Garmin nüvi 660 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
The Nuvi 660 GPS has the largest screen for a portable. The cell phone Blue Tooth technology is the smartest thing I have seen yet. This unit is well worth the money......
We love this GPS!! We took it on our recent vacation and it took us right where we wanted to go. Also, we loved the restaurant and gas station listings. When you are in a strange town, it is often difficult to know where to eat or get fuel. We ate at some places that would have been difficult to find without the Garmin. This GPS instills a feeling of confidence that you won't get lost in an unfamiliar area. It has so many wonderful features and is really worth the cost.
Generally, I agree with most of the favorable reviews here. What I most like is:
* Form factor: slim shape fits easily to store in glove box, briefcase, etc. This sets it apart from the fat Tom Tom's etc
* Very bright, sharp screen. It's even noticably brigter & sharper than the Nuvi 360 which I compared it to, so not all Nuvi's are created equal
* Bluetooth works well with my RAZR; pulls up my phone's contacts, works with voice command, etc. The speaker phone, people tell me, sounds like most speaker phones - a little faint but audible. But I mount the unit pretty close to me on the dash. Might be less clear if it were mounted further back on the windshield.
* Good mount: Good sucker. They provide a "disk" for suction cup that sticks on dashboard. Nice bracket with quick release. Power cord/FM receiver plugs into mount, not the unit, so removing & replacing the unit is even easier.
* Includes FM transmitter to send audio to your radio. Near a major city these are never good enough for music listening, but this one's a little better by automatically scanning to find quietest station to use.
Disappointments
* MP3 player doesn't play all MP3's. I fussed with this a lot because it won't play my favorite podcasts. After some research it seems that it will only play MPEG-1 MP3's, which most of them are, but not MPEG-2 MP3's. I didn't even know there was a difference. Tech support tried to help me with this but in the end just blamed it on "corrupt file", "protection", blah blah. I wish they'd at least recognize this as an issue and maybe fix in future firmware release. I even got a replacement unit, but same result.
* Traffic service disappoints. It only shows traffic on major highways, not on main roads where I could use the information to make rerouting decisions. And it doesn't integrate this info with the navigation screen or detour routing. You see traffic info on a separate, difficult to read screen. (Maybe this is as good as it gets; I don't know.)
* The nav-map screen is not extremely impressive. It doesn't show much detail about what's around you (even in the "most detail" setting). It doesn't even tell you the street you're currently on once in routing mode.
* Trip information is poor. It shows ETA, speed and imprecise direction (N, NE, E, etc.). It doesn't show precise direction (e.g. NNE or 160 degrees) or show TTG or even current time! Instead it's got a "dash board" full of useless stuff like average speed, moving time, stopped time, etc.
* Recalculation (if you miss your turn) is so slow it gives you the next turn after you've already past it. It's comical, going down the street repeatedly saying "recalculating... Turn left at X street" right after you pass X street. Then the same at Y street, then Z street.
* Maybe it's me, but I'm sure she's snarling when she says "recalculating" like she really means "why did you ask for directions in the first place if you're not going to listen to me." That's Jill, the US female. Maybe some of the others are nicer.
I purchased the Nuvi 660 on June 19 2007. I have used this every day since I have received it. I spend about 10 hours a day driving. This unit is great. I have found very few short comings, and I usually figured out a way to work around them. I have heard complaints of the FM transmitter. You may have issues when in an area that has many stations, but other wise worked well. You can control the volume of your music independent of the directions. My wife has not been able to get it out of my hands. I told her we would buy another, she was very impressed with it today, as I found many of the local shopping, food, gas stations and points of interest. I would not buy less. Others have shown me their GPS units, I have seen none that I would give up my Nuvi 660 for. Great purchase, Amazon did a great job in shipping. One thing you should note is the delivery from UPS requires a signature. Great deal, thanks Amazon, thanks Garmin!
From someone who has been using an automotive GPS for 7 years, a little philosophy first, if you please. A GPS should do 2 things very well: Show where you are (location), and provide accurate routing to get you to your destination. Inherent in accurate routing are 3 things: accurate maps, maps that are updatable so future accuracy is assured, and a good algorithm. These - location and routing - I call, "Primary aids to navigation."
Additional "features" fall into 2 categories: "Supplemental navigational aids," that assist getting to your destination and those that are unnecessary "fluff."
The supplemental aids breakdown into 2 categories, as well: Primary and Secondary supplemental aids. Primary supplemental aids are real-time (RT) or near real-time (NRT) data: traffic, weather radar, nearby fuel prices, and to a lesser extent, safety camera locations. Without exception, RT and NRT data aids are subscription-based services.
Secondary supplemental navigational aids are places to eat, or other places you may need to find on-the-fly in unfamiliar areas, such as banks with an ATM, and stores. These are known as "points-of-interest" (POI). Primary and secondary supplemental aids aren't absolutely necessary to navigation, but contribute greatly to the overall navigation functionality and experience. Most would consider these as, "must have," as part of any GPS.
What remains is fluff. Of far too many current upper-range GPSs, 50% is navigational aid, and 50% is fluff. Bluetooth, MP3, an FM transmitter, and photo displays - all included with the Nuvi 660 - fall into the fluff category. Sure, they might be fun to fool and fuss with to take your mind off of driving - gee, what a capital idea - but they are not navigational aids: they're distractions.
That said, this review does not include commentary on the fluff.
PRIMARY NAVIGATIONAL AID: Good to excellent for urban and suburban areas; challenged by rural areas
The Nuvi 660, like its 650, 670, and 680 counterparts, picks up GPS signals rather quickly. The display is easy to read. The touch-screen menu system is fairly easy to find your way around (sic). Setting up a route is a matter of plugging in a destination by using the touch screen keyboard. You don't even have to spell the whole name; only enough so the Nuvi can narrow down the search results to a manageable level. When I typed, "Fairfield," it successfully pulled the Fairfield Inn of interest out of its POI database even though the hotel was over 250 miles away. Good. The POI database seems reasonably robust, although I noticed at several exits along Interstates 85 and 65 in Alabama, about 35% of the gas stations were not in the POI database.
ROUTING
There's some good, and some not so good about the routing. I live in a rural area. Google Earth (GE), which also uses the NavTeq maps, successfully chose the route 20 years of experience taught me to be the fastest. The Nuvi insists on routing me on slower, narrower roads, as though every state route (SR) or county route (CR) has the same properties or precedence as every other. In the case of a SR that I often use, it is 4-lanes wide with a 65mph speed limit. That's probably not the norm, but GE figures it out; Nuvi does not. Also, routes may not be imported from an external source, otherwise I'd import the GE route into the Nuvi. Considering the same maps are used by both GE and Nuvi, the determining factor becomes the routing algorithm which is inadequate for the Nuvi in rural areas.
The Nuvi routes quite well in urban and suburban areas, though. While transversing Atlanta's spaghetti junction at I-85 and I-285, "Wilma" (yes, I named her) accurately got us through the maze, telling us to keep left or keep right as appropriate for upcoming lane changes. (33°37'13.72"N, 84°28'28.39"W.) Wilma also kept up with the changes even though we were flowing with traffic through the junction at a goodly pace.
PRIMARY SUPPLEMENTAL AIDS
For RT/NRT data aids, the Nuvi 660 comes with a 3 month traffic subscription to Total Traffic Network from Clear Channel. The subscription activates automatically when you are in range of one of the participating transmitters. Mine activated when I was about 30 miles out from the Atlanta area. Since we never ran into any traffic, it is difficult to surmise the effectiveness.
SECONDARY SUPPLEMENTAL AIDS
Some may disagree POIs don't have a higher level of importance than what I assign...they ARE fairly important, especially when you're looking for someplace in particular and don't have the address. Fair enough, but I believe the primary navigation and primary supplemental aids hold higher precedence.
Unlike Garmin's StreetPilot III, the Nuvi does not clutter up the screen with all nearby POIs at the "most detail" setting. This makes it significantly easier to find the particular POI you're seeking. The Nuvi fixes the scale at which you can see POIs, whereas the older SP III allowed adjusting the scale.
SUMMARY
If you're looking for your first GPS and live in or frequent an area covered by the traffic network (www.garmin.com/fmtraffic), the Nuvi 660 is an acceptable choice. Auto-routing seems to work very well in these areas and along Interstates. If you live in a rural area, then the less expensive Nuvi 650 is a smarter buy. Additionally, auto-routing in rural areas where's there's lots of farm, county, or state roads, is not as well refined.
If you are looking to replace an older GPS, my advice is to wait about a year. In that time, there should be some high-end interconnected units available which sound to have great promise for accurate mapping and traffic information outside of urban areas using the cell phone system.
As a new truck driver I needed a GPS unit to help me get from place to place and was willing to spend a pretty penny to have a good unit. This unit is indeed great in almost every single way. For me however the only area it comes up short is when you select the option to plan your route by 'truck'. I had mistakenly thought that Garmin programmed in a route so that you would stay on designated truck-only routes and might even warn you of low underpasses (a trucker's nightmare). Both of my hopes were dashed. Garmin even mentions on the FAQ section of their website (if you query by the words truck routes you'll find the details), that they do NOT claim at all to route via truck routes when selecting 'truck' as your vehicle type. All they do is keep you on more major streets, but not necessarily trucking ones. They also have no low underpasses pre-programmed in at all. But, while it sounds like I'm slamming the unit, I'm not. It's a great GPS device, easy to use, works wonderfully for what it's been programmed to do, and my wife and I will get a lot of use out of it on many trips to come. But, if you're specifically looking at one for a trucking job, this is NOT the one to get.
