Satnav connectivity - TomTom Go 720 + iPod + Bluetooth phone 26Nov07
The idea of having a car loaded with intelligent high-tech gadgets has never quite appealed to me until owning the car I have now, my 2002 VW Passat Estate Sport. Saying that I’ve been hoping to get a SatNav for some time, but I’ve never really thought beyond that - SatNav is just a cool modern alternative to a map.
However, after looking at the various models of SatNav available, I opted for the TomTom Go 720 which is (very almost) the top-of-the-range SatNav currently available from TomTom, and probably one of the most advanced SatNav’s out there at the moment too. The SatNav is my main birthday present from my parents so I’ve still got a few weeks to go until I can play with it myself and in the meantime I’ve been looking a lot into the various accessories and connectivity it offers.
Connecting my bluetooth-enabled mobile phone sounds really great since the TomTom Go 720 can handle hands-free calling with any(?) bluetooth phones. Apparently once paired to a phone, just tapping the touch-sensitive screen when a call comes in will answer the call, so no need to take your eyes off the road.
What’s more, the 720 offers the ability to connect an iPod MP3 player to it as well, and even better, the TomTom 720 also includes an FM transmitter so that playing the tunes from the connected iPod through the cars radio and speakers is dead-easy.
This sounds all great, but this becomes quite a complex set-up, so lets re-cap
Apparently the TomTom Go 720 can handle all of this effortlessly - it can pause the songs playing on the iPod when a call comes in, the user can control the iPod from the easy to use large touch-screen of the TomTom as well as controlling it direct on the iPod itself. All this sounds awesome - really awesome - but I wonder what its like in practice?
Watch this space in the near future. I will hopefully be buying myself my first (proper) MP3 player very shortly (can you believe that?), and its going to be an iPod.
PS: Excuse the dodgy diagram!
Ok, so I know asking for donations is really lame, but I'm trying to save up for an 
Collin Says:
27 Nov 2007
I think your only sticking point will be the FM tuning.
I have no experience of using the FM transmit though the TomTom but I had a few different transmitters for my iPod and all of them were crap. The reception was awful due to the location of the antenna in most cars. Not surprisingly it was best in the Mini due to the location of the antenna in comparison to the location of the iPod.
To be honest I would rather spend the extra and buy an MP3 head unit with iPod control options. In fact, that’s exactly what I did when I bought my Pioneer HU.
Daze Says:
27 Nov 2007
So true. I’ve heard of many stories from other devices with FM transmitters which have terrible signal’s and poor quality, so I am not sure what to make of the TomTom’s one yet.
Originally I was going to install an MP3 player head unit of some kind, but even with the nicest looking, top quality car stereo available, it still doesn’t look quite as nice as the standard VW one.
I bought a universal stereo blanking plate a while ago from Halfords in an attempt to install my old MP3 player head unit, but things didn’t go too well. The blanking plate was a terrible fit and stuck out a long way, and my pioneer head unit didn’t fit correctly either, even though its the standard head unit size. Trying to find a genuine VW stereo blank plate has been proving a nightmare, not even eBay has been returning results (unless you want to spend £50+).
My final option is to buy a connector for my VW radio where I will be able to plug in the Aux Out of the TomTom into the connector. The only down-side of this set-up is that the connector in question replaces the use of the VW 6 disc CD changer - something which I would have liked to keep!
A nightmare! I will report back on this - hopeful - set up after everything is in place. Perhaps the TomTom FM transmitter is slightly stronger than others on the market? I hope so!…
Simon Says:
27 Nov 2007
I would be interested to know if you could get the TomTom to play ‘non’ Ipod players. I know the remote control wont be there but perhaps there is a way of just routing through the audio.
Chris Says:
27 Nov 2007
My cheap (£35) FM transmitter that I bought from a duty free has been working fine for about 8 months so far… Not having many arguments with it. Only every now and then in a dodgy area with lots of signals do I get any interfearence, or sometimes with my work phone nearby. Unfortunatly my work phone manages to mess up speakers on the other side of the office as well. No idea how it passed EMC testing!
