Do what you are told....or get lost. (TomTom Go 720)

Member Name: Johnny Phoenix

Product:	TomTom Go 720
Date:	22/08/09 (78 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Get's you there

Disadvantages: Sometimes more Sat-Nag than Sat Nav

From time to time I have to go out to meetings at various locations and ever since I got caught in Leeds City Centre one way system for most of 2005 and some of 2006, I swore I would never again leave home with out my trusty satellite navigation.

I will never try to go to Leeds again either, in fact I don't even believe that Leeds exists anymore. London is easier to get into than Leeds, but I will cover their flaming oyster cards and decongestion charges another time.

The Tom Tom Go 720
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It has a 4.3 inch screen which is a good size, it affixes to your windscreen using a vacuum sucker, just make sure it is firmly attached before you go on your way.

FEATURES

Navigate to:
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Obviously this is the main one, you can select a postcode, area, address or even feature such as airport, pub, sports ground, etc.

Once you have selected your destination, it will show you the route and then search for a signal to position you and then it begins to instruct immediately and suitably often.

As you drive along the voice will reinforce when you will need to turn, whether you should keep left or right on the approach to roundabouts, etc.

The voice gets a little too pushy on the approach to roundabouts as it can tell you up to four times that you will be turning right in the space of two-hundred metres. Sometimes you feel like shouting that you are neither a goldfish, suffering from any kind of memory problems or what was the other one, I was going to say...,

The only problem is if you are not going to somewhere in a city or town, for example if you are going to a distribution centre in Daventry where there is very little civilisation, it will proudly proclaim that you have reached your destination whilst you are in the middle of a dual carriageway, with several enormous buildings around all of which could be the one you want. Ensure that you have the last bit of your journey on a bit of paper or the phone number of someone that can direct you the last bit.

This is not a criticism of the technology because it is after all technology not magic.

Find alternative route:
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This feature helps you to "Avoid Roadblock". This is particularly useful if you have just kidnapped a member of former band Blue just until rumours of reforming have passed. Although if you are considering kidnapping Duncan, I would recommend soundproofing the boot as he does tend to sing quite loud on long journeys.

You can use it to "Travel via a certain point", say for example you need to empty your boot at a suitably high cliff top location but then get home for the next episode of Reaper.

You can even select a particular longitude/latitude, etc which is particularly useful to those of you that are spies, previously trained in the military. Alternatively you may have been told by a spy of the location of buried microfilm detailing events surrounding recovery of weather balloons from Roswell.

Help me:
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This feature will help you walk to drive to or phone the nearest petrol station, public transport, police, doctor, etc. Hospital is notable by its absence.

There is even a "First aid" guide on there. This part is a basic document just listing the important things to remember when administering first aid. It will not talk you through a complex tracheotomy using a pen and rubber band.

Settings
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Change voice preferences, Tim, Kate and Jane are the default English voices that come with the packages and can give out all directions and alerts. You can download more voices at Tom Tom or even programme your own voice in which would be just a little bit self-loving and would lead inevitable to self-loathing.

I will definitely be going for Homer Simpson or Mr T when I download mine. Those of you that find yourselves driving a lot will know that anything to break up the monotony of a long drive is welcome.

The Voices
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Tim is ok, but there is just a tiny inflection in his voice that makes me think that he has a problem with the way that I drive. He just seems to be a little accusatory to me and until he gets off his high horse, I will not be using him.

Jane, is a little too posh for my liking and her voice is a little passive aggressive. It makes me nervous. Sometimes I like to deviate from the path and the first time I used her, she wouldn't let me stop at the services. She didn't directly say that I couldn't but when I tried to move over to the left she kept telling me to keep right and just to keep the peace, I carried on without coffee and a nice wee.

Kate is my girl, she seems friendly and outgoing whilst maintaining a level of professionalism that seems lacking with Tim and Kate. She does still call me on it, if I try to go my own way, but there is a light-heartedness in the way she says it that is lacking from that cow Jane.

All in all this is a very useful piece of kit and it will get you to where you need to go or at least close enough. It will also store recent destinations and you can save "Home" so that at the press of a button, it will bring you home once again.

Extra, Extras
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You can correct the map, if a new road has been made or if the map is wrong, download new/updated maps and even download other peoples corrections, although I would prefer to see it for myself, unless they are saying that a particular road ends in a cliff. In which case I would just add it to my "via" list in case S Club 7 stage a revival. Let's see them use alliteration when there are only five.

You can even establish a connection between your mobile phone and the satellite navigation. I haven't engaged this feature mainly because of my intense burning hatred of the mobile phone culture.

However, since the main question mobile phone users ask or text (grrrrr) each other is "where are you?" I guess that this connection will now enable the satellite navigation to answer on your behalf, once again diminishing the ability of humans to communicate.

The Bluetooth technology that is inbuilt allows you to link up your phone hands free, listen to music from your MP3 player transmitted through your radio which I begrudgingly admit is pretty cool.

You can pick the Tom Tom 720 up for around £150.00 inc vat, plus postage and packing now online. I think that the price is good so if you find it cheaper I would highly recommend it.

There are many other Satellite Navigation systems available and I have used serveral. This is the best I have found for overall clarity and it's simplicity to use.

Yes there may be "better" ones available at a higher price, but if this one does the job and does it well, why would I need anything more?

JP

Summary: A good product that does everything you need it to do.