First of all, you have to understand the limitations of this technology. If you are living in a town with a lot of growth and many new streets in the last year or so, the Nuvi won't find them. I drove through a subdivision that was developed 4 years ago - and the Nuvi shows me driving in a field.
Many of these problems cannot be blamed on the Nuvi, however; it is more likely the fault of the information supplied by the community and how often it is updated.
The other main complaint of the Nuvi is the FM transmitter. If your radio antenna is in the back of the car, it will be too far away for a clear signal from the Nuvi. You will get a lot of hiss, even when you find a clear radio station. And, of course, if you are traveling across country, the "clear" station that you found in one area may be home to a monster radio station somewhere else along your route.
A better solution is the headphone jack in the side of the unit. You can plug a cord into the jack, and into the mp3 jack in your stereo. If you have an older stereo and no jack, Radio Shack makes a cassette tape with the same jack and cord coming out of it. Simply pop in the tape, plug in the cord, and your "tape" setting on the stereo will route the Nuvi audio.
Beyond these items, the product is outstanding. I have never had to wait longer that 20 seconds for it to acquire a signal, even on the cloudiest days. The voice commands are very clear, and the timing of the commands matches your speed - in other words, if I am driving 25 mph, the voice will tell me "turn left in .3 miles", but if I am going 70 on the freeway, it will tell me "turn left in .8 miles". You always have plenty of time to switch lanes, etc.
The POI's work as indicated.
One other glitch- in Missouri, we name some of our roads with letters (who knows why), and the Nuvi wants to "name" the lettered roads. In other words, Hwy CC becomes Highway Country Club when spoken.
Overall, this is amazing technology and allows you to drive without worrying about glancing at a map. When you are out of town, it is a lifesaver. I drove to St. Louis, and it took me to the front door of my hotel. The next morning, I realized that I had forgotten a SD card for my digital camera. Needing the card, and having no clue where I was, the Nuvi took me directly to the nearest Walgreens, and directly back to the hotel.
Overall, I am very pleased with this purchase.
Since moving to a new city, my (directionally challenged) wife and I decided to take the plunge and get our first navigation system and as usual with technology purchases, I was left to make the research and the purchase decision. After doing my homework, I purchased the Nuvi 660 three weeks ago and so far am suitably impressed. After initial charging with the supplied USB AC adaptor, the unit has functioned well and has given my wife and I above average directions. After a few tests, I trust it to take me places I have never been or to give me better routes than I usually take. I'm sure there are a lot of features I have not even discovered but I was able to self learn the basics without consulting the user CDROM.
I will list the pros and cons I have noticed to date:
Pro
- Large screen touch screen is easy to see in daylight or night.
- Uses street names when using the audible directions feature which I have found useful in an unfamiliar city.
- Can be used in the handheld mode for walking (we have already done this a couple times).
- Quick and intuitive to use right out of the box.
- Comes nicely equipped with chargers, cover, and mount.
Con
- User manual is on CDROM.
- Unit is kind of pricy.
- Takes a long time (more than a few minutes) to initially find satellites. (I don't keep it in the car so I am thinking about giving it a chance to find itself before I go out to the car.)
- Says, "Recalculating" in a really sarcastic tone when your go off route. (I am not the only person who noticed the tone as evidenced by other reviews and comments.)
A neutral item is that it seems to have a propensity towards using the Interstates.
Overall, my wife and I like it and have above average satisfaction. My wife is able to use it by herself and finds it reassuring while navigating a new city which makes me feel better as well. That alone makes it worth it.
Love it. Great display. Easy to use touch screen. Fast routing. Great mount. MP3 plays great thru CD adapter in car radio (hard to find clear station with FM transmitter though).
Just got a return note from Garmin Support. Although advertised as having Routes and waypoints, it just isn't so. Using MapSource on your computer (which you must request) leaves something to be desired. After all the hassle of learning MapSource(not worth getting into here), I uploaded the Routes and Waypoints. In the favorites, just the waypoints appear. Figured I was doing something wrong. Contacted Garmin. They confirmed. The Nuvi 660 (and the C530) does not support routes. So, if you wish to plan trips before going on them, forget Garmin. I'm looking elsewhere, and looking to return my (daughters presents) units.
Too be fair, the C530 unit seems excellent for just getting from here to there. The Nuvi 660 is not worth the extra $300. The MP3 player only works over an FM transmitter (poor), and only handles MP3. No M4A (I could understand the M4P problem, but not the M4A).
This review may help someone like me who is not knowledgeable about GPS and is looking for basic functionality. I was looking for a unit that is portable (so I could also use it for walking or switch cars) and has a widescreen display, so I settled on comparing a Garmin Nuvi 650 Personal Travel Assistant for North America and a Plenio VXA-5000 4.3-Inch Touch Screen Car Navigation System with Bluetooth.
1. Audio - The Plenio does not have text to speech functionality, meaning the Plenio will announce "Turn left in 500 feet," while the Nuvi 650 will announce "Turn left on Main Street in 500 feet." I found the Plenio confusing if there were two possible left turns close to each other, and the display didn't always help. (See "Display").
2. Display- The Plenio display appeared dim and difficult to read on bright days, even at the brightest setting. The Nuvi had a brighter, easy to read display even when driving toward sunlight. When a turn is announced, the text of the street name on the Plenio is small and difficult to read; on the Nuvi the street name is announced and the visible text is larger, bolder and easy to read. This also makes it easier to keep track of cross streets when operating in "tracking mode" rather than inputting a destination.
3. Portability- The Garmin is thinner and lighter. The Plenio's suction mount is more substantial, but it has to be to hold up the device.
4. Controls- The Plenio has volume up and down controls, on the Garmin these are only accessible with some difficulty through the touch screen.
5. Accessories- The Plenio includes an FM transmitter, (sound can play through your FM radio) and Bluetooth; to get this functionality with the Garmin, a trade up to the Garmin Nuvi 660 Pocket Vehicle GPS Navigator and Personal Travel Assistant is necessary. The Plenio includes an AC charger, a useful tool in a portable GPS. If you have a mini USB AC charger, you can use it with the Garmin.
6. Waypoints- The Garmin allows only one waypoint (stopover on the trip); multiple waypoints are available on the Plenio.
7. **** Satellite reception- The Plenio has an internal antenna while the Garmin has a foldaway flip up antenna flap. The Plenio was totally incapable of getting a satellite fix, and therefore useless, while in my wife's car (she has a metallic layer in the windshield as some cars do); the Garmin had no such problem. The Garmin also could fix while indoors. The Garmin allows the user to turn on "WAAS" which is a combined satellite and ground GPS mode that is more accurate than satellite alone; I haven't seen that WAAS makes a difference to a basic user like me. The Garmin seems to get a fix from a cold start about 25% faster than the Plenio.
8. Points of interest and maps- The Garmin maps (v.8) seemed "less out of date" than the Plenio. (maybe 2 years out of date versus 3-4 years). The Garmin has a more substantial list of points of interest (POI's). The Plenio allows you to program the unit to show your choice of POI's (such as all gas stations and/or restaurants) as icons on the map, and bring up more information ( name, phone number) by touching the icon; the Garmin will provide this information from a separate search menu.
9. Map orientation For some reason, the Plenio map orientation insists on switching from "driving direction up" to "north up" orientation and needs to be manually switched back each time it is turned on. The Plenio map displays a "compass rose", a nice feature, but it is small and unreadable when in 3D mode. The Garmin stays in the map orientation as programmed. There is no compass, but when in "tracking mode" there is a text box that gives the driving direction. (N, SW, etc.)
To summarize, the Plenio had more bells and whistles which I willingly traded in for the much improved basic functionality of the Garmin.
Easy setup, low learning curve. Some business locations listed are a few years old, but most roads are accurate. Lots of information to view.
How do they do it! This is the most incrediable thing yet. We bought this item for our daughter's birthday. She travels with her job and knew it would be a great present for her on those out of state trips to locate restruants, hotels and her conference sites, ect. Also liked the "hands free" calling/talking which allows her to talk on her cell phone without taking her hands off the steerling wheel (very important). My wife and I visited my daughters home on her birthday and experienced first hand just how nice the Navi 660 worked. Our daughter and son-in-law live in a sub-division in the country which is hard to locate if you don't know where your going, and the Nuvi 660 took us right to the front door. Also what's great about the unit is, if your not paying attention and miss a turn, it recalculates your location immediately and tells you where the next turn is to get you back on track. To say the least, this happened to us, but no worries! I was so impressed with this item, that we are purchasing 3 more Garmins; one for my wife, myself and our son. Great, great product and BUY it from Amazon, you won't find a better deal, I promise, I checked them all out!
This technology is amazing to me. There are so many capabilities built into such a small device. The navigation function is what is expected but to have the MP3 function and the blue tooth phone ability is just an added plus. I use this device all the time.
this Garmin 660 is the best!!! the features and turn by turn navigation is accurate... highly recommended... easy to use touch screen... if I want to avoid highways...just one touch... PERFECT PRODUCT.... BUY THIS GARMIN 660!!! 5 star rating.
I have owned the Garmin Nuvi for 3 months now, and I love it. I have used it much more often than I thought I would, and whenever I leave the house, now it's my wallet, cell phone, and nuvi. Wouldn't go anywhere without it. It's extremely user-friendly, plug-and-play capabilities are terrific, and I honestly think anyone can use it.
That being said, I have found one major flaw that prevents me from saying this GPS unit is perfect. I do think it is the best in the market, but I believe it does have some flaws. When I first bought it, I lived in Long Island, NY, and about 2 months later, I moved to Bayside, NY. I found that in Long Island, even with the Faster Time option, the Nuvi would try to lead me through local roads (instead of the faster expressway) that would actually end up taking much longer. It wasn't a big problem, and since I already knew the routes, I didn't think anything of it.
This last weekend, I traveled from Bayside (which is in Queens) to New Jersey, and the route that the Nuvi took me through was a complete waste of time, filled with traffic, and a total nightmare! I was extremely unhappy. It led me straight into Manhatten, into tremendous traffic and through the tunnels which are always jam-packed. I would never go through this route if I had taken a printout from Mapquest, and discovering that I was heading towards the tunnel was very disappointing. I specifically have 'traffic' as one of the main things to avoid, and the route I usually use is the fastest route option. This time, it was a total let down.
The same problem again occurred once I was in NJ too. Instead of taking me on the freeway, where I could get to my destination the fastest, it took me through local roads with tons of traffic lights. What was supposed to be a 1-hour trip took 2 hours instead. It was extremely frustrating and disappointing. This is my only major complaint about the Nuvi.
I've noticed that in the Northeast (NY, CT, NJ) the Nuvi isn't as efficient and effective as it should be. So if you're in the Northeast, don't completely ditch Mapquest. Lastly, does anyone have any advice or solutions for this problem? Feedback would be appreciated. Thanks.
This is my first GPS Navigator and I'm amazed at the clarity of the screen. I had to get this model as the lower priced 330 etc. were just too small and I couldn't read them. This is not the case with the 660. My only complaint is that it doesn't always select the shortest/fastest route. I think the software must stick to the major streets so if you are familiar with an area and you take a 'known shortcut' it tries to get you back on the major street. So now I just turn down the volume so I don't have to hear 'recalculating' over and over. But when I don't have a clue how to get somewhere I just enter the address and let the 660 do the rest. I have had very few problems (as some report) with 'acquiring satellites.' When this happens (very rare) I simply power down and power back up and that quickly takes care of the problem. The traffic advisory is OK but not always real-time. But this is a problem with the online advisories and maps as well such as sigalert.com etc. It is very easy to program, set locations, etc.
I thought the Nuvi 660 would be a fun toy to play around with. What a surprise to discover how practical this unit is for me to have. Not only does it find addresses for me, it finds gas stations, eating places, and lodging locations for me. I used the unit extensively on a recent trip we made from Oklahoma to New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Kansas, and finally back to Oklahoma. I used the unit not only to navigate through the cities we decided to visit but also to find lodging for the nights we were traveling. I'm impressed! Beside the GPS features, I also use the audibook feature. I'm currently listening to my first audio book--and plan to listen to many more. In my opinion, the Nuvi was and is worth every penny I spent on it. My wife saw how impressed and pleased I was with the unit that she purchased two more--one for each of our sons.
It's really a nice GPS but not with latest updated map. Also FM transmitter is not that clear if you play mp3. Otherwise this is the best GPS you can have with this value.
This is without a doubt the BEST navigation system ever!! It is replacing my Navman iCN 510 which cost me $750.00. The difference is rusty roller skates over a brand new Lexus!! Right out of the box it's very user friendly. When you punch in anything...BAM there it is right now!! I like this one better than ALL I have seen so far!! Can't go wrong with this one. The only thing I can say negative about this one is, you should buy an external mic for the phone that runs through the bluetooth unit. They are cheap and well worth it. It just gets the mic a lot closer to your mouth when you are driving. People tell me with the new mic it sounds like I am on a speaker phone, but they can hear me real well. But other that that... This puppy is rated all aces in my boook!!
I'm on my third go-'round with portable GPS solutions, and this is finally THE answer. The two previous products have been PDA peripherals, and after doing my darndest to make those work, I had to admit I needed a standalone device. For a while I was planning on an after-market audio/video/navigation system for my car, but after months of research it seemed those weren't really up to snuff as far as navigation went either, at least not for the price, and I couldn't use it in my truck if I wanted to. So I decided to get a portable GPS, but to get the best I could find and be done with it. Again, after more research, it appeared the Nüvi 660 was it, and it wasn't cheap (relatively speaking), but the reviews of people raving about it's navigation prowess were the clincher. After all, that was what I wanted it for. I am also a pilot and an air traffic controller, and Garmin makes some of the premier air navigation GPS systems, so that carried some weight as well. Some of the extras, like Bluetooth, built-in FM transmitter, and traffic information were icing on the cake.
As soon as I got it I set it up. Paired the Bluetooth to my cell phone, it imported my phone book; tested the hands-free, the voice dialing worked flawlessly. Bonus! Loaded up an SD card with some MP3s, it displayed all the track info and played them fine. Double Bonus! Today, I took it out for a GPS shakedown cruise. Tuned the FM transmitter to my radio, started playing my MP3s again, and then programmed my route. I was leaving work going to two places I've been many times, but never from work, and never one from the other, and both in downtown Houston, where I'm familiar, but not to where I can get along without a map most of the time. By the way, it knew both of the locations (retail establishments) by name, from the point-of-interest database. I figured it would take me to the first destination via a certain freeway, and it did, but I had never been that way so I had no idea how to get there from this freeway. I just followed all the prompts and sure enough, I arrived where I was going without a hitch, and faster than I had expected. From there to the next destination, I had no idea how to get there on my own; I just followed the Nüvi's prompts faithfully, and a few minutes later, I was there! I had programmed my home address already, so when it came time to return home, I just pressed the proper menu item, and I was on my way. Even more impressive, from downtown to my house was about 35 miles via city streets, freeway and neighborhood streets, and from the very start, the Nüvi told me I would arrive at my destination at 3:54 PM. It never wavered. I pulled into my driveway at...3:54 PM. Wow!
I have used it in dark and daylight conditions, and the display is easily readable at all times, it even adjusts automatically from day to night mode. The mount is exceptional. It's solid and easy to attach/detach from the windshield,and very easy to detach the unit from the mount. There is only one cable to supply both power and FM traffic info, which really alleviates clutter. The map display is extremely legible and even when not navigating a specific route, can be used as a "moving map", especially handy at night, to alert you to approaching cross-streets and side-streets. It can also operate on battery, and includes a wall charger so you can charge it outside of a vehicle.
I cannot express how impressed I am with this device. In addition to the flawless navigation, it has so many convenience functions built in, it truly is, as they bill it, a "personal travel assistant".
Right from the start, the Garmin was user-friendly and accurate. We have taken several trips since our purchase and do not know how we traveled without it. We have used it for rest stops, gas stations and lodging and love the fact that we can call ahead and reserve a room. This is especially handy as we travel with a dog and need to know ahead of time if they are a pet friendly motel.
Our only concern is with the traffic warnings. It did not seem to work well and the cautions are difficult to see causing us to resort to the book when they popped up.
Its not often that my wife is impressed with some geek toy I buy. She was SO VERY impressed with the GPS device that she's been talking about it to family & friends. She was especially blown away that it even said what side the street a particular destination was on. We're involved in a public assistance service on the weekends and visit people in their homes on the weekend. This device has been very helpful in locating residential addresses.
The only reason I hadn't gotten one before (besides device cost) was that I was under the misimpression that the GPS service was on a subscription basis like satellite radio and cell phones and I just didn't want to do that. Apparently I am not the only one under that misconception. Once I found out that my understanding was wrong, I was ready to buy.
I absolutely love that I don't have to wear my bluetooth headset on my drive home from work anymore. Instead I link my mobile phone to the Garmin and carry conversations through it using Garmin's internal mic & speaker. (I don't use the FM broadcast because I sort of like listening to the radio on the way home.)
I am still "discovering" all the features on this device, but for navigation and phone use, it is outstanding. The menu systems are very intuitive. I have also used the travel log feature though I don't leave it on that screen--it readily shows (for all to see) how fast I'm going.
If there is any "down" side to this device, it is power-up time. It takes a while to load maps and obtain GPS signal. But once it does, its great.
Garmin Nuvi 660 Pocket Vehicle GPS Navigator and Personal Travel Assistant
I have been looking at the navigators for sometime. When they became small enough to carry is when I decided that it was time to take a serious look. I researched all of the current GPS systems out there. None of them were perfect by any stretch. The Garmin nuvi 660 seemed to have the fewest complaints. It performs well above my expectations. The 660 has made my travels a lot less stressful and it also saves money by not missing turns. With gas costing as much as it does, taking less time to find something saves money. I don't expect that the savings will make the GPS pay for itself. But not haveing to worry about how to get where I want to go with very little stress is worth the cost of the unit alone. The only complaint I have about the unit is that the unit isn't as updated as it could be (new roads and businesses). It hasn't been a problem so far. As with any tool a person uses to make things easier, a bit of common sense is needed to the job well. I don't expect that the nuvi 660 will think for anyone. Some of the reviewers I have read on this and other GPS's seem to think that this should be more than what it is. It is just a computer that uses satellites to let me know where I am and how to get where I want to go, that is all. And it does it very well.
Have used this GPS for three trips so far and it works like a charm. Very pleased with this unit. Screen is easy to see even in bright light. But for the price, I would have thought that the sound quality could be better.
THE POSITIVES: Easy to use, great display and step-by-step voice instructions. This is the first GPS system I have ever purchased, so I don't have anything to compare it to. It is however, great to have something to tell me where to go and how long it will take to get to my destination. For those of us who are geographically challenged, we never have to worry about getting lost again! If you take a wrong turn, it automatically re-routes you. It also shows you where the nearest gas stations, eateries, hospitals, shopping, etc. are. A great feature in unfamiliar neighborhoods. I used to do Map Quest and Yahoo! Maps, so this saves me a lot of time. Another plus, Garmin customer service is excellent and friendly.
THE NEGATIVES: Not all the addresses are in the system. Even after downloading the recent and upgraded map versions, about 2 out of 10 addresses are not on the system, which is a bit frustrating. I am in sales, so I use this a lot. I don't find the traffic re-router that exciting or very useful in the SF bay area. You get 3 free trial months with purchase, so you can try it out and see if it is worth it or not. When on the phone, the voice prompts and alerts can become a bit distracting/annoying.
CONCLUSION: I bought this particular unit because of all of the positive reviews and overall I am happy with the purchase and would buy it again. I have not used the blue tooth option because my phone is not compatible with the unit, nor have I tried the other features. Also, the internal antenna works great, so don't be persuaded to buy an additional external one, you don't need it. If you live in California and have to use the dash mount, the one that came in the box didn't stick to my dash, so Garmin sent me a bean-bag dash mount (free-of-charge) which works perfectly.
I'll keep this brief. The 660 is an excellent unit for the size. The screen is very clear even in direct sun and easily seen. Routing is very accurate, POI database is good, lots of options to play around with. The directions are clear as is the voice promts and street names. The unit has yet to steer me wrong which is nice.
If you don't mind a smaller screen you get most of the same features in the 350 and its cheaper. If you want the traffic and larger screen go with the 660.
The 680 seems to be a waste but I have a PDA phone with full internet access to the MSN sub seemed redundent for me.
Purchased the garmin a little over a month ago and let me tell you probably one of the best purchases Ive ever made. I travel extensively and the nuvi has not let me down once. Even when traveling known routes put it in and itll tell you a better way to get there. Saves you money on fuel too. I've tried others factory systems, other manufacturers none can compare with speed, accuracy or setup which is no more than opening the box and turning it on. One of the best displays on any gps.If your looking for a gps look no further you have found the best in the nuvi 660.
Just one word.. Excellent...
And I have only one issue with this.. When going out of a car parking area which is underground or some other place where there are no satellite reception, if the GPS is already switched on it takes a lot of time to connect to satellite. It happens only if you are going from a cold state or initial switch on. Solution is not to switch on the GPS while you are in such places. Drive to an open area and then start...
I am a New Zealander and I used to have a Navman GPS to help support the NZ based company. But recently I moved to the USA and Navman have been having a few ups and downs, so decided to go with a Garmin. Actually my first GPS was a Garmin eTrex. Anyway, the Garmin interfaces are just so much more usable and perfect for an in car unit. That along with the Traffic reciever makes this unit perfect for me. The screen is the clearest i have ever seen & i like the bluetooth connectivity with my cellphone. Garmin have my vote going forward.
I have not been that impressed in the time I have used this. I have only used it in NC, SC, and GA and the results have been very mixed.
The Good:
Very easy to enter information
Very good graphics
Tons of features
When it works it is very slick
Fast recalucation
Nice points of interest database
Good voice commands
The problem is I have little faith in its directional ability. It will usually eventually get me to where I want to go but it makes some really bad mistakes on a very frequent basis (read at least half of the trips).
-It has tried to turn me the wrong way on one way streets and then stubbornly tried to turn me back onto those when I refused to make its turn.
-It has tried to get me to turn on streets that do not exist on multiple occasions.
-It has tried to get me to keep going on streets that dead end.
-It has tried to get me to bear left on the interstate when I have to bear right to get to a specific exit.
- It has said to take the southbound version of a highway while the screen has clearly said (and I needed to) take the northbound route.
-I've been on a fairly major highway (US 441) only to have it have no idea what road I was on and the graphic show me floating in the middle of nowhere between streets.
I've only had this a couple of weeks and I really don't have faith in it. Tried to show off this gizmo to friends and everytime it makes an embarrassing mistake. It always eventually gets me to where I want to go but man is it a painful process. Maybe the maps in the southeast just aren't anygood.
Seems like most people love this compared to other GPS units. This is my first, so I only had the glorious reviews to go on. My expectations were way too high. First and foremost the 660 is supposed to be a navigator and thats where its weak points are. You can only choose Fastest Time or Shortest Distance. I dont think it registers the difference. It's like it just goes the most direct way with disregards for speed limits, traffic lights and back roads. For some crazy reason it's keeping me OFF CA Highways. When theres no traffic it should be telling me to use the highway, but it wont in both modes at any given time. I have it set to not avoid highways. Then there's when it announces turns. Either way too soon or RIGHT AT the street.
Maybe I have a bum unit, or it hates San Diego or this is just the way it is, I don't know. I also dont like the no multiple waypoints and lack of QWERTY.The fm transmitter is useless too. Other than that its better looking than my phone.
Generally gives good directions but I have had problems. It once took me to an interstate on a road that had no enterance ramp. It's also told me to cross a railroad where there is no crossing.
There is one point on my commute where it tells me to "keep left on US 129-Alt". I do need to keep left, however US 129-Alt goes to the right, US 23 goes to the left. If I weren't familiar with the area I'd be quite confused by that
I'm really pleased and amazed with the Nuvi 660 with the exception of the device losing it's orientation when you scroll the map. The Nuvi provides the ability to scroll the map in any direction and regardless of settings every time you scroll the map the N/S/E/W orientation changes. If the top of the map were pointing south prior to scrolling, after crolling the top of the map now points other than South. This is very confusing when traveling in an area new to you.
I have owned a variety of GPS units for auto and boat over the last 15 years. This one is the best I have seen for an automobile. It has an amazing array of stores for shopping and other miscellaneous points of interest in its database, but is missing a poi for emergency. In an auto, this could be a great help. Push one button for the closest hospital or police station.
The second item that is a minor annoyance is distance to destination. You must navigate to the second screen to get that information. Garmin could replace the large MP3 icon with this and put MP3 on page two. I guess it's an issue where they're hoping to compete in the music downloading business.
Finally, I would like to be able to touch an icon at any time and place a marker on the map that I could name later. This could be helpful for any number of reasons.
By the way, Nobletec navigation for boats is the only system I rate higher than the Nuvi.
Pro: Small, light weight, bright display, customizable voices, accurate.
Knows names I didn't know in area's I should be familiar with. Mount works very well. I live in Rural area so I have never gotten traffic updates.
MP3 player works well and you get your alerts while you play it (voice).
Route calculation works faster than built in unit in our Accord. If you pass a turn it quickly recalculates.
Con: Not impressed with the FM feature cant play music and get an alert have to use an open FM channel. The units speaker works well enough dont need the volume. Biggest missing feature for me was inability to add stops or via's to routing.
This Nuvi 660 is excellent. With the FM Transmitter, it plays my mp3s, podcasts, and is great for hands free phone calls right through my cars audio system. When a call comes in or a direction is being given, the Nuvi pauses your music or podcast and picks up right where it stopped, so you don't miss a thing you were listening to. The controls are easy to use, and the directions are excellent. It has special settings for the type of vehicle you are driving so if you are in a truck that is hauling a trailer (or a fifth wheel in my case) it will keep you off of small back roads and away from u-turns. Or in a car you can set it for shortest distance and it will take you through side streets and back roads that you may have never seen before (a nice feature for use in scenic areas).
It works excellent with my bluetooth phone, automatically giving me access to all of my phone contacts for one touch dialing without re-creating an address book. The features go on and on.
Very well made.
How did I ever get around without it?
I had been wanting a portable GPS Navigation System for a long time, but decided, based largely on the reviews above, to take the plunge with the Nuvi 660. While I am not disappointed, I have noticed a few little annoyances. First, if you try to "audition" one of these wonders on a route with which you are familiar (a good idea), don't be surprised if you are directed a completely different way and not necessarily the shortest. You will arrive, and perhaps see a few things new along the way. The Bluetooth hands free feature is a knockout! Works perfectly. Not so, the MP3 player and FM transmitter. I bought a 2 Gig SD card to fill with playlists out of Itunes and soon discovered that this was not possible. The Nuvi groups MP3's according to encoded info and forces you into a "Play All" or selected "Album" mode. You can also play singles, of course. Also, the SD card would not fill with MP3's, but shut off at about 180 songs (1/4 capacity). So, I tried to fill it up with a card reader to no avail. Apparently, this is a limitation of Mac computers and not the Nuvi, but you should be forewarned about this gliche. Also, the FM Transmitter is noisey, even down here in MS....lots of interference. Would I return it? No way! But beware of these limitations.
I bought this for my wife as she travels a lot for work. I wasnt sure what to buy when I first started looking for a portable GPS, but when I found the Nuvi, I was very impressed. My wife loves it! She has had it a couple of months and she uses it all the time instead of going to the web and printing out directions (sometimes bad ones). The screen is about the prefect size without being huge. I was worried it would be too small, but it's not. We both love the fact that you can listen to the turn by turn directions without even looking at the screen.
This GPS is awesome and I would recommend it to anyone.
I am a first time GPS buyer. However I did a lot of research online to find which GPS product is good for me and choose this one. I am glad I made no mistake by getting the best!!
As a navigational aid this unit is pretty accurate so far during the past two weeks of use. Love the traffic notifications. Beautiful and bright LCD screen(Probably the best one). Bluetooth is a good add on. 6 million points of interest is enough for your lifetime :)
As other reviewers mentioned setting FM audio is hard even with the built in auto tune feature. But that is not the fault of this device. Its because most cities nowadays have their FM spectrum filled up.
