I have been testing back and forth between the MIO C220s, the LN730 and the ONE.

So far, MIO has been impressing me the most...which is surprising to me!

A couple other problems I have found with the LG, is no QWERTY. Another problem I have had happen multiple times, is when I am not on a main road, ie in a mall parking lot, and try to put in another destination, it says NOT ABLE TO GET TO BY DRIVING (or similar). Also, when just driving, with no destination programmed, it doesn't display the speed. And no AUTO NIGHT mode. And lastly, I tried programming an exact address for an IKEA into it, and it sez the street # didn't exist, even though the IKEA has been at that address for well over 2 years. MIO has done all of this.

Another thing with the MIO, is you can search the entire POI library at once, just by spelling the business/attraction name...or the standard by catagories. And when it displays the results, it gives the distance and the actual address at the same time, where as LG and ONE you have to tap on the info just based on distance, then it displays physical address.

So far for me, ONE is loosing badly...which is disappointing after I had read the gpsmagazine review.

I would like to see your full review/opinion on the MIO...and while it may not be one of the big names, I have been very impressed and think it might be worth giving a shot.

Sounds a heck of a lot better than the LG 735 which was barely audible, had a totally washed-out screen with the slightest of sun hitting it, offered up some strange routes in my testing and didn't recognize "W 7th St" until I typed in the "th"; "7" or "Seven" didn't cut it, as it would most any gps.

Fletch, with regards to navigation devices, I'm beginning to learn that what may an excellent routing engine for one isn't necessarily an excellent one for another. It appears to subjective, dependent on one's location and chosen destination. I know that you travel often between NY and CT, as do I, and unless the 740 has a different routing engine than the 735, my results weren't as impressive as yours. Sometimes I'm amazed at how well one gps might be on the money from CT to Manhattan, while totally suck going from CT to, say, Forest Hills N.Y. Then another gps brand will do the exact opposite.

BTW, the LG GPS's are actually Windows CE Core 5.0 based, which isn't a good thing, in my opinion.

Still not sold on LG, despite your good, detailed review (as usual).

Scott, I'm with you regarding "Qwerty" keyboards. Give me that over any quick spell, any day of the week. I'm able to type on my qwerty Streetpilot just as fast, if not faster than the Maestro 4040 (quickspell) when I had it. What's odd is that Magellan only offers the quickspell when entering an address and not a POI by name, so much of the time that feature is useless.

Good review, again, as always.

You should though look into the MIO gps units, more noteably the c520 that recently came out and I think Circuit City sells them for $350 each. Good map database for the moment (uses TeleAtlas, not saying it's better than NavTeq ;-) ), text-to-speech, video player, mp3 player, 4.3 inch widescreen, thin and LOUD. Also touts the TMC service, but haven't found the traffic kit yet. I am gonna buy one, but you should review the unit.

The MIO's deserve some love too...

Fletch

Love your reviews, and like Brian above I'm impressed with the specs vs price of the MIO 520. Any plans to review it. I don't want to buy until I hear what you think!!

Norm

Hello, I just want to say, fantastic review. Very to the point and detailed. It's just what I hoped to find. I'm writing because I want to caution people buying the LG Ln740 to look into weather or not the RDS Traffic antenna and TMC feature are in fact included with the unit. LG as well as the store that I purchased my LN740 from advertised that the RDS antenna was included with the unit and that the unit was capable of recieving real time traffic updates. When I opened the box the antenna was nowhere to be found and the reference manual never listed any info on the TMC capability nor was I able to find the RDS antenna listed in the enclosed items list. The unit also has nothing to be found in the system itself having to do with the TMC feature. To this point I've found the LN740 to be great but I have to say that I am disapointed that there is no RDS Antenna and no TMC feature on my unit for a couple reasons. One, a company should provide a working system with the accessories and features that they advertise and two, the supposed inclusion of the RDS/TMC feature was one of the major reasons I decided to spend my money on the LG versus the Garmin. Right now I'm left feeling like I have a good product but at the same time I feel cheated out of a feature that I really wanted.

Jim

Jim,

Regarding the missing trafffic service and antenna - did you buy the similar-looking LN735 model that doesn't have the traffic service/antenna?

Fletch, excellent review and very thourough. Wish I had waited a couple weeks more for the LN740 and had alreadyy purchased the LN735. Can you or anyone help me out? Where in the software is the future capability for an update? There is no dropdowns in the software for a way to contact LG, Navteq or any way to future proof these units. I'm aware that Magellan and Garmin have links to software patches. Any thoughts or ideas. Thanks in advance and be safe.

