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"Perhaps the best portable GPS at a good price!!!!!" on by samarthjoshi
Pros: Bluetooth, fm transmitter, battery life, voice input (see my post), mapshare corrections, latest map guarantee
Cons: FM transmitter should have been little more louder, provide detailed user manual (there is one in the cd though), otherwise no complaints!!!!!!
Summary: This product is simply awesome. I had made up my mind for this but in the showroom I saw the LG LN790 whose maps seemed better looking and colorful and supported video playback. It was also 399$ under promotions. The tomtom lay showing its black and white map. I bought the Tomtom. Don't be fooled by the black & white maps; as soon as you come on the road you'll experience colourful maps on the great 4.3" widescreen. Read the last two points to see how you can make this feature packed product even higher end.
1. Bluetooth: Although 2 of of my phones were not in the compatibility list, all handsfree functions work. The list is only for data services and although i didnt try on mine , i think my non compatible phone paired up for data with the showroom piece. The mic is very good handsfree calls work flawlessly. No complaints.
2. FM transmitter: Another great feature that attracted me is the fm transmitter.(although you can get a bulky external one for $10-20) The volume is a little low on the radio but when on 50-75% of my car's volume, it works flawlessly. MP3's can be played through your car audio too and i love the way it pauses the sond when giving navigation instruction
3. Screen, Music and Media: Awesome 4.3" screen. Same like the psp screens. MP3 and .aa audiobooks can be played. Internal speaker very loud and clear and sound can also be output through fm, bluetooth and earphone jack. txt files and fully saved webpages can be viewed too. Several guides like first aid and car repairing come with the product.
It has 2gb flash memory in which maps and everything is stored so the product works very fast. There is also an sd card input if you want to expand your memory.
4. Navigation: The product performs its main task very well and accurately. As soon as you miss a turn, it immediately reroutes. Several option for route planning too. Warns of turns well in advance and reads out streets names and distances.
5. Interface and voice: Good interface but you have to get used to it. Love the QWERTY keyboard option and input very easy.Other than power button, there are zero external buttons so that you dont have to mess with buttons while driving. However external volume controls would be nice. Volume is change with a touchscreen slider. Battery life is also good. There is no detailed manual in the box but there is one on the cd. I discovered most functions myself though.
Voice is clear and there are many voices. It does pronounce street names and the speakers are much louder than other gps incl the LG.
6. Mapshare: Missing/wron POIs and map errors are a big concern in the gps field. Mapshare allows you to correnct errors, add POIs, edit locations, block traffic, change rad names and several other options. The feature is right in the device and corrections can be made without connecting to pc. Once enabled, you can download correction's from other users and upload your own automatically when connected to pc free of cost. You dont need to buy maps and buy POI to reduce errors unlike some companies. The already 6 million POI is getting bigger and accurate with this feature in this product.
7.Connectivity and updates: Very easy to use software which also enables you to operate device from pc. Checks for updates as soon as you connect. Software updates are free and the latest maps can be downloaded for free within 30days from first use as often (of course new maps come out in very long intervals so within 30 days you will download only once)as a part of the latest map guarantee. Some other companies products ship with old maps and then you have to purchase new ones.
8.***Voice recognition!!!***: No specs show that this feature has voice input. But once you download the 1.7gb v7.10 latest maps (tomtom provides them for FREE within first 30 days as part of latest map guarantee) and then paste a self made notepad file called support_asr.dat with just the number "1" typed in the file, in your gps's ASR folder: You get voice recognition and it works flawlessly. Thisi snot a modification but just enables the voice recognition which comes with the lates maps.
9. Video playback: This was a tempting feature in the LG. But a third party software from mobilnova.com adds video support to the any tomtom without messing with it. Of course this is not a free tool but it is inexpensive plus you can download a free trial which plays upto 2 min videos. Compression is great and the videos look awesome on the 4.3" 16:9 widescreen.