My only gripe is that there is no feature to play video given the excellent 4'x3' screen :(
PRO's: 1] Large 4.3 inch screen
2] Intuitive interface
3] Compact and light
4] Vibrant display
5] Screen does not wash-out in sunlight
6] Clear and loud voice commands
CON's:1] Battery life was disappointing. Fully charged, my brand new Nuvi 660 lasted only about 1 hour. However, I must admit that I was interrogating all the different functions in this unit during the time. This may account for the short life. Left alone while I was driving, the Nuvi 660 lasted nearly 2 hours until I had to recharge.
2] Bluetooth does not pair with my Verizon Wireless LG VX 8300. In fact, the Nuvi guide admits that it pairs with only certain cell phone models. Buyers beware.
3] FM Transmitter is highly overrated. Lot's of static comes through the speakers even though I was able to find an unused FM station. But, this is the case with FM transmitters in general and not just with the Nuvi 660. This feature should not be the selling point for this device.
I did my homework prior to buying the Nuvi 660 and I have to say that I am very pleased. I live in Fairbanks, Alaska and even in a remote place like this I found the map and Point of Interests (POI's) very accurate. Maps of Europe is available for purchase from Garmin; but I was disappointed to hear that it costs $299! However, this doesn't take away from the fact that this is a great GPS unit. Also, I purchased the bean-bag dashboard mount (aka friction mount). I was skeptical at first, but sure enough this bean-bag holds the Nuvi in place even during sharp turns. Finally, the big question is, is the Nuvi 660 worth paying an extra $200 over his little brother the Nuvi 360 (3.5 in screen)? I argue that it is worth it! You get an extra 0.8 diagonal inches of screen which translates to more details on the map at any given zoom-level. Why are 60 inch plasma screens more desirable than 50 inch plasmas? I would like to give the Nuvi 660 five-stars but the short battery life and inadequate Bluetooth forces me to give it only four-stars.
The maps are very impressive in some ways, but a lot of locations are as much as 0.5 miles from their actual location on the map. The location of the car is good, but the map itself is faulty.
The gap is enough to cause the gps navigator to direct you to a completely different place.
I assume this can be rectified by ordering updated map sets from Garmin, but it sucks that I have to spend more money immediately.
Garmin Nuvi 660 Pocket Vehicle GPS Navigator and Personal Travel Assistant
The Garmin Nuvi 660 Pocket Vehicle GPS Navigator is a fantastic device. I was amazed at how easy it was to use right out of the box. I highly recommend this device to anyone who is looking for a portable GPS. It's the best.
The product is excellent. So much so I bought one for my daughter and then bought Garman stock. I keep finding new things it will do. Very accurate, unlike my spelling. I would recommend it.
This product is my new best friend while I am driving. It was shipped fast and is very user friendly.
I really am impressed with the Garmin Nuvi 660. It is very easy to use and I love the voice commands so I don't have to look at the screen to see directions. I live in Tampa Florida and it has been right on for all the addesses I have input. Also I just recently traveled to Columbus, Ohio and it was dead on for all the addresses I traveled to. My wife and I enjoy the ease of using the Garmin Nuvi 660 and not getting lost when traveling. Also it comes with the Traffic FM receiver at no additional cost. I love the ability to select Points of interest and then food and it pulled up the mexican resturants by the name and all I had to do was choose and the voice commande got me there. I would recommend this Garmin GPS to any one who is looking for a system. We are really pleased with our use of this system.
This is areally excellent product. The only reason I gave it 4 stars, not 5 is the FM transmitter is a bit weak. The XM radio transmitters outshine it to the point that you will get aggrevated every time someone drives next to you with one while using the same frequency. Also the battery doesn't last very long. Otherwise this is fantastic product. the navigation works very well. You can sore & play MP3s, use your bluetooth phone through it. And all can be done through the FM transmitter so you can hear it through your car stereo. That includes the voice prompts from the Nav as well. Also the voice promts tell you the name of the street to turn on. Even many stock units in vehicles don't do that. It's got other goodies such as a calculator (no calendar though). I couldn't imagine most people being dissapointed with this purchase. I wasn't.
The product offers great portability...maps are clear, may be can offer some early alerts on turns...the choice of restuarant and other areas of interest is good. Linking to devices and FM transmissions is good and can be made more easier..Overall compared with many other products from Garmin and others, I would rate this as high performer, a good buy.
If you travel to many cities and spend the morning downloading MapQuest directions you need this little gem. It is small and is easy to travel with. It is very user friendly, has trafic updates, which are great for big cities, and will provide detoursto get around bck ups. It has a wide variety of POIs and most are up to date.
With a man-machine interface as fluent as this one, I don't see how this device (or its variants) will not make it into every 4-wheeler automobile in the world! I like the device so much that I bought some Garmin stock!! The Bluetooth connection is unbelievably handy.
Hope you, the reader, will be able to enjoy one of these yourself.
I purchased this item for my sister and she loves it. I had it up and running within 15 minutes and was very impressed by all of its features. My Chrysler 300C has a built-in navigation system which works very well but doesn't have half the features included with this Garmin.
I've used the Nuvi 660 for 6 months now and love it. I use it all the time, even for driving to work. I use the time till next turn to help me figure out whether its worth staying in the left lane and passing all the slow pokes with cell phones stuck in their ear. I constantly look at the estimated time of arrival to see how I am doing. If I am ahead of schedule, I ease up on the gas pedal to get better gas mileage.
Entering an address into the Nuvi takes only 20 seconds. You don't have to enter every letter of a city or street name. After it has enough letters, it shows a few matches and lets you select the right one. Its easier than using Mapquest.
I love the talking street names. If you enter the name of a favorite destination, it will say that name as you arrive. Since the destination names are usually my client's name, they're impressed as all get-out when we drive back to their office after lunch.
Sometimes I won't even look at the screen. I'll just listen to the spoken directions with the talking street names. I prefer the British male voice over the American voices, although Bitching Betty is better than on the Garmin c330.
At other times I'll turn the sound off and just look at the display.
Is the extra wide display worth the price? Probably not. It adds no additional useful information. Cars move forward, not sideways. But it still looks cool.
At first I thought the real-time traffic was stupid and let the 3 month subscription lapse. But yesterday I ran into an unexpected traffic jam that cost me 30 minutes. I am going to renew the traffic subscription. My time is worth more than $5/month.
The FM transmitter is weak, so I don't use it. But I use the Bluetooth hands free speaker phone. The hands free speaker isn't as clear as a system built into the vehicle such as a BMW, but its better than holding a phone in your hand, even a cell phone speaker phone.
The windshield mount is perfect. I stuck it on my windshield 6 months ago and it hasn't fallen off yet. I don't know what some of the other reviewers are complaining about. Removing the Nuvi 660 from the mount is a one hand operation and takes only one second. Re-attaching it takes 5 seconds. I am not exaggerating these times.
Sometime I use the Nuvi 660 in my other car (the BMW) with just the internal battery. I have the display set to turn off after no activity for one minute. This saves a lot of battery power. The display automatically turns on when a voice announcement is made. However, since I like looking at the time till next turn, or arrival time, I'll change the display to never turn off when on battery power.
A better solution would be to get another Nuvi for my BMW, although I haven't decided on which one. I could go cheap and get the Nuvi 200, or the Nuvi 350 because it has talking street names, or the Nuvi 680 which just came out and has gas prices and a one year real-time traffic subscription instead of just 3 months. Don't you just love it when you buy the latest and greatest and 6 months later its obsolete? I hear the Nuvi 680 is a best seller.
I've updated the software a couple of times from Garmin's website. I had no problems. It took 20 minutes. I have yet to read the instruction manual.
The maps seem up to date. I did find one road that was missing, but the locals say it was completed only 3 months ago. I've heard map updates are only $75 and Garmin's been pretty good about releasing new maps once a year. Magellan has yet to come out with a map update for my RoadMate 300.
Sometimes when I hit a bump the screen flickers a little. A good knock with my hand clears up that problem. Maybe just before the one year warranty expires I'll look into having this fixed.
Right now I can't live without it. And I don't get lost a lot, but I find that the Nuvi relieves stress, helps me find short cuts, helps me detour around grid lock, helps me find new addresses, and just makes driving fun.
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Two weeks later: I have removed the mount from my windshield several times and the outer edge of the rubber gasket bonds with the windshield each time. I can't see how it will ever fall off, but each time I remove it a tiny bit of rubber remains on the windshield. I use spit to repair it. So instead of removing it, I bought the non-skid pad bean bag mount (010-10908-00). The non-skid pad stays put on the dashboard, even during sharp turns. I also tried mounting the Nuvi below the entertainment console. To my surprise it worked just as well, but I don't like the idea of taking my eyes off the road while driving.
The screen flicker that I noted earlier was caused by outside light reflecting off the screen due to windshield mount vibration. Twisting the mount slightly removed the reflection.
I've used the real-time traffic intensly now for two weeks, as I have several alternative routes to take when there's a traffic jam. Garmin changed the way it worked from 6 months ago. Its amazing how they can do this by downloading new software over the internet.
The real-time traffic has its quirks. Sometimes it shows a traffic jam where there was none when I drove over a bridge near the so called traffic jam. Almost daily it shows a jam where there actually is one, but if I stay in the right lane I can avoid it.
Never-the-less, the real-time traffic is of some help. I should also point out that the Nuvi 660 has fewer wires than the Nuvi 350 because the real-time traffic receiver is integrated into the power cord.
Only complaints I have is that it did not come with a printed manual, and it cannot (to my knowledge) tell you how long (or how far) it is from Point 'B' to Point 'C' when you are at Point 'A' - I think this similar to what PC magazine means by "No mulitsegment routing cabability" in a review they had. To clearify this, If you are in Detroit, Michigan and you want to go to Wheelersberg,Ohio and then to Virginia Beach, Virginia. You cannot (to my knowledge) have the unit tell you the route or the distance from Wheelersberg, Ohio to Virginia Beach while you are in Detroit. You can enter an address for each location and save it as a favorite ahead of time, but you can only have it tell you how to get from your current location to somewhere else. I read the manual carefully, and I am quite sure that I am correct about the unit not being able to do this. I don't know if some other units can. I am still delighted with it. This is the first GPS we have owned, and my wife and I are both glad we purchased it.
There is a long work-around to this: You put the unit in "Simulator Mode" and it simulates the route. So you have it simulate driving from say Detroit, Michigan to Wheelersberg, Ohio, but you stay in Detroit. Then you can have it tell you how to get from Wheelersberg, Ohio to anywhere else (including distances and routes), but if you turn it off you have to do this all over. For a trip with multiple segments, it is easiest to do this with MapQuest or another on-line map ahead of time.
In December 2006, PC magazine gave this their "Editors Choice" award. We are delighted with how easy this is to use and it can hold 500 favorite locations. We hope this one lasts us for years.
I like my new Garmin Nuvi 660. The wide screen really makes a big difference. The point of interests features on this Nuvi is minimal so you might need to consider another source for this or purchase the download from garmin for your area. We had some problems with the mount. Couldn't get it stick on the windshield. Doesn't matter, California law prevents us to use to that. Thus, we bought an after market air vent mount which I like very much. It is perfectly positioned on my bimmer. We bought the air vent mount from eBay.
Worked great. Great reception, perfect size, user interface etc....
just instead of quickest route, use closest route in cities otherwise it may take you for a 'loop'.
Excellent GPS Unit for the most part. What's lame is the Garmin people. I notified them of a major new Highway in SE Massachusetts, that I helped build, that does not show up on the mapping software. The higway has been open for more than 2 years. All I got back was a generic email, insulting.
Anyway, love the unit but the mp3 player is also weak. You cant set up folders like an ipod or any other player and the transmitter is not powerful enough. I read this complaint before I purchased the unit, bought it anyway. The ability to "grab" the map is very cool. You have to decide if the price is worth it.
I have had my Nuvi for approx 6 to 7 months and overall I am somewhat satified. Initally I could see no flaws it was perfect I recommend the Nuvi to 3 friends and they all bought one. First impression, features on the Nuvi 660 are without a doubt very cool and a step above everyone else. Now to the not so good stuff which is really a deal breaker for me. First after a month and half the unit locked up, my friends locked up after 2 weeks of light use. Once a nuvi locks up it has to be sent back to Garmin the reset does not work restarting it wont work nothing. We both had the same issues and our units where replaced with refurbished units. My second issue involves the suction cup which is insufficent to hold the Nuvi properly onto the glass. Do not use it at all cost. Every car that it has been placed in the suction cup has failed and the Nuvi to my horror has come falling back to earth each time. For between 600 to 1000 buck you would think they could provide a more secure mount. The Dashboard mount that I have purchased works well. The FM transmitter is not really a feature I would purchase the Nuvi for. If you live in a city the quality of the audio is poor at best. Bluetooth hand free communication is cool when it works and is not sending me false signals. BE VERY CAREFUL the nuvi has a small list of bluetooth enabled phones that it can work with very small. If I pair my phone with the Nuvi, I get continious ghost calls to my Nuvi every 3 to 8 minutes where I have to tell the nuvi to ignore or it will just keep ringing for a bit. I wish I could continue recommending the NUVI like I once did, but with all of the issues it's kind of a lemon. I have worked around most of the issues and it's acceptable to use with many of it's key selling points disabled so my recommendation would be to save some money and purchase a cheaper model with just gps. The Nuvi's bells and whistles are not worth the expense. I expect better from garmin really a let down.
This is truly a life saver! I was stuck in traffic, HOURS of traffic, and got off any ol exit, this thing recalculated the route and STILL got me home! I'd leave my husband for this gadget anyday! LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT!!!
UPDATE: 6/17/07 - I lost the volume somehow, it just stopped working while enroute :( I've tried everything to get it to work. The only way I can hear directions is through the FM transmitter which I am not too fond of. I am not sure if I'm supposed to call Garmin or Amazon as there was no handbook with it explaining what to do if such a thing happens.... Very upsetting!
The product is fantastic; however, the vendor Digitechdeals Amazon via the Amazon.com website was unsatisfactory. The product was not new and had been opened despite the website's description that it was a new product. The box was not sealed and the unit was not wrapped. It was quite obvious that the box had been opened. We chose to keep the product rather than send it back to the vendor to avoid a credit card charge and no product. So far, so good - however, I was an unhappy customer due to the buying experience. Recommendation: Great GPS unit but purchase it off the shelf!
The Nuvi 660 killed two birds with one stone. I had been wanting a navigator for travel. While searching for a way to play audio books on my car speakers (one hour commute), I came across the Nuvi 660 which does both as well as advertized. The Bluetooth feature works great listening to your party over your car speakers, but leaning over to my preferred mounting spot and yelling back at the internal microphone doesn't.
Unfortunately,comes with electronic format only.
What happen to people doesn't had any computer with printer ?
What I'm going to do when i need information regarding the navigator on my road trip ?
I only got this Garmin 660 few days, so far I'm very happy with it.
Except this lack of PRINT owner's manual !
This is a great gps, direct me without any confuss.
Got almost everything incluing a 3 months free trail of FM triffic message.
Garmin should incluing a owner's manual BOOKLET in this high end price gps!
Fantastic portable GPS unit. Crystal clear, bright, wide screen display is the best on the market. The current leg of the directions is displayed in a band across the top of the screen (like other Nuvis) with white letters on a green background...reminiscent of the big interstate signs...nice touch. Built-in speaker is loud and clear enough that I haven't even considered using the FM transmitter, although you certainly can. VERY FAST route recalculation. The low profile, super adherent, windshield mount is excellent. I was going to look into other mounts, but discovered that its great when mounted low, in the center of the windshield. This almost makes it seem like its mounted on the dashboard. The 660's wide screen conceals the mount completely, so you don't even see it. OK, the 660 is a bit pricey, but why settle for something you may not be satisfied with? Do it....now.
This is my third GPS receiver, all of them Garmin units. I started quite a few years ago with an eTrex Summit, which I primarily used as a bike computer. It gave me years of good service and even survived several light bike crashes with no problems!
The second Garmin unit was a bit more sophisticated - a Garmin GPSMap 60cs (no longer made) with a color screen and additional functionality. About this time I started geocaching, so I liked the WAAS capabilities as well as the built-in geocaching functions. However, I wasn't as fond of the capabilities of the unit when it came to using it as a bike computer (it basically had too difficult a UI to operate with one hand while biking) and it wasn't even all that good as a geocaching GPSr.
Well, a few months ago I bought a new car. I had the option to get it with a full built-in navigation system, but I decided to save $4000 and buy the Nüvi 660 for $700 on Amazon instead. I was thinking that I would probably keep my GPSMap 60cs for use as a bike computer and geocaching unit, but after testing this device I am going to sell the GPSMap and just use the Nüvi for everything.
The display is clean and bright, and the user interface is extremely easy to use. I didn't even crack open the user manual (I would have had to have either downloaded it or opened it from the included CD-ROM) and I was able to start using it immediately. The day after receiving the unit from Amazon, I went to Boston for a business trip. Rather than doing my usual trick of logging into Google Maps and looking for directions, I decided to take a big leap of faith and use the Nüvi to find my way around. I have to admit that I had to find a location with an open view of the sky about a block away and turn on the WAAS function before I was able to pinpoint my location, but within minutes it showed me exactly where I was standing. Cool.
I then used the "Where to?" feature to type in the location where I needed to go. Within seconds, it had calculated a path and displayed on the 3D map. I started walking in the right direction, followed the written and voice prompts, and ended up right at the building. Nice!
After a day of teaching, I decided to find a local restaurant. I'm familiar with the Maggiano's chain and knew that there was a restaurant somewhere in the area, so I looked for a restaurant, typed in Maggiano's on the "virtual keyboard", and it displayed the address of the local restaurant. I told it to GO, and once again within seconds I had my path marked out for me. It even told me that I was "Approaching Maggianos" when I got within about 250 feet of the location.
So, I had a nice plate of Shrimp and Angel Hair Pasta Al Arrabiata and a glass of Chianti...then decided to do a little geocaching on the way back to the hotel. I had written down the coordinates of a cache in the vicinity earlier in the day, so I pressed "Where To?", found and pressed the "Coordinates" button, and quickly typed in the lat and long of the cache. This took a fraction of the time to enter info that it took me doing the same task on my GPSMap 60cs! I pressed GO, and I was given a path to the cache site.
The accuracy of this unit is phenomenal! I'm guessing that it's due to the SiRFStar III GPS receiver chipset that's built in. It led me to within five feet of the cache site and I was able to immediately log the cache. That's pretty darned good for an urban cache.
Upon completing my first cache, I typed in the address for a second cache and quickly decided that it was just too far away for me to get to before the sun set, so I searched for (and found) my hotel, tapped "GO" and got directions back to it.
$700 may sound like a lot of money for a GPS receiver, but the Nüvi 660 is more than a GPS receiver. I plan on using the optional Language Pack to help me when I'm in Europe this summer, and as soon as I get back from this business trip, this device will find a permanent place in my car as a navigation aid for directions to my client offices. Since it comes with the Traffic Receiver / Power Adapter, I'll probably sign up for the Traffic Report service so I can get rerouted automatically around accidents or construction work.
