TomTom Go 730 compared to Go 700. Poor!

eddie101

My 700 was stolen. So, i chose a nice new 730 to replace it.

Nice software tweaks. But what's happened to the design quality??

The Go 700 speaker gave a rich, lustrous almost hi-fi sound. The 730 sounds like a 1970s made-in-taiwan speakerphone. It's awful!! 3 out of 10. Rolling Eyes

No case provided. OK I can live with that. Right, let's swap the cradle with my hard wired mount. Ah. No wired mount. OK, It was cheaper than the 700, so I'll go and buy one.

What! Rolling Eyes

No such product!!! I have to connect the power and the mic manually EVERY time?????? Grrr! And if I want to improve on the miserable sound quality by using a line-out connection, that'll be one more. Come on TomTom - make a car kit!

Well the software is an improvement. Though some things are irritating. Why is Update traffic buried in the third page of the menu? Can't even add it to the quick menu.

And what's this thing with reading the road numbers out? "Turn onto B four thousand four hundred and forty four.." FFS What!!??? Come on TomTom. No-one in the UK reads out road numbers like that, not even on the BBC. It's "B four four four four".

Also there's TOO much voice prompting on the 730. I find myself going "yes, yes I know, you just told me" in the car. Smile

One feature I've always thought would be great for all sat navs is a switch to turn off voice prompts within a certain radius of the home location. That would be so very very useful!!

Bluetooth. Well, I managed to get it to connect to my Nokia e61i just fine. Trying to get the music to connect to my Pioneer P700BT head unit (I has bluetooth music in) didn't work. Tried it from the main bluetooth menu, search devices. It found my nokia phone again.
Oh no!! i knew what was coming next. Do you want to connect to Nokia? Yes / No. Where's the ignore option!!!!! Well, I was right. Selecting No drops my phone completely. Selecting yes takes me through the setup again. Annoying!!!!
In the end I turned my phone off to try and get the head unit connected, but no joy yet. Oh, and now the e61i connection won't come back. Rolling Eyes

Just thought I'd share my experiences so far on the upgrade trail.

Darren

eddie101

Darren · Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 12:08 pm Post subject:

Whilst the speaker isn't quite as HiFi as my 700 or 910's were I don't find it that bad.

If yours is crackling or distorted then are you using it on battery power? I ask as there is a known bug were sound becomes distorted when battery level is low and no external power is present.
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Darren Griffin

sven1 · Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 12:41 pm Post subject:

I thought the speaker on my 920 was rubbish but its just the sound of the computer voices. using a different voice it sounds fine.

maca2 · Frequent Visitor Joined: Jul 10, 2005 Posts: 303

I have just sold my Garmin 760T because the sound was poor & the phone calls through the unit were terrible so I brought the 730T to replace it.

I have to disagree & say that the TT 730's sound is very good & both Computer Kate's voice & the bluetooth sound is very good as well with no distortion as far as I can hear. This unit is so much better that my last one, apart from the screen on the Garmin was brighter but that's about it, I can't fault it with regards to following the road instructions & the lane assistance is great & not the gimmick I thought it would be.

It's miles ahead of anything else I have used or seen.

Nice one TT

LT · Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 9:23 pm Post subject:

You can also use the FM transmitter to send the sound to the car stereo, can you not? Therefore, surely the sound can be as good as you want to make it in terms of how good the speakers are in your car.

mikealder · Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 9:59 pm Post subject:

LT · Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 10:55 pm Post subject:

I'm in Lancashire too, and soon I'll be going to Ireland via Scotland, so I dare say I'll be ok!

Thanks for the heads up regarding busy places, it could mean a loss of service if I didn't prepare.

I had the Go 510 before the 730T and a Garmin Streetpilot i3 before that, so I can't complain about the speaker anyway!

What frequency do you transmit it on then, as a matter of interest? I've set mine to 105.0

I suppose you could always refer to this in preparation for where you're going so you don't clash? :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_radio_stations_in_the_United_Kingdom

mikealder · Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 11:18 pm Post subject:

106,3 works fine around most of Lancashire, when I drop into Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Staffordshire I tend to switch to 107,0 which I have stored in the Go as a preferred frequency and in the cars radio if I am running a Hire car (which I often do through work)
The further North you go the less of a problem you encounter, on trips to Kinloss I keep 106,3 locked in all the way with no noticable problems - Mike

Tom59 · Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 11:37 pm Post subject:

Hi eddie101, on the sound issue, can I tell you about my old TomTom Classic?
I had used it for a few years in my Opel Astra and was very happy with the sound quality.
My company sent me away on a course for a week and they let me take a company car which was a Mondeo Estate.
I had a few problems getting my mount positioned on the window as the screen is very long and sloping, but I managed to get it mounted within reach.
When I set off driving, I thought that I was in a cinema with surround sound!
The shape of the windscreen had changed the sound quality by 100% (if that's possible).
It was such a disappointment when I had to put it back in my own car after a week.
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rtj70 · Regular Visitor Joined: Jun 18, 2005 Posts: 144

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