First off this is my first gps I have purchased & I have only had limited experiences with gps. I purchased this unit-740 & have had alot of trouble with the user interfaces. Especially the multi stop routing. I can't seem to get more than one stop on the route. I printed the OM, all 80 pages, & still am very confused. Is it me or is this thing a pain to use? Also I have noticed that the poi for my local area in la. is terrible. Are their usually updates on these poi's. Sorry for the ton of questions but after laying out 400 bucks it just kinda sucks to be so disapointed.

does anyone know if you can load up topographical maps to this so I can go trail riding (horses)? That would deffinetly make my life a LOT easier and make this a much more valuable GPS

Jim, i think i figured it out, there is a cdn version of ln740 and american version. The cdn version does not come with tmc antenna, i bought one from futureshop and it had no tmc antenna nor did it say on the box. I returned it and bought a usa one, and it had the antenna and it was listed on the box. Hope that helps. BTW, i love the unit.

Jim, i think i figured it out, there is a cdn version of ln740 and american version. The cdn version does not come with tmc antenna, i bought one from futureshop and it had no tmc antenna nor did it say on the box. I returned it and bought a usa one, and it had the antenna and it was listed on the box. Hope that helps. BTW, i love the unit.

I purchased the LN740 based on the reviews. My unit worked very effectively right out of the box and I was most impressed. However the next day when I used it the voice command telling the street names no longer worked. Couldn't resolve the problem by any means, I went back to square one and duplicated everything I'd done previously but with the same result no voice for street names. I also tried using names and house numbers but that didn't work either. I travel extensevly in the USA and I require the street names for navigation purposes. Any suggestions as to why it would work one day and not the next?

Hello Mike, have you tried to fiddle around with the language setting, it must be set at >English US TTS Tony from Canada

Although my model is LN735, it is basically identical to the LN740. I have testing it for about 2 weeks, and it works very well, 99.9% accuracy on guiding me to where I want to go, the TTS is a wonderful feature and it works 100%, most time my unit gets all 12 satellites signals, day & night maps display are also excellent, the only gripe I have is it can't find one Bestbuy store within a 5 kilometers raidus, but I still highly recommended.
Tony from Canada

Tony, thanks for the info, that's exactly what the problem was, language settings were wrong.

I can't figure out how to program my GPS from one location to another - I can only find a route starting at the location I happen to be at the moment.

Also - when I plug it into my computer it doesn't recognize the unit, so I can't upload the map on the CD. My computer is only 6 months old by the way.

Just came back from holiday and want to update on the usage on my LG-LN735 GPS. Flew down to Vegas and pick up a rental car from McCarran, used Scotch double side tape to glue the unit with a Nintendo DS Holder on the dashboard, interestingly, the tape is so strong to hold the unit without any damage to the dash. Turn on the unit head straight to the Highway 15 to Anaheim, follow by San Diego back to LA and Vegas, it went very smooth, except I found one problem, back in Neveda near the Hoover Dam, the GPS has lost all its satellite signals, but I was inside a tour bus, so I wasn't too concern. Also this unit likes to makes lots of R/L turn in San Diego area, and on the highway, wherever there is an exit, it will tells you exit to the right, even though you ending up merge to the same highway where you should have been in the first place. This GPS works like a charm, I plug in this unit with a power converter inside the car, it gives me full charge all the time.
Tony from Canada

I just purchased the LN740 but noticed its firmware is 0.8.16. LG's website stinks and doesn't mention any updates to the firmware. Their customer service was even worse; the guy kept repeating himself, saying that there was no firmware upgrade - and then he started laughing!

However, on the second page of the GPS Magazine review page, I noticed the picture shows the firmware to be 0.8.18.

Has anyone out there been able to update firmware on their LN740, and if so - how? Did it improve the repeated turn directions that mine is giving at times (e.g. 3 times in a row before a freeway exit)?

Thanks.

I just bought the 740 from circuit city for an amazing price, but just noticed that the 790 is being released this month and wanted to know if anyone can tell me if circuit city will allow an upgrade exchange?! I love the LG's features, but would like bluetooth - low and behold the 790 does all! I read somewhere that people have done in store upgrades with garmins - just need to know which stores do that sort of thing - or is it just a garmin thing? I have 14 days from today to decide if I'm keeping it so any responses would be appreciated asap. Thanks!

