TomTom GO 730's award-winning software means ground-breaking new technology for the ultimate driving experience. Switch on and go right out of the box. Just enter the address on the touchscreen or use voice address entry and start driving anywhere in the United States and Canada. TomTom guides you door-to-door with turn-by-turn spoken instructions, including street names.  Ground-breaking new technology for the ultimate driving experience. Click to enlarge. |  Includes windshield mount. | IQ Routes Technology gives you the fastest route every time by using actual average speeds of travel to calculate your trip rather than posted speed limits. Advanced Lane Guidance uses photorealistic images to bring even more clarity to complex multi-lane exits so you can be more confident on the road. TomTom has the most accurate maps, and with TomTom Map Share technology, you instantly can modify street names, street direction, points of interest, and more on your own device. And with the "Help Me!" menu, added safety features enable you to easily access local emergency providers. The GO 730 makes driving even safer with Bluetooth hands-free calling. The TomTom GO 730 is the ultimate car navigator. *Compatible mobile phone required. GO 730 Features - Maps of United States and Canada with TomTom Map Share
- Bluetooth Hands-Free Calling
- Spoken Street Names
- IQ Routes Technology
- Advanced Lane Guidance
- Voice Address Input
- FM Transmitter
- iPod Ready
All TomToms Feature  Plug & Go--Works right out of the box.
 Preloaded Points of Interest--Easily find millions of gas stations, restaurants, hotels, and more on your route.
 30-Day Latest Map Guarantee--Up to date, off the shelf.
 TomTom Map Share--Modify your own map and benefit from others' verified changes with TomTom Map Share.
 Help Me! Emergency Menu--Easily access local emergency providers, such as police, fire stations, and hospitals.
 TomTom HOME--Always up to date.
 Traffic Ready--Optional RDS-TMC traffic receiver accessory keeps you up-to-date on traffic events to minimize potential delays.
 Fuel Price Service (optional)--Know more, pay less.
Why TomTom? TomTom believes that personal navigation should be as easy and safe as possible. TomTom develops smart technology that gives you straightforward solutions, innovations to make life easy.  Easy to Use
- Award-winning navigation software
- Plug & go
 Best Maps
- 30-Day Latest Map Guarantee
- Modify your own map and benefit from others' verified changes with TomTom Map Share
 Best Routing
- QuickGPSfix
- Traffic ready
 Leader in Safety
- Help Me! emergency resources menu
- Safety preferences menu
About TomTom Founded in Amsterdam in 1991, TomTom has established itself as a global leader in navigation by being an innovative company with a strong brand, clear customer focus, and high-quality products and services. TomTom is a leading navigation solutions provider with navigation products sold in 30 countries and in over 20 languages. To further its commitment to car navigation, TomTom acquired Tele Atlas maps in 2008 so that the company can continually provide the most up-to-date maps and intelligent routing.  TomTom has its own mapping company!
Did you know that every year, roads change by up to 40% in high-growth areas? Tele Atlas manages this by using the world's most comprehensive systems to identify and incorporate these changes into our maps with unprecedented levels of speed and accuracy. All TomTom devices benefit from the Tele Atlas advantage--more coverage, more points of interest, and more freshness and accuracy. What's in the Box GO 730 device, Windshield mount, desk dock, car charger, software/manual CD, documentation |
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 TomTom 730 Review |
| Review Date: May 6, 2008 |
| Reviewer: midikris, Jersey City, NJ |
Since this is a newer TomTom model and I haven't found much of anything in regards to reviews I will post some of my findings about what I liked and disliked with the unit thus far.
Likes:
- Helio: "Ocean" users can connect to this unit via Blue Tooth even though Helio was not listed as a vendor. I would imagine that means that most if not all Helio phones with blue tooth can connect. I am able to only do Hands-Free calling from the unit which is fine and the calls were very clear from the 730's speakers. I didn't remembers seing Helio listed as compatible so this is verification for all of you Helio "Ocean" owners.
- Voices: My wife and I thorougly enjoyed the free voice downloads, some really good ones from the TomTom community. My wife likes British voices and we found some excellent ones for her including some funny community driven/created for me, the geek, like C3P0, Daleks from Dr. Who and Stephen Hawking :) Keep in mind most of these voices are Free and I wasn't expecting that much. The voices you do need to pay for were very good if not somewhat cheesy and didn't cost too much $6-13 US. I did like the John Cleese voice, maybe I'll splurge.
