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TomTom GO 730T Satellite Navigation System | 
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| Brand: TomTom
Category: CE
Buy New: £244.97
New (17) Used (3) from £214.55
Rating:  14 reviews
Media: Electronics
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 7 x 3.5
MPN: 1CH7.013.00
Model: 1CH7.013.00
UPC: 636926020039
EAN: 0636926020039
ASIN: B0017SLLHU
Release Date: May 5, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | RDS-TMC traffic receiver | | • | FM transmitter built-in | | • | Maps of Europe (31 countries) | | • | IQ Routes - best route based on real average speeds | | • | Advanced lane guidance for difficult junctions |
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| Customer Reviews:
 Motorway lane feature is fantastic May 14, 2008
Roger Coleman (UK)
124 out of 126 found this review helpful
Like many people I spent a long time agonizing between the TomTom 720 and the Garmin 760. I decided to go with the Tomtom and as luck would have it the day I wanted to order, amazon were out of stock of the 720 so I plumped an extra 140 for the 730 instead. It was way more than I wanted to spend on a Satnav but I couldn't bear the thought of any more agonizing so I just bought what they had. For me this is a farily typical 'spend ages researching and then when it comes to it buy something different because what I eventually decided on was out of stock' scenario. I couldn't really find any real user reviews on the 730 so thought I'd write a few notes here to help anyone in the same situation as me. I've just come back from a 700 mile round trip to Disneyland Paris where we used the device heavily in the UK and France.
I'm really glad I went for the 730. To me, the killer new feature is the display which shows which lane you need to be in on a motorway. As you approach a complex motorway junction (which is almost all of them), the screen shows a static image of the road with all the lanes in, and green flashing arrows showing where you want to be. This makes navigating motorways absolutely as straight forward as it could be. Although I wasn't at all impressed by the sound of this feature when reading up on the 730, I have to say it is fantastic and the screen appears just when you are wondering if you are in the right lane.
There are a lot of details in the device that are really handy - for example if you have a lot of turns to make one after another, it combines the instructions in a way that is very natural sounding such as 'turn right at the roundabout and then turn right at the next roundabout'. It seems to know a lot of speed limits which is also unexpectedly handy. I had a go with the traffic sensor and amazingly it knew exactly where the roadworks were in France. Astonishingly we didn't get stuck in traffic anywhere so couldn't report on if it knew about traffic jams (it reported that there were none). However the antenna you have to plug in to get the traffic information is annoying and I'm unlikely to use it day to day.
It has been spot on at predicting the arrival time, but I haven't had much experience with previous TomToms to know if this is improved. It just works fine on this device.
When I was looking at the Garmin, I was very tempted by the better looking map displays, but decided to go with the TomTom because the screen refresh rate appears faster. I was expecting the 730's maps to be smoother (they mention a better graphics system) but unfortunately they aren't - it's the same tomtom jaggy map, however the benefit of this is that it does update the display very quickly and the device is very quick and responsive to use. Don't get me wrong - the map is fine, it just doesn't look as pretty as other devices.
I have been able to connect the device and update it using my mac which I didn't expect - it appears fully compatible with OSX via software I downloaded from the TT website. I've had no problems updating it and will routinely plug it in to keep it up to date as the process appears painless.
I have some minor niggles: The most obvious is that the screen doesn't have sensor to automatically set the brightness according to the ambient light, so to see it in bright sunlight you have to set it to 100%, which means in the evening it's distractingly bright. Honestly that's pretty much it at the moment. It did have some out of date map data regarding the roads within the Disneyland park itself, but I can forgive it for that because if you drive where you want it recalculates the route silently after about 20-30s. So it is easy to drive by road signs when you know where you are going and using the TomTom for directions when you don't know where you are going. It also appears to have a bit of an issue with turning itself on again after turning it off after using it for a couple of hours, but I'm guessing this is a glitch that will be fixed by a software update.
So in all I'm very happy and look forward to getting the hang of all the fancy features.
[update - a few weeks later...] After a few weeks using the device, I've found it actually does have (I think) some sort of ambient light sensor to switch between day and night views which does address my only niggle. However I've found the issue of it turning itself on again when you turn it off really quite annoying - it means the battery is pretty much always flat when I go to use it, so I have to use the car charger all the time. Also it's not very good at allowing you to input destinations in any other means than postcode or house number + street - so if you need to look something up like 'legoland' or 'Gildredge Park, Eastbourne' it just doesn't know what you mean, which has meant we've not been able to use it to go to either of those places. However, as far as I can tell this is something that all satnavs have a problem with (I guess we are just spoilt by google). If amazon let me change my star rating I'd change it to 4 stars. It's still excellent at motorway navigation, but if you need to go regularly to places for which you don't know the postcode, or good battery life is important I'd say look elsewhere.
Almost there, but not quite! May 20, 2008
Mr. David C. Carter (Rochester, Kent, UK)
43 out of 45 found this review helpful
I have had my GO730T for about a week. The full english version, it pays to wait! I am not 100% happy with the mapping provided. Its out of date, a major road change in my area that was done 4 years ago isn't even on the map. TT customer service say its not their fault, but the map supplier. The bluetooth feature is excellent, it even speaks your text messages to you. The FM transmitter to you car radio is a doddle to set up and sound quite good. The largest size of SD memory card is 4GB, adequate for a huge amount of MP3's. There is one small fly in the ointment however. My unit has a habit of turning itself on again a few minutes after switching off, a strange thing TT customer service are investigating, I expect a software update will sort it out some day. The windscreen mount used in my Ford Focus (latest shape) allows too much sun on the unit and makes the screen difficult to see. I have just got a Brodit dashboard mount which has improved matters greatly. I am waiting for the HD Traffic to be released later this year, this will provide fa more accurate traffic data. Overall the Tomtom GO 730T is very good, its a shame I have to give it one less star for the mapping.
The latest and greatest May 23, 2008
John Eley (UK)
37 out of 41 found this review helpful
If you know how to use a tomtom, then you will know the tomtom 730T with its 2 new featues are a must. Those who have problems with tomtom units, are those people who dont know how to use them :)-
Learn, read up, get the best out of your tomtom !
There isnt a better SAT NAV (other than the 930T) more expensive
Ive had a tomtom 300, 710, 720 and now the new 730, it also comes with a guarantee to get you the latest map (8.05 May 2008) within 30 days of buying it, comes with a 2 year tomtom guarantee.
Add thosands of POI's and your own speed camera POI's (Pre-installed safety camera database) and get the best of both worlds, so they just built a new road somewhere ? so what, Mapshare will have the changes !!
Dont update, dont use mapshare, dont use your own POI's and you are asking for problems !
Did I tell you about the new "Advanced Lane Guidance" WAW ! it now shows a clear "Picture" of the lane/road/exit you should take !
IQ Routes Tchnology, This calculates your routes based on the real average speed measured on roads rather than maximum speeds.
Already these two new functions have made my travel even better, and with the TNC unit (Comes with it) I have avoided delays!
There are those who get lost down some country lane, and there are those who have a tomtom :)
Great but May 23, 2008
Mr. Jeremy K. Pack (UK)
31 out of 33 found this review helpful
(See an update to this review at the end)
Before you buy this unit you may want to look around the web for other peoples feedback as I find:
- The hands free phone is a bit too quiet and the people I'm calling can't hear me that well
- I'm not convinced the traffic update (via radio RDS-TDS) works too well. It seems to spend a lot of time looking for a signal
There are the same issues with the mapping from my previous TOMTOM but they great news is I can now log issues with the maps and upload it to TOMTOM and get updates to the maps. (So TOMTOM the jury is out on how you use this information, if the community upload issues to you with the maps you have a responsibiity to push them back to us for free that is what a community is about.)
If you already own a TOMTOM then you will be impressed with the small incremental updates to the features. For example finding an alternative route now allows you to select a section of the present journey you want to avoid, typical TOMTOM the interface to these features is great and intuitive to use. I like the fact it turns into night colors automatically.
No problems with mine turning itself off. No problem with the screen brightness.
Update after more than a month of use:
Well TOMTOM have delivered on the commuity updates/ feedback on the maps. I sent TOMTOM feedback that a road that TOMTOM considered private and it would never route me down is infact used by all and should be considered for routing. Well what do you know the other day driving to work TOMTOM was telling to turn down this road, so the loop is closed my feedback has been accepted and sent back out by TOMTOM, this is really exciting!
I've given up with the Radio TDS feature, I have read on the web the way this feature works is broken in the UK because Classic FM does not have a strong enough signal and the feature was really intended for local radio stations.
I'm now using data services via my phone and find the traffic updates work just fine. (But you have to pay TOMTOM for the service and your mobile provider for the data it transfers)
 Crash June 13, 2008
S. Stead
27 out of 30 found this review helpful
This product is possibly OK if you do not want to use all of its features. However, if you do, as I did, you may experience problems. As well as navigating, I used the traffic receiver and also used it as a hands free kit for my mobile phone. When it was doing all three I experienced "crashing" - freezing of the screen, after which the product was impossible to switch off. After approximately two minutes it would switch itself off and reboot. However, it had then forgotten where it was going and some of its settings were reset. It also showed an error message from time to time indicating a map storage error. I have since returned it to the retailer and exchanged it for the simpler XL, which appears to be fine. Beware.
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