Dr Gadget - TomTom GO 730 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator

	List Price: $449.95 Our Price: Too low to display Your Save: $ ( % ) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Manufacturer: TomTom
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Batteries Included: 0 Binding: Electronics Brand: TomTom Color: Black Display Size: 4.3 EAN: 0636926020138 Feature: Touch-screen: 4.3 inch full TFT color LCD (480 x 272 pixels, supports 64K colors) Includes Mp3 Player: 1 Is Memorabilia: 0 Label: TomTom Manufacturer: TomTom Model: GO 730 Native Resolution: 480 x 272 Publisher: TomTom Studio: TomTom
Features Touch-screen: 4.3 inch full TFT color LCD (480 x 272 pixels, supports 64K colors) Spoken directions & street names Maps: Pre-loaded maps of USA & Canada from TeleAtlas Advanced Lane Guidance Bluetooth: for Hands-Free calling, PLUS services and audio output
Accessories Scosche IU2PS Dual 12v Power Socket Bracketron Swivel Mount- PHS-203(Black) Bracketron UFM-300-BX Nav-Pack Weighted GPS Dash Mount/Carrying Case Joby GP1-M1EN Gorillapod GoGo Flexible Tripod with Suction Cup & 2 Adhesive Clips (Grey) Bracketron Pro-Tect Protect the screen on your portable electronic devices (Model USP-100-BL)
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Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: good GPS - still raw around the edges Comment: Overall this is one of the best GPS units available. Positives: It's very quick to establish the initial satellite connection and even quicker to calculate routes or re-routs. This is critical to any driver who makes a wrong turn on a complicated intersection and needs to be bailed out quickly. In a city the slow GPS would force you to stop and wait until the new route is calculated. With TomTom, the new route will be ready before you reach the next intersection and it will allow you to correct your mistake easily. I also like the bluetooth phone integration provided by TomTom. It not only gives you basic hands-free calling while in a car but also loads the entire phone book into unit to make calls using touchscreen UI and allows to call thousands and thousands of POIs (Points of Interest) that are already preloaded into the unit with the US map. This is very handy when you travel in new place and want to find a nearby hotel and call them to make a reservation all while you are driving. I also like the fact that once someone calls you, TomTom would automatically temporarily mute music and voice guidance directions, so that you can have a normal conversation without any background noise. Who cares: Lane guidance, IQ routes and voice prompts are not usable in their current implementation. They really become small quirks that you get tired of after the initial excitement and never use again. Lane guidance shows you the same picture regardless of the actual intersection, so you are as good just looking at the road signs to make sure you take the right exit. IQ routes are really not that smart. I was driving in and around Los Angeles while on trip to California and TomTom was constantly putting me on a congested highways never once suggesting that there might be a quicker local route. Not mentioning that it was trying to take me through the downtown every time I needed to cross the city. Back home TomTom never 'learned' from me the shortcuts that I take every day on a way to work and back. Three months of usage and it still suggests to me the same route that I know is not optimal. Nevermind that TomTom always shows time to the destination based on it's own calculations on the speed limits and not on my history. Voice prompts are very unreliable and it is really just easier to use touchscreen to type in new address or find a POI rather then spelling it's name to the microphone. Negatives: The screen is not very bright - it washes out way too quickly in a strong day light and there is no hood that you can use to mitigate that problem. The built-in speakerphone is the cheapest version that they could find as it's not loud enough and lacks any fidelity. FM modulator that allows you to use the car speakers is not strong enough and can be easily disrupted by a strong FM radio station on a close frequency. If you drive on a long trip where local stations change frequently, you need to constantly hunt for empty frequency and it becomes very annoying. Never mind that FM modulator does not work for phone calls. But these all are gimmicks. One really serious drawback in my view (and it actually the drawback for any GPS on the market right now, regardless of vendor) is the inability to easily dictate the route based on your preference. I'll give one example. I live in Connecticut and often have to travel to New Jersey which means I have to cross the Hudson in some place. Most bridges are located in a very close proximity to NYC and to avoid the inevitable congestions I want to take the most remote bridge possible. Well, try to tell TomTom that. Unless you know the name of the small town, situated right on the bank of the river by the bridge you want to take, there is no way I could find to map my directions. TomTom should be smart enough to realize that river crossing point should be included as an option to route as it is most often is the most critical point of any route. There are many examples like that where unless you know the local area very well, you would be frustrated trying to program the route. When we were travelling in California and visited the Grand Canyon, I could not map my route from nearby Flagstaff as I did not know the name of the town, associated with Grand Canyon in TomTom's memory and there was no other way to find a POI based on the other preferences. The preference 'find POI near your location' did not pick up Grand Canyon entrance even though we were only 50 miles away from it. And I could not search based on state where POI is located. This is stupid. Also, TomTom has many categories for it's internal database of POIs but they are too fragmented and unless you know exactly which category the particular POI is associated with, you are forced to do a generic search in which case, attractions as popular as Grand Canyon or Yosemite become drown in a limitless lists of local establishments, trying to get your business based on the name. Customer Rating: Summary: One problem Comment: 4.0 out of 5 stars One problem, November 24, 2008 By radman "radman2020" (USA) - See all my reviews I have the 720. The 730 has only minor improvements once you update the 720...so I thought I would tell about one feature that is a problem... Maybe TomTom will fix this if they see that it drives away (no pun intended) potential customers. The features and operation of the TomTom Go series