I just got my 720 in the mail yesterday and am REALLY loving its features, but one huge problem as many people have said, is its huge power draw on the tiny internal battery.
I was testing out the FM transmitter just now and it works great even for just being FM (vs direct line out cable) but one problem with my car is that FM signals in my car's CD player breaks up pretty badly when ever I connect anything into the cigarette lighter port. To be using this 720 especially while playing MP3's I WILL be needing external power, but using the supplied car adapter doesn't work for me while listening to FM radio.
The reason I my car radio picks up electric noise/static with anything plugged in the cigarette port is because the car antenna's plug that plugs into the back of the car radio is broken, and I have it taped. I'm too lazy to replace and run the entire antenna assembly/wire from a new antenna.
So what I decided to do was order a solar powered USB battery/charger that I will mount onto my windshield to power my 720. When I receive it, I will custom apply small suction cups so it can stick to my windshield.
Does this sound like a good idea or does it sound dumb? There won't be alot of wires dangling since I will be mounting the solar powered thingy right behind the GO 720. The USB wire won't be a prolem since my Magellan gps came with a super short usb cable which will use for this. Here is what the solar power thingy looks like.
http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-Solar-Batte...39:1|66:2|65:12|240:1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
I won't be ordering this exact same one, but you can get an idea of what this thing looks like. They aren't very big at all either.
This will benefit me as well since I will be able to use the TomTom with the car off (my car doesn't supply voltage when it is turned off) This will be great for when I have to wait in the car to kill time for whatever, and can be watching movies using TomPlayer. TomPlayer works PERFECTLY and runs super smooth compared to my ONE XL which would make the videos extremely choppy.
What do you guys think?
I was testing out the FM transmitter just now and it works great even for just being FM (vs direct line out cable) but one problem with my car is that FM signals in my car's CD player breaks up pretty badly when ever I connect anything into the cigarette lighter port. To be using this 720 especially while playing MP3's I WILL be needing external power, but using the supplied car adapter doesn't work for me while listening to FM radio.
The reason I my car radio picks up electric noise/static with anything plugged in the cigarette port is because the car antenna's plug that plugs into the back of the car radio is broken, and I have it taped. I'm too lazy to replace and run the entire antenna assembly/wire from a new antenna.
So what I decided to do was order a solar powered USB battery/charger that I will mount onto my windshield to power my 720. When I receive it, I will custom apply small suction cups so it can stick to my windshield.
Does this sound like a good idea or does it sound dumb? There won't be alot of wires dangling since I will be mounting the solar powered thingy right behind the GO 720. The USB wire won't be a prolem since my Magellan gps came with a super short usb cable which will use for this. Here is what the solar power thingy looks like.
http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-Solar-Batte...39:1|66:2|65:12|240:1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
I won't be ordering this exact same one, but you can get an idea of what this thing looks like. They aren't very big at all either.
This will benefit me as well since I will be able to use the TomTom with the car off (my car doesn't supply voltage when it is turned off) This will be great for when I have to wait in the car to kill time for whatever, and can be watching movies using TomPlayer. TomPlayer works PERFECTLY and runs super smooth compared to my ONE XL which would make the videos extremely choppy.
What do you guys think?
