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 BOTTOM LINE
$499.95; www.tomtom.com
TomTom’s GO 720 provides excellent navigation capabilities with clear voice instructions and lots of extras.
If you’re looking for more than just navigation capabilities from your next GPS device, check out the TomTom GO 720 ($499.95; www.tomtom.com). This new navigation unit introduces a host of features.
With its large, 4.3-inch color touchscreen, the GO 720 provides easy-to-follow visual and audible instructions with spoken street names to help you reach your destination. The GO 720 is quite portable, too, measuring 3.2 x 4.7 x 0.9 inches (HxWxD) and weighing 7.7 ounces. Its internal battery provides up to five hours of operation.
The GO 720 provides more personalization options than we’ve seen with other devices, including voice recording capabilities, recognizable point-of-interest icons, and audio options. The Record Voice function lets you record 50 preset phrases in your own voice to use while navigating. If you record only a portion of the phrases, the GO 720 will use a combination of computer voices and your voice to guide you. Audio options include an FM transmitter to broadcast navigation instructions (or even music from an iPod) over your car’s stereo and an integrated MP3 player with dual volume controls for separating volume levels for music and navigation instructions.
TomTom also added new safety features to the GO 720, such as a first aid guide, the ability to determine your location for first aid purposes, and a Help Me! option that lets you find directions or a phone number for a nearby hospital, police station, car repair shop, or veterinarian. As an additional safety feature, a hands-free kit lets you use the TomTom GO 720 to make and place calls while keeping your eyes on the road. This hands-free kit connects to your phone via Bluetooth. For ease of use, the GO 720 can download your phone’s contact list so that you don’t have to pick up your phone to dial a stored number. This hands-free kit also has enhanced noise reduction and echo cancellation.
Like other TomTom navigation units, the GO 720 comes with TomTom HOME, a desktop application that provides access to numerous features, including map updates, new device software versions, trip planning options, and TomTom PLUS services. Up-to-date traffic information is also available on the GO 720 through the purchase of an RDS-TMC Traffic receiver and TomTom Traffic subscription. 
by Jennifer Johnson
TomTom Map Share
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TomTom’s Map Share lets you share (and receive) the latest road updates from its community of users. |
Although maps of the United States and Canada are preloaded on the GO 720, TomTom realizes that these maps can change frequently. To help you stay up-to-date on road updates, TomTom created Map Share. Like social collaboration sites where users benefit from the knowledge and input of other users, TomTom Map Share lets you benefit from the improvements made by TomTom’s navigation community of over 10 million users.
TomTom Map Share works in two ways: First, it lets you improve maps on the device with a few touches on the screen. Just as the TomTom user interface is easy to navigate when you’re trying to find directions to a particular location, entering map updates or changes is equally intuitive. Through the menu, you can mark blocked or unblocked streets, reverse one-way traffic, insert new streets, and more. Second, TomTom Map Share lets you share those changes with other Map Share users and download changes other users have suggested using the TomTom HOME software. You can select the level of changes you wish to receive, from corrections that have been verified by TomTom to corrections reported by some users. TomTom Map Share is a free service for TomTom GO 720 users. |
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