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TomTom GO 740 Live 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable Live Internet Connected GPS Navigator Review from Nicholas Baker. Disappointing first impression, TomTom GO 740 4.3-Inch Live Connected GPS Navigator

GPS Experience:

- Smartphone: TomTom Navigator 6 (in-use), Garmin XT, Copilot Live 6, Telenav (in-use)

- Dedicated: Garmin Nuvi 885T (in-use)

I had resisted buying dedicated GPS units while the phone apps (while buggy) generally had better traffic and online search capability for what I wanted to use. So I was quite excited when the TomTom Live units were announced.

Unfortunately the first impression is not that great. After having used TomTom Navigator6 with the traffic subscription for the last year or so, I’ve found their traffic data to be generally reliable (Telenav and Navigator6 seem to agree quite often on the amount of congestion and how to avoid). Not so the 740 Live. For example, in the San Jose CA area where I live there’s a stretch of Hwy85 that *always* backs up one way in the morning and the other way in the afternoon for several miles. You can quite clearly see this on MSN, Google, Sigalert, Navigator6, Telenav, … but as far as the 740Live is concerned there’s no traffic. While there are some traffic incidents in the area reported, I’d say I’m generally missing around 1/2 of the incidents on the surrounding freeways. I’ve taken simultaneous pictures of my phone and the 740Live and sent these to TomTom for comment.

I completed a 4hr drive and ran both the 740Live and Navigator6 on auto-avoidance. Luckily I was driving in the car pool lane, so I didn’t have to take the detours offered, however Navigator6 seemed to have the more reasonable suggestions for when to leave the freeway and take surface streets. Again, this seems to be related to the Navigator6 software generally reporting more traffic from what I could tell.

Also while driving tonight (first trip of more than 15mins), the machine all of a sudden rebooted itself. While potentially somewhat of an annoyance, this was downright dangerous the way it happened as it was dark outside and I was in night driving mode – during reboot the device flashed to full brightness for at least 15secs pretty much blinding me.

Anyway, I still find the TomTom UI the best thought out and the 740Live doesn’t disappoint here. I’m sure the problems I’m having are teething issues – however, if you want a rock solid experience and want to rely on the traffic service … I’d wait.

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