TomTom GO 730

Summary: Good GPS, but if you are looking to upgrade your GPS to get some of the new TomTom 730 features it may not be worth it. The computer generated spoken road names is marginal and is many times garbled and not understandable. Simple names and highway numbers are prounounced OK, but beyond that you will be wondering what the heck the GPS is saying. This is a software algorithm so perhaps TomTom will improve this with new operating system updates. One big disappointment was the lane change feature. I recently traveled from NW Florida to Oklahoma City and back, with many detours along the way. Few Interstate intersections incorporate the lane change feature, even in some of the larger cities. Bottom line, when you approach any given intersection, you can't depend on the lane change function being there. When it is displayed, it's a really nice feature. Unfortunately, lane change is a map function and as they add capability, it will cost money to update your maps. Maybe thats a little extra TomTom incentive to make sure you spend the money on new maps? For the good side, the 730 is fast to lock satellites, relatively easy to use, and has an amazing IQ feature. I liked the routes it planned and it always seemed to route me around known traffic problem areas. With IQ, the estimated arrival times were astonishingly accurate. I upgraded to the 730 from a bulky Lowrance 500C which also had an overheating problem, so the 730 was a good move for me. If you have a GPS that is adequate but want to upgrade to get the new features the 730 offers, you may want to think twice or maybe even wait till TomTom improves lane change and spoken road names. Overall, the 730 is a really good GPS and I am pleased with it.