| Amazon.com Product Description The TomTom GO 720 Color GPS Navigation System with Mapshare is one of the newest, and most advanced GPS navigators to date, from one of the most trusted names in vehicle navigation. The GO 720 features a high-quality finish with an extremely elegant and slim design that allows it to not only complement any car's interior, but also fit perfectly and easily in your hand or shirt pocket so it can go anywhere you do. Despite its sleek and portable size, the TomTom GO 720 is packed full of all the functionality you need to easily get where you are going, as well as a ton of features to make your trip as safe and enjoyable as possible. 
Enjoy great functionality, including Map Share technology, traffic information, and a built-in FM transmitter. View larger. View top. View back. | 
Fits perfectly in your car, hand, or pocket. View larger. | 
The Tom Tom provides an optimal navigation view while providing extensive information. View larger. | 
Check current weather and road conditions for places you're visiting. View larger. |
Top-Notch User Interface and Software
The GO 720 is operated via an award-winning, intuitive user interface, and is ready to go right out of the box so as soon as you switch it on you can start using it. This navigator comes with the latest and most complete maps of the USA and Canada pre-installed for door-to-door navigation anywhere across the North American continent. Providing easy and quick access to extensive information such as building footprints and live traffic information, the unit includes multiple information options for personalization to your needs. What's more, the 720 is fully future proof, with new maps and free software upgrades available through TomTom's "Home" service so you'll never be out of date. Simple, Easy Navigation
TomTom's GO 720 uses a 4.3-inch, extra-wide, touch-screen LCD display that features anti-glare technology for easy viewing even in direct sunlight. Realistic and clear visual instructions are provided with high-quality 3D graphics, while spoken instructions tell you where you need to go in your own language. Using the latest technology, the 720 provides you with fast and accurate positioning, with fast route calculation and automatic re-calculation so it's virtually impossible to get turned around. You can even record your own navigation instructions, for either places you know best, or for planning out trips in advance based on the recommendations of others. The GO 720 is as safe as it is convenient, and comes with a host of safety preferences. This unit helps ensure safe and efficient driving by doubling as a hands-free kit via Bluetooth technology, which is becoming essential as more states pass laws against driving while talking into a handset. With dual microphone support and a built-in high-quality speaker your phone calls are as clear as a bell, and with convenience features such as automatic call pick-up you can truly concentrate on your driving. However, if for some reason your concentration does lapse, this device includes a selectable speeding alert to keep you from accruing expensive tickets. Extra Features
The GO 720 is full of functionality, such as a tip feature, a customizable status bar, an extensive guided tour, and even a 'Help me!' menu, so it guides you through its usage as much as to your destination. It also features a personalized shortcut menu, 'current location icon' options, and millions of POIs (points of interest) so you can find what you need wherever you are like a lifetime local was riding shotgun. Taking navigation beyond just convenience, the 720 lets you play your music wirelessly over your vehicle's stereo system via its built-in MP3 player and FM transmitter. Now you can enjoy your music on the 720, all while seamlessly providing navigation instructions and still handling your hands-free phone calls. This amazing navigation device even provides you with a document viewer and photo viewer, so you can take your work with you or instantly download and enjoy your holiday photos wherever you go. TomTom Plus Services
The TomTom GO 720 is compatible with TomTom Plus services that allow you to check the current weather and road conditions on your route, and get up to five-day forecasts for places your visiting. This feature also allows you to take advantage of buddies functionality, TomTom Plus traffic, and the easy download of additional voices. What's more, as a new addition to the TomTom line-up, the 720 comes with TomTom MapShare technology. TomTom Map Share technology not only lets you add to, update, and personalize your maps instantly, but also share them with others so all your family and friends know the latest changes in your area. You can also download others' changes daily as one of many online services. TomTom's GO 720 comes complete with TomTom Home software, an internal high-quality rechargeable lithium ion battery, and the capability to share content directly between other compatible TomTom GO devices. A Bluetooth remote control is available as a separate accessory. The 720 is also backed by a manufacturer's limited warranty. What's in the Box
TomTom GO 720 navigation device, windshield mount, desk dock with USB cable, car charger, CD-rom with software and user's manual, quick-start guide, accessory/PLUS leaflet, TomTom safe driving leaflet, and warranty information.
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 The king of automotive GPS |
| Review Date: August 8, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Mark Seles, San Jose, CA |
I really love the 720. I have tried the Garmin Nuvi and just didn't like the software nearly as much as the TomTom. Entering addresses is really fast and you only see towns in the state you are looking in. This means no more having to scroll through 30 different Springfields to get to the one you are searching for. You can hide the keyboard to see a long list of close matches so instead of having to type out the full city or street name you can just hit the first few letters and then pick from a list.
Mapshare seems like it will be a huge advance in the world of automotive GPS devices. Is a street marked as open when it should be blocked? Just correct the error with a few quick taps on the screen and it's fixed. What's really the big advance though is the ability to share my corrections with all other TomTom owners. I connect the 720 to the TomTom HOME software and it downloads corrections that other users have submitted.
What you see on the screen can be fully customized so that if you want the status bar on the side then you can put it there or you can leave it on the bottom. You can also decide what information is shown in the status bar. You can show or hide the time of day, remaining time, remaining distance, current heading, and your current rate of speed. If you subtract items from the status bar the other items automatically get bigger to take up the remaining space. You can also select if you want to show the current street you are on and the name of the next street you will be turning on to.
Text to speech quality is very good and will say the directions so for example it might say "in 250 feet keep right, then take the exit right, 204B towards Westview." Or "in 200 meters, turn right South West Madison Avenue." You can choose from multiple voices although I think the Dave voice sounds the best of the bunch. If you don't want to hear the "keep to lane" instructions you can disable this feature although I personally like to have it on. You can also record your own spoken instructions so for example you could have your kid's voice tell you to turn left in 200 feet. I haven't tried this though.
The screen is very bright and easy to see even when I have my sunglasses on. The 720 can be set to automatically turn the brightness down as it gets dark thanks to a built in light sensor on the front of the unit.
The mount is pretty clever and super easy to use. Just push it up to the windshield and it sticks right on. The 720 then just slides right on and is held solidly in place. You can turn the 720 in any direction to get it exactly where it's easiest for you to see.
With all the great features of the 720, I think what will really set it apart even more from the other GPS units out there is the Mapshare feature. Being able to fix your own map and download updates automatically to keep the map up to date is one of those things that is so fantastically great that you wonder why on earth it took so long to make to a shipping product. Whether or not it can live up to the expectations remains to be seen. Even if you took Mapshare away it's still the best car GPS I've ever used. With it, there's just no contest.
My biggest complaint is that there's no case in the box. You need to buy one separately although I've been using the plastic holder it shipped in so far which is OK. |
Two thumbs, way up
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| Review Date: August 24, 2007 |
| Reviewer: L. Hamlin, Stearns, KY USA |
When I received the 720 from Amazon, I was impressed with the packaging. It was boxed and padded quite well and arrived in excellent condition. Before doing anything I decide to read the Quick Start Guide, a dark gray pamphlet included in the 720 box. It advised me to charge the unit at least 2 hours before proceeding. So without even turning the unit on I plugged the base unit into a USB port on my computer. This base unit is used, via the USB, to connect to the computer as well as recharging. My regret here was that I would not be able to recharge the unit in my house unless the computer is on.
While the unit was charging I went ahead and installed the software using the CD which was included in the package. The installation went smoothly on my computer which runs on Vista Home Premium. After the recommended charging interval of 2 hours I activated the 720 and it immediately connected to the software, Tomtom Home, which I had just installed. Almost instantly I was informed that there was a software update for Tomtom Home. I told it to continue and my computer downloaded an updated Tomtom Home version 2 point something and proceeded to uninstall the version I had just installed using the CD and to install the new version. I was mildly annoyed, but I was grateful that the update downloaded and installed without incident.
