TomTom GO 730 and TomTom ONE 130S GPSs

GO Rating: (4.5 / 5)

ONE Rating: (4.5 / 5)

I’ve had a Magellan for several years now that I really like, so I was already biased against a different brand. But now, after two weeks of use, I’m a believer: the TomTom GO 730 is one seriously awesome GPS.

The TomTom ONE 130S is the basic unit; it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of the GO, but it’s a great little unit. The two GPSs have the basic menu and navigation in common; I’ll make a note below when there’s a difference in features.

There were several things I didn’t like about this GPS at first. I had to manually switch to nighttime colors, the display didn’t show my compass directions, there wasn’t an easily accessible mute feature, and so on. As it turns out, I just hadn’t looked around enough: every single thing that I didn’t like is customizable, including visuals, sounds, handedness, and safety features.

You can even choose your keyboard layout; ABCD, QUERTY, or AZERTY. As a matter of fact, I was just about to say how irritating I find the tips that pop up, and then I thought to look for the setting to turn them off...sure enough, there it is in preferences. I really can’t say enough about how customizable this device is, so I encourage you to look into it yourself. If a preference can’t be changed, it’s the exception to the rule.

So here’s the bottom line, right at the top: Each unit is easy to setup and use, has a slim and svelte case, and is highly, highly customizable.

The ONE is nice and compact, and fits beautifully in a jacket or pants pocket for navigating while walking around. It has a great little mount that’s solid, but easy to attach and remove, and the GPS clips in and out easily.

The TomTom GO 730 has a nice big touchscreen, and has a lot of truly excellent features and extras. I particularly liked the Voice Address Input - say the city, street, and number, and then go. The only negative thing that remains with me is that I don’t like the GO’s mount. Part of it is really cool: the unit just slides onto the end (instead of fitting into a clip), so there’s less worry of breaking. But the mount has no mechanism to add and release suction on the window...just has a simple, strong suction cup. I’ve nearly broken my thumbnail off trying to remove and reposition the thing. But, on to the excellence.

Use and Visuals

Navigating through the menus is very simple and direct, with nice big icons and clear direction. You can customize the day and night colors and brightness, and in the GO 730 you can set up a custom quick menu so it’s easy to - for example - mute the sound, add your position to the Favorites list, or navigate to a spoken address.

The driving display is (do I need to say it again?) highly customizable. I absolutely loved choosing the elements for the status bar...I like to know my compass direction, and I don’t really need a speedometer display.

You can switch back and forth between 3D and 2D (I added this to my quick menu on the GO) and, in the higher-end unit, choose whatever icon you like for your car. Both GPSs give clear visual directions, and just the right number of spoken cues. I’ve tested other GPS units that really go overboard on that, and it’s nice not to hear "In ½ mile, turn right. Turn right in 500 feet, 400 feet, 300, 200, 100, 80-70..." and so on.

I was really impressed on the freeway and at the airport: the Tomtom GO 730 gives wonderfully clear visuals to your lane ("Advanced Lane Guidance") and right to your gate. It even displays freeway signs.

You can choose your route based on time, distance, avoiding freeways, walking, bicycling, or limited speed. Oh, and one of my absolute favorite and much-needed features is what I’ll call the Arrive By feature. Enter in the time at which you need to arrive, and the unit will display how early or late you will be, and your time of arrival. This is the perfect gift for the chronically late.

Navigation and Trip Planning

The Tomtom’s navigation is absolutely comprehensive. Prepare your route beforehand from departure point to destination (or use progressive trip planning, with several stops), find a point of interest in between, ask the GPS to suggest rest stops, avoid toll roads, and navigate around rush hour traffic on I-20. Seriously, I love this thing.

You can subscribe to the TomTom PLUS services for traffic and other information. Or, if the FM radio Traffic Message Channel (TMC) is available in your area, you can receive traffic information on your TomTom for free using the RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver.

Finally, use the free Map Share service to make updates to your map and connect with the TomTom Map Share community.

Phone

The TomTom GO 730 is also a Bluetooth device, so once you pair your phone to it, you can use it as a hands-free car kit to make and answer calls. This is really cool, because you can look up a point of interest and then call the phone number in the listing. It will also read your text messages to you, and download numbers from your phone.

Extras

Both GPSs have much more to offer. The "Help Me!" icon, fixed on the first menu screen, helps you phone for or drive/walk to help (hospital, police, auto, etc), and also offers your location (critical for talking to emergency services) and a first aid guide. You also have guides on country information, traffic regulations, and auto repair and maintenance.

Of course, the TomTom GO 730 is also a music player. Load it with MP3s, or just connect it to your iPod, and use the built in FM transmitter to play your music on the car radio.

The Bottom Line: There’s much more - I haven’t even begun to touch on the TomTom wireless connection, device to device sharing, and guided tours - but I should really leave just a little to the imagination. I’ll simply say that the ONE is a brilliant and comprehensive GPS, and the GO 730 is all that plus couple dozen bags of chips.