Enjoying My New 740 GO So Far

[rraisley]

Okay, just got my 740 GO yesterday, and I'm pretty impressed so far. I've gone over the years from an iPAQ with TomTom software (nice software, but a pain to use with the bluetooth GPS unit, etc.), to a brief encounter with a Garmin Nuvi (almost $500 for a unit that couldn't do an itinerary? Or advance planning??), which I hated, to a TomTom One 3rd (basic, lost iteneraries, but good), and now to the 740 GO.

After writing the below, this has turned into a 740 GO review more than a new member post. Is this the right place for this? If not, can I or someone else move it?

Things I like:

Quick GPS Signal - I've been REALLY impressed with how quickly it locks on to a GPS signal. At first, I was wary, having connected it inside the house. My TT4th would connect within a couple minutes through the window, not great signal, but fine for playing. The 740 just would not connect. So, after reading some reviews saying it took a long time to connect, I was concerned. But after switching it on in the garage, I hadn't reached the end of the driveway, before I had a solid signal. And after work, I barely had my car in gear before it was plotting. Really impressive. It's probably the QuickGPS thingie, that maybe tries hard when you first turn the unit on.

Gas Prices - I was expecting either no prices (I live in the suburbs of Columbia, SC), or old ones. But while they aren't always exact (pricing changes too quickly, after all), it knew all the best places yesterday, and today's prices had gone down, and it showed them, and was usually within 1 cent of actual. I was shocked and impressed.

Traffic - Here I was also not expecting to even get any info. Well, I haven't seen any delays (it couldn't have known about the tractor-trailer that hit the guard rail a half mile in front of me today), but it seems to be getting signals on the stuff, so that's promising.

Good to have Intineraries back; and the Tyre program seems like a good add-on.

My Verizon VX6900 cell phone / pda linked up quite well with the 740, and I was surprised to see it able to upload all my contact information. Very impressive; I hadn't really expected to even be able to use it, and I think it will work very well.

Mount Design - I like that the cord connects to the mount, that the 740 disconnects and connects more securely, and the turning grip on the mount seems really good.

Questions or Possible Negatives

Memory Card - Is the 740 able to use an SD or other memory card? I kind of expected to be able to, due to the music and such that are available, and as posts I've read about the 720 indicated that it did, but I found nothing in the manual, and don't see an opening for it.

Brightness - I was concerned about this, after reading some Amazon reviews that complained greatly about it. While I don't think it's as bright as my One3rd, it seems pretty good. I'm sure it will wash out in direct sunlight, but I've not seen one that doesn't.

POIs - Browse Map > Options, according to the manual, is supposed to offer to turn on or off various POIs and other stuff, but all I get a choice of is Traffic, Names and Coordinates. Where's the others stuff?

Voice Directions - Not perfect, but fairly usable. My concern is how to change the State I'm looking in using voice. It asks for City, but only looks in the current State. Can I change State by Voice? Sure should be able to.

Car Symbol - I changed my car symbol, but it keeps going back to the original arrow. I've done it from TomTom Home, and using the 740. I'm changing to a downloaded graphic, would that matter?

Start Up/Down Graphics - I downloaded added Startup and Shutdown graphics, but when I select the Startup graphic, I don't see the one I downloaded. And I don't see a way to select Shutdown graphic.

 

[dhn]

Memory Card - Is the 740 able to use an SD or other memory card? I kind of expected to be able to, due to the music and such that are available, and as posts I've read about the 720 indicated that it did, but I found nothing in the manual, and don't see an opening for it.

No slot on the bottom?

POIs - Browse Map > Options, according to the manual, is supposed to offer to turn on or off various POIs and other stuff, but all I get a choice of is Traffic, Names and Coordinates. Where's the others stuff?

Preferences-->Manage pois-->Show on map and check the categories you want. Too many slows down the screen refresh. Many don't use more than 5 or 6 showing at a time.

Voice Directions - Not perfect, but fairly usable. My concern is how to change the State I'm looking in using voice. It asks for City, but only looks in the current State. Can I change State by Voice? Sure should be able to.

Navigate to-->City-->Tap the map in the top right of the screen to get to the state you want. No way using voice recognition to do that.

Car Symbol - I changed my car symbol, but it keeps going back to the original arrow. I've done it from TomTom Home, and using the 740. I'm changing to a downloaded graphic, would that matter?

A bug in Home that causes the icon to revert to the blue arrow when the emulator (Operate my Go) is used. Annoying, isn't it?

Start Up/Down Graphics - I downloaded added Startup and Shutdown graphics, but when I select the Startup graphic, I don't see the one I downloaded. And I don't see a way to select Shutdown graphic.

The graphics go in the photos folder and must be the proper size for your unit. Look for preferences-->start up preferences.

Also, for a specialized shutdown graphic.... file must be called antitheftw.bmp and located in the root of the unit and, as well, under preferences--safety, option to 'warn not to leave unit in car' must be checked.

Another option: go here for an online utility to make your own startup/shutdown screens. Use the 720 choice as it has the same screen size as the 740.

 

[mikealder]

The x40 units have a Micro SD card slot on the base its to the right of the main connector (much smaller than standard SD cards) - it cannot play music as thats reserved for the 940 (Unless USA spec 740 devices are different to European ones) - Mike

 

[rraisley]

The x40 units have a Micro SD card slot on the base its to the right of the main connector (much smaller than standard SD cards) - it cannot play music as thats reserved for the 940 (Unless USA spec 740 devices are different to European ones) - Mike

Thanks. So would its only purpose be for pictures, then? As I still have a couple hundred MB or so available, I'm not sure what I'd use it for, if music isn't available.

