TomTom GO 730 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator Review
October 3rd, 2009
TomTom GO 730 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator Review from Anis Y Jiwani. A great GPS at a very good price , I bought this refurbished unit from Amazon which was delivered on Feb 20th, I had the weekend to update and test it and have been using it daily since.
The unit:
No scratches or blemishes on the unit, as good as a new unit. All features worked for me. The battery seems to hold the charge pretty well, not really tested it for the duration but my guess is 3-4 hours which for a refurbished unit is good enough for me. In the following weeks I amy know exactly how long the battery lasts.
Maps:
The maps were old but after connecting to Tom Tom Home and clicking on “Latest Map Guarantee” it searched for the latest map and offered it as a free update! Not sure why others are reporting that they cannot update it.
FM Transmitter:
Some complained about FM transmitter being weak, not here, it worked great and the volume was more than adequate, those who complain should try a different frequency as some do produce a weak signal. I found that the volume of about 70% is the best when one uses it from line out in order to avoid the distortion setting in on the output side.
IQ Routes and speed:
The IQ Routes seem to work great and so does the re-routing speed if you miss a turn, which in my opinion is really quick (5-6 seconds at the most).
Once I happen to be in a friends car in an unfamiliar territory and remember his Gamin Street Pilot took almost few minutes to recalculate the missed turn and come up with a revised route, by that time we were way off course and wasted not just time but gas too. Since then I was totally turned off by Garmin and decided will only get a Tom Tom. I cannot say what a latest Garmin does since I have not come across one. In any case, Map Share technology was important to me and Tom Tom offers it.
I had bought another Tom Tom back in January Model 125 for my son as his birthday present, it does not have all the bells and whistles which the Go 730 has but does the basic job as quickly as the Go 730.
Memory:
The built-in memory is 2 GB and when I checked it initially it was showing as 138 MB free. Basically that means you will not be able to use it for music. I had ordered a 4 GB SDHC card to go with it and used that to load the music I wanted to. You can use the free space on the card to store additional things like, voices, symbols, maps, etc I would advise anyone to get an additional card as it does come in handy and in future you know you have space in case you need it. A 4 GB SDHC card can be bought from Amazon at a great price.
Advance Lane guidance:
This is a great feature and works very well on some busy junctions so it can come in very handy when you are out of town in an unfamiliar territory and have no clue which exit to take and which to avoid. Even if you go wrong the unit is very fast in recalculating a new route for you so that you can make amends and be back on track.
The price of a brand new Go 730 is fully justified even today, the refurbished one on the other hand, is a steal! Go for the Go!
Update March 1, 2009:
The computer voice if chosen produces slight stuttering on occasions as reported by some. I switched to recorded voice and no issues on that one. Tom Tom is apparently working on this and an update may solve the issue.
I found the screen to be slightly less bright in direct sun than what I ideally would have wanted. Inside the car it is more than adequate.
Despite the two anomalies that I discovered while in use I still think it is a great GPS even if not 100% perfect. Come to think of it, there is no GPS out there which is 100% perfect! All are compromised, some like the Go 730 less so.
To check price or purchase TomTom GO 730 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator.
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Posted in TomTom | Tags: Amazon, Blemishes, Duration, Few Minutes, Fm Transmitter, Garmin, Gps Navigator, Gps Review, Guess, Inch Widescreen, Iq, Jiwani, Maps, Portable Gps, Scratches, Share Technology, Street Pilot, Tom Tom, Tomtom Go, Unfamiliar Territory
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