Go 740 Live - Very few posts?

[jmorisey]

My wife (and daughter) just got me a TomTom GO 740 Live for my first fathers day. Since fathers day isn't until Sunday, I can't play with it and "Don't Know" about it. She knew she was getting it for me and saw a GREAT deal on it at SAMS Club for $298.

That said, I have been reading up on this more and more all across the web... so many questions, even ones I didn't know I had. I AM NOT looking to do anything illegal or "hack" my unit, but what you are saying is the capability of MP3 and FM transmitter is in the 740, but just shut off? Again, not asking to do it, but if one were to load and hack a different version of the NavCore, could they use MP3? The reason I ask, because if this unit is capable, then maybe TomTom will realize this was a mistake and turn it back on with a "fix" in the future.

Also, I wish one could use there Bluetooth enabled phone as the "wireless" to use google/weather/traffic/etc...

I had TomTom on my SmartPhone and this will be my first actual PNA... any advice or suggestions for me?

Another thing I am finding a little discouraging... AutoOn... I would love to hard wire my power to switched power and have the unit turn on when power is detected. Is there a hack for this? (LEGAL PLEASE)

Thanks everone,
Jon

 

[dhn]

Sorry, no hack to get FM on a 740 or to get mp3. Functionality just not there (and turned off).

When you do get the unit, make a complete Explorer, not Home, backup of your unit's contents before doing anything. Ensure hidden files/folders are showing.

Remember that you have 30 days from first use to take advantage of the Latest Map Guarantee (latest map is 830) and, since that arrived at the end of May, there is no point waiting till you take advantage since the next map won't appear till the end of August in all likelihood.

If Home says you HAVE the latest map, don't necessary believe it. Unfortunately, many have been burned this way by Home's stupid software. To see the APPLICATION installed, tap the satellite bars. The next screen shows the version number. Now, tap the version number and the next screen shows the map installed and the version number.

If you don't have the latest (830) map and Home indicates you have, then call support at 866-486-6866 and they'll add the map to your account.

Happy Father's Day!

 

[mvl]

I doubt the MP3 player will ever come to a 740. While there's no technical reason it can't play MP3s (it has a speaker and a CPU), it was one of the product differentiation choices Tomtom made to separate its 740 and 940 models. Tomtom made an MP3 player for the 940, but didn't want to sell it at the 740 price point.

Third party add-ons like tomplayer (free) and mobilenova (paid) can play MP3s, you may want to check them out.

Auto-on has been a frequently requested feature, which actualy existed a few years back in the 910 line. Tomtom could write that software, but I'm not sure of the battery implications. The GO models sold after the 910 have much smaller/lighter batteries and auto-on removal may have been a compromise to maintain reasonable battery life.

 

[canderson]

Auto-on has been a frequently requested feature, which actualy existed a few years back in the 910 line. Tomtom could write that software, but I'm not sure of the battery implications.

Properly done, none at all. Of course, you have to design the hardware correctly, too.

I have a portable printer design that does exactly that. Upon application of external power, the unit wakes up, decides whether or not it was configured by the user as "auto on", and either comes fully alive or goes into its "sleep" mode and waits for someone to press the button to turn it on. I take zero hit to my battery in doing this.

 

[gatorguy]

I don't think auto-on should impact the battery at all. Garmin has done that with the nuvi line for quite some time.

 

[mikealder]

Also remember there is no way to turn off the x40 devices, use the power off button and the device only goes to sleep, there are certain functions still working. With units that have a hardware reset switch you can shut the unit down fully by pressing the reset the x40 reset is via the power on/ off switch so it's not possible for a full off mode unless you flatten the battery.

I am sure you will like the 740 but if FM Tx and mp3 player are features you really need/ want you would be better off with a 730 IMHO - Mike

 

[jmorisey]

..... Happy Father's Day!

Thanks!!! The waiting is killing me, like a little boy the morning of Christmas, lol.
Its giving me a lot of time to research, but just as much time to question whether I should go with the 740 LIVE or the 730. For the price the wife got it at, its not much different then the 730.


Jon

 

[dhn]

Just remember how printer companies make their $$$$$$$$$$. By selling the ink. And razor companies by selling the blades.

My point?

To continue to take advantage of a 740's Live features after the trial period, you must pay a monthly fee ($10, I think) and, by the postings on a Brit forum, if you decide to cancel your subscription, at least there, some users are seeing that it can take 3 months of continued payments before the billing stops.

Just sayin....

 

[sageuvagony]

TomTom did screw up by making the 7 series and 9 series models nearly identical. This killed their sales (as a rep told me) but now with the 7 and 9 x40 units, they made sure to properly adjust the features on the 740. Now the models do have a real difference.

 

[nealh]

I know this is an old thread. I just got a 740 from Sam's club for $265 w/tax. I think it is a very nice unit. All my previous GPS units are Garmin.

But reading threads and reviews, it seems the Garmiin routing is having issues and they do not seem to hear the user.

The auto-on feature is real nice and if the unit is never truly off..its stupid it is not there.

My usage is too small to compare it to my Nuvi 660.

I was going to wait for a 750/950 but I have read in several places there are no current plans for this in the US????

I do not need MP3 player but newer software version on the x50 series looks nice on the maps.

I really hope TT get s their act together on the fees...$10/mo is going to be an issue for LIve services since Garmin includes 2yrs on the 1690. Price point is higher but it will drop and people will avoid TT for the nickel and diming....

Also, Garmin's lifetime maps look to be a ?? better deal as I have seen them as low as $80...but that is a quibble as $40/yr is not bad from TT.

TT though needs to stop the map update from resetting all the favorites: other inputed info seemed to be deleted as well.

Is it possible the map update effect the compass?

I have a compass in my car..my house faces S. My Nuvi660 and the TT 740 with 825.2157 map reported a S direction when in my dirveway..now with map 835 it reads an E direction. The funny thing is there is a street that is parallel to my driveway and the TT reads the road as heading S....very odd.

 

[mvl]

The auto-on feature is real nice and if the unit is never truly off..its stupid it is not there.

agreed.

I was going to wait for a 750/950 but I have read in several places there are no current plans for this in the US????

No plans have been announced. Rumor says the 950 will make it to the US eventually, my guess is it will come concurrent with the release of Tomtom HD traffic for the US.

I really hope TT get s their act together on the fees...$10/mo is going to be an issue for LIve services since Garmin includes 2yrs on the 1690. Price point is higher but it will drop and people will avoid TT for the nickel and diming....

LIVE is mostly marketing "hype" to confuse wall st to raise stock prices . Tomtom has had LIVE services for years (just called it PLUS). The 340/740 LIVE comes with a 2G data modem, so it's slower than my 720's PLUS service tethered to a 3G phone. The 1690 is 2G, too. There are new services (eg: better traffic, google poi) added only to the LIVE bundle, but there no reason other than marketing that it couldn't have been added to PLUS. Garmin has historically kept device costs higher than Tomtom and subscription costs lower, seems like they're continuing that with the 1690.

Personally, if HD traffic comes out from Tomtom and no equivalent is ready from Garmin, it would be worth way more than $10/month for me and I'd sign up in an instant. Much of my commute is on "no trucks allowed" roads so I need a cell-probe service. Currently, all traffic services (except google) give no usable info for my daily commute.

TT though needs to stop the map update from resetting all the favorites: other inputed info seemed to be deleted as well.

Workarounds exist, see here. With early releases of HOME 2.7, they stopped resetting favorites, but then started to reset them again (presumibaly because of too many support calls from this issue)

Is it possible the map update effect the compass?

Should be no impact, AFAIK the compass didn't change since app 8.000, and the 740 ships with app 8.312. The Tomtom doesn't know what direction it's in, the compass is generated by movement of the device.

 

[nealh]

No plans have been announced. Rumor says the 950 will make it to the US eventually, my guess is it will come concurrent with the release of Tomtom HD traffic for the US.

The lack of info on the x50 series in the US got me to buy sooner rather than later, not to mention the $249 price from Sam's on the 740.

I can only hope they will update the Navcore software/ interface on the 740. The 4.3in screen is the same size as my Nuvi 660 but there is real estate loss with the traffic bar and the larger status bar. It looks like the status bar on the bottom would be more to my liking on the x50 series.

LIVE is mostly marketing "hype" to confuse wall st to raise stock prices . Tomtom has had LIVE services for years (just called it PLUS). The 340/740 LIVE comes with a 2G data modem, so it's slower than my 720's PLUS service tethered to a 3G phone. The 1690 is 2G, too. There are new services (eg: better traffic, google poi) added only to the LIVE bundle, but there no reason other than marketing that it couldn't have been added to PLUS. Garmin has historically kept device costs higher than Tomtom and subscription costs lower, seems like they're continuing that with the 1690.

my iPhone is 2G..LOL
In the US the problem will be your biggest competitor who has a "better" name is offering a longer "trial" period and a lower cost.

People are naive and if they see on is $5/mo and one is $10/mo even though the upfront costs differ they often go with the lower subscription cost.