The GPSMap 60cs is going on eBay as soon as I get back from this trip. With the Nüvi 660, I don't need another GPS receiver.
[...]
I can get lost backing out of my driveway. I had a GPS that ran on my laptop for several years and it saved my life more times than I can count. The Nuvi is much smaller and easier to use. Just clip it on the windshield mount and you're ready to go. The laptop required booting the computer, finding a place to set the thing, hooking up an external power source (for long trips) and was cumbersome to operate while driving.
It's a tremendous feeling to know that I'll be able to get from downtown Chicago to upper Milwaukee without stopping multiple time to ask for directions. The Nuvi is excellent.
I am in love with my Nuvi 660! I spent a lot of time researching different GPS before I settled on this one. I am so happy I got this one. This thing is perfect right out of the box!
I didn't have any problems at all getting satellite, indoors even! Mounted it to my windsheild no problem and off I went to test it out! I am the type of person who bypasses manuals and just starts playing with it to figure it out! Who likes to read anyway! :) Well you don't need a manual for this because it is dummy friendly!
I love being able to hear the voice speak street names and turns through my car speaker, but if I still want to listen to my music, it's loud enough through its internal speaker to do that too. I wish it had external volume control but you only have to hit two buttons to adjust the volume so I guess its not bad. I also wish they would let you download different voices for it, like maybe Jack instead of Jill. Who knows maybe that will come in the future.
You can go online and download different vehicles to display on your map! I even got santa's sleigh! Yeah I know, it's the little things that get me excited!
But back to why I bought this thing in the first place, the navigation! I found it to be very precise. I had plenty of warning before turns and I even went off course just to see what it would do. It recalculated fairly quickly.
I'm going to search for some more POI to put on here. We have a flying J truck stop about 5 miles from my house that has been there for about 4 years and it wasn't listed under the preloaded POIs.
Overall, I am very happy with this and can't wait to go on another road trip to test it out. I feel less anxious now about going in large cities and places I don't know with my Garmin with me!
Update...5/15/07 My suction mounted holder has fallen and won't stick back up!!!! :( It was a very hot day and it fell off and now it won't go back on no matter what I do. So now I guess I'm going to have to buy a dashboard mount. I'm still in love with the device itself. I live near Indianapolis and there is a ton of construction going on right now so the FM transmitter is nice and it picks up on the delays and routes me around them nicely! All in all, I am very happy with my decision to purchase I just wish it came with both windshield and dash mounts!
I've been using this for the past 6 months and find it a very worthy purchase. The unit is compact enough and well built. Routing is good and very reliable. The music player is handy, but if your car does'nt have a auxiliary audio input its not useful, because you have to use the FM transmitter otherwise, which is not good at all (not sure if its because of difficulty finding a clean channel or any transmission limitations). Bluetooth setup was very easy and a good feature. The audio volume and quality are very good too. The POI database is very bad and should've been more exhaustive for the price of the unit. I've been driving long distance with this and find the maps, routing very reliable. Having a GPS like this definitely makes your travel less cumbersome.
The unit arrived on Wednesday and we drove from Washington DC to Philadelphia this weekend and the unit was right on.
The only funny part was when we were almost home and drove across a new bridge span and go to see us drive across a river.
I have never owned a GPS previously but this one is great. We used it to go all across the country as well as within specific cities and it worked perfectly. The bluetooth for phone is an added plus. We love it.
We had been without a GPS system forever and my husband dearly wanted one. He researched many of them and he wanted one that had a big enough screen, gave spoken directions and recalculated when you decided to go a different way. After numerous trips to downtown and him getting lost and frustrated one too many times, i gave in and purchased this one. It came and he used it once and he LOVES it! In fact i took it out on a test drive on my way back from a destination and i was amazed at how fast it recalculated every time i decided to NOT go that way and i had no fear that i would get home safe and sound. I can't give this enough stars, in fact, i want one for myself. Its so portable that you can switch between cars but i recommend purchasing another cigarette lighter adapter, its much easier to have another one of these than undoing it from car to car.
Has been a life saver for me. Wish you could program more than one destination at a time....but with the favorites section you can put your destination in SAVE and go to favorites at any time you want to revisit a destnation again. I am more than pleased with the simplicity and convenience. I have a Prius and you cannot attach it to the window; there's too much of a slant. You will need to purchase the bean bag..I've tried without it, and it's just not easy driving with it not being attached. The built in antenea is great. Love my GPS!!!!!!
I was really hoping that other posts were misleading. The transmitter cannot overcome static on a blank channel let alone broadcast over a weak station. The reason I chose the 660 was for this feature. Now I'm having a tough time convincing myself to return it for the 360 because I think I will miss the wide screen.
BTW
My Verizon LG VX5300 was not listed as compatible. I'm happy to report that Bluetooth works just fine.
Well I think it's been a few weeks since I got this toy. It's not bad. I got it pretty quickly from Amazon since I paid a little extra for shipping and delivery.
It was a little distracting the first few days since I was paying attention to it more than the road.
I guess I'll be as critical as I can be:
1. The Garmin 660 didn't automatically update Daylight Savings last week, I had to manually change it to 'On' in order to get the correct time. No biggie.
2. The Garmin 660 took a little bit longer to sync up with the satellites if I turned it on while the vehicle was moving. When I was completely stopped, it found it's location in a jiffy.
3. I wish the garmin came with at least small flash card with some sort of demo features for the price I paid.
I can't think of anything else bad to say about the Nuvi 660. My friends have other GPSs and they complain about there's. When they get into my car, they always want to trade GPS systems.
This $700 product lasted about 7 days. We called Garmin 3 or 4 times and got instructions on a 'fix', none of which worked. Instead of replacing the unit, Garmin instructed me to return it to them for repair, which I did on 3/16 at a UPS charge/cost of $24.81, which I presume will not be refunded. Thus, I paid over $700 for a 'repaired' product once it is received back from Garmin. If possible, I would have rated this product as "zero" stars, but your comment box does permit anything lower than 1.
This is an incredible piece of technology! Easy to use, portable, large easy-to-read screen, much more user friendly than the nav unit in my Tribeca. I'm sold!
This has been such an awesome product so far. But a little bit annoyed as it can't use the power adaptor/fm transmitter from the Nuvi 680 that has MSN direct transmission access. Seems like a rip off as Garmin did not make this new transmitter backward compatible for the Nuvi 660.
I have a terrible sense of direction. However, having my "Garmie" as I call her has helped me immensely. I can sit back and let her direct me. When there is a roadblock set up by police, etc., I used to panic but now I know I will get out of it because Garmie will help me. She does not always go the most direct route but she will get me there and that is enough for me. The only problems I have is when I first turn it on, it can take at least 3 minutes before it finds a signal. Also, the battery has only lasted between 90 minutes to 2 hours and not what they claimed. My LG phone 7100 is not fully compatible unlike what I read about other people who had an LG and had no problems. But all in all, I am satisfied.
Excellent product. I like it as well or better as the factory installed Nav System in my wife's Acura. Announcing the actual street names is a great feature. Bluetooth works very well with clear communications both ways.
I first tried their lowest priced model. It was small and difficult to use. The 660 with "touch screen" is infinitely easier to use. The directions are clear and if you do miss a turn it reroutes you using a series of right turns if a u-turn is not advisable given your current location. I'm a bit of a tech-head and this is without a doubt the best purchase I have made in years. Not to mention the price of $719 vs. $999 list.
This thing gives good directions overall. Sometimes I don't like to go a certain way when I'm going somewhere familiar and I get different directions but I don't really need a GPS for that kind of thing.
Excellent POI's. I have been able to find most of my favorite spots and the Nuvi has gotten me there.
I really like the trip meter, it shows your speed, amount of time traveled, amount of time sitting still and other things.
Screen brightness and sensitivity is good. Sound is loud and radio transmitter works fairly well.
MP3 player works good. Auto updater program works well. Traffic receiver not to useful in my area but I'm sure it helps in more congested areas.
Bluetooth feature works great with my LG phone. I can access my phone book straight from nuvi. It picks up my phone calls and sound is decent.
Nice GPS. Sometimes slow to locate satellite. Miscalculated several addresses.
I'm still awaiting a replacement Nuvi660 as the first one kept giving opposite directions. The person I called to get an RMA number in my book is an asset to your company. His name is Victor. He did a great job of answering my questions and getting things rolling for me to obtain a replacement. Very knowledgeable person. He convinced me not to request a refund but to try another one first.
Regards
Dr. Leon C. Lincoln
407-568-3868
Directions were sometimes confusing because the route numbers prompted for turns did not correspond to the signs posted on the highway. Other times the name of the highway was announced when no name was on any sign. Some of the routes prompted were not the best ones available.