are amazing... I think they are much better than Garmin or my built in volvo navtek system EXCEPT FOR ONE IMPORTANT FEATURE: You can't search with a street address (and state) only. You MUST have the town name or you won't get a result. This is a problem in suburbs where every mile or so, there is a different town name...names that even the people that live there don't know because they go by the Metro area name. If you don't know the name of that small suburb, you are stuck. All the other makers allow you to put in the state and street name and then let you pick from a list of results from each jurisdiction. They need to fix this. I cannot fathom why they would leave you out in the cold like this. If you use this, make sure you know in advance the town name or zip code or you are stuck. TOMTOM... fix this problem! Customer Rating: Summary: Good functionality, but software has bugs Comment: The directions, ease of use and excellent routing give this product 3 stars. The reason for not having 5 is the occasional need for a paper-clip hard reset. The unit will lockup from time-to-time, we will lose voice routing or sometimes not shut-off all leading to a hard reset. Maybe we got a bad battery, but brand new the battery never works more then 30 minutes. Also voice at the loudest setting will not work on battery. Customer Rating: Summary: Great, but not Good Comment: In the ad, Tom Tom 730 is advertised as having lane guidance--But what it doesn't tell you is that it doesn't work unless you are in a big city and you have to have 4 lanes of traffic before it activates. After contacting Tom Tom downloading new applications and a new map, it still doesn't work. Too bad that it doesn't work in Tampa, Sarasota, or St. Petersburg, Fl.--but then again they must be small cities. Tom Toms answer is that it seems OK but maybe there is a problem? Customer Rating: Summary: TomTom v. Garmin v. Magellan Comment: My family now owns a TomTom Go 730, Garmin Nuvi 760, and a Magellan Maestro 4360. I have spent a long time with each of these units and used them on the same routes. They are all excellent devices that I can recommend. But, which one I recommend depends on the buyer. Let me explain: - The TomTom is best for technically oriented people that like lots of options and will be impressed with the clever IQ Routes routing system. - The Garmin is best for people that want a system that is straight forward to use with clear crisp on screen graphics/instructions. - The Magellan is best for people who use the system to look up places by name instead of address. For example, they have a nice feature that tells you the restaurants at the next highway exit. Here are some more details. I have ended using the TomTom. My top four reasons: (1) I love the IQ routes feature that uses the experience of drivers to calculate the actual typical travel speed on a road rather than the published speed limit. It seems to be time sensitive. Even without traffic connected, the system recommended a different route from work to home at 5pm than it did at 8pm on the same date. (2) I like all of the detailed options and choices, although it is hard to dig through the menus. You can change shortcuts, download graphics, and more. (3) I like the traffic network that uses the data channel on my BlackBerry. No need to get an FM traffic receiver. It connects via the Internet through my BlackBerry to get traffic data. (4) It immediately displays a map of the route you will be going. My spouse uses the Garmin. The top reason is that it is much easier to know what to do at a glance. For example, I love the speed limit feature that displays the speed limit of the road you are on. It proves to be helpful. On the Garmin, it is easy to see because it looks like a standard American white speed limit sign. On the TomTom, the data is there (once you select the option), but it is a small number next to the speed you are travelling: 35/40 means you are going 35 and the limit is 40. The directions are a little crisper. My adult kids (in their 20s) use the Magellan. Frankly, I like this user-interface the best. The icons are clear, unlike the cryptic icons in the TomTom. My favorite parts (1) I like the integration of the POIs. You can look for a restaurant at Exit 17 and see the list. The chosen POIs seem to be more useful. You can find directions to CVS just by entering the request for the nearest CVS store. (2) The driving instructions are clear, with split screens on turns. But, it is nearly impossible to display a map of the route you will be travelling - which is a deal killer for me. I did not cover everything. But, it gives you the idea. I am the type of person who tweaks the settings on my cable box. If you are that type of person, then the TomTom is highly recommended. More Reviews
Editorial Reviews: It's simple to get lost. With Tomtom Go-730, it's easier to find your way. It uses GPS and detailed maps, with text-to-speech instructions, to make you feel like a native where ever you are and whenever you travel. It's the perfect traveling buddy. The GO 730 makes driving even safer with handsfree calling. And with the Help Me menu, there are added safety features so you can easily access local emergency providers. The TomTom GO 730 is the ultimate car navigator. Switch on and go right out of the box. Just enter the address on the touchscreen or use voice address entry and start driving anywhere in the US and Canada. TomTom guides you door-to-door with turn-by-turn spoken instructions, including street names. TomTom has the most accurate maps and with TomTom Map Share technology, you can instantly modify street names, street direction, and POIs on your own device. New IQ Routes gives you the fastest route every time by using actual average speeds of travel to calculate your trip rather than posted speed limits. And now, Advanced Lane Guidance brings even more clarity to complex multi-lane exits so you can be even more confident on the road. You know where you are with Go 730. Rechargeable Battery (up to 5 hours operation per charge) Optimized integrated microphone and speaker for handsfree functionality IQ Routes - always the smartest route based on actual average road speeds Maps of the US and Canada, Voice Address Input - enter destination details verbally TomTom Map Share - instantly modify street names, street direction and POIs on your own device and benefit from others' corrections Help Me! Emergency Menu - easily access local emergency providers such as police, fire stations and hospitals Latest Map Guarantee - if a new map is released within 30 days of purchase, download it for free from TomTom HOME Handsfree calling via Bluetooth Branded POI icons - easily find your favorite places