My 720 then asked permission to download some updates into itself, which I allowed it do. Everything went smoothly and I continued by setting some preferences in the 720 by using Tomtom Home. I then spent about an hour with the unit, unplugged from the computer, to get familiar with the menu structure. The last GPS that I had was a Garmin IQue 3600 and I found the 720 structured very differently. Nearly every choice in the menu structure of the 720 is graphically based using pages of icons with which to make your selections or set your preference. I found it very intuitive and comfortable.
Later, when I took the 720 on its "maiden voyage", I found that using the unit was very simple. Choosing a destination and creating a route was easy and the unit calculated the route very quickly. Generally the unit selects routes that are nearly identical to what I, as a local, would also pick. Only once has it routed in what I would consider a round-about sort of way but after I considered what it had done I realized that its chosen route would be nearly identical, in travel time, to what I would normally use, so I can't really criticize it.
Since then the 720 has performed consistently and dependably. The map data had some minor errors, most of which, incidentally, I have already corrected and shared with the Tomtom database using Map Share while connected to the internet. It even uses the 2 road name corrections I have made for a couple of local streets, using them in route calculations and even pronouncing them correctly when making navigation announcements. I have had no technical glitches at all.
I have interfaced the 720 with my cell phone using Bluetooth. Making and receiving phone calls using the 720 works flawlessly. It downloaded my entire list of telephone numbers from my Starcom and can easily recall them and place calls. The 720 internal speaker sound quality is good considering its size.
The 720 locates and locks on to the GPS satellites and provides a position with a speed I would have thought impossible a couple of years ago. It is exquisitely sensitive to the satellite signals and I am routinely able to lock on to 6 or 7 satellites sitting in front of my computer, near the center of my house. Amazing! In my vehicle I have installed an external antenna and the 720's performance using this is phenomenal.
I have recently downloaded several songs and pictures into the unit and it plays and displays these without any hitch. I use the FM transmitter, built into the unit, to play music over my vehicle's radio. I have discovered that I need to turn up the 720's volume slide to 100% in order not to turn up the radio's volume too much; this helps avoid an annoying hiss that you hear when an FM radio is turned up too loudly. Incidentally, the 720 politely mutes the music when a navigation announcement is made and then resumes. The quality of this sound is reasonable for casual listening in my pickup. The color of the screen when viewing pictures is good (not great) and the display resolution is acceptable for this purpose. Using the slideshow option to view the pictures gets rid of the aggravating gray bars which I otherwise have with pictures. I have added a 2 GB SD card to provide storage for these files. I am adamantly against using my internal storage for this. For me the 2 gigabytes are more than adequate. However, I can easily understand that 2 GB would seriously limit some people. The unit will interface with an Ipod although I have not done this since I don't own an Ipod.
My overall experience with the 720 has been great and I think the Tomtom 720 is surely one of the acme products in the GPS market. I congratulate Tomtom for coming up with a product like this and give the 720 an enthusiastic round of applause. Two thumbs up! Forgive my rather lengthy post.
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A top-notch GPS unit!
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| Review Date: August 6, 2007 |
| Reviewer: S. E. Hall, North Grafton, MA |
I spent a fair amount of time researching the seemingly hundereds of GPS units out there, and finally settled in on those in the $450 - $500 range. After comparing the Garmin nuvi 350, the Magellan 4040, and the new TomTom GO 720, I opted to purchase the latter. Although I've only owned it a short while, I am very impressed.
The best thing about Tom Tom -- and the GO 720 -- is the flexibility it offers. Chief among these, to me, is the MapShare technology, which allows you to correct maps, block streets, rename roads, add POIs, etc. -- and share them with other TomTom users. The software (TomTom HOME) you install on your home PC is easy to use, as is the unit itself. Don't like the text-to-speech voice? Change it with one you download -- or even record your own voice!!
