GO 740 and power on/off

[David R]

Hello! I'm so glad I found this forum, I have a question that I hope someone can help me with.

I'm in the market for a new GPS for my car. I could not decide between the TomTom Go 740 and the Nuvi 1690 by Garmin. I have never been so confused making a gadget decision, and so after a couple of weeks of research I did something that I have never done before and some people may frown upon, I bought both and one of them will be returned after testing them side by side for a few days.

Overall, I seem to be liking the 740 more based on the way it gives directions and some of the features it has. The Nuvi 1690 is great too and it has some things that it does better than the TomTom unit. The routes are mostly identical, but the TomTom sometimes gives a slightly better route (if you know the area.) After having tested them quite a bit for 3 days, I think that I want to keep the 740.

However, there is a show stopper for me. Unlike my previous GPS units, and unlike the Nuvi unit I am testing right now, the Go 740 does not turn on when I start my car and it does not turn off when I cut the power.

This may sound minor, but it is becoming a major decision point for me. I am ready to return the Go 740 for this issue alone.

Is there something I am doing wrong? Is there an option I am missing? Is there perhaps another dock I could use with it that would solve my problem?

Thank you in advance for any light you could shine on this issue.

 

[David R]

I guess I should answer my own question. After a search, I see that a lot of people want this feature, but it doesn't currently exist.

It's a shame.

 

[dhn]

You can have a battery saving preference to turn off if external power lost but there isn't an 'auto on' feature in TomToms.

 

[nealh]

I just bought a 740 as well(Sams has them for $250 plus tax). I think the lack of an auto-on feature is stupid and see no idea why it is not there. This will be a small issue for my wife.

However, I spent weeks trying to decide between the Garmin 765, 855 and 1690. I have only owned Garmin and always had a sense that the Tele-atlas maps were a real downer for TomTom. But if you read some of the Garmin forums, they have dunb-downed the features on the Garmin too much.

I owned a 2610 and one of the best features was it would report street numbers when driving so even in area where you lived, it would help give alot of info.

They dumped this...then removed or reduced number of street names from 2610 to 660.

The other issue that ultimately made my decision was routing issues reported by users in almost all the forums...ie the fact the new garmin units were routing people off hwys at times and on side streets. Garmin seems to be deaf on the issue.

I love the idea of mapshare...great way to allow maps to be more accurate, IMHO.

Hopefully, TT will be smart and allow the navicore 9 software on the 740 and fix the auto-on but so far I like the screen(except for the sat bar..why is that so large, and there is no battery bar?).

I wish you well in your decision and I know everyone has there make or break on a product. Really cant go wrong with either product.

 

[David R]

Thank you for the reply. After testing both units all weekend long, I took the Garmin 1690 to work and back today.

I was shocked at how bad the route was. It started well, then it kept insisting that I take some random side roads. I wondered if maybe it knew of a better route so I played along. That's when it got weird, it had me go around a block. Turn right, turn right, turn right, turn right, I was at my starting point, then go straight. Crazy.

The return trip was more sane and much closer to my own route optimized by years of driving it.

I will take the same trip tomorrow with the TomTom 740.

I emailed TomTom about the power on issue, just to get an official answer from them, this is what they sent:
"None of our devices have the functionality to automatically power on at the same time as you start your car. This feature was on our devices in the past, but due to customer surveys, it was decided that it was a seldom used feature and therefore discontinued and replaced by a different feature. It is unclear if this functionality will be brought back in a future application update."

I find that answer amusing as it is the most common complain in reviews. They also make it sound as if only X features can be in one unit at a time, so they took it out to make room for another mystery feature they didn't mention.

They already have an option to have it turn off automatically (thank you for that hint!) so why not make the power on an option?

I still find the power on issue a nuisance, but I'll see if I can live with it.

Something I did like on the Garmin 1690 was that, even when routing was off (ie. I was driving without having entered a destination,) it told me that there was a traffic jam ahead on the street I was driving, thus giving me an opportunity to avoid it. Does the TomTom 740 do this?

 

[mvl]

Something I did like on the Garmin 1690 was that, even when routing was off (ie. I was driving without having entered a destination,) it told me that there was a traffic jam ahead on the street I was driving, thus giving me an opportunity to avoid it. Does the TomTom 740 do this?

No, much of the value in a Tomtom comes from leaving the routing on. On my 720 (and maybe the 740, too), the Tomtom tries to save connection costs and doesn't even bother auto-updating traffic if you have no destination set. Tomtom is paying AT&T for the data bill on a 740. So I can see them avoiding costs if they think it is unnecessary.

You can see traffic by going to browse map, but most of the audible features (tts, traffic) aren't run with destination off. It appears that the developers expect you to enter a destination all the time. The directions are so good on a Tomtom, that you're better off leaving destinations programmed. Even in places you know, it will often find faster ways than you even know of.

I would have liked auto-on. But with the frequency of GPS theft these days, I have to take out my Tomtom from the car whenever I leave, so auto-on isn't really valuable to me any more.

 

[nealh]

I would have liked auto-on. But with the frequency of GPS theft these days, I have to take out my Tomtom from the car whenever I leave, so auto-on isn't really valuable to me any more.

I find this so surprising given the cost of a gps today that anyone would want to go to the trouble of breakiing into a car to see a $100-200 unit. A few yrs ago when these were $800 I could see that