Bought a ln740, not very happy. Is not what I expected from LG. For some reason my device is displaying the wrong time despite going in and manually setting the time zone. Also tried to put in a friends address and it froze. It can't figure out his address for some reason and his house has been there for 10yrs. Taking it back to the store tomorrow.

Have been using the LN-740 a couple of months, last weekend the time lost an hour, can't seem to adjust the time. Is this a daylight savings issue? Also not too happy with LG's support, can't find any updates to the firmware. I really like the GPS but this time issue is driving me crazy.

I have had the LN740 unit several months now and I have been very pleased with it. I found it on sale at Circuit City for $279. I would agree that the LG support is weak. The website especially. I don't think this is unusual for such a large and diverse company. My source of confusion with this unit was the TMC feature. I was quite excited to try this out in Columbia, SC after talking to a friend with a Garmin C340. I was disappointed to find out that the LG uses NAVTEQ TMC which is different from the Clearwire TMC system. If I am wrong about this, please reply. Another downside is the lack of accessories available (extra mounting bracket, other mounting options). There have been a few problems with new or changed roads, but there is a place on the NAVTEQ site to report these. Even though I have listed some dislikes, I love the size, quality, accuracy of this product. I also love the ability to import my own sites via excel CSV files. I hope LG continues to support a winning product line in a crowded marketplace.

I just recently received the LN735 as a gift and my first GPS. I've been playing with it for a couple days now. I also was frustrated with LG Support. The person knew nothing about the import of "My Places". I can't seem to get to work. The structure is right but after the import and select one of them it tells me it's not on this map!?

The LN 735 is disappointing to say the least. I tested it and found that when I first turn it on, it reversed north and south. When it recalculated one route, it forgot what the destination was entirely. The interface is unintuitive and not user friendly at all. The screen quality is second rate. I also found that there were times when the arrow wasn't on a road which kind of freaked me out. The speaker is inadequate and overall, quite disappointing. I liked the fact that it didn't lose signal under a long bridge, but I found the navigation to be a little absurd. I would not recommend the 735 to anyone. I know the 740 is a close sibling, and would assume that they have too many similarities to ignore. I think Garmin makes a better GPS. I'm going for the 250W!

Don't buy an LG Navigation product until LG can show that they are going to support it. Strange that a company would put this much effort in developing a nice, yet expensive product, and not provide a way to keep the maps up to date. An update was promised at the first of this year and we're still waiting. I don't consider a $400 navigation device disposable.
Please LG, provide an update from NAVTEQ. Lest I never purchase or recommend an LG product again.

I recently received my LG GPS and am quite pleased with the unit. One little quirk, however is that every time I turn the unit on, it wants to take me to the same preset address - even though I didn't tell it to go there - and I have to cancel this route. Has anyone else experienced this? Any suggestions to remove this setting (besides resetting the entire unit)? Thanks.

I have the same problem when ever i boot the LN740 it always goes to a preset address that I am not sure how it got embedded in the memory. The place it starts off is 50 miles from my house and it seems that it knows it as my routed destination whenever I start it (hard boot).

Anyone knows how to reset to factory? maybe that will fix it. I already have all my favorites save so I can upload them.

I am considering the LN 840 but I am concerned about the apparent lack of software support from LG. Has there ever been fw or map updates for their gps products? If not how is that possible?

Never GET LG GPS, no map updates for over 8 months and counting ( i got it 8 months ago) each time i call them they tell me next month each time its a lie, and the maps on it are over 3 years old.

this GPS is worthless.

Get somethign like a TOMTOM atleast they support their products not Like LG

I frequently find when I try to add a number for the address, the gps won't recognize that number and when trying to scroll, sometimes the scroll function freezes up. Even when the scroll function works, scrolling manually to a four digit number is a lesson in frustration.

I have put in addresses only to drive in a continous loop without ever getting to the address until I pull out my trusty road map.

When driving on a highway, there are times that the GPS will tell me to exit at a certain exit. This will be the first exit that I can take to arrive but not the closest. By virtue of distance, this is the slowest.

I live on Long Island, and travel frequently to the five boroughs of NYC. Perhaps this area needs to be carefully looked at.

I agree that LG's support isn't wonderful but I did email them and received a prompt reply, hearing that updated (2008) map software was available for $99. Besides minor quirks, I have used my GPS every day for the last number of months and quite enjoy having it around and would recommend it to others...

desearia me informen donde puedo conceguir un mapa de Argentina para gps LG LN740

I was recently given a LG LN840 GPS and cant get a signal. Anyone have a suggestion?

I was recently given a LG LN840 GPS and cant get a signal. Anyone have a suggestion?