TomTom GO 720
What is important to note about the TomTom 720 is that it is more than just a simple specifications bump to an existing model– This device brings a lot of brand new features to the TomTom line that we can expect to see in future TomTom devices. So while this device is thinner, faster, and has a nicer screen than many pervious models, it has a host of new features that make the 720 an important device. I’ve been able to log about 1,000 miles with the 720, and here is what we have found.
Design
In many ways, the TomTom 720 looks like the ONE XL, but it is slightly thinner than the ONE XL. It appears to use the same screen as the ONE XL so it is extremely bright and very easy to read. When viewed from very wide and very high angles the screen doesn’t wash out as much as other screens and the colors stay fairly true throughout a range of viewing angles. The screen is 4.3 inches and runs at 480×272 pixels. In bright sunlight, the 720 performs very well, equal to other devices commonly though to have some of the brightest and most readable screens such as the 600 Nuvi series.
On the top is the power button, and on the back is the speaker and a newly designed way for the mount to connect. Gone is the big “plate” on the suction cup mount, instead there is a tiny square about the size of a quarter which slides into the device. This reduces the size of the mount and makes it slightly easier to pack away. Otherwise the mount is similar to the mount on the ONE/XL and features the same suction cup and ball and socket joint. The mount has just about the right amount of tension so that it doesn’t move around or vibrate on dirt roads yet doesn’t take much force to adjust the angle.
On the bottom is the SD card slot, USB/power port, a reset button you hopefully won’t need, a port to connect a traffic receiver, as well as a headphone jack. I’ve mentioned it many times before, but I’ll say it again that i don’t prefer any cords attached to the bottom of GPS devices since it can limit how low on the dash it can be mounted. However TomTom improved this in one area. The end of the USB port now has a 90° angle at the very tip, so you now can mount the 720 just as low on the dash as you would like. It still doesn’t give you easy access to the USB cable while the device is on the mount, but the new cable design is a very welcome improvement.
Under the hood you will find a SiRFstarIII chipset, which makes for very fast signal acquisition, and that signal should stay in environments like urban canyones that are tough for older chipsets. In fact while inside a large building without windows I was able to occasionally obtain a fix. During road testing in a variety of environments the GPS never lost its signal and proved extremely accurate. Battery life is reported to be about five hours, and we were able to achieve that level in our tests. This is also a reason you might upgrade to a 720 over the ONE XL which has a meager 2 hour battery life.
The maps of the USA and Canada come pre-installed on 2 GB of internal flash memory. So the SD slot remains free for you to add maps of other countries, or to install MP3 files for the music player. A few people including myself had had trouble with certain brand/size SD cards. It seems that newer cards which are 1 GB in size to 4 GB in size seem to work consistently well. However older smaller cards are sometimes not being read by the 720. You can follow our discussions on that in our thread about SD cards on the TomTom 720.
Also under the hood you will find Bluetooth for data connectivity as well as hands free calling. As with all Bluetooth devices, check out TomTom’s compatibility charts to make sure your device is supported. My primary phone didn’t work too well, although it wasn’t listed as a supported device either so I didn’t have high expectations. It would pair, dial, and receive calls… and even transfer the phone book up to the 720. However while I could hear the person I was talking to very well, the person on the other end of the call reported it was difficult to hear me. Other phones I tried worked much better. You can read about experiences other people have had in this thread about Bluetooth on the TomTom 720.
There is also an FM transmitter to pipe the music into the (likely) much better audio system in your vehicle. Note that currently hands free calling is not transfered over the FM transmitter. Many people prefer it that way, however it would have been nice to get a more clear output than the internal speaker provided. As has been the case with every GPS with an FM transmitter, people will have different results. Your results will depend on where you locate the 720 in your car, where your FM antenna is in your car, what type of FM antenna your car has, and the availability of open frequencies in your area. We’ve got discussions in the forums about the FM transmitter in the 720 as well. For me, the FM transmitter has worked perfectly well, providing clear transfer of audio without static and at acceptable volume levels. In the thread linked to above in this paragraph you will see a few tips people have discovered like making sure the volume level is set to 100%. There are also reports of improved performance when the battery is fully charged.