Chris
Daze Says:
28 Nov 2007
Simon - Not sure if this can be done. I suppose the only way is if the TomTom had a “line in” or equivalent jack lead which you could plug in an audio source. It would make sense if they had included such a feature, but not sure.
Chris - Ta for the comment. Sounds interesting, although most of the stuff you said I don’t actually understand! Its nice to know, however, that your “cheap” £35 FM transmitter does the job for you. I’d hope that TomTom install an equivalently “cheap” (or better) transmitter in their sat nav!
Simon Says:
28 Nov 2007
Thanks for your comments, perhaps TomTom will come out with something later to support non Ipods, but in the mean time i’ll have to go shopping for a separate FM transmitter. Shame really as it will be something else to power in the car and that was my mail reason for getting the 520.
Daze Says:
28 Nov 2007
Indeed. Do you know for sure that the TomTom 520 or 720 don’t support non-iPods? Its beginning to worry me to be honest - this whole TomTom thing in general. I’ve heard too many stories about the new 520 and 720 having problems with Bluetooth, the FM transmitter, the hands-free, and more.
Looking forward to trying mine out, but at the same time, worried that I might face similar problems. I’ll keep you informed with a new post (probably) in mid December!
Paul Says:
18 Dec 2007
I bought a iPod connector from Dension for my 2003 Audi A4 (I believe it is the same head unit connections as the Passat) which replaces the auto changer. Basically your iPod becomes the auto changer and you can control the tracks and playlists through the existing head unit in a basic manner. The sound is great, much better than an FM connector. Why go through another device to connect it?
I have the 720, but I hate it for handsfree and am having many problems in reliably sustaining a bluetooth connection which means traffic updates are sporadic and rarely available when I actually need them!
Daze Says:
19 Dec 2007
Hi Paul and thanks for the comment.
I was thinking about getting one of those connectors you speak of to go in my Passat, but I would also like to retain the use of my auto-changer. Why, you might ask? Girlfriend sits in car, quickly demands she wants her girly-girl CD. This can’t be done if I had that connector. Although it sounds like a perfect world, I’d still like the chance to play CD’s right there and then.
Also, my 720 I am finding quite good. The handsfree is certainly not its best, but it is possible to understand and have conversations (although not for long, I might add). The bluetooth connection to my phone is perfect (touch wood) and hasn’t let me down once yet, but then again I’m not using the traffic updates or anything, its purely just for the handsfree (PS: My phone is a Sony Ericsson W810i - quite old!)
Daze
Lee Says:
21 Dec 2007
I have a Go 720. I use both bluetooth and the iPod cable with an iPhone. I was wondering if you’ve been able to get handsfree audio from your bluetooth phone to output to the FM transmitter? The speaker on the Go is not very good for holding conversations.
Lee
Daze Says:
23 Dec 2007
Hi Lee. Sounds like you’ve got a nice set-up. I haven’t yet bought the iPod cable yet. Also, I haven’t really tried the FM transmitter at all yet so I couldn’t tell you. I know what you mean about the speaker, but what I find worse is the mic since people on the other end are complaining that they really cannot hear me. Its annoying as well that Tomtom don’t do an external mic for the 720 - yet.
Thanks for the comment. I may just go and have a play with the FM transmitter now!
andrew Says:
30 Dec 2007
I have a Go 720. the FM transmitter works great. The only things i’ve noticed is when I’m using my phone, the sound doesn’t send to the fm transmitter but using the 720 internal speaker. Is there a way I can get the sound send to the fm transmitter when using my phone? thanks
Daze Says:
31 Dec 2007
Hi Andrew. To be honest, I’ve no idea. I haven’t tried the FM transmitter very much yet since I don’t have an iPod connector. I am, sort of, able to hold conversations on my phone via the Tomtom’s internal speaker, although the person I’m talking to usually has problems hearing me since the mic in the 720 is not great - I think this depends on where its mounted in the car (if its near you, etc).
As for the FM transmitter and phones, I’m not sure. All I know is that my 720’s FM transmitter works great with transmitting the example MP3 file and also speaking to me, but I only used this for a few moments just to see what its like.
Steve Says:
4 Jan 2008
I can’t get the hands free phone to work thru the car radio speakers.. I have written to TomTom support, but they never answered me. If anyone knows for sure please post.. Thanks
Daze Says:
6 Jan 2008
Steve, thanks for the comment. That sucks, hopefully they’ll get back to you very soon. I’ve still yet to try it to be honest, I am still managing OK with the in-built speaker.
Mark Says:
6 Jan 2008
I have a passat highline with gamma and 6cd changer mounted beneath. Bought a TOMTOM GO520 with ipod cable the other day and just completed first long journey. What a nightmare! Sat nav for sat nav purposes is usual tomtom quality. Then it gets bad. sat nav speaker for phone calls is distorted on max volume - the system kept hanging up when trying to call - I had to continually retune the fm transmitter for clear ipod sound (not good at 70mph) - tomtom battery life with all ths going on is no more than 2 hours! I found your blog as I am searching for alternatives. I am going to return the tomtom and buy a cheaper version that just does satnav. I will get rid of my 6 cd changer and properly install my ipod and bluetooth phone adaptor. If your girl friend is long term put her girly music on your ipod - face reality either she or the cd changer has to go!
Conor Says:
7 Jan 2008
I got the TomTom 720 off Santa, very happy with it so far, although I drive a Renault Laguna II and the FM transmitter is a disaster. I also have a Sony-Ericsson hands free bluetooth device installed in the car using its own speaker which is quite good, I wanted to connect my 720 to output the voice through this speaker but when I try to pair the two, the 720 sees the bluetooth device but when I enter the password in and it wont connect with it.
I use a Nokia E65 which connects with the 720, it works fine although doesnt support the Text to Speech function.
Daze Says:
8 Jan 2008
Mark - I do know what you mean. Holding a convo on the phone at 70+ on the motorway, even in a relatively quiet Passat is almost impossible. I don’t really bother very much, I just say loudly “I’ll call you back, driving at the moment!!” The set-up your going for sounds ideal - best of luck with it. The only thing that I had issues with was the fact that replacing the CD changer with anything else than itself just looks terrible. VW put a good effort into the design of the radio and dash and I think it looks horrible with anything non-VW in there. Best of luck though!
Conor - congrats on getting the 720. Despite it being a bit of a pain in the backside sometimes, its still a bloody good system isn’t it! No idea about your problem to be honest, I didn’t have any problems in connecting my Sony-Ericsson W810i to the TomTom with the bluetooth password, it just worked straight off. Then again, I don’t use anything else along with it. You mention a bluetooth hands-free device which I don’t have any don’t know much about! Sorry!
Steve Says:
8 Jan 2008
Hurray, I just got an answer from TomTom.. The Ipod will play thru the FM transmitter, but the phone does not. Wish it did.. Seems dumb that everything else would work thru the transmitter and not the phone. Maybe there would be a problem with feedback because the car speakers would overwhelm the TomTom microphone. Oh well, 1 out 2 isnt bad. Will just use my earbud for the phone..
Thanks to everyone that emailed and tried to help me with my problem.. Take Care… Steve…
Lee Says:
8 Jan 2008
That’s disappointing…I really wanted that to work!
Lee
Mark Says:
8 Jan 2008
Folks - after 4 sat nav swaps I now have one that works a treat. Apparently there are known problems with the speakers and the mics. My handfree now works a treat just like you would expect it to and like it is advertised.
Those of you with VW or Audi might be interested in this site http://www.xcarlink.co.uk which provides (for £70) a gadget that will let you plug your ipod into your fitted radio and still use the 6 cd changer - amazed? I was and it looks like Daze can keep his girlfriend!
Mine comes tomorrow and I will see if I can also connect the tomtom in as the box has a 3.5mm jack socket as well as the ipod cable.
As for tomtom issues, if you haven’t already been to the forums on this site give it ago as they seem to have the worlds most knowledgeable folk on tomtoms and all things sat nav. pocketgpsworld.com/modules.php...
Mark
Daze Says:
9 Jan 2008
Steve - glad you got a response. What you said about getting feedback sounds like a possible reason why this feature isn’t included. Such a shame, as you said, but I suppose it makes sense.
Mark - Nice! Cheers for the link to that adapter thing, that’s really worth looking into for me since you get the best of both worlds! Plus, as you said, girlfriend can stay. Brilliant! Finally, thanks also for the link. I’ve downloaded a fair number of POI’s from Pocket GPS World and I’m very happy with them. The forum seems quite active and quite able to help out with problems regarding TomTom’s. Ta very much!
Mark Says:
10 Jan 2008
Spent 2 hours last fitting my newly aquired Xcarlink. I know it would have made more sense to wait to the weekend and do it in the daylight but I just had to do it straight away! The product arrived well packaged and a quality look and feel to it. It also came complete with the special keys to remove the vw radio.
Getting the radio and cd player out was stright forward enough and I then connected the xcarlink just to make sure it worked ok - it did and I then spent 20 minutes or so playing with the setting rather than gettin gon with the job!
The most difficult bit was routing the cable behind the glove box but I dropped that quite easily by removing 7 easily identified screws. I was going to place the connection int he glove box but, given that with the xcarlink you can control the ipod from the radio or by use of the click wheel I decided to route the cable to the little cubby under the armrest. I had to cut a hole in the the little bin but it is not visible and I cut it high enough up to make sure little things won’t fall through.
Put every thing back together and then sat in the car for a further 30 mins playing again! It is very easy to swap between cd Changer and ipod. The ipod always resumes playing from where it stopped which is good as the system in my wifes car alsways goes back the beginning which is a nuiscance if you are listening to a podcast or a talking book! The system charghes the ipod as well.
The xcarflink has the the ipod connector and also a 3.5mm jack for connecting to other mp3 players or possible ipod shuffle. What it does mean though is that with a suitable extenstion cable you can connect the audio-out from your tomtom and have that playing through the car system. I tried this when the radio and cd were all resting on dash. With the ipod playing and the tomtom connected the output from the tomtom is loud enough to be heard over the music - I will now need to get said extension and make the easy connection.
The xcarlink was only £75 inc p+p by special delivery. Compare this with the cost of dension which, if you want to retain your cd changer functionality, is over £150.
Next step is to hard wire the tomtom power - that will have to be done in daylight!
Mahdi Says:
12 Jan 2008
Hi, I got my TomTom 720 two days ago. I have problem to connect it to my cellphone Motorola 635! Is there any solution? 720 doesn’t recognize my cellphone!
Thanks.
Steve Says:
17 Jan 2008
Hey there,
great blog going here, very interesting and a great project! Have you got instructions / documentation on how to hard wire the tomtom power? It’s also something I would be interested in to free up the cigarette charger…
Cheers!
Steve
Daze Says:
17 Jan 2008
Wow, Mark, thanks for your HUGE post! The biggest ever, I think? Great to hear everything is working out for you OK. Personally, I am happy with my “basic” set-up, for now at least. But its nice to know there are other options which improve things further.
Mahdi - Sorry, I really have no idea. I guess your Bluetooth is turned on and you’ve tried re-setting the pass keys, etc. Other than that, not a clue.
Steve - thanks very much for your comments. I’ve thought about hard-wiring the power as well in my car, here’s the way that I was going to do it - Buy a cigarette 4-way extension thing, cut off the cig lighter end and connect it directly to the battery. By doing this, you can hide the extension block away somewhere and will still have the standard cig lighter intact and without looking untidy at all. Then the TomTom cig lighter can connect to your new 4-way extension then its just a case of re-routing the cables around the dashboard to hide them. I might do this when I get more free time!
Anthony Says:
21 Jan 2008
I have a 520 and pairing with the T-mobile MDA is nothing short of painful. It’s a work PDA and it restarts at midnight each night. Could this be why I have to delete and re-pair every single morning?
Once it’s connected, however, I find that the hands-free works just well enough up to 70mph in a Transit Connect, so long as the power cable is connected. On battery alone the speaker distorts and the screen dims. Is this normal? Very annoying since I use my cigarette lighter socket for about a million other things like drill batteries, laptop, etc.
Also, my 520 came with iPod cable and non-iPod standard jack to jack cable so I guess this model at least works with non-iPod mp3 players. Hope that helps anybody who wondered about that.
Oh, yeah… what’s up with the ONE v3 not having an SD slot? That’s actually why I bought the 520. US maps are 900MB-ish and the ONE v3 has only 512MB internal memory! Weird decision, TomTom.
Daze Says:
22 Jan 2008
Thanks for your comments Anthony.
I am pretty sure, listening to you, that you’ve got problems with your PDA for the exact reason you said - because it resets. What a bummer, I don’t suppose there is a way around this unless you can stop it from resetting?
With the speaker distorting and screen dimming when on battery power - yes I’ve found that too! Interesting. Recently, I’ve set the speaker to 90% which seems to help a lot and which is also not actually that much louder than when its at 100%.
Thanks again for your comments, its nice to know that the iPod cable also works with standard MP3 players.
Mark Says:
25 Jan 2008
Hi,
Just got a GO520 and have a problem with the bluetooth and my Nokia E65. The connection between the phone and 520 is OK and when requested will make a call, however once connected to the other person there’s no sound. After a few seconds trying to make contact the other person just hangs-up as expected. I dont know if the problem is with the E65 or 520. Can anyone help? Thanks.
Anthony Says:
27 Jan 2008
Hey Mark. Sounds like one of the same problems I had at first. I don’t know if you paired your 520 or Nokia with anything else prior to pairing the two but I found that after I deleted the other paired devices from my PDA and restarted both that and the 520, I was finally able to make a successful call. I’m sure you already tried that but just in case. Hope this is of some use to you.
Shifty Says:
3 Feb 2008
Thanks for all the information. I really hoped that i could get my tt 720 and phone work from car`s speakers. Oh well, now i have to buy an extra handfree device, becose i cant hear shit at +70km/h speed. Would be cool if 720 could find that extra handfree device and transmit sounds to it. If u know what i mean. But im thinking thats not possible.
Clare Eaton Says:
11 Feb 2008
Has anyone experienced not being able to get the transmitter to actually transmit the songs being played on the Ipod? TT shows the playlist and allows me to select play. I’ve tried several different frequencies, matching up the radio and TT, but all that happensd is that the radio stops crackling and goes silent.
All help appreciated!
Lee Says:
12 Feb 2008
The reset button on the bottom has fixed the “no fm” problem for me twice now. Mildly irritating at best!
Graham Sturmey Says:
13 Mar 2008
I have Tomtom 520, Ipod cable and 4th Gen Ipod. I too am really annoyed that the handsfree to bluetooth phone does not come through the FM transmitter. Does anyone know if it would come through the line out/or Bluetooth out?
Regarding Steve’s post on 17th Jan, As the 520 uses my Ipod’s dock connector to sync songs to it, I have had to use a Kensington 4 in 1 Ipod charger which powers the iPod, but cleverly feeds through the doct connect for use on other Ipod accessories (such as my 520). I also have a small USB hub under dash to power all these USB devices from a single USB fag lighter charger. I like the idea of connecting direct to battery though to tidy everything up!
Graham Sturmey Says:
13 Mar 2008
Just found page on Tomtom website in support section stating that “hand free calling with ALWAYS be played through the internal speaker”. This is rubbish. Feel cheated. This was one of the main reasons I bought the thing. Gonna complain!
tomtom.com/support/solution.ph...
james Says:
19 Mar 2008
hi there,
i have the same problem as one of the above people. i have a tomtom 720t and a nokia e65. the devices pair together fine and i can make calls from the tomtom but there is no sound?? can anyone help please?
many thanks
james
simone Says:
20 Mar 2008
great site and input
i have just bought a go720 yesterday - all wired up and working - but the phone pairs up with my sony ericson, but will not transfer the phonebook onto the tomtom. have rebooted - but no joy - has anyone else had this problem? if so what can i do?
thanks
Jack age:12 Says:
23 Mar 2008
Hey Guys,
My family is going to get a tomtom 720 and me being the best when it comes to technology im in charge of the computer side of things. My main issue is the ipod cable connecter. In different website descriptions of the product it notes:
—————————-
Enjoy easy, safe in-car entertainment by controlling your iPod via the GO screen. Just plug in the iPod cable, connect the audio cable to the car stereo and you can instantly brighten up your journey with your favourite songs and playlists.
—————————-
I have the same VW radio/cd player as Simon, Its says to connect the audio cable into the stereo. In this radio/cd player it doesnt have any aux outlets( or what ever there called) does this matter if you cant plug it in to the radio/cd player? Or can you just plug your ipod into tour tomtom 720 and transmit song to your radio/cd player.
Many thanks
Jack
Andy Williams Says:
23 Mar 2008
Hi, sorry if this has already been covered. I have a bluetooth mobile and a parrot in-car kit, when a call comes in the audio is directed through the car’s speakers. Will the Go720 navigation voice be routed through the car’s speakers if set-up properly? Has anyone done this? Many thanks.
Lee Says:
26 Mar 2008
Jack - If you use the TomTom ipod cable with the ipod-style connector on it, you can hook up the ipod to the Go 720 and it will broadcast the audio over the FM transmitter. With this setup, the only audio it doesn’t transmit is the bluetooth handsfree audio. I am not sure if/what works when using the other “audio in” cable that comes with the ipod cable.
Agentmm Says:
5 Apr 2008
Hi, Just to add my four penny worth, i have the VW Gamma radio +single CD player in my car and purchased this connects2.com/c2search.aspx?ca...
as the interference on my tomtom 720 FM transmitter was annoying (am up and down he country therefore cannot find a suitable frequencey to lock on to.The above widget connects into the back of the single cd player and allows you to select cd or when changer button is pressed -input from 720. WARNING-Plays great when 720 is on its own battery power clear and reasonably loud BUT connect the charger and there is an audible whine and buzz as it is picking up interference. Have tried two different cigar type chargers (5volt not 12v-easy to forget!!) and both are the same.Will try a 5 volt supply from the mains to see if it is the chargers causing the fault or the 720. I need to have the charger connected as the bluetooth sound lockout problems that have been mentioned on various other forums seems to only happen on internal battery power.
Alex Says:
16 Apr 2008
Hi,
Just bought a TomTom Go 520. It pairs with my BlackBerry Curve; address book worked without any probs, unfortunately it won’t read out my SMS, TomTom just supports handsfree calls with BB. (But actually it’s all I need)
But I’ve some probs with connecting my iPod (Video) with the Nav, it tries to connect but nothing happen - any ideas?
Darran Says:
2 May 2008
I have the 720 and the bluetooth regularly drops my phone, therefore I can not make calls from the TomTom.
I also tested the FM link and this is even more appauling than that of the bluetooth.
I would strongly suggest that you look at the 720 as a means for satellite navigation and not any other entertainment requirements as clearly it does not work (very disappointed)