---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #502 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: TomTom
• Model: 740
• Platforms: Windows XP Professional, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows 2000
• Format: CD
• Dimensions: .90" h x 5.00" w x 3.40" l, 1.00 pounds

Features

• Get the ultimate driving experience--enter the address on the touchscreen or use voice address entry and start driving anywhere
• GO LIVE automatically accesses traffic feeds; updated fuel prices; and Local Search powered by Google, Weather, and more
• IQ Routes Technology gives you the fastest route every time by using actual average speeds of travel on your route to calculate your trip
• With TomTom Map Share technology, you can instantly modify street names, street direction, POIs, road speeds, and turn restrictions on your own device
• Makes driving even safer with Bluetooth hands-free calling (compatible mobile phone required)

Amazon.com Product Description
Amazon.com Product Description TomTom GO 740 LIVE is navigation and so much more. Real-time information saves you time, money, and stress. GO LIVE automatically accesses traffic feeds, updated fuel prices, Local Search powered by Google, Weather, and Buddies--so you can stay in the know on the go. Real-time services work right out of the box via a built-in wireless data connection.* Three months of service included.

Navigation and so much more. Click to enlarge.

GO LIVE automatically accesses traffic feeds, updated fuel prices, Local Search powered by Google, Weather, and Buddies--so you can stay in the know on the go. Click to enlarge.

TomTom's award-winning software means the ultimate driving experience. Switch on and go right out of the box. Just enter your destination address with voice recognition or on the touchscreen and start driving anywhere in the US and Canada. TomTom GO 740 LIVE guides you door to door with turn-by-turn spoken instructions, including street names.

The GO 740 LIVE features IQ Routes Technology, which gives you the fastest route every time by using actual average speeds of travel on your route to calculate your trip time rather than posted speed limits. You'll always travel the smartest route.

TomTom has the most accurate maps, and with TomTom Map Share technology, you instantly can modify street names, street direction, POIs, and more on your own device.

The TomTom GO 740 LIVE is the ultimate connected car navigator.

*Services available in the United States only.

GO 740 LIVE Features

• LIVE Services
  • TomTom Traffic
  • Fuel Prices
  • Local Search powered by Google
  • Weather and more
• Maps of United States and Canada with TomTom Map Share
• IQ Routes Technology
• Voice Recognition
• Advanced Lane Guidance
• Bluetooth Hands-Free Calling
• Spoken Street Names

All TomToms Feature

Plug & Go--Works right out of the box.

Preloaded Points of Interest--Easily find millions of gas stations, restaurants, hotels, and more on your route.

30-Day Latest Map Guarantee--Up to date, off the shelf.

TomTom Map Share--Modify your own map and benefit from others' verified changes with TomTom Map Share.

Help Me! Emergency Menu--Easily access local emergency providers, such as police, fire stations, and hospitals.

TomTom HOME--Always up to date.

Traffic Ready--Optional RDS-TMC traffic receiver accessory keeps you up-to-date on traffic events to minimize potential delays.

Fuel Price Service (optional)--Know more, pay less.

Why TomTom?

TomTom believes that personal navigation should be as easy and safe as possible. TomTom develops smart technology that gives you straightforward solutions, innovations to make life easy.

Easy to Use

• Award-winning navigation software
• Plug & go

Best Maps

• 30-Day Latest Map Guarantee
• Modify your own map and benefit from others' verified changes with TomTom Map Share

Best Routing

• QuickGPSfix
• Traffic ready

Leader in Safety

• Help Me! emergency resources menu
• Safety preferences menu

About TomTom

Founded in Amsterdam in 1991, TomTom has established itself as a global leader in navigation by being an innovative company with a strong brand, clear customer focus, and high-quality products and services.

TomTom is a leading navigation solutions provider with navigation products sold in 30 countries and in over 20 languages. To further its commitment to car navigation, TomTom acquired Tele Atlas maps in 2008 so that the company can continually provide the most up-to-date maps and intelligent routing.

TomTom has its own mapping company!

Did you know that every year, roads change by up to 40% in high-growth areas? Tele Atlas manages this by using the world's most comprehensive systems to identify and incorporate these changes into our maps with unprecedented levels of speed and accuracy. All TomTom devices benefit from the Tele Atlas advantage--more coverage, more points of interest, and more freshness and accuracy.

What's in the Box

GO 740 LIVE device, Windshield mount, USB cable, car charger, software/manual CD, documentation

---

Customer Reviews

Another solid offering from TomTom
I have used multiple generations of the TomTom, and I have been a fan for a while. TomTom has always had the best user interface, but the rubber meets the road on directions and map accuracy, and here the new GO 740 Live shows solid improvement.

I drive in the Washington DC area, and occassionally commute up I-95 to New York and Long Island. In other words, it's traffic, traffic everywhere.

I depend on the TomTom GO 740 Live. The traffic updates are frequent, and almost always match what I am seeing in the real world. And IQ Routes are clearly having a positive impact on route selection. IQ Routes is the feature than anonymously gathers actual driving experiences from all TomTom users and then factors that history into its route computation. I suppose it works best in metro areas where there are many users.

Why this matters: Anyone who drives north out of DC knows that 16th Street is much, much better than Georgia Ave. They both appear as normal city streets, and though Georgia appears more direct, it has more untimed lights and more local traffic. Before IQ Routes, TomTom would suggest Georgia, and I would ignore it. Now, TomTom suggests 16th. With IQ Routes, TomTom is gathering the experience that only local drivers have.

