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REVIEW : TomTom Go 700


a4tdi130
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Ever since swapping from my Audi A4 to my Volvo XC90 a couple of months ago, the one thing I really missed was having SatNav in the car. In the Audi, I had the DVD SatNav+, a great piece of kit, but at £2000 you would think so wouldn't you. Having sold the car after just owning it for 7 months and losing £10,000 on the options, I decided not to opt for the £2,500 satnav in the Volvo. Instead, I would buy a third party in car system.

I had looked at the original TomTom Go and although it looked "ok", it wasn't as good as the Garmins and NavMan units, and after a few days of reading reviews and hunting round, I was minutes away from ordering a NavMan when somebody on TSN mentioned "The new TomTom's are coming out soon". So, I read some previews, looked at the spec, and eventually the result is that this morning I took delivery of a TomTom 700.

My only reservation was the screen size... 3.5"... but when I took it out of the box I was pleasantly surprised, the screen is plenty big enough and the whole size of the unit is "just right". It didn't need anything doing to it at all to get it up and running, just a few default config options (voice, language, time, etc) and it was ready to go.

I took it for a quick spin to Maplin to pick up some bits so I could do a decent install in the car - I really don't like the windscreen mounts that come with the unit. I had also ordered the "alternative mounting" kit that came with a few other brackets but none of them looked any good. Originally I had wanted to mount it without any bracket at all, but - and the first downside of the unit - you cannot use the handsfree phone option unless you place the unit in it's bracket as the microphone, and the option to plug in an external microphone, are built in to the base. So, I had to stick the big ugly base on. But I didn't want to. So I got my toolkit out and after a lot of battling and one nasty gash on my hand, I had stripped out all the useful bits. I then attacked my central dash mounted speaker grill and fitted the base on to this, concealing all the wires so none would be visible after the unit was installed.

Then I put the speed camera POI's on, and went for a drive!

First impressions... WOW. This thing absolutely blows away any satnav system I have ever seen. It makes the Audi SatNav looked completely outdated (and that isn't putting the Audi system down, it's just THAT good!). The TomTom updates the screen in realtime. And I mean real time... if you hold the unit in your hand and spin round, the map spins with you. Not 1 second later, or a couple of updates per second, but smoothly and immediately. As you drive round a roundabout, the map spins and follows you. The redraws are so smooth and frequent that it's like watching a cartoon map. The display is excellent, both the hardware itself and what gets drawn on it. The 3D display and the way that street names appear as you get close is extremely impressive.

Whilst driving, the display is very intuitive. Instructions are loud and clear and very well thought. For example, you'll get instructions like "at the end of the road turn right" rather than just "turn right in 300 yards", so you know you aren't looking out for a side road. Roundabout exits are clearly defined "take the 3rd exit" and the timing of the voice is very good, something that often annoyed me in the Audi (it would say "now turn left" as I was already turning in to a road, for example).

Ultimately I bought this for the navigation, and I simply cannot fault it in that area. Long term use will tell, but the software and maps seem to be absolutely spot on.

The inbuilt phone kit is excellent and works extremely well with my Nokia 6230i. Most impressive is the way that even SMS text messages are displayed (and can be replied to) on the TomTom screen - which makes them safe to read whilst driving (but I wouldn't recommend replying!).

One thing I would recommend is that if you don't buy the TomTom700 (which comes with a remote control as standard), you get the remote option - or don't attempt to operate the unit whilst on the move. Using the touchscreen is impossible whilst keeping your eyes on the road. With the remote, it's very easy to keep driving but still operate the unit.

Anyway, overall I will give it 9/10. It loses half a point for insisting on having the big ugly mounting bracket and base attached in order to use the telephone, and another half point for having a stupid name and two big ugly handprints as a logo on the back of the unit. If you are looking for a handheld or incar navigation, I cannot recommend the TomTom 700 enough.

In the following posts, some photos will follow!

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Youve lost me a bit with regards the phone. Its bluetooth for handsfree but the microphone is built into the base if I am reading it right. So on the way you have mounted it is the microphone stillin the base or have you cut it appart and installed it elsewhere?

The computer installation is almost complete by the way 169144-ok.gif

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Yep that's correct, its bluetooth handsfree but the mic is built in to the (BIG!) base.

On my install, the microphone has been taken out of the base and trailed off underneath the speaker grill. If you look on photo #6, the runaway wire going "upwards" on the photo is the microphone smile.gif

Looking forward to seeing some pics of your PC install smile.gif

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Glad to see that more people are starting to see the light as it were.

I think it might have been me that posted about the new Tomtom updates so will take a bit of the glory. grin.gif

I have got a Palm Tungsten T3 that I used day to day as a PDA, and put it in the car mount to use as sat nav for only £200 extra, the recent upgrade has also brought with it full 6 digit postcode navigation and all the roads in Europe, and I mean all not major for only £46 extra. Its not as good looking as the Go but its fantastic even without this.

Anyone looking to get satnav installed in the car for cira £2k I would look at XC90s Tomtom Go solution for a quarter of the price. 169144-ok.gif

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Excellent job on the install.

Just looking for a little more info on the Handsfree part of it (already convinced by TomTom software). Where have you put the microphone? Have you compared the quality of calls made using this to a dedicated handsfree kit? I've never been impressed by non-hardwired hands free kits before.

How loud is the speaker on it, is there any echo etc.

Questions, questions......

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Anthony

I am VERY impressed with the handsfree part of the 700.

It connects to the phone as soon as you switch it on and the speaker is plenty loud enough and the quality is excellent. With your contacts copied to the unit its very easy to dial using the remote control when you are driving.

Personally I can fault it at the moment :-) Quality is a lot better than a blueooth headset.

Only thing I have noticed about the 700 is it seems a bit tempromental downloading traffic info. I think it will only do it when you have a router planned!! other than that I am VERY pleased.

Jon

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[ QUOTE ]

Excellent job on the install.

Just looking for a little more info on the Handsfree part of it (already convinced by TomTom software). Where have you put the microphone? Have you compared the quality of calls made using this to a dedicated handsfree kit? I've never been impressed by non-hardwired hands free kits before.

How loud is the speaker on it, is there any echo etc.

Questions, questions......

[/ QUOTE ]

Like Scoob said, it's excellent quality. I had somebody else sit in the car whilst I phoned them and it was better than the nokia bluetooth kit with external mic that I had installed before hand. The speaker is louder aswell, perfectly usable whilst doing 70 on the motorway.

The microphone on my install is placed at the front of the speaker grill - have a look at photo number 6 again carefully and you can see the mic wire running "upwards" - the mic is tiny and is on the end of this.

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Yes absolutely - maps are simply stored on the hard-drive in a "maps" sub folder. On the 300/500, they are on an SD card. You can simply dump new maps on.

If you end up getting one and need all the european maps, PM me and I'll stick them on a DVD for you. (Same goes for anybody else on here).

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Sounds ace, XC, thanks for the review.

I switched from a Pocket PC TomTom system on my iPaq to the first Go, and I found it quite slow to respond (lost me on a few roundabouts) - since the software worked well on the iPaq I assumed this was a processor/RAM deficiency in the standalone unit. Nice to hear it's now fixed - sounds as if the hardware has caught up with the software!

How well does the postcode finding work ? This is new on the Go.

I might give away the original Go and buy the 700 ... needed to get European maps etc. anyway, and with traffic, postcodes, Bluetooth, and faster processing, it sounds as if it's a lot more than just a software upgrade.

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