In the box you get the 720, suction cup mount, adhesive mounting disk, charger, and dock. There is also a coupon offering a “Latest Map Guarantee”. Within 30 days of owning your 720 you can go to a special section of the TomTom website and enter in a special code. If your device was sitting on a store shelf while a map update was taking place you can upgrade to the latest map within that 30 day period.
Navigation
The TomTom GO 720 is the first TomTom device to feature their new version 7 application. We expect a free update for other devices to be available as TomTom has done in the past. There are a lot of great new features in the version 7 application. For example when navigating to an address, you are now prompted for the state, first and independently of the city. For many people this will help streamline the process of navigating to an address, especially for those located in places like “Greenville” which exists in many states.
The world is also starting to look more 3D on the TomTom 720. Rivers and lakes are drawn “sunken” while in select cities building footprints are “raised” up off the ground view. This is yet another step forward of making the picture in the screen look more like the picture out the window. Elements like sports stadiums and playing fields are drawn in a different color for better representation.
Finally, a current street name field has been added to the primary interface, something lots of people have asked for, but frankly I’ve never found a use for. You can also move most of the fields from the bottom of the display to the right side of the display to take better advantage of the widescreen.
Brand logos for certain POIs are now displayed on the map which they call “brand icons”. So instead of driving by a bank and seeing a generic bank icon, you might see the logo for Bank of America.
Due to a faster processor and more RAM, the 720 produced much faster routes and a faster interface than offered in the ONE and ONE XL devices. Reroutes were also extremely fast if you happen to miss a turn.
Multiple Segment Routing, multi destination routing, whatever you want to call it 
, is available through the TomTom Itinerary Planning feature. We really like the ability to wrap up a bunch of destinations into one big route, and then see how far and how long the entire trip will take. I do wish they would enhance the feature so that if you have an itinerary filled with waypoints (as opposed to destinations) that the itinerary will notify you upon reaching one of the waypoints. Of course you could convert the waypoints to destinations, however then you don’t get the total itinerary summary. Still, the Itinerary feature goes well beyond what most of the competition currently offers.
Preferences
Unlike the ONE series, you can setup auto day night mode, or choose to override the auto day night mode on the 720. There are lots of options for the audio. There are separate controls for navigation audio and music, for each type you can select if you want that type of audio to go through the internal speaker, through Bluetooth hi-fi, via line-out, or via an FM transmitter to your car stereo. There are also settings which allow you to override automatic zooming while navigating a route. Battery saving preferences allow you to do things like turn the display on or off between instructions.
Traffic
The traditional method of getting traffic over Bluetooth is available. But as we expected, RDS-TMC traffic is coming to the 720. The receiver should be available at about the same time as the 720 hits store shelves. The price is expected to be around $130 and include a one year subscription.
Safety
TomTom is also making a huge push to highlight new safety features in version 7. There is a new ‘Help me!’ button which asks you if you want to phone for help, drive to help, walk to help, or get specific information about your current location. If for example you select to drive to help it will ask if you want the nearest car repair facility, the nearest hospital, police station, pharmacy, or the nearest fire station.
Additional options include hiding options while driving, suggesting breaks on long drives, warning if you are driving over the speed limit, or warnings when you are near a school or church.
Customization
The 720 also is making strides towards user customization. One way is through custom vehicle icons. You can now pick a different type of car to use in your display, or you can even make your own vehicle icon.
An even bigger customization is that you can now create your own voice prompts. Using the built in microphone the 720 will guide you through recording about 60 words/prompts to create a full voice that can be used in navigation. I can see spouses recording funny voices and parents recording their kids’ voices. The process takes about 15 minutes to complete. Unfortunately, this can’t be used in conjunction with text-to-speech, you can use a customized voice or a text-to-speech voice, but not a combination of them. You can, however use a combination of a customized voice and a standard voice to fill in for any prompts you haven’t customized.
Another interesting feature is that the new interface will allow viewing of certain document file formats such as Word documents. It also appears you will be available to send those files back and forth over Bluetooth, however I haven’t tried it yet.
And of course the biggest customization possible is that offered through Map Share, we won’t get into the details of that here but will expand on our other article very soon. But yes, if you find something you don’t like about the map you can edit it on the device or report the issue. In my neighborhood there is a street TomTom devices typically try to route me on that doesn’t exist. I was able to quickly open the editor, select the road segment, report that the segment wasn’t actually there, and then calculated the route again. The device then routed around the non-existent street. Other MapShare users were able to confirm my road change in their devices. Really cool!
Guidance
Iit is hard to imagine this device not being a huge hit. It has generated more buzz in the industry than any other recently announced device. We’ll reiterate that this device isn’t just a bump in specs, it really represents the first in a new generation of TomTom devices. We’re glad to see easier ways to obtain live traffic information, text-to-speech, a thinner size, and longer battery life than other models. Typically those specs would be cause enough for a new model. But the TomTom 720 will also set a higher benchmark in terms of personalizing the device by allowing map updates, downloading map updates suggested by other users, and building your own voice prompts. For an MSRP of $499 this GPS should be a big hit.
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I’m looking at getting a Go720. I’ve had a tomtom one for just over a year (would still use it but someone broke into car and took from glove box) I was looking at Navigon but someone said the just pulled out of the NA market.
I just got a question with the tomtom. Does the mapfix thing really work. I tried so many times to add a road on the map on my old one and it never did. It’s an important road and has been there for at least 30 years. Added to the tele atlas website and still isn’t there either.(oddly enough shows up on navteq)
Is there a big difference from the one to the go720 besides TTS? is there a better gps with equivalent or more features under my 175 budget? (definitely need western Canada map)
Thanks
was just wondering how if at all I can change the default time zone. I moved from maryland to california and my go 720 still has the maryland time. I thought i looked in every option but maybe not. I cant imagine something so simple can not be changed
Click on the change preferences Ikon, then scroll through to page eight, then click on Set Clock Ikon.
Maurice, October 24th, 2009.
Hi. Writing to you from New Zealand. Couldnt be without my Tomtom Go720 it performs well. Im now searching the market for a mounting cradle for use in my vehicle which will also charge the unit.. is there one available which is not unlike the one in which is provided with the unit which plugs into the usb for updates etc. Just seems that all the in car mounts available require the charging lead to be plugged into the base of the unit. Grateful for any help on this. Thankyou Scott
I am having problems connecting my TOMTOMGO 720 to play through the radio when connecting to my ipod. I choose all the options and sync the frequency yet it continues to play via the internal speaker. It used to work before.
Are you using the TomTom iPod connect cable, or a simple patch cable?
Hi Mr Tim
No, really I do have a 720(UK).
I have just stumbled across this forum which I find very informative and in places entertaining. It is obvious that you put in a lot of work and have the patience of a saint.
I have several GPS devices and agree with you that all of them have errors either in the programming or the data. Even so I would not be without one. If I had to choose only one device I would pick a Tomtom as it most closely fits my needs. I think the clue to getting the best from a device is a little understanding of the limitations and reading through forums like this one.
Many thanks for all your efforts and especially for the 720 to 730 upgrade information which I am about to try.
Ron
Immediately to follow are the my overall review followed by more dtails:
Overall, this product features are pointing in the right direction…but as the old saying goes it all comes with a hefty high tag. Yes you get an updatable (not map share:it does not work) GPS that will cost you $11.95 to update per quarter. To get traffic information you will have to spend on the antenna ($130) and annually thereafter $60 subscription fee. With this product you get Bluetooth capabilities, but according to some postings it works with certain phones and not with others.
Considering all the pros and the cons I would have to reconsider if I were to make this purchasing decision again, would I buy it? Would I buy a $300 updatable(not sure how recent TT updates are because I haven’t purchase one) GPS or instead purchase every 3 to 4 years one that cost $100 that’s already updated… but then again how often do you really need an up to date GPS to get you somewhere close to a new unmapped location… and now-a-days you have these broadband phones that will almost do anything for you. You decide.
I bought this GPS because you could add music to an SD card and play it wirelessly through your car speaker. I was very disappointed with the static I got, because listening to music this way is unbearable, it does not work as it should. Another feature I liked about TT is the RDS radio transmitter traffic information service one can get by purchasing the antenna cable, which sells separately for $130.00 and which I got. I thought by just making this one time purchase I could enjoy the benefit of getting traffic information for free, but this was not to be, because after one year an annually thereafter it cost an additional fee to continue to use this feature. For the life of me I cannot understand why this service isn’t free, because the silent radio signal that is sent to the GPS is generated by the government emergency service centers by passive FM radio signal frequency. So why isn’t TT content with making some money by selling the antenna separately as they do, but also wants to make more money annually to continue to get this benefit? Personally, I think spending $60 annually to get this service is too much considering I only use my GPS very sporadically to get around, so at best I think I would hook up this antenna maybe once or twice during this period which is not worth it for me.
Another feature that I liked before I purchased was the mapshare feature where supposedly individual TT owners could add a new location or street to there map and then share with the rest of us who need this new street on there device, sincerely folks this is blatantly not true. I have yet to receive an update for a knowingly previous street I have added myself, so you can rest assured that this feature is merely a smoke screen for the benefit of there PR machine. Even worse yet, I bought my TT a year ago and there are areas in my neighborhood that’s been here for 6 + years and not on my GPS.
Concerning the GPS itself on a recent trip to Florida the GPS was slow giving instructions. Sometimes it would tell me to turn right when I should have turned left or when I needed to make a u turn it would make me go in circles confused, sometimes it would tell me to make the next “R” or “L” turn and would say the street name only to be wrong. This has happened many, many times and personally I think whoever wrote the interactive software for the program and the satellite in space missed writing a few important commands. I have to say lately it’s been working much better in this regard…but before you decide to buy asked others if they have had this problem recently.
Another point of contention is the numerous menu options and sub-menu options which makes operating the device very confusing. I do not have any advice how to remedy this, but I’m sure there is one. Even after a year of familiarity with it, at time it is still difficult to navigate the menus and submenus.
As far as the battery is concerned I have yet to get 2 continuous hours from the battery if I get one I would considered that a lot.
Another thing I am disappointed with is the lack point of interest offered. For example, for gas station you’ll have no problem finding EXXON or Chevron compared to Citgo, Wilco or Hess and this pattern follows in many other areas of interest too.
I definitely love the security password protection offered and the Bluetooth feature, even though I have no cell phone right now, this feature will definitely come in handy when I need it… but I’ve read different reviews which states that certain phones with this feature wouldn’t work with TT… another questions to ask if this is important to you right now.
Hi Joseph, a few points-
The traffic antenna now costs $60 and includes a one year subscription, it is no longer $130 plus subscription.
While FM radio is “free”, traffic data is not. The data is aggregated and distributed by private companies, not the government. If nobody was paying for the data, there would be no data. In this case of that particular receiver, the data is being aggregated and sent out by the Clear Channel Total Traffic Network.
If you want to purchase a single map update the cost is $90, not $100. Or you can purchase just the USA map for $80.
The FM transmitter for playing music wirelessly does stink. Unfortunately the FCC regulates how powerful the transmitter can be, and they are typically weak. If you live in a rural area with lots of open frequencies it works better. Also it can work better or worse depending on the location of the antenna in your car in relation to the GPS. But in general– I agree, the feature stinks.
MapShare isn’t a smoke screen, see MapShare In Action– though it doesn’t work as many people assume it might. You can correct and share certain street features such as turn restrictions. As far as new roads goes, you can report the issue, but you cannot actually build the new road. The mapping companies collect up to around 200 parameters about each road segment so they have to go drive the road before adding it. So by the time the mapping company drives the road, adds it to their database, sells the updated map to the GPS company, and you purchase and install a map the process can take many months at best, a year or a couple of years in many cases.
