitter for my car stereo (I didn't have an aux-in jack when I bought the unit, though I do now), the SD card slot and the MP3 playback capability, since I have a huge collection of music. I also wanted the Bluetooth capability for hands-free mobile phone operation. I splurged for the bluetooth remote control - originally I found it not of much use but lately, due to the mounting location in my new car, I've been really glad I bought it.

The Reality:
1. The FM transmitter: big mistake. I live on the east coast and it is impossible to set the unit on a quiet FM frequency where bleedover from adjacent stations didn't cause so much static that this feature was useless. Also, the unit does not provide audible turn information via the FM link unless you're playing music at the time. At all other times it pipes it out of the tiny speaker in the back of the unit or the aux-in jack if you have a car stereo with this feature. On later Tomtom GPS units I note that the FM feature, as well as MP3 capability, seems to be lacking - perhaps Tomtom decided that the underwhelming performance didn't sell.

2. The SD card slot, as the unit shipped, could only take 2GB cards (thankfully, an automatic update via Tomtom Home later increased this to 32GB). However, I have noted that the unit tends to error out when you try to insert a card with more than 4GB of mp3's - no matter what the size of the card. Also, anytime the unit is used with Tomtom Home, and also at other times that I can't explain, it requires a reboot that causes the 720 to have to re-catalog all of the mp3's on the card before it can playback any of them. This can take 5-10 minutes. The buttonology of the mp3 player is very rudimentary and quirky - don't expect iPod-like performance.

3. Handsfree operation: My phone (AT&T/Samsung Impression) connects via bluetooth for handsfree receiving and making phone calls. Despite all efforts on my part, however, the 720 refuses to connect so that I can use my phone's data plan to receive SMS, traffic info, fuel prices and other available data. I give Tomtom a C+ for this feature, since they could easily add updates to allow the unit to work with newer phones from the major manufacturers. They choose not to. Since the 720 has been out now for about 3 years, newer phones like mine may have problems connecting to it. As far as handsfree operation, one thing they don't tell you is that the onboard microphone is not adjustable - either mount it close to your mouth in a car with very little ambient noise, or don't figure on using it much. There is no external mike jack.

All in all, I'm glad I have the 720 since it does well at the core job of navigation, but be very careful if you're looking for an all-in-one solution to GPS, music and handsfree concerns. It handles the GPS parts well, but it won't replace your iPod/iPhone and maybe you should look elsewhere for a handsfree unit.

Excellent
Seller is AAA+. Shipped on time as promised and GPS is in great condition for a used product and very satisfied with the transaction in every way.

Tom Tom 720
The Tom Tom 720 got me where I needed to go but finding POI's was very hard. There were very few POI's in the unit. We depend on our gps to find places to eat and this unit did not do the job very well.

Um...well...maybe...
I'm actually writing this as I'm scouring reviews of other GPS units to replace my 720, which I've had just under a year. I'd actually really prefer to just be keeping the one I've got, but a slew of problems are forcing me to remedy its deficiencies. That said, I probably could have gotten everything fixed ten months ago, but my laziness, combined with being a little too busy, meant that I stuck myself with what might just be a wonky unit. I'll try to be as objective as possible in this review. Oh, and I'm probably repeating much of what's already been mentioned, but, if you're like me (and I know I am), you're probably just skimming the first few pages of recent reviews rather than exhaustively searching everything ever written.

I'll start by saying that, when it's working its best, I have the biggest crush on my 720 -- so much so that I'm most likely going to end up replacing it with another Tomtom despite my issues. My wife has a Garmin Nuvi (with its pretentious umlaut) and I find it maddening when it works as it's supposed to. I thought she had a defective unit until I was in the car with my friend's Garmin and experienced the same silliness. Apart from the Garmin's interface being much more involved, a constant computer-generated drone of "re-cal-cu-lat-ing" when you make a small detour (or are just trying to get to the mapped road from a large parking lot), and the excitement of not being told to turn until literally in the intersection, I just don't find the units incredibly utile, especially when compared to my Tomtom. The Garmin's points of interest are incredibly lacking and address input needs to be much more exact. Maybe it's just me, but in this age of instant information, I feel like this little device should be doing more of the work for me. After all, isn't that the point of buying a GPS in the first place?

Ah, I've digressed...

The thing about the 720 is that it's all the Garmin is not. I find the simplified interface and customizable quick menu incredibly easy to deal with. The points of interest are plentiful and very accurate. Inputting an address starts at the 10,000-foot level of city and, based on where you are (or have been recently), the predictive input suggests cities for you. As you get to the street and number, they're equally intuitive and, bonus, will suggest recent entries that haven't warranted a permanent place in your 'favorites.' Best of all, if you've got a street address, but don't have an exact city/town/suburb/whatever, the Tomtom is kind enough to work through neighboring locations, whereas the Garmin is much more demanding about locale. The Tomtom is also polite enough to recalculate altered routes silently, rather than make a constant plea for attention. I find the lane guidance much more helpful than I thought I would, especially in major metropolitan areas where half a dozen freeways converge within a couple of miles (or like LA, where freeway names and numbers are used interchangeably for the same stretch of road - though none of the numbers have "the" in front of them, so I'm still befuddled why so many idiots here refer to 'I-10' as 'the 10' and such but would never say 'the Wilshire'). One thing Garmin has that the 720 could use is announcing which side of the street the destination will be on, rather than leaving the driver looking for street numbers (not applicable to POIs) or hoping they can make out on the screen which way the tiny arrow at the end of the highlighted route is pointing.