The list of neat features is exhaustive -- so rather than blab about them here, I'll let you read the specs yourself.
The one feature I wish it did offer was a direct link to traffic -- yes, you can get traffic updates via TomTom traffic, but have to do so through a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone. Unless you have a Blackberry or a phone with a data service contract, that means you'll have to pay not only TomTom for the traffic subscription, but also your cell-phone company for the data usage. Plus, my phone's Bluetooth is reserved for my wireless headset, which I'm not willing to give up. It would be much nicer if the 720 received TomTom Traffic updates directly.
Of no real issue, though, as I was unwilling to spend the $60 or so per year for the service (similar prices for Garmin as well).
Beyond this, I haven't found a single thing I dislike about this unit -- and am finding it head and shoulders above the rest. If you're considering the TomTom GO 720, compare the Garmin nuvi350 to it -- the latter is a top-notch, high quality, and well-received unit. I think you'll find, as I did, that the GO 720 beats it.
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I love it but...
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| Review Date: August 12, 2007 |
| Reviewer: E. Dandy, New England Area, USA |
I love the options and all that it comes with... Had a magellan and I am much happier with this unit. I like that if we are on the way somewhere it can tell me if if something is off the route we are taking or on the route. Like food!
I was torn between the One XL or Go 720. I chose this for the map share. WHICH, I called MULTIPLE times to find out if there is a cost and if it is free. WELL, I was told that it was free.... Until those of you who know after purchasing it there is a cost after a year. I do feel like I was mislead and not happy about that. However I like the unit to much to get rid of it! However they have no clue what the cost will be!!!! It being a new product it seems that the customer service team doesn't seem to have all the info... Or from what I was told knew it but it changed.
So, they give you a year to use the map share. I'm concerned about what the pricing will be... The maps to update is $130 or so... For Garmin or Magellan they are around $60-$70 for an updated map. So I hope worse case it is at least and not more then those map updates. |
Great first GPS!!!
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| Review Date: August 30, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Art R., Atlanta, GA |
After wishing I had gotten factory-installed GPS on my '08 Toyota Highlander, I started shopping around for a portable unit. I looked at the Garmin 660, but didn't want to spend that much(even the $550 you could find it for online). When I became aware of the 720, that seemed like a good prospect. Circuit City had for $450 last week and with a 10% coupon, I was able to get it for $430 out the door, so I was very pleased with the price.
Anyway, for my first GPS, I'm very happy with the 720. Here are the features I like best:
Accurate routes and very quick reroutes
Great graphics - nice-looking day/night colors - very current-looking icons.
If you have an auxilliary input in your car, you can choose to ouput instructions and/or music through your car stereo without having to use the fm transmitter. With the optional cable you can buy, I like being able to use the 720 as an interface for my ipod while I leave the ipod in my glovebox.
Very clear and pleasant audio - the computer voice for text-to-speech really doesn't sound that robotic and the internal speaker has pretty decent sound quality. As mentioned above, you can output the instructions through you aux input if you have one, which sounds great, but it can be a bit much if you have your stereo cranked.
Was able to get it connected to my AT&T Samsung Sync's bluetooth, even though this phone is not one listed on the TomTom website and am able to use it for traffic also. Even though the traffic is activated, I have yet to see how valuable this feature is.
TIP: If your vehicle has built-in bluetooth, and you want to be able to use it, as well as the bluetooth functionality of the 720, try this:
Turn on the GPS and let it connect to your phone before you turn on your car. Then, when your car links up with your phone, you'll be able to make and receive calls on your vehicle's system but also make calls to POI's on the GPS, if you have occasion to do so.
In conclusion, this is a really cutting-edge GPS with a lot of great features for the money, and I wouldn't hesitate recommending it. |
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