- IQ Routing: My first thought was "Yeah right, bull@#$&" it won't know my local short-cuts, no other GPS I have used was able to. I entered and locked in my home address and the machine began to route. It recognized I was deep inside the parking lot(No Mans Land) of the store from where I purchased the unit so I was surprised to see the unit pick up my location within about 5-10 seconds(very fast) then navigate me to the parking lot exit via a dotted line to show me that in about 200 feet I would hit the road it wanted me to be on.
Being a local in my area, I know all of the back roads and short cuts which have the least amount traffic lights, stop signs and traffic in general in my area and I was very happy to see the unit did as well. It totally detoured me around those typical boondoggles that plague drivers in the town I'm in. Keep in mind it knew the "entire" short-cut I was going to take like it read my mind, not just part of it. What it didn't know, out-of-the-box, was that they were fixing a overpass on the route and workers had blocked the road. Since this GPS has input to note road blockages, I decided to use it when I got within 200 feet of the blockage. I clicked the appropriate road blockage icon, and the machine immediately noted the blockage and re-routed me around it. I'm assuming now that when I take this route again, should it route me this way in the future it will route me around that blockage, at least that's what is claimed. I like the fact I can remove that blockage which I know in a few months time won't be there anymore.
I'll give it a few more weeks then come back to this review, just in case that was an anomaly with the short-cut. I know other short-cuts to other places I visit, we'll see if this unit has the IQ.
- Text to Speech: Is not turned on out of the box, I read so many complaints from users who were not getting Text to Speech and realized it must just be their stupidity. You need to turn it on! I'm not sure why TomTom doesn't just default it, I guess that's just life. Text to speech worked great, and worked as well as any of the competing GPS models.
- Voice Address Input: Surprisingly, it actually works pretty well, though I'm not sure how much I'll actually use it.
Dislike:
- Default Language(out of the box)on US Model: I don't know if this was just me but I'm going to note this to users who purchase this unit(early adopters). My units default language out of the box was in German! Thankfully I knew a little German so my wife and I fumbled our way through the introductory screens and eventually got screen that listed a bunch of countries. Someone with less aptitude with the German language might be extremely annoyed by this and could be frustrated. Was this a fluke? I hope TomTom notes this review and double checks their US machines are defaulting as English.
As I use the GPS more over the coming weeks I'll add more findings, especially once I start using it on the highway.
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Very pleased with the Go 730
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| Review Date: June 26, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Jeremy, Chapel Hill, NC |
After about 3 months of research, I had decided I was going to buy the TomTom Go 720. I waited for a few weeks while I shopped around for the best price, and during this time, the 720's successor (Go 730) was available on the market. The 730 now includes IQ routes, which from what I understand, works similarly to the Dash - it gathers speed information from other TomTom users on every road, so if a certain route is known to have a very low average speed at a given time of day, the 730 will route you around that road to avoid the potential traffic. It also has the new lane guidance pictures - I've only seen this once so far in the month or so I've owned it, but it looked cool! At first I was torn between this model and the Garmin nuvi series, but the nice thing about this TomTom that was the selling point for me was that you can easily add/remove/edit points of interest. This is done on the unit (not via new map updates or mapshare) and can be done pretty quickly. The Garmin's brag that they have more points of interest in their bank, and while that might be true, there is always going to be some missing somewhere, so this is a nice feature to have. In fact, in my new town, a nearby grocery store was missing from the TomTom bank. I chose to look up the address of the store online, then store that address in the GPS as this type of POI with this name. You can also accomplish the same thing under the "Browse Map" option and find the proper menu option for adding the point.
Suction cup:
I've seen other reviews online about people having problems with the windshield suction cup mount. All I can say is that I used this GPS during my move from NY to NC, which was about an 11-hour drive. Not once during that time did the suction cup mount fail, however since then it has fallen off the windshield a couple of times. The trick that seems to work is to actually lick a few of your fingers and moisten the suction cup before pressing it onto the windshield.
Washed-out screen:
Some users have commented that in intense sunlight, the screen becomes difficult to see. I've seen this happen maybe once or twice, but it only lasted a few seconds. From what I've experienced, the sun has to be at just the right angle, and this doesn't happen very often. In the absolute worst-case scenario, you have a little trouble seeing the screen for a few seconds, so you simply listen to the voice commands. I don't see that as a very large drawback at all.