 

[dhn]

Another map, perhaps.

 

[mvl]

The biggest American map (USA/Canada/Mexico) doesn't fit into 2GB when you add the speech recognition files. So a mini-sdhc card would be needed if you wanted to purchase that map upgrade.

I think Tomtom is being conservative by making the device expandable, not knowing what the future brings. Every GO model Tomtom ever sold had an SD slot, and it came in handy on the earlier models, where 256mb 1-country map could be expanded to a whole continent with an 2GB SD add on.

 

[rraisley]

No slot on the bottom?

Yeah, I guess it's there. With such a (relatively) large device, I ddin't expect a /micro/ SD slot. The unit is supposed to have an audio-out, so assumed that was what it was (slot area is shaped a bit unuaually), but yeah, it's there.

Preferences-->Manage pois-->Show on map and check the categories you want. Too many slows down the screen refresh. Many don't use more than 5 or 6 showing at a time.

Yeah, I realize that. But the manual (page 22, under Browse Map) showed the following:

Tap the Options button to set the information shown on the map. You can
choose to show the following information:
? Points of interest. Tap POI below the list of options to select which POIs are
shown.
? Favorites
? Traffic
? Images
? Names
? Coordinates

and all I get is Traffic, Names and Coordinates. Nothing else, in this view.

Navigate to-->City-->Tap the map in the top right of the screen to get to the state you want. No way using voice recognition to do that.

Yeah, I was afraid so. It's not even that easy selecting State with your finger, as it doesn't come up with recently used states or anything, so you have to type or scroll. I was hoping there might be a voice shortcut ("Change State").

A bug in Home that causes the icon to revert to the blue arrow when the emulator (Operate my Go) is used. Annoying, isn't it?

Yeah. I think the same bug must be resetting my voice selection (Susan, Computer), eliminating my voice recognition.

The graphics go in the photos folder and must be the proper size for your unit. Look for preferences-->start up preferences.
I did download recommended graphics, but maybe they weren't the right size. In any event, it didn't show up in Start Up preferences.

Also, for a specialized shutdown graphic.... file must be called antitheftw.bmp and located in the root of the unit and, as well, under preferences--safety, option to 'warn not to leave unit in car' must be checked.

Well, thanks, I wouldn't have guessed that one! ;-)

Another option: go here for an online utility to make your own startup/shutdown screens. Use the 720 choice as it has the same screen size as the 740.

THanks, I'll check that out.

 

[rraisley]

The x40 units have a Micro SD card slot on the base its to the right of the main connector (much smaller than standard SD cards) - it cannot play music as thats reserved for the 940 (Unless USA spec 740 devices are different to European ones) - Mike

Yep, I see it now. THanks, Mike. And no, it doesn't do music (despite the Music and Media selection, you just get Document Reader, iPod Control and Photo gallery.

Hmmmm.... iPod control. Wonder how that works. ;-) (Not that I have one - does it work with generic MP3 players?)

 

[rraisley]

The biggest American map (USA/Canada/Mexico) doesn't fit into 2GB when you add the speech recognition files. So a mini-sdhc card would be needed if you wanted to purchase that map upgrade.

So, I can store extra maps on the SD card? Will they automatically show up in my maps? (In browsing, I've never seen anything concerning the SD card.)

I think Tomtom is being conservative by making the device expandable, not knowing what the future brings. Every GO model Tomtom ever sold had an SD slot, and it came in handy on the earlier models, where 256mb 1-country map could be expanded to a whole continent with an 2GB SD add on.

Makes sense. The earliest ones included separate card memory, and there was a bit of an uproar when the TT One 3rd came out without a separate card (and I think they compacted the maps a bit in the process).

 

[rraisley]

Continuing with my "review", I was quite impressed with the Traffic delay monitoring on the way home from work today. Shortly after leaving work, it popped up saying there was a delay, and showed a 4 minute delay about 5 miles from my location. I chuckled a bit, because it was closer to 3 miles to the normal bottleneck, and when I sailed through it without delay, I figured it was wrong. But lo and behold, I ran into heavy/delayed/slow traffic, stop and go, 15 mph, for exactly the distance the 740 said it would be. Still don't know what caused it, but it hadn't been there long, yet it knew. This was in Columbia, SC, not exactly NYC, so again, I'm impressed!

 

[mvl]

So, I can store extra maps on the SD card? Will they automatically show up in my maps? (In browsing, I've never seen anything concerning the SD card.)

Yes, when you go to "change map" in preferences, the list will show all maps on the internal and SD card.

Hmmmm.... iPod control. Wonder how that works. ;-) (Not that I have one - does it work with generic MP3 players?)

You have to buy an ipod dock and ipod cable (sold separately - but not yet available in the US). With that the Tomtom will play ipod songs from the Tomtom touchscreen. I doubt it plays generic MP3s, since the Tomtom 940 plays MP3s directly from same touchscreen.

The unit is supposed to have an audio-out, so assumed that was what it was (slot area is shaped a bit unuaually), but yeah, it's there.

The 740 does not have an audio out itself. There is an audio out on the ipod dock accessory.