[Jules]

My TomTom Go (original) was gatting old and battered, and being quite chunky was awkward to carry round and not pocket friendly!

I hadn't quite decided if I wanted to go for the smaller and more pocketable TomTom One XL (around £200).

+'s:
- slim and attractive design
- faster processor than the original

-'s:
- measily 2 hour battery life (compared to the 5 hours on the original)
- less powerful and tinny sounding speaker
- no extra gadgets to play with


I then considered putting up with bulk of the x10 range, and was almost ready to buy a 910 for about £290.... which is I think a good price.

+'s:
- Faster processor
- Good speaker
- Good battery life
- Mobile phone Hands free
- Speach to text
etc.. plus a few extra functions to play with

-'s:
- Bulky
- some reports of problems with the mount drooping
- some repots of it crashing


But... it was my lucky day today! It seams the 720 has just been released and at £330 combines the best of One XL with the best of the 910, with none of the problems with either.

I'm really impressed, and it has loads of nice features that make you go... 'hey that's clever'... like broadcasting mp3's on FM to your car radio.

I need more time to play with it yet... but first impressions are way better than the x10 range in a slim form.

[Jules]

ok, quick update.
Still love this unit, but in a direct comparison with the original, the speaker is rather weak and tinny sounding.

However with the FM functionality, I can hear the voice instructions through the car stereo.... which is brilliant. Still, you don't need to do this with the original so the 720 loses a few points here.

I don't know if the mobile phone functions on the earlier x10 models are the same, but I'm particularly impressed with them on the 720. Bluetooth integration is really simple, and it will even read out your text messages to you as they come in.

[sneeks]

I'm thinking of buying one of these. How effective is the handsfree calling, is the quality acceptable while on the motorway?

[Jules]

Unfortunately, hands free calls always come through the internal speaker, so if your car is little noisy then its probably not loud enough on the motorway.

Its fine round town though.

Final note on the battery life.... Tomtom claim 5 hours, which is the same as the original Go. However, I've found it lasts about 2 which is very misleading and very disappointing.

In its favour, there's a battery saving mode that turns off the screen beween instructions if the distance between them is more than a minute or so.
I can see it lasting 5 hours like that, but its a bit of a cheat really.

I still think its a nice unit for the slim design and features, but the battery life and speaker quality are not what I hoped they would be.

Is it better than the One XL? Yes, and i think the extra £100 is worth it.
Is it better than a 910? mmm, not sure.

The mic seems to be broken on my 720. When I make a handsfree call - my voice is virtually inaudible at the other end - even when speaking directly into the mic in a quiet room.

This could also be why the voice recognition doesn't seem to work. Looks like I got a dud. I'll try taking it back for another one.

[Hyperspud]

Jules, can you tell me whether you can connect the iPod lead to the 720 rather than play the mp3's through the unit's harddrive or on SD? Disappointed to hear about the battery life & speaker. Ordered one yesterday so should arrive tomorrow ... Like you I had difficulty making my mind up between it & the 910.

[sneeks]

Originally Posted by LcdGuru

The mic seems to be broken on my 720. When I make a handsfree call - my voice is virtually inaudible at the other end - even when speaking directly into the mic in a quiet room.

I bought one yesterday and had similar problems with the mic quality, off to test it more now.

Voice recognition does work but cannot understand 'London'.

[sneeks]

Ok I've tested this some more and every call is inaudible. There is a crackling sound and when the voice can be heard it is very metallic/robot sounding. Looks like it'll be returned to Comet tonight

On reading other forums this problem appears to be fairly widespread.

[Hyperspud]

Sorry to hear about your problem, Sneeks. I'll keep it in mind when I receive mine tomorrow (hopefully). Perhaps you can tell me about the iPod lead - does the 720 use it?

[Jules]

I don't have an iPod so I'm not sure what the lead would look like, but as far as I can tell the 720 doesn't have anything beyond a mini USB socket, an audio out (3.5mm jack) and an external antenna socket.

[hot-fuzz]

Im considering getting one of these in the near future to replace my 910.
I am fed up with teh sheer size of the unit, i want somethign i can hardwire to the dash and take off and simply put in my pocket to transport, which is IMPOSSIBLE with the huge 910..
Im not bothered about the speaker too much as i will be using the FM transmitter mainly, and will be putting on the Movie software.

So has anyone got any more problems with it ??