Most helpful client reviews
251 of 254 people found the following review helpful.
Nice Device but missing critical accessories
By Average Joe
We purchased the Tomtom 730 unit when it comes to 1 week ago and in truth like it. We were Garmin fans but decisive to give the Tomtom a undertake after my brother swore up and down with regards to how well it worked. We have owned and employed Magellan and Garmin GPS units.
Likes:
Voices are good
Routing is execellent
Ability to reroute around 1 road is awesome
Tomtom help is very helpful. They speak english and seem to be located within the US.
Much better software than other GPS providers.
Most accessaries for the 720/920 work for the 730 including the Traffic antenna
Dislikes:
Screen washes out in sunlight - We will have to look for a sunshade
Mounting system - What were they thinking? It fell off the window twice and doesn't even clip into the mount. Had to buy a 3rd party mounting system (Ram mounts work)
Should come with a lot of type of case to protect the unit.
Really wish the speeding and red light cameras were supported in the US
POI doesn't seem to be as robust as a Garmin. Tomtoms have millions of POI but just not the stuff we ordinarily look for such as grocery stores, etc.
We almost took the unit back because the screen washes out in sunlight without galore type of sunshade. We took the 730 and equated it directly with the Garmin 770. The garmin seemed to find more points of interest around us and everything was much requiring little effort to see in direct sunlight. We ultimately decisive to keep the Tomtom because it calculated the routes much rapidly and without delay and permitted us to reroute around a single road, the garmin doesn't give you any control and reroutes the whole route which was the deal breaker for us. My wife also cited that the Garmins felt very unrefined after she had experienced a Tomtom. The Tomtom 730 is a great device but plan on spending at least 50 dollars more to buy better accessaries such as mounts, sunshades and cases.
9/30/08 5 months later
I still have a few gripes in regards to this unit. The battery life is awful. When turned off, the unit will keep a charge for 4 days before it needs to be recharged by the computer adapter. The car charger does not charge the unit but rather supplements battery power. In the case of low battery, the unit will run completely off the car adapter but will not charge. I have called Tomtom two times with regards to this issue and was told this conduct was normal for these types of electronics. REALLY? A co-worker has a Garmin that may go a couple of weeks turned off before it complains regarding a low battery.
Another complaint I have is the screen, it just wasn't made for the Arizona sun. It washes out and becomes nigh out of the question to read for the duration of the day. Sunshades aid reduce the issue but it is still an issue.
I am tired of spending cash on accessaries just to fetch the unit up to what it will have to have been. If I could redo this purchase, I would get a Garmin. I recognise they aren't perfective either, but the Tomtom just isn't pulling it is weight for the price paid.
149 of 154 persons found the following review helpful.
Some good, some bad
By timmerk
Overall, I in truth like the 730. However, I ended up returning mine to Circuit City and biting the 15% restock fee because of a few severe flaws (see cons section).
Pros:
- Extremely fast interface response. You tap a button on the screen, and it switches screens instantly.
- Very fast routing. A 15 mile trip with a good deal of streets takes when it comes to 1 second to calculate the most immediate route using IQ Routes mode.
- High quality; both the over-all feel of it and visually.
- MapShare. MapShare is great and I use it all the time. If a road was not long ago renamed, closed, the speed limit changed, etc, I could without any delay rectify the map while driving and share the changes with other TomTom users.
- Tons of features! Hands-free calling through Bluetooth cell phones, FM transmitter, MapShare, IQ Routes, iPod control, etc.
Cons:
- My main complaint and the reason I returned the 730 was because it would freeze while in hibernate mode when it comes to once a week. It never froze when "on", only when it was "off" (which is in truth hibernate/sleep mode). The power button would do not one thing to turn it back on. I had to use a paper clip to hit the hard-reset button to begin it back up. Maybe I just had a lemon unit. If not, hopefully a software update will repair it in the future.
- The second reason I couldn't keep the 730 was because it was hard to see the screen on sunny days. The screen could be a little brighter, but I think the main problem was the screen itself. I would see a reflectivity of myself on the screen for the duration of the day, even when the unit was on.
- The computer software (TomTom Home) that connects the TomTom to your Mac or PC is horrible. It crashes all the time, is slow, has a strange interface, and is finelooking limited. You cannot plan routes on your PC in a real app and load it into your TomTom. You have to use the "Control my TomTom" feature to do this, but that is just seeing the TomTom's little screen on your PC and using the normal TomTom controls.
- FM transmitter is weak. While I've never seen a good FM transmitter, TomTom messed it up with a firmware update. It was a lot more inviolable in the same place all the time, and with the firmware upgrade, it made the signal weaker.
- Hands-free control of the TomTom is useless to me because you have to interact with the TomTom with your fingers just to begin it, and even while speaking commands to it.
- Last, but not least: when upgrading the maps on the 730, you loose all your MapShare corrections. For a great deal of reason, TomTom keeps specific MapShare corrections tied directly to the specific version of the map. This doesn't make sense to me, and seems to defeat the intent a little.
Conclusion:
A great product that has a lot of potential. If your unit doesn't freeze and you don't mind seeing your reflectivity in the screen, I would commend the TomTom 730.
72 of 72 people found the following review helpful.
Very pleased with the Go 730
By Jeremy
After in regards to 3 months of research, I had decisive I was going to buy the TomTom Go 720. I waited for a few weeks while I shopped around for the best price, and for the duration of this time, the 720's successor (Go 730) was available on the market. The 730 now includes IQ routes, which from what I understand, works also to the Dash - it gathers speed selective information from other TomTom users on each road, so if a sure route is known to have a very low intermediate speed at a given time of day, the 730 will route you around that road to refrain from the potential traffic. It likewise has the new lane guidance pictures - I've only seen this once so far in the month or so I've owned it, but it looked cool! At original I was torn amid this model and the Garmin nuvi series, but the nice thing regarding this TomTom that was the marketing point for me was that you may effortlessly add/remove/edit points of interest. This is done on the unit (not by way of new map updates or mapshare) and may be done beauteous quickly. The Garmin's brag that they have more points of interest in their bank, and while that might be true, there is always going to be galore missing somewhere, so this is a nice feature to have. In fact, in my new town, a nearby grocery store was missing from the TomTom bank. I chose to look up the address of the store online, then store that address in the GPS as this type of POI with this name. You may also accomplish the same thing beneath the "Browse Map" option and find the proper menu option for adding the point.
Suction cup:
I've seen other reviews online regarding persons having troubles with the windshield suction cup mount. All I may say is that I applied this GPS for the duration of my move from NY to NC, which was regarding an 11-hour drive. Not once for the duration of that time did the suction cup mount fail, nonetheless since then it has fallen off the windshield a couple of times. The trick that seems to work is to genuinely lick a few of your fingers and moisten the suction cup before pressing it onto the windshield.
Washed-out screen:
Some users have commented that in intense sunlight, the screen becomes difficult to see. I've seen this take place possibly once or twice, but it only lasted a few seconds. From what I've experienced, the sun has to be at just the right angle, and this doesn't occur very often. In the sheer worst-case scenario, you have a little disturb seeing the screen for a few seconds, so you plainly listen to the voice commands. I don't see that as a very big drawback at all.
Other features and comments:
The nice thing this model does (I'm not sure if lower models do this as well or not) is that it predicts what time you'll arrive at your destination based on the IQ route information, current speeds, etc. I found this to be a handy little feature.
The actual routing seems spot-on so far. Re-routing after you miss a turn is almost instant (literally 1 second at the most, from what I've seen). Also, initial positioning after powering-on the unit takes only a couple of seconds. I did observe a great deal of fun things after coming out of a tunnel - my car seemed to be flying in the middle of not one thing for a second or two before all satellite signals were locked on. No big deal, and kind of amusing, I thought. You may likewise very effortlessly route yourself by way of roads or POI's. For example, I necessitated to do galore buying goods at both Target and Home Depot. I introductory calculated my route to Home Depot, then went to "Find Alternative", then "Travel via..." and chose Point of Interest. I found Target in the list, and it then routed me to Home Depot with a stop at Target first. My only complaint with regards to this is that when I got to Target, it didn't say anything like "you've reached your initial destination" - it's up to you to realize you're there, park, shop, then carry on your route to your next stop. As far as I know, you may travel by way of assorted (more than 2) stops as well.
I have an Apple computer (Powerbook G4, so not even an Intel mac) and have had no difficulties with the TomTom Home software. I was competent to download a bunch of free voices, a new car icon, and there's tons of other stuff in there, both free and not.
Another minor feature is that it has a bank of POI symbols for the major chains. For example, McDonald's, Wendy's, Starbucks, and rather a few others have their company logo in there. If you pass by Wendy's (for example) you wont see the typical knife and fork logo for a restaurant POI, you'll see the Wendy's logo on the map.
I was also capable to without apparent effort pair my Bluetooth cell phone (LG VX8350). A lot of phone numbers for POI's are stored on the GPS, so if you need to call any one of them, it will forward the call to your phone for you.
I haven't in truth applied the spoken road names feature - this is only available on the computerized voice, which is the main reason. Nice feature, but not all that necessary for me. There's likewise a voice-input feature when you're entering town names or zip codes in your destination search.
Overall this unit seems like a outstanding bang-for-your-buck. I purchased this at $400, and it genuinely is packed with features. I'm glad I went with the TomTom Go 730, and would commend it to any person in the market for one. I've had galore experience with other brands (Garmin, Magellan) and didn't like their menus, features, or price tag. Hope this helps!
See all 124 client reviews...
Plug and Go--Works right out of the box.
Pre-loaded Points of Interest--Easily find millions of gas stations, restaurants, hotels, and more on your route.
30-Day Latest Map Guarantee--Up-to-date, off the shelf.
TomTom Map Share--Modify your own map and gain from other users' verified changes with TomTom Map Share.
Help Me! Emergency Menu--Easily access local emergency suppliers such as police, fire stations, and hospitals.
TomTom HOME--Always-up-to date.
Traffic-Ready--Optional RDS-TMC traffic receiver accessory keeps you up-to-date on traffic events to minimize potential delays.
Fuel Price Service (optional)--Know more, recompense less.
Easy to Use
Best Maps
Best Routing
Leader in Safety
TomTom has it is own mapping company!