Overall a great product with so many features, great performance and a good price. I can write loads about this great product and it is highly recommended. -
"Great GPS with crappy "Home" software" on by Andreas Graham
Pros: GPS interface, FM Tuner, iPod intergration
Cons: TomTom Home, Mac support, only BT DUN support, poor documentation
Summary: I got this machine recently after a lot of research. I have used the Go 900 and I really liked it. TomTom have always made some of the best units in the market and the 720 is excellent to use. I had to use an older cell phone to get the Plus service to work, after some trial and error and a call to customer support I got it working. Map sharing and correction is great, I have already used it a couple of times.
The real problem is that you have to use the TomTom Home to manage your device. This is really buggy on a PC though they have just upgrades it to 2.0 version. On the Mac it is appalling. I am hoping that there will be a new Mac version soon.
All in all a great GPS unit let down by some poor software backup. -
"On Par with Garmin" on by egale
Pros: Quick to aquire satellites, Detailed vocal instructions.
Cons: Favorites, POIs, Bluetooth wth cell phone, screen brightness
Summary: I am coming from a Garmin world. I had problems with the Garmin routing me weirdly, and occassionally placing me 1000 feet or so from where I was was.
The 720 is very full featured. It also routes me weirdly at times although not as weird as the Garmin unit did. It gives directions differently as well and I find it better than Garmin in that respect.
But it has serious flaws too:
1. The screen washes out in bright sunlight much more than the Garmin did.
2. It connected easily to my Blackberry for voice but the quality is so bad it is unuseable.
3. It won't connect to my Blackberry for data so traffic updates and such do not work. I have tried a dozen manual and automatic settings with no luck.
4. Favorites and POIs. When you add a favorite or POI, you can not see or pull up the actual address. So adding the name of a restaurant for instance as "My Restaurant" makes you lose the address. You can navigate there but even reviewing the details of the route only show street name, no house number. I have taken to adding any favorite or POI as something like "100 Main St, Anytown, NY - My Restaurant". It works but it is messy looking. If you name a favorite with the nickname first, it actually displays "100 My Restaurant - Main St, Anytown, NY" This is something that tempts me to return the unit.
Map quality seems to be similar to Garmin and well. Both have errors. Garmin's screen animation is jerky whereas Tomom's is smoother but the Garmin screen resolution is better and the road you are supposed to travel on is better marked.
Best thing to do is try them both if you can. Neither is perfect by a long shot. -
"Great Unit to have" on by Derrickb1974
Pros: Maps are really good even in remote areas. Ease of use, Reading the directions are really optional with this unit. The text to speech feature is wonderful. The form factor is excellent
Cons: Bluetooth works, but the mic makes you sound tunneled. The US version doesn't have the speech recognition feature. The 2GB internal memory is really only about 500mb usable space.
Summary: I first tried a friend's GO910 and really enjoyed using it, so I decided to buy a TomTom for myself. After purchasing my GO720 , I took it into the backwoods of the Blueridge Mountain in Virginia and it got side-tracked only once the entire day, but quickly corrected itself within 10 secs. I actually think it performed really well considering the isolated and remote locations that I went into while out photographing the scenery for the day. The 4.3" screen is great. I did download some new map colors for night driving that were easier on the eyes and were free from the TomTom home software. The built in FM transmitter works great and is a nice feature, but the built in bluetooth mic is not that great which is why I only gave the GO720 a 9.0 instead of a perfect score of 10, but I didn't buy this GPS unit for the bluetooth feature totally. TomTom home software is easy to use and I highly recommend using it. The Map correction feature appears to be a good thing also. I do however only let it update the maps that have been verified or acknowledged by many.
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"If I find a phone that is compatible with it, I would give it a 9 of of 10." on by tgittens66
Pros: Clear directions, made one mistake (local driving in downtown Toronto) during my trip to Toronto from NYC.
Cons: TomTom needs to add new phones that are compartible to this device. I have AT&T wireless and I am having a very hard time finding a phone that works with this system.
Summary: This baby was great. It never lost connection and I did not have it connected to the charger for the majority of my trip to Toronto from NYC. My only disappointment was not knowing how difficult it would be to get a phone that will enable me to use the handsfree and the traffic update.
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