The “satellite(s) in space” only broadcast the current time, from which the GPS figures out its latitude and longitude. After that the GPS processes everything internally. No map data, driving directions, etc comes from the satellites.
As far as battery life, they claim “up to 5 hours”. When mine was new I’d consistently get 3.5 – 4.5 hours or so. Now that it is older it is getting about 2 – 2.5 hours. But if the screen brightness is set high, you are using bluetooth, and you are using the FM transmitter, and you are using the traffic receiver– then I wouldn’t expect any more than 2 hours at best.
You can check for a list of compatible Bluetooth phones here:
http://www.tomtom.com/phones/compatibility/
Re: Paying for RDS service. If RDS isn’t free, then how is it that I get it on my am/fm radio in my pickup for free?
Re: MapShare. I’ve had my TT720 since 10/2007 and TomTom still hasn’t seen fit to correct the backwards numbering that they’ve put on the road that I live on, despite my having submitted numerous correction requests ever since purchasing the unit. there are also roads in my area that have been in existence for years that TomTom’s map provider still doesn’t know exist. I made the mistake of wasting my money on their “map update service” last year only to have none of these issues corrected. a few months ago Sams Club had one of TT’s new 5″ models on display, so just for the heck of it I entered my home address and, lo and behold, there was the same backward numbering and missing local roads. TT’s support gave me the same excuses as to why the maps weren’t corrected also. Additionally, when you spend your hard earned money on their “map update service”, they don’t even guarantee the accuracy of the maps, so what good are they?
Bottom line is that TomTom is good at taking your money and making excuses, but not worth a hoot at standing behind their products and services. Before I spend another red cent on updates, I’ll just trash this unit and buy a different brand. Heck, after a little over 2 1/2 years, the battery only lasts about 7 minutes now, anyway.
Hi- I recevied a Tom Tom 720 last Xmas. It stopped receiving GPS signals on 1-18-10. I spent 2 hours troubleshooting with Tom Tom and was finally told to throw it away as there was nothing they could do. They also advised that the warranty was one year and they would not make an exception. What is the normal life of a GPS? Any suggestions on an alternative brand since I will never purchase a Tom Tom product again. Thanks!
If you are on Twitter, I’d suggest a few Tweets about your unhappy experience. Companies are watching Twitter closely and jump, I mean jump, to put out any negative publicity.
my tomtom 720 can’t get a signal either and it’s about as old as yours. very disappointing. I wouldn’t buy a tomtom again.
Can anybody tell me how to add any address in my favourite list. thanks
Hello Gurus! Great website!
I’m thinking of getting the TT720 and I was wondering if it’s still possible to upgrade it to a 730 as described in earlier (old) post? iow, the post I’ve read above are dated 2008, so did TT fix their sw so that it’s no longer possible to make the upgrade from 720 to a 730 or is it still possible?
Also I have a few questions abt the 720
1. Can someone plz confirm if the 720 has the option to view your route in text (turn by turn) as does the 130s?
2. From earlier posts, I can see that the 720 does have mlti-destination and via feature. Please confirm if it also optimizes a trip say of 5 or 6 stops. I’m a Realtor and it is helpful to optimize trips when showing properties.
Thanks in advance!
Yes, the upgrade is still possible. Yes, you can view a text display of the route. No, it does not have route optimization.
thanks for your swift response! if you were in my shoes would u get a refurb xl340 for around $90 or a new 720 for $135. thx
I’d go for the XL 340 so long as it is the XL 340s.
Done! I got the XL340S…Thanks Tim!
I’ve had my 720 for 6-7 months now, works well.
However I have a problem with “Susan” you know the voice in the box. She stutters a lot to the point that I can’t really understand her. Doesn’t happen all the time. I have to depend on the display for road names and directions. Any suggestions?
