TomTom Go 740 Live - The Review

15th April 2009

After having my trusty TomTom Go 500 for more years than I care to remember, I thought it was about time to upgrade to a newer version. Being someone who likes to make equipment last as long as I can, I was reluctant to upgrade and carefully looked at the new (additional) features in the TomTom x40 range:

• IQ Routes Technology
• Advanced Lane Guidance
• Voice Address Input
• 2GB Available internal memory

It has a new, slimmer design and a new windscreen mount which is much better then the original I have with the Go 500. Now anyone who has used the older models with their mobile to connect to TomTom's servers to get traffic updates may like this new feature, it now comes equipped with a built-in SIM and what TomTom is calling HD Traffic.

Built-in SIM

The built-in SIM allows you to get connected to the live services that TomTom offer without having to have your phone connected. The first three months are free, but if you want to continue with these then it's £7.99 per month thereafter. Now for a lot of people this cost may not be worth it but you have to bear in mind you do get:

• HD Traffic™
• Safety Alerts
• Fuel Price,
• Local Search with Google
• LIVE QuickGPSfix™
• Weather
• and Buddies

Now for myself it will mean I can take the £4.99 data bundle off my mobile phone tariff as have this for simply connecting my mobile phone to to the TomTom services. Therefore the bundle is £3 per month extra but the HD Traffic™ is wroth this alone.

 

HD Traffic™

Now how many of us have approached the traffic on the motorway and just as you come to a stop, at the end of a long line of bright red lights, the TomTom gives you a warning of the traffic situation (5-10 minutes too late!). Well the HD Traffic reports were certainly more frequent and if the delay means there is a quicker route it will prompt you to take this route and the choice is then yours to take the new route or not. I have not had chance to test this out fully yet (fingers crossed I won't for a while) but traveling the miles I do it won't be long before I put this to more use.

 

Fuel Prices

Another way I will make back the £7.99 monthly fee for the live services is when I check the local area I am in for fuel prices or check for fuel prices on my route and fill up at the cheapest. With fuel prices on the rise again and services varying by up to 10p per litre I could easily save money stopping a couple of services before and getting 5p less than waiting until the gage is in the red and I have to stop at the next one which is selling at an astronomical price.

 

Local Search with Google

Unless I am the only person to be so unorganised (highly possible) that I have forgotten to write down the postcode of my next meeting, then this will be of great use. Simply search for the company/restaurant etc and it will bring up the number and postcode details for you to use. Again, this saves the embarrassing call of "Can you give me the postcode again please" or frantically trying to get the postcode from the web on the Blackberry or Mobile.

 

IQ Routes Technology

Here is the TomTom sales pitch:
"TomTom provides the fastest and most efficient routing possible. IQ Routes™ uses historical road-speed data from millions of TomTom users to calculate your optimal route for that specific time and day. Giving you local knowledge on a global scale."
Now the Go 500 has taken me some strange routes when I have known the local area better and I have chosen the quickest and easiest of routes. The Go 500 seems to take a strange route on an almost weekly trip to the Midlands and I often wished it would 'learn' my route which I took every time. The Go 500 was 'stubborn' and always thought best so I was intrigued to see if the IQ Routes Technology, in the Go 740 Live, would take me the best way. I am pleased to report it did and it took me the quickest route, missing the M6 Toll Road as I requested and this will be worth it's weight in gold on trips where I do not know the local area.

 

Voice and Speech

The voice instructions are loud, and concise but also less annoying than those on the older models. This time you often only get told once to turn left rather than the annoying 2-3 times on the older model. This may annoy some people but I prefer to be told once to take the 3rd exit from the roundabout as I can always look at the map and the arrow on the screen if I have forgotten in the last 2 seconds.

The speech recognition works well and various commands which you have to click through are now available by simply 'speaking' to the TomTom. The ability to call a number through speech is certainly advantageous in this 'hands-free' driving world.

 

Conclusion

Well for me the upgrade was certainly worth while and it also means while I am away the rest of the family still have a sat nav device to use at home, although the argument will be which one I leave behind!

 

On a more serious note thought he extra features built on the usual reliability and navigation functionality of the TomTom technology the x40 range of devices are well worth looking at, especially if you do a lot of driving. For people who do less mileage and are more interested in the sat nav functionality then the x30 range may be more suitable.

 

For anyone like me who drives a lot of miles for work and then more miles at the weekend getting the kids to somewhere nice to enjoy the family time (not stuck in traffic on a hot day) then the TomTom Go x40 Live range is well worth looking into.

 

Darren