![]() The TomTom Go 720 has a 4.3-inch widescreen (16:9) color LCD that shows 480 by 272 pixels. This is likely to affect only cars with slanted windshields, and if it bothers you, TomTom sells several alternative mounting options that provide for greater flexibility. With previous units, I’ve been able to mount the GPS much lower, so that it’s right above the dashboard. Normally, keeping a GPS plugged in while in the car isn’t a big deal, but the stubby suction cup mount that ships with the 720 has a sufficiently small range of motion that I was forced to mount it fairly high on the windshield, right under the rear view mirror, thus draping the power cable through my field of vision. It also charges from its dock when connected to your Mac via USB, so you may be able to get away with treating it more like a cell phone if you don’t want to plug it in when in the car. Around town you might be able to get by on the battery, but for trips, you’ll certainly need to keep it plugged into your car’s power outlet via the included USB car charger. Although TomTom claims a 5 hour battery life, it lasted barely half that in my testing. ![]() That’s potentially important because the 720 has a lithium-ion battery, so you can use it outside the car while walking or biking. I presume the delay in turning on is aimed at preventing the unit from being turned on accidentally when in a pocket or suitcase. As a result, I would sometimes find myself thinking I hadn’t pressed the button properly to turn it on, then let up and press down again, only to discover that it was in fact powering up and my second press had turned it off. In fact, it has only a single power button, although it takes some getting used to, since powering up the unit requires holding the button down for 4 to 6 seconds, whereas powering it down happens immediately. But before I get into that…ĭrums in the Distance - Physically, the TomTom Go 720 is nice and simple, without extraneous buttons to get in the way during normal usage. So in choosing the $399.95 TomTom Go 720 to review, I am capitulating to reader wishes, and I can now say, from hard-won experience, that the capability to connect a standalone car navigation GPS to the Mac is indeed as annoying and distracting as I thought it would be. Since map updates are often not free, useful only to a subset of users, and necessary only infrequently, the fact that you couldn’t connect the devices I have previously reviewed to the Mac (as opposed to Windows) didn’t seem like a major problem.īut readers disagreed, and took me to task for not making a bigger deal of the lack of Mac compatibility. ![]() Worth doing every 12 to 18 months, depending on how quickly the roads change in the areas where you drive. The “nearly” comes into play should you wish to download updated maps, something that may be (And yes, I’m aware that it’s possible to come up with examples of such use, like sharing of trip routes or route planning on the computer, but I’ve never felt any desire for such things.) The attraction of the class of devices I’ve been reviewing is that they provide a simple-to-use and complete package, with all the maps you generally need stored internally, and with nearly everything the device can do accessible from its own touch-screen interface. Until now in these reviews, I’ve barely mentioned the idea that you’d want to connect one of these devices to your Mac because, quite frankly, I don’t see much point in it beyond basic geekery. But perhaps more important, TomTom has long provided Macintosh software for downloading new maps, voices, and other customizations to the device. TomTom’s GPSes are generally regarded as being as good as or better than those from the better-known Garmin and Magellan. See our “ Find Yourself with GPS” series for the full set of reviews of different devices.Īlthough I’m sure progress has been made by Garmin and Magellan, I’ve been wanting to check out devices from TomTom. It has been about a year and a half since my last review of a car navigation GPS, a consumer electronics field of which I’m inordinately fond, because the little buggers are so darn useful when driving in unfamiliar environs. 1647: Focus-caused notification issues, site-specific browser examples, virtualizing Windows on M-series Macs.#1648: iPhone passcode thefts, Center Cam improves webcam eye contact, APFS Uncertainty Principle.#1649: More LastPass breach details and 1Password switch, macOS screen saver problem, tvOS 16.3.3 fixes Siri Remote bug.#1650: Cloud storage changes for Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive quirky printing problem. ![]() #1651: Dealing with leading zeroes in spreadsheet data, removing ad tracking from ckbk. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |