Product Reviews

Like paper maps, the electronic mapping data installed on GPS systems can get out of date. Updates to the maps are released periodically, but are usually available only once a year, and there's no guarantee that a certain mistake on your route home will be fixed.

TomTom's latest model tries to get round this with its Map Share feature, which allows you to correct mapping mistakes yourself. You make corrections as you drive, so if you notice a problem you can pull over and correct it straight away. Corrections are easy to make. Once you're in the corrections menu, icons are available to help you change the direction of a one-way street, correct street names and even add missing places and roads by clicking on the overhead 2D map display.

This is fine if you just want to iron out a few niggles, but you can also share the benefit of your local knowledge with other Go 720 owners. Once you've installed the supplied TomTom Home software on your PC and connected the Go 720 with a USB cable, you can upload your corrections to TomTom's servers. Once the corrections have been verified for accuracy, they are

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made available to anyone with a Go 720. You can set the software to download corrections automatically when you next plug in your GPS. However, to download Map Share updates you'll need the latest version of the TeleAtlas maps installed, so you'll still have to spend around £68 a year on updates.

The Go 720 comes with full maps of Western Europe, and is a good navigator. The interface runs quickly, and has huge buttons that are easy to operate with your finger. It also has a large 4.3in widescreen LCD with a high 480x272-pixel resolution, so there's plenty of room for the 3D driving view, and text and road names are easy to read. The built-in speaker is loud and clear, so you're unlikely to miss any voice prompts. If you need more volume, you can tune your car stereo to the frequency of the Go 720's FM transmitter.

The Go 720 also has significantly clearer voice prompts than previous models we've seen. For example, when approaching a motorway junction with a choice of directions, the device will read out the name of the next major town in the direction in which you have to go, so you can check against road signs. When approaching the M25, the unit lets you know whether you should head towards Heathrow or Gatwick. It also reads out the name of the road you need to take when approaching a junction although, confusingly, it announces road numbers as full numbers rather than individual digits; for example, "A two hundred and forty-six" instead of "A-2-4-6".

The Go 720 is relatively expensive, but it's a superb GPS system. Its voice prompts and map display are clear, and the Map Share feature is well designed and useful. It's the best standalone GPS we've seen so far.