Buyer Beware

The Tomtom GO 720 is a very nice piece of hardware. It's sleek looking and feels solid and well built. Unfortunately, that is all the good I can say about the product based on my experience with it. My problems with the Tomtom 720 stem from it's very poor software and worse customer service.

Using the included cdrom, I installed Tomtom's desktop software on my Macintosh computer. The software automatically tried to update itself, then claimed the update was a failure. It also refused to backup the files on the hardware unit. Then it proceeded to do an update on the Tomtom hardware. After the hardware update, the unit would no longer boot.

The manual was no help and only after much googling did I finally get the original software reinstalled on the Tomtom only to discover that the maps were missing. Tomtom does not provide replacement maps on their website or on the included cdrom. At this point I also noticed that the lcd screen on my unit was bad around the edges.

I sent an email to Tomtom support and didn't get any help after 2 days so I called their toll-free number. The tech informed me that despite being new and unused, their "warranty" doesn't cover damage to lcd (or to the hardware at all for that matter). They were also unwilling to provide a replacement map and told me I'd have to buy a new one.

I'm sure there are many happy GO 720 owners out there and that these types of problems are far and few between. Unfortunately problems like these DO happen from time to time and for what a GO 720 costs, Tomtom needs to stand behind their product. There is no excuse for failing to warranty a bad lcd on a brand new unit. There is also no excuse for making a customer pay again for a map that they already paid for when they bought the unit.

I cannot recommend this product and hope you will avoid it. However, if you are convinced that the GO 720 is for you, I urge you to purchase warranty coverage from the retailer since Tomtom will not stand behind their product.