TomTom GO 720 Satellite Navigation

I can only give 5 stars for something that's perfect, so by default the GO 720 has to get 4!

Was originally going for a One XL as the navigation was more important to me than the bells and whistles, but as the prices have dropped I went for the bells and whistles too - and am glad I did!

What's good: just about everything important really...
- great navigation (which is surely the most important thing)
- very good at quickly re-routing
- took 10 seconds to get a first position fix out of the (fully sealed) box even with a fairly poor view of the sky, 2-3 minutes is acceptable for most GPS receivers for a cold start
- GPS is so sensitive it still has a position while inside my house (and fairly near a window)
- MapShare is really useful to sort out the odd road that should be one-way (some would say it shouldn't be necessary but I'm sure all satnavs have some issues and at least TomTom gives you the means to do something about it!)
- mounting device is very simple to use and very easy to remove, doesn't leave tell-tale marks
- lack of an AC charger really not a problem as it charges while in the USB cradle, as well as by the car charger - full charge lasts about 4 hours
- ability to make/receive calls and have the device read out texts is handy
- text-to-speech and speech recognition works very well and is worth having
- generally feels like a good quality piece of kit, don't leave it on show!
- the navigation software generally feels like it is a well thought out "mature" product, and does what you expect it to do
- TomTom Home software works really well and has managed all updates with no problems
- being able to browse the TomTom from Windows like an external hard drive can be useful

What's not so good (this list looks as long as the other one but most are minor items):
- updating the maps cleared all my favourites, fortunately I did this soon after buying so I only lost the ones I'd added while initially playing around
- the FM transmitter really is too quiet with too much hiss
- can't use my O2 Payandgo phone for traffic updates even after manually entering GPRS settings (apparently a known O2 issue)
- screen can sometimes register two taps leading to unexpectedly sending a partially complete text or OK/cancelling the second screen
- I think for the same reason, manually panning the map by dragging a finger is virtually impossible, why not just tap to re-centre the map?
- most of my local petrol station POIs were a bit inaccurately placed - suspect this is a wider issue
- screen is hard to see with direct sunlight on it
- some POI sets don't apply to UK
- some inconsistency in the settings menu - with some you're sent back to the map, others back to the menu
- good to be able to control the TomTom from the PC (handy to set up lots of favourites, etc) but car symbol and some quick menu settings are lost
- 30 days "latest map guarantee" is a bit stingy - could I have expected a year?
- by the same token, only allowing a year of MapShare is poor, does TomTom want users' help with mapping errors or not? At least you can continue to use the facility to make corrections for yourself afterwards, you just can't upload or download them
- rather a lot of "nanny" features (most of which are on by default and all of which can be disabled apart from the odd annoying warning, eg the "shortest route" not being the most fuel efficient)!
- TomTom Home can only manage one backup per device, seems like a daft limitation but you can get it round by just copying the backup somewhere, if you don't do this I suggest not backing up after upgrading until you have checked all is well!
- TomTom Home's help text recommends backing up after doing a major upgrade, this is poor advice, you should back up BEFORE the upgrade so if it goes wrong you can get back to it; by all means back up after the upgrade if you're happy all is well
- when using the hands free phone the speaker can be quite boomy, mainly with loud recorded messages and ringing tones

Overall I am really happy with this unit from Tom Tom; as far as getting you from A to B it can't really be faulted. The operation of the unit is very easy, and the instructions are clear and concise, which means you can keep your eyes on the road. It has saved a lot of arguments on family trips, as my previous GPS (the wife) was not quite so accurate with it's dialogue!

The only reason I don't give this a five star rating is a couple of the additional features don't work properly, namely: on the jukebox, there is no way to make the 720 recognise a Playlist, and the manual could be a bit more comprehensive. I have contacted Tom Tom about this and they have ignored/evaded my questions. Also, although the handsfree function works well, the GPRS traffic update service only works about 90% of the time (this however may be down to Virginmobile).

To summarise, this is a fantastic buy, and I would have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone.

I bought the 720 recently and am generally pleased with it having owned an original Tomtom Go since the company released it.
There are obvious benefits to the unit such as more simple menu navigation and of course what perhaps could have been incorporated into the original Go, being postcode navigation which I feel is essential as I drive for a living. I mostly simply point and click to find destinations but there's less pointing and clicking than with the older technology of the original Go.
The internal speaker of the unit seems to slightly distort at the higher volumes when directions are given. Perhaps this could be down to the thinner unit dimensions as opposed to the original Go, only allowing for a more compact and less powerful speaker. It doesn't run as loud anyway. Tomtom might have been reckoning that the internal FM transmitter allowing for playback through the car stereo could be a solution but possibly have made a slight mistake it seems to me. I want a radio to play music on, not listen to voice commands from a sat nav system.
The Bluetooth connection with a Sony Ericsson W810i phone was a very seamless operation, with the contents of the phones address book very quickly copied to the 720. I am not sure though that I would make the move from a bluetooth headset that I currently use with my phone to relying on having to speak at higher than normal volumes with the 720. Calls have so far been full of complaints at the other end of the line because people can't hear me with the unit.
The 720's screen is larger than the original go and I belive that i'm right in saying that the processing power means that destinations are found more quickly than with the original Go model. I haven't tried the european maps out personally, but the cross border travel means less user input is required. The original model required countries to be selected when entering them (as long as you have the european maps on cd). This apparently recognises countries as you enter them.
A niggle at this point would be that although the unit has a nice usb cradle and car charger, it isn't supplied with a mains adaptor for charging purposes. The guess here would be that you update it using the usb cradle and of course connect it to the cigar lighter socket when in vehicle. It doesn't though seem to charge particularly quickly by these means.
A nice feature to me by the way is the speak to the unit user input for directions by City/Street/House Number. Clever stuff, though it's a whole lot easier and quicker personally to simply type the postcode in. A personal choice. Darned if I can get it to respond to voice commands to find anywhere in Bournemouth:-), simply because it's not understanding the Bournemouth part of my voice instruction.
All in all I think i've made a reasonable move with purchasing the 720. It doesn't do much more of a job in getting me to destinations than my original go model, has loads more gimmicks attatched to it and a couple of worthwhile new features. A quarter of a grand to buy roughly, what's that in gallons of fuel? If your paper map reading skills are as bad as mine then how long will it take for you to recoup your money in saved fuel costs that this device could make?