After second-guessing TomTom for a few months, and usually being wrong, I now let it automatically route around traffic. Between the traffic reports and the IQ routes, I am getting the right routes and very accurate estimates of arrival times.

My previous TomTom was the 930, which reached its traffic service through a bluetooth connection to my phone. The connection was flaky (I blame Verizon, not TomTom.) and did not work if I was on a call. The new LIVE series has it's own cell circuitry built in. I stopped paying $15/month to Verizon for "broadband access connect", and I will gladly pay $10/month to TomTom for the LIVE services, which include traffic, fuel prices, speed cameras, Google searches, etc.

Final note: In addition to the LIVE services, I subscribe to TomTom's map update service, and I dock the unit to my PC often to download map corrections. I depend on my GPS, so these update services are a positive feature for me, and my review assumes use of all these services.

Disappointing first impression
TomTom GO 740 4.3-Inch Live Connected GPS Navigator
GPS Experience:
- Smartphone: TomTom Navigator 6 (in-use), Garmin XT, Copilot Live 6, Telenav (in-use)
- Dedicated: Garmin Nuvi 885T (in-use)

I had resisted buying dedicated GPS units while the phone apps (while buggy) generally had better traffic and online search capability for what I wanted to use. So I was quite excited when the TomTom Live units were announced.

Unfortunately the first impression is not that great. After having used TomTom Navigator6 with the traffic subscription for the last year or so, I've found their traffic data to be generally reliable (Telenav and Navigator6 seem to agree quite often on the amount of congestion and how to avoid). Not so the 740 Live. For example, in the San Jose CA area where I live there's a stretch of Hwy85 that *always* backs up one way in the morning and the other way in the afternoon for several miles. You can quite clearly see this on MSN, Google, Sigalert, Navigator6, Telenav, ... but as far as the 740Live is concerned there's no traffic. While there are some traffic incidents in the area reported, I'd say I'm generally missing around 1/2 of the incidents on the surrounding freeways. I've taken simultaneous pictures of my phone and the 740Live and sent these to TomTom for comment.

I completed a 4hr drive and ran both the 740Live and Navigator6 on auto-avoidance. Luckily I was driving in the car pool lane, so I didn't have to take the detours offered, however Navigator6 seemed to have the more reasonable suggestions for when to leave the freeway and take surface streets. Again, this seems to be related to the Navigator6 software generally reporting more traffic from what I could tell.

Also while driving tonight (first trip of more than 15mins), the machine all of a sudden rebooted itself. While potentially somewhat of an annoyance, this was downright dangerous the way it happened as it was dark outside and I was in night driving mode - during reboot the device flashed to full brightness for at least 15secs pretty much blinding me.

Anyway, I still find the TomTom UI the best thought out and the 740Live doesn't disappoint here. I'm sure the problems I'm having are teething issues - however, if you want a rock solid experience and want to rely on the traffic service ... I'd wait.

Closer Than When We Started
GPS's owned: Garmin StreetPilot III, Garmin 760, Dash Express, Navigon 7200T, TomTom GO 730, TomTom GO 740.

Summary first: Now if I could only cross-breed my Navigon 7200T with the TomTom GO 740.

My early and as yet incomplete impression is the TomTom GO 740 connected services are about on par with the original connected GPS, the Dash Express, which came out a year ago and withered on the vine 8-months later. TomTom does not offer the ability to integrate 3rd-party applications, which was a fantastic selling point for the Dash. The 3rd-party apps were better than the embedded ones. Anyway, enough about Dash, but I'm not going to be able to get away from the Navigon 7200T.

TomTom's connected search uses Google, and comes out of the box with all the standard TomTom GO series features. I like the way they've implemented the gas price display as it doesn't force you to look through an entire list, but just shows the cheapest along your route. You can still get a list if you want it. It's one of those, "less-is-more" things. It is a tad slow when downloading the data, so if you're in a hurried situation, it might be frustrating.

TomTom's autozoom (it was this way in my TomTom GO 730, too), bugs me to no end. Even at 70mph, it zooms too close to be useful, displaying only about a minute's worth of the road ahead, and little detail (e.g. upcoming roads) while in a route. Disabling autozoom and zooming out just a little completed eliminates all detail: It is blank, except for the road you're traveling. The Navigon displays up to 3 minutes of road ahead at that speed, and provides a reasonable amount of detail without being cluttered.

As of this early writing, I've yet to test the traffic services as I do not live near a major city, even though heavy traffic is not limited to those areas!

Unless you must have a connected GPS, go with the Navigon 7200T. Besides being $150 cheaper at this writing, it has free traffic for life and the autozoom is better. TT's IQ Routing is better than Navigon's routing, but not by much. Lane-assist is better on the Navigon, offering lane advice in complex interstate interchanges even if you're staying on the same interstate; the TomTom offers lane assist only if you're changing interstates.

There were no issues with brightness of the GO 740's display, from cloudless day to moonless night, and the adjustment range should be enough for any driving condition.

I really wish I could just build my own GPS, or that Navigon would come out with a connected GPS built on the 7200T.

Lastly, if you think this word picture doesn't match a 4-star rating, realize that I am leaving out much of what made TomTom a threat to Garmin. TomTom has a lot of things right and I'd only be regurgitating all the positive things you could read on the GO730 and GO720 reviews.