As for added services, I subscribed to the traffic updates for a year and it was among the best I ever spent. I'd say that Tomtom accurately spotted traffic congestion more than 90% of the time. For someone who loves driving but hates other drivers, this was perfect for me. Whether I relied on the 720's suggested rerouting or bailed early from a freeway where I was expecting trouble, I found that, more often than not, the GPS guided me on a much more efficient (if sometimes strange) path toward my destination. The only unfortunate part is that the traffic doesn't account for surface streets (which is weird, because Google Maps on my Blackberry does) and, sometimes, that can be much, much worse than stalled freeways. Since this mostly comes up for me in LA and I'm pretty familiar with traffic patterns (K-Town and Hollywood are nightmares on Fridays!), it didn't matter much, but I could see it being a problem on new turf. I didn't try the gas prices or anything else you'd subscribe to, but I did make some contributions to the map sharing/correcting service. I'm not sure how much, if at all, I actually benefited from others' contributions to it.

[Possibly esoteric side note on the 'avoid traffic' functions of both my 720 and the wife's Garmin: When we used to live on the West Side of LA and both worked downtown, we'd carpool a few times a week, so I got a chance to see both of our GPS' efforts to make our drives more efficient on the aforementioned '10.' My Tomtom would drop us down to parallel surface streets like Adams or Jefferson to avoid freeway congestion. Her Garmin's solution (and my proof it was programmed by one of the millions of terrible drivers in this city)? As congestion increases, take each off-ramp, wait at the light at the top of the overpass, cross over to the freeway entrance, and get back on to repeat the procedure a mile later. Factoring in the light, it seems terribly inefficient and dangerous. I'm guessing that if the US DOT didn't frown on it, Garmin would suggest passing all the traffic via the shoulder.]

So, uh, what was wrong with this unit I seemed so enamored with? Well, like I said, I think I got a stinker. My hard drive would reset randomly, which was awesome if you wanted to forfeit your life and start anew, but really annoying if you were looking to, you know, get places and find stuff. Sometimes, it would just freeze up and Tomtom customer service would tell me to do a manual reset. When I'd ask whether I'd lose all the information I'd been unable to back up, they'd assure me it would be safe. It wouldn't be and I'd be back to the whole-new-life thing mentioned above. Though my old Blackberry wasn't technically supported (for both phone and Tomtom services), I was able to find a work-around online to get my traffic updates. Of course, this victory was often short-lived when the 720 would suddenly find itself unable to connect with the phone, doing so almost invariably when I was in the biggest of rushes. There's actually a pretty good-sized dent in the front left of my unit from when I punched it for not connecting when I really needed it to. It's either a testament to the product that it could take the impact or an embarrassment to punch strength that I couldn't break it or both.

To be fair to Tomtom, I reported my issues with the resetting within the first couple of months and they sent me a FedEx prepaid label to send it in for repairs (this was, BTW, well before I punched it). I never got to that, however, so I can't say how much better things might have been had my 720 been in tip-top condition. At the same time, the fact that I would have to send in a defective product is a little annoying in the first place.

What's driving me to finally replace my 720? Well, two interrelated things: One is that I can't get my new Blackberry to connect to the GPS, but probably the most important determining factor is now that I've lived with traffic updates for almost a year, I can't go back to not having them. I replaced my phone a couple of weeks ago, just before taking a long road trip up the California coast. When I couldn't see how much traffic I was facing along the route, I felt oddly uncomfortable. I've still been looking for work-arounds without luck (do some research online to make sure you can get your phone's date to work with the 720 before you invest). Besides that, the thing just reset itself again and wiped the memory clean, so I might as well reenter all my info on a new device.

So why am I still considering a Tomtom despite my first one lasting less than a year before I tired of its antics? Again, the interface is much more intuitive than other brands I've seen, the POI are actually useful, the traffic updates and reroutes are super-helpful, and I'm not about to spend 0+ necessary to get similar features and ease in some other company's device. Since I got my 720 on Amazon for a good price last year (much lower than the two bills their partner is pricing it as I write this), I'm not going to sweat considering it a trainer/backup device now. Yeah, a lot could be better, but a lot is already really good. If you need something a little better than the basics, I can endorse it so long as you get a fully functional unit (and at a price more in line with what I paid). That's exactly what I'm hoping to get when I upgrade.

TomTom Go 720
I bought this 720 to replace a 720 that kept falling off the dash board of my truck. The last fall broke the plug where the power cord connects. I love the 720 and was lost without it so I bought a new one. The only problem I have is the suction cup on the mount. It seems like it only lasts for about a year. Of course I leave it in the car with the unit attached all of the time and I have a disc on the dash which the mount connects to. I did have an issue with the maps when I first hooked the unit to my PC. I made the seller aware of the issue and they stayed in touch until the problem was resolved. TomTom actually resolved the issue for me with very little trouble. I actually think my issue was my fault due to already having a 720 set up on my PC. But within a week or two I had my 720 up and running with no further issues. I would recommend the 720 to anyone.