Other features and comments:
The nice thing this model does (I'm not sure if lower models do this as well or not) is that it predicts what time you'll arrive at your destination based on the IQ route information, current speeds, etc. I found this to be a handy little feature.
The actual routing seems spot-on so far. Re-routing after you miss a turn is nearly instant (literally 1 second at the most, from what I've seen). Also, initial positioning after powering-on the unit takes only a couple of seconds. I did notice some fun things after coming out of a tunnel - my car seemed to be flying in the middle of nothing for a second or two before all satellite signals were locked on. No big deal, and kind of amusing, I thought. You can also very easily route yourself via roads or POI's. For example, I needed to do some shopping at both Target and Home Depot. I first calculated my route to Home Depot, then went to "Find Alternative", then "Travel via..." and chose Point of Interest. I found Target in the list, and it then routed me to Home Depot with a stop at Target first. My only complaint about this is that when I got to Target, it didn't say anything like "you've reached your first destination" - it's up to you to realize you're there, park, shop, then continue your route to your next stop. As far as I know, you can travel via several (more than 2) stops as well.
I have an Apple computer (Powerbook G4, so not even an Intel mac) and have had no troubles with the TomTom Home software. I was able to download a bunch of free voices, a new car icon, and there's tons of other stuff in there, both free and not.
Another minor feature is that it has a bank of POI symbols for the major chains. For example, McDonald's, Wendy's, Starbucks, and quite a few others have their company logo in there. If you pass by Wendy's (for example) you wont see the typical knife and fork logo for a restaurant POI, you'll see the Wendy's logo on the map.
I was also able to easily pair my Bluetooth cell phone (LG VX8350). A lot of phone numbers for POI's are stored on the GPS, so if you need to call any one of them, it will forward the call to your phone for you.
I haven't really used the spoken road names feature - this is only available on the computerized voice, which is the main reason. Nice feature, but not all that necessary for me. There's also a voice-input feature when you're entering town names or zip codes in your destination search.
Overall this unit seems like a great bang-for-your-buck. I purchased this at $400, and it really is packed with features. I'm glad I went with the TomTom Go 730, and would recommend it to anyone in the market for one. I've had some experience with other brands (Garmin, Magellan) and didn't like their menus, features, or price tag. Hope this helps! |
Not What I Expected
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| Review Date: June 24, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Carlos Sanchez, Houston, TX |
I had done a lot of online research regarding GPS'. I read many reviews and looked at all the options and features for each device. I was leaning towards the TomTom GO 730 as my top choice, however, I did not really want to spend $400 on it. I liked all the features that it said it came with, especially IQ Routes and MapShare. To make a long story short, I went to the store and I bought the Magellan 4250 for $350. You may ask why not spend the extra $50 and get the TomTom, well Magellan was giving me 1 yr free traffic which I thought was the better deal.
Well, the Maestro 4250 was a good device, however, the thing that frustrated me was the outdated maps. The maps for from Q1 2007 and the next update would be out Q3 2008. That is a long time to wait. Another bad feature was that when I chose a route, I could not choose a POI along the route, I had to cancel my first route, and make a different one. The final thing that made me mad was the inaccuracy of arrival time. I am sitting in bumper to bumper traffic and it states I will be at my destination in 20 minutes. I would be if I was not sitting in traffic. So I returned it and bought the TomTom 730.
I am so happy with this GPS. It has all the features I read about plus many more. I truly love the MapShare feature. There are restaurants that went up 2 months ago that are listed as POI's. This is because other Tomtom users create that POI and you have the option of downloading it. This is a great feature. Of course sometimes the POI may be of by a few yards but you can change it. For instance, there is a restaurant located on a main street and someone added the POI to be on that street. Although the building is on that street, you actually have to make a slight right turn to get into the parking lot of the building. I was able to move the POI so that the GPS will tell me to make that right turn. Then I can upload it to everyone else. Very good feature if you like precise directions and accuracy.
the IQ Routes is also a great feature. It gives you an incredibly accurate arrival time. I have no complaints about the feature.
You can also search for POI's while already in a route. The 730 will show you POI's along the route, near you, or near your destination. Awesome!
