So I got a new TomTom Go 720 and I was going to write a nice review about it, but there’s plenty of those out there and they have plenty of filler material and useless stuff in them too. Instead of spending 2 hours writing a review that you’ll spend 30 minutes reading, I’ll just touch on the pros and cons of the TomTom Go 720.

Pros

• The customization of voices – You can download and use new voices from TomTom’s website. These range from rednecks and sultry women to aussies and Mr. T himself. Pretty cool! Not as cool as the ability to record your own messages. Sure there’s over 60 for you to sit there and record, but if you miss the sound of your nagging wife telling you where and when to make the next turn, you can record her voice to give you directions. Hella cool!
• Map colors – Ok so it’s not completely customizable…but it’s customizable enough to satisfy and simple enough to not confuse you. You can’t make the roads any color you like and the grass/neutral area any color you like, but you can pick between 1 of 4 for daytime colors and 1 of 4 different ones for nighttime. You can go into the advanced mode and choose from any of them for any time of the day if the techno-night colors are that appealing to you.
• Changable vehicle icon – You can pick from about 25 or so different icons to represent your car on the screen. Instead of a boring blue or yellow arrow you can choose to have a sports car, motorcycle, convertible, or even a big duallie truck!
• Multiple destinations per route – If I want to set my route to stop by 3 places before I end up at my girlfriends house (I know where she lives, the novelty of the TomTom hasn’t worn off yet, though) I can do that. If I want to end up at my destination at a certain time it will put me there at the time I request. (limitations being you can’t make it get you there in 2 minutes if it’s 30 miles away of course).
• Dockable – This means you can hook it up to your computer to charge, upload photos, upload music, upload documents, download new maps, download new voices, and lots of stuff like that. Don’t worry about wall chargers and car chargers. The 5 hour battery will suffice for short-medium trips and you can plug it up to your laptop to charge when you get there.

The Cons

• Nagging voice – I love Mikey the Brit, but sometimes he just gets on my nerves…He can say “Bear right, keep right, turn right ahead, turn right, turn right” all within 15 yards. When he does this a little bit of me dies…because my cool device is annoying the ever loving hell out of me.
• TomTom doesn’t stay off – sometimes it comes back on after I turn it off and while I’m eating or something Mikey sits out in my car talking to himself the whole time and when I come back out, he’s dead or dying. Not sure why this is. I’m sure it’s a setting I have turned on somewhere but it’s annoying to me.
• TomTom Plus not with iPhone – I have the latest and greatest gadgets in two categories, cellphone and GPS…The TomTom Go 720 will answer and dial calls when connected to my iPhone via bluetooth but it cannot read text messages or use the TomTom Plus software on the road. I can’t criticize TomTom too much in this department because it’s largely the iPhone’s fault. I have Sync in my Ford Fusion and it cannot read text messages aloud from the iPhone either. You’re also (ironically) tethered to AT&T’s contract that clearly states that you cannot tether the iPhone to access the internet. I assume that’s what my TomTom is trying to do when I try to use the Plus services and it tells me my $500 cellphone isn’t compatible.
• No display of current elevation – Seriously, that too much to ask? Am I overlooking it?

There you have it, a quick few likes and dislikes of the TomTom Go 720.