Buy 730 now or wait for 750

[machoman]

Should i buy the Go 730 now since the price has come down somewhat or wait for the Go 750? I can get the Go 730 in melbourne for around aussie $450 - 430.

The thing i like about the 730 is that it uses the SD card & can use external antenna. I believe the 740 onwards uses the microsd card and won't have the capability to attach an external antenna.

Does anyone also know which is the better GPS chip - the 730 which uses the SIRF III chip versus the 740 onwards which uses the Broadcom chips?

Thanks guys.

 

[dhn]

I know a Brit who used the 950 and reported it was just a 940 with a Navcore 9 application; in other words, no new functionality.

I expect that the 740/750 situation would be the same.............

It is true the x40 models use a miscro sdhc card rather than a 'normal' sized one but why do you see that as a problem?

 

[mikealder]

I would go for the x30 as that has an external GPS aerial socket which you seem to want for some reason, I know the GPS aerial line is available on the mount conector on the x40 range but they have never released a mount for the x40 to plug such an aerial in to. So it's not possible to connect an aerial to it, the x30 has an MCX socket on the back of the device.

You also get the mp3 player with the x30 and FM transmitter which you won't get with the 740 - Mike

 

[machoman]

hi Mikealder,
There's nothing seriously wrong with Micro SDHC except that i've got lots of SD cards that i can make use of. No point in spending money on another card format.

 

[machoman]

730 looks good then?

I would go for the x30 as that has an external GPS aerial socket which you seem to want for some reason, I know the GPS aerial line is available on the mount conector on the x40 range but they have never released a mount for the x40 to plug such an aerial in to. So it's not possible to connect an aerial to it, the x30 has an MCX socket on the back of the device.

You also get the mp3 player with the x30 and FM transmitter which you won't get with the 740 - Mike

So the aerial connection on the 730 is officially called a MCX socket? On ebay they GPS aerials for really really cheap prices - and they've quoted that it matches the Go 730. Pls FM transmission on the 730 should be good if i need the sound to be louder. Those it work as advertise. I've read that some people have lost their FM transmission after an update/upgrade on the software.

An external aerial can be really useful at times. My uncle has a Mio with an external aerial and whenever he uses it he says it improves the sat. signals and lock-on is incredible with full bar.

So i think if the newer models are going to rid the external aerial capability and change the memory card from SD to the micro without any clear benefit perhaps the 730 would be a good unit to get NOW!!

Hopefully someone can also have an opinion on the SIRF iii versus Broadcom's GPS chip. I think everyone will be using the broadcoms from now onwards as i've read somewhere that a legal tangle between the SIRF and Broadcom manufacturer has the Broadcom coming up on top.

 

[gatorguy]

I really see little difference between most of the current crop of gps chips, whether they come from Broadcomm, MTK, SiRF (I have devices with each of these). With that said, the newest SiRFstar IV chipset does stand out from most of the rest, especially in it's time to fix and greatly reduced power draw.

 

[mvl]

Beware that the 730 is an early 08 model, and is slowly being phased out from a software perspective.

It has many features that were discontinued in newer models, but newer models have added features.

The 750 adds voice address input, HD/LIVE traffic, Google POI, ecoroutes, a more streamlined traffic interface, etc.

expansys.com.uk was one day off on the release date of the Start. They are saying the 950 will be released Monday, so there's a good chance the 750 will be out (in Europe) in a couple of days.

 

[thogard]

750 not quite done yet?

The 750 doesn't support the RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver yet. It says it should work if you plug it in but its never seen. TomTom support says they aren't compatible.

 

[jhansman]

Beware that the 730 is an early 08 model, and is slowly being phased out from a software perspective.

Which is why I got the 730 over the readily available and cheaper 720. At least TT is showing the 730 in their current product lineup, so while it will drop down a generation, it should still enjoy the company's support for some time.