I just placed a 8GB SDHC card in my 730 for mp3 and photos. Works great!
This is a stellar GPS system and blew my 4250 out of the water. I am very impressed with how accurate it is. I will say that the 730 can automatically change a route if you have taken a different route then it offered the first time. The next time you route that destination, the route you took before will be routed instead of the original one over and over.
Great product!
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TomTom v. Garmin v. Magellan
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| Review Date: November 4, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Elleirdad, Boston suburbs |
My family now owns a TomTom Go 730, Garmin Nuvi 760, and a Magellan Maestro 4360. I have spent a long time with each of these units and used them on the same routes. They are all excellent devices that I can recommend. But, which one I recommend depends on the buyer. Let me explain:
- The TomTom is best for technically oriented people that like lots of options and will be impressed with the clever IQ Routes routing system.
- The Garmin is best for people that want a system that is straight forward to use with clear crisp on screen graphics/instructions.
- The Magellan is best for people who use the system to look up places by name instead of address. For example, they have a nice feature that tells you the restaurants at the next highway exit.
Here are some more details.
I have ended using the TomTom. My top four reasons: (1) I love the IQ routes feature that uses the experience of drivers to calculate the actual typical travel speed on a road rather than the published speed limit. It seems to be time sensitive. Even without traffic connected, the system recommended a different route from work to home at 5pm than it did at 8pm on the same date. (2) I like all of the detailed options and choices, although it is hard to dig through the menus. You can change shortcuts, download graphics, and more. (3) I like the traffic network that uses the data channel on my BlackBerry. No need to get an FM traffic receiver. It connects via the Internet through my BlackBerry to get traffic data. (4) It immediately displays a map of the route you will be going.
My spouse uses the Garmin. The top reason is that it is much easier to know what to do at a glance. For example, I love the speed limit feature that displays the speed limit of the road you are on. It proves to be helpful. On the Garmin, it is easy to see because it looks like a standard American white speed limit sign. On the TomTom, the data is there (once you select the option), but it is a small number next to the speed you are travelling: 35/40 means you are going 35 and the limit is 40. The directions are a little crisper.
My adult kids (in their 20s) use the Magellan. Frankly, I like this user-interface the best. The icons are clear, unlike the cryptic icons in the TomTom. My favorite parts (1) I like the integration of the POIs. You can look for a restaurant at Exit 17 and see the list. The chosen POIs seem to be more useful. You can find directions to CVS just by entering the request for the nearest CVS store. (2) The driving instructions are clear, with split screens on turns. But, it is nearly impossible to display a map of the route you will be travelling - which is a deal killer for me.
I did not cover everything. But, it gives you the idea. I am the type of person who tweaks the settings on my cable box. If you are that type of person, then the TomTom is highly recommended.
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The best GPS on the Market
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| Review Date: January 18, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Robert Rodriguez, Michigan |
| Like many on here I spent month's reading reviews from Amazon and many other consumer sites before selecting the TomTom 730 as my new GPS. I was replacing a 4 year Garmin Nuvi GPS that stop working. I was so confused on which GPS would fit my needs and received the most positive reviews. As with any GPS there will always be good and bad reviews. The TomTom 730 had all the features I wanted at a price I was willing to pay. Also the TomTom 730 came with the new reality view of the road signs ahead and shows you what the landscape or road ahead looks like and how many lanes and which lane you should be in. I also liked that the reality view shows me lakes, bodies of water as well as the name of the body of water. While traveling through the downtown area of a major city it showed some of the major buildings with the names of the buildings all while still speaking directions to me. This unit has more up to date maps and the directions then other GPS unites I have used. For my 1200 mile road trip from Michigan to Florida I viewed the directions and compared them to MapQuest, and the directions where more up-to-date than even MapQuest who listed a closed road, where the TomTom730 took me down the new interstate that open last year. I like the feature of traffic updates because the unit warned me of a traffic jam 7 miles ahead and offered an alternative route to get around the traffic jam. This unit does it all. I love the free updates using the map share software. If you're undecided on which GPS unit to purchase, I would say pick TomTom as it's simple to use, easy to program and it is more accurate than the Garmin I had for 4 years. And it syncs up with the satellites within 10 seconds of turning on thanks to the new quick link up software included in the GPS unit..This is the current winner of the GPS battle and beats out most other companies. |
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