Tom, make sure you are running the latest version of the application for your device. You can update it through the TomTom HOME application. Stuttering was a known issue quite awhile back but was fixed in an application update.
Tim, I’m impressed! You must have been sitting there waiting for me!
After posting, I checked the older comments, guess I should have started there.
Thanks, I’ll try it.
Can I set the datum to NAD27 and UTM for use with the TOPO map?
I have a Tom Tom 720 and have been very happy with it. Up until yesterday. It seems that the touch screen now only recognizes the buttons below where you are touching. Which basically renders the top row useless because it always highlights the one below. Since the top row contains Navigate to, this is a problem.
Has it died on me or is there a fix to this problem?
If you don’t get an answer here you might want to ask in our forums– I seem to recall a few people talking about it with a possible solution.
I’ve had a 720 for a few years (probably Dec 2007) so it is well out of warranty. At $400 it was definitely high nd when I got it. Slowly the battery life has been fading and I also noticed the cable and dock fit into the unit got a bit loose so I can;t charge it without jiggling the cable. The BIG disappointment is there is no way to repair it or repace the battery or charger connection. I now have to drop another cople of hundered on a new one, and so far I can’t transfer the international maps I bought to a new unit. Not conducive to buying another TomTom me thinketh…
You may want to contact TomTom and see if they will let you transfer the map to a new device. They will likely have to issue a new license code for it. But what you describe (no repairs out of warranty, not being able to transfer maps) is just about the same at all of the major GPS companies.
I have a TomTom Go 720. The first time I tried to use it, it worked great for about 30 miles, then the text suddenly came up Danish yet the voice spoke English. Now I cant get the text to display English. Anyone know whats wrong here?
See: Back to English with TomTom
how do I program in to navigate by long. / lat. on a tom tom 730?
I figured out what I was doing wrong. When I put in the numbers I forgot to add the (deg.)symbol. Therefore it was not being acknowledged as a valid entry.
I have been backwards and forwards with Tom Tom on this. They cannot (will not?) honour the expensive extra map I bought for my now defunct unit. They generously offered to sell me another unit AND map – what do you guys think? Correct – they can eat my shorts. Never again will I hand over money to them. TomTom and all they stand for sucks. If the other GPS companies are the same then they suck too. In this environmentally aware world it is no longer a throw away society like they think. I’ll use my phone for GPS instead until one of them changes their attitude.
I have TT720. Before I had Nextar. I like my new device, however there are some features I’m missing from Nextar and would love to have on TT:
1. What I’m missing the most is that Nextar could tell me if a destination is on the left on right side of the road. Don’t understand why this basic feature is not implemented on TT.
2. I could setup default province and them enter an address starting with street name, not city. It was very convenient, especially if you live Toronto.
3. Nextar produces a bing sound when it’s time to make a turn. It makes it noticeable and if you missed it you know right away. Voice is lost, because all instructions are done by voice.
4. Nextar could tell me if I’m diving above speed limit by beeping. Of course it’s not accurate all the times, but nevertheless very convenient.
This is my feedback to improve the product.
The TomTom can show you which side of the road the destination is on most of the time, see TomTom Destination Left / Right FMI. Depending on the map and application version speed limits and warnings are also available, but you need a more recent map and application than what likely shipped on the GPS.
Thank you Tim for quick response, but when I was talking about left and right I meant to pronounce it. If it’s pronounced there is no need to look at GPS to find out. Safety.
Regards.
I am looking to find where I can purchase the plastic disc for my tom tom mounting device
You can purchase mounting discs from any of the numerous online gps dealers. you could probably find them at Best buy, as well, but you’ll pay a lot more for them.
hi
bought a tom tom 720 on holidays in 2007 and about a month ago it froze cant get it to reset. i sent it away to the company to get fixed and am still waiting for a reply and a costing, i suoppose i am just wondering if it is a good device or is it a bit outdated and if so is it worth spending money on. if the answer to the question is no what then should i upgrade to?
richie 20th july 2010