TomTom GO 720
Last October, I took TomTom's latest mid-range satnav unit, the GO 720, travelling through southern WAI didn't glance once at a road atlas – or the unit's CD user manual either.
TomTom's GO 720 takes some of the best aspects of its high-end models, and boils them down to a more compact device. At 107mm × 83mm × 23mm (L×W×D) at its extremities, the GO 720 competes well with other small form-factor satnav units, with a generous, bright and clear 97mm × 57mm (L×W) touch-screen display.
Construction is reassuringly weighty, with a spring-loaded metal windscreen-mount slot that seems to indicate a full metal sub-frame.
In the box are the TomTom GO 720 unit, 3.25mm male-to-male audio cable, cigarette-lighter adapter, USB PC charging and connectivity cradle, quick start guide with the full user manual on CD.
The GO 720's ease of use stems from its intuitively designed system of prompts and menus. When you use it for the first time, it guides you all the way to planning a destination.
Simplicity of design is another common TomTom trait. The GO 720's singular button, located on the unit's top surface, is to turn it on or off. Everything else is done via the touch screen. External area connection is via the back of the unit; all other connections are made at the bottom surface through a mini-USB socket, a proprietary iPod-control socket (control cable not included), a standard 3.5mm audio socket, and an SD Card drive.
The GO 720 also functions as a Bluetooth mobile-phone handsfree. Setting it up is easy. From the main menu, tap on the mobile phone icon and follow the prompts. As long as Bluetooth is enabled on your phone, and depending on its capabilities, you'll be making and receiving calls, writing and receiving SMSs (which will be read out to you), in no time at all.
Apart from SMS-reading, text-to-speech functionality is employed throughout the GO 720. It's capable of reading out street names and will give advanced warning of impending traffic manoeuvres, such as "at the roundabout, take the third exit, then, keep left". Route calculations are speedy, and if you take the wrong turn or exclude a section of peak-hour route from the itinerary, re-calculations are fast.
Needless to say, driving through suburban and inner-city Perth and rural south-west WA, with the GO 720 as my guide, was a stress-free pleasure.
The TomTom GO 720 retails for $799.
For more information, visit http://www.tomtom.com/
– Andrew Harris
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