Personally, if HD traffic comes out from Tomtom and no equivalent is ready from Garmin, it would be worth way more than $10/month for me and I'd sign up in an instant. Much of my commute is on "no trucks allowed" roads so I need a cell-probe service. Currently, all traffic services (except google) give no usable info for my daily commute.

I suppose the 740 will not support HD traffic but if it does not they will lose this user base for the subscription.

I do not care how traffic looks as long as it is accurate and frequently updated. The traffic I get on my BMW from Sirius(??) is pretty good

Workarounds exist, see here. With early releases of HOME 2.7, they stopped resetting favorites, but then started to reset them again (presumibaly because of too many support calls from this issue)

There is no link showing up

Thanks for the info and the reply.

As I said the 740 looks good and seems to work well. I would encourage TT to put a back button for the menu screens given the number of them to make it easier to navigate that.
I wish it had a remote for true voice recognition that was hands-free ala the Garmin 855/885

So far it has exceeded my expectations and I look forward to using it more...it was intended as a seond unit for other car since we often would forget to move the 660 and the nwish we had it.

 

[mvl]

I do not care how traffic looks as long as it is accurate and frequently updated. The traffic I get on my BMW from Sirius(??) is pretty good

Most traffic vendors today are similar in quality, but when combining with IQroutes, Tomtom ends up way ahead of the pack.

HD traffic will be a further huge improvement in quality and reliability, since it uses cellphone speeds, and there are lots of cell phones in any traffic jam.

There is no link showing up

Oops. These steps keep your favorites, but if the Tomtom doesn't startup afterwards you need to follow these steps.

I wish it had a remote for true voice recognition that was hands-free ala the Garmin 855/885

You can buy the remote here.

 

[nealh]

MVL..thanks for the links

esp on the remote. I could not seem to find this.

Will it work on the 740? I would assume so.

 

[mvl]

I've seen posts saying the remote worked. I don't own the remote nor a 740, so I can't confirm.

 

[mikealder]

The bluetooth remote control works fine with all the x40 range, it is a little heavy on battery usage though - Mike

 

[JimT]

I have a 740 Live and it has worked well. I did have an occasion last week when the map seemed to be "holding up" and acting slow. The nav map would freeze every so often for 5-7- seconds and then it would act normal and then the problem would reoccur. I did miss a turn. This hadnever happened before.

 

[gatorguy]

Traffic has also been very slow to load this week, at least for me.

 

[nealh]

I have been using the 740 over the last several days. It did route me a different way to work..it would have been faster except for the stupid school bus

Going to the airport, it routed me along a more local route with alot of stoplights and Live traffic didnt say it was routing differently becasue of a problem...so I went the "faster" route and there was an accident but it was nearly cleaned up..so the delay was 4 min.

It would have been helpful if the unit told me it changed the route for traffic. MAybe it did and maybe it didnt...just cant be sure.

The map did screw up near Tampa Int'l...telling me to stay left but that was I believe becaue it thought it had told me to stay right first, then left but it didnt. If my wife had been driving she would have gotten off track.

Also the speed limit on I4 E in Lakeland FL is wrong. It reports 55 not 70.

I need to check some of these quirs out a bit. Also, so far no major interchange has had the ALG.

 

[mvl]

Going to the airport, it routed me along a more local route with alot of stoplights and Live traffic didnt say it was routing differently becasue of a problem...so I went the "faster" route and there was an accident but it was nearly cleaned up..so the delay was 4 min.

It would have been helpful if the unit told me it changed the route for traffic. MAybe it did and maybe it didnt...just cant be sure.

Assuming it's the same as PLUS traffic, under traffic preferences, there is an option to have it ask about rerouting. If you do that it will always ask/inform you if it changes route.

If you want it to auto-change but still tell you, you should be able to set it to auto reroute and to speak that it is changing in traffic preferences too.

From your comments I assume you have this announcement on and it didn't warn you. Two possible reasons:
1) The traffic was already there when you planned the route, if it was you would see 'traffic on route, recalculating" as it planned the route, and you'd never get the audible "traffic has changed" announcement.
2) The traffic may be predictable traffic per IQroutes. If so, then the sidestreets are "normal" routing for Tomtom and it has nothing to warn you about.

Also, so far no major interchange has had the ALG.

What map do you have? In my experience:
-Map 825 (preinstalled on a 740) has lane guidance 25% of where I want it
-Map 830 has lane guidance 50% of where I want it
-Map 835 has lane guidance 75% of where I want it

Lane guidance and reality view are in preferences, perhaps you don't have them on? Try doing a route demo from Dedham, MA to Braintree, MA. You should see lane guidance as you merge onto Interstate 95. With map 835 you'll also see lane guidance as you leave route 1 getting onto the ramp for I95.