The following is my opinion: I have wanted a gps unit for several years, ever since I rented a car with the "**" system in it, But. I checked on the ** to me it was very high priced, I could not find it for less than 2500.00. That was way more than I could afford. Not to mention (from what I read) the hard installation, calibration etc. I found some used units for sale, but still high priced and I did not want to buy a worn out unit so I waited and shopped, read reviews, etc. I tested several "demo" Units in several stores over the years that past, but All had the same problems. I.e. If a gps unit that I am looking at can not find the store in its database that I am standing in, how could it help me find any other stores, addresses or cities that I want to go to? If the demo unit is "locked up", non responsive, did not even last long enough to be sold. And many other problems I found with the other units. How can I justify shelling out hundreds of my hard earned dollars for crap. I even looked at computer based laptop systems, but I gave up on that as it would cost a lot and be bulky and hard to hide from view when car was left unattended in high crime areas. I continued my search until I came across the garmin nuvi 660, read reviews, and went to store to demo it. At first I thought, how could a unit this small have a good database? I was surprised. It had a great database. It found every store that I tested it with, all the "tests" that I entered into it stores in other states, food in the area, gas stations, addresses, etc. it found them all. I was sold, but I was a little worried about how hard it would be for the gps to acquire the satellites and its accuracy. But I bought the nuvi. I have been using this unit for the past 30 days, it is great. It acquires satellites very fast, is extremely accurate. To give you an idea of how great it receives satellite signals, I have the unit sitting on a pillow on the transmission hump in my explorer and it always receive satellite signals strong. The only quirks that I have noticed are the built in fm transmitter that transmits sound through you existing radio is weak. If your car has the antenna on the rear of the car forget about using this feature. If your car has the antenna on the front of the car it will work but is very directional. I find that the built in speaker is all that you would ever need. But if you want to play through your radio this is what I did. I plugged my cd in jack on my radio into the nuvi headphone jack and play mp3's, driving directions through my radio without worrying about the weak built in fm transmitter. I noticed also, rarely the nuvi would say arriving at destination on left, and the business would actually be on the right. This was always not that big of a deal as all I needed to do is find the business in the first place. And this has only happened twice. With probably billions and billions of businesses it is good to only have this minor error. Bottom line: I would liked to have purchased the unit a little cheaper, but I guess, in this instance, I got what I paid for. I love using the unit. I can go ANYWHERE and punch in where I want to go, the bank, food, etc. all without worry that I will easily get back home or where I want to go next. Read the owners manual; you will not believe all the features of this unit. All works great except for what I mentioned above. I recommend that anyone that wants a quality unit that will work great, buy this unit. You won't be sorry.
I have had this for a few months now. It is great. It clicks easially in and out of it's docking thing in the car. Interface is really easy to use. Even my wife loves it!
It has bailed me out a few times where time was critical and I had no idea where I was going.
Love this item, worked right out of the box with very little learning curve. Intuitive controls and software. Price is too high - when the price drops to below $550 buy it.
This device is great. It shows you traffic situation and offers you the possibility to avoid it. The screen is bright and you can see everything clearly. You have enough memory to store 500+ favorites places (for me that is more than enough). It is easy to navigate also.
The missing "half star" is due to 2 things:
First, english is not my first language and even though this device offers you the chance to select almost any language, it fails to pronounce the correct name of the streets in languages other than english.
Secondly, it doesnt offer you the chance to set "AVOID PAYING TOLL" as a option. If you dont mind paying toll, it is not a big deal, but it would be a very nice feature...
The only complaint I have is that it doesn't always take you on the most efficient route and sometimes it is a little bit off (half a block or so) when it says you are ariving at your destination. What I do like is it's slim profile, it makes it easy to slip into your pocket when you want to take it with you. The interface is also very user friendly, almost "Apple" like. Which reminds me, Garmin is still not fully Mac compatible but promises to be so, soon.
We ABSOLUTELY love the Garmin! Very impressive & wiil be very useful in a vehicle or using on foot. We only wish the battery was replaceable when it does fail eventally! The shipper was fast & also packaged the item well!
The Nuvi 660 does everything it is supposed to do. The new larger screen is clear and easy to use. Directions were clear and the map was easy to see. The unit mated completely with my cell phone Motorola E-815 eventhough it is not on the Garmin list of phones that are listed as being compatible. The FM transmitter, however, is underpowered and cannot overcome the incoming FM stations or static if no station is there. It is suggested that the power be increased so that the FM transmitter does not fade in and out during its use. Further, the frequency coverage should be increased to below 88 Mhz. and above 108 Mhz. to allow use due to over crowding on the FM radio band in large metropolitan areas. The maps supplied with the unit were complete, accurate and easy to use.
This item exceeds all my expectations. It is extremely easy to use, and accurate. I was amazed when we were traveling up I-15 and we took the express route (HOV lanes that reverse depending upon rush hour) and the unit told us we were on I-15 reversible
My wife and I love it. We have only used it several time and are already in love with it. The Blue Tooth worked fairly well for us, but that is not what we bought it for. There is no glare on the screen and it gives you street names. We recently had a new by-pass put in close to our home. The Nuvi didn't know about it and everytime we use the by pass the voice assistant tell us there is a better way and gives us alternate routes. It seems really lost on a new road. It has always taken me to the address I put in and never told me to turn into a building, like some people do on TV. I love the ability to carry it in large cities and walk my way back to my car without having to remember the route. The 8 hour battery lasts a little longer, the info seems accurate, the routes seem good and we like to be told what to do rather than studing at least two maps. This is going to save AAA a lot of money.
Other than the Maps not being totally up to date, the unit is easy to use and accruate. It does not always take the "fastest" route (if you already know how to get there), but it does a very good job. The traffic alerts are great and it will route you around congestion (if you want). The traffic warnings are not perfect, the congestion may be cleared before the update is removed. The estimated arrival time is very accruate and interesting. Unless your on a very long drive (hours), you'll see that speeding up from 70 to 80 makes little difference in the arrival time.
I have not used the FM broadcast feature nor the MP3 feature, so no comment. The bluetooth phone feature works just as advertised and is great. Adding stop points to a trip in progress (like adding the bank or fast food) is easy and very useful.
As far as being a pocket navigator, walking around with it would be a little geeky. It's too big to be unobtrusive and you have to have the little antenna flipped up to get reception, but that being said, it's better than a fold out map!
The touch screen works very well and it is easy to see in the car. Of course you have the power wires and optional antenna wire hanging around, but it is still worth buying, even at the current price.
The Nuvi 650 is the best GPS product I've ever had and I've owned both a Garmin Street Pilot and my wife has the TomTom Go. The screen is gorgeous and remarkably clear and for basic directions is very intuitive.
Even though the following comments focus on the shortcomings of the product it is important to bear in mind that Garmin in general and the Nuvi in particular are far and away the best GPS products so their shortcomings are far fewer than those of competitors and secondly, having GPS is extremely helpful and it is worth bearing with minor problems to have it.
At the same time, there are a number of software improvements that need to be made. In the first place, controls for a variety of sound related functions are scattered over a variety of menus when they logically should be grouped in a single category. Marking a location to save in one's favorites is not intuitive and I had to stumble across the way to do it since I couldn't find instructions anywhere. There also should be a built in help or user manual function so one can figure things out on the road. Lastly, the ability to add custom Points of Interest is great. Garmin needs to make the addition of these POIs much more intuitive in future versions.
The final comment I'll make refers to the entire issue of portable versus built in GPS devices. In my previous car, a 2003 Nissan Murano, I had the built in GPS. I just bought a 2007 version of the same car and opted instead for the Nuvi. The reason is because it is a much more advanced product than the built in ones. However it is simply not possible to secure the portable device in a secure way like for the built in version. In particular, there is a constant concern of break in and theft.
The nuvi-660 delivers on its core functions (navigating, mp3, picture viewing, ease of use). In fact, it's a pleasure to use; I would not trade it for anything. Be aware that the 12V car adapter works only while the nuvi is in the car cradle. The FM transmitter is a bit feeble. And I haven't tried the FM traffic feature yet. Fun toy!
This little thing is amazing! Easy set up & keeps track of where you are & where you want be. Get this if you want a GPS, you won't be sorry.
I purchased a Garmin Nuvi 660 for use on my business trip to California.
After trying out the unit at home, and getting to use it on the West Coast, the unit died (blank screan) while working with power from the automobile charger, and stopped functioning. Garmin tech support helped in trouble shooting, however Garming couldn't resolve my problem and after contacting the vendor, I was told that my 14 day warrantee has
expired, a dissapointing issue. Finaly when I returned home I sent the unit back to Garmin for repair or replacement,
The Garmin is user friendly and does not need a lot of instruction to get going. We had a number of new major highways that were not in the software programmiing that produced some confusion when travelling in the week right after purchase. These roads were not constructed in a day and I would have expected more up to date maps on such major highways. In a serious storm we were very glad to have the gps work so well but at a critical moment the lack of maps placed our vehicle in the middle of a field and we lost the picture of where the road was heading when we were already struggling with poor visibility and we had no choice but to proceed. That was a lot of money for outdated maps.
This is really a great little box. Anxiously awaiting the arrival of my recent purchase, I set aside an entire afternoon to "play" with it, and learn how to use my new toy. I found that it took all of about 15-min to learn to use the nuvi 660. It is really so intuitive and easy to understand! Garmin has done a great job with this one. Although I haven't owned it for very long, all of the core functionality obviously works great. I look forward to many adventures with my new friend.
Great GPS... love its quick recalculation ,etc. Take it with me even for local trips for its Bluetooth feature, people I call tell me that the clarity is great... Probably one of the best electonics I have bought since the iPod.
It did give an error once but a reset fixed (believe it was press right side of the screen while turning it back on).
I'm currently walking around San Francisco with my Garmin 660 in my side pocket (it's that compact). Pull it out when we want to go to an attraction or a specialty area to eat. Great at providing 'walking' directions (or taxi for those feet challenged). This is a great gizmo and now wonder how we ever got along without it. The only drawback in Calif is can't mount on windshield - however works just as well on side window or just lying on the adjoing seat. Audio quality is first rate. Screen is large enough to visualize position without squinting. Got mine just over $[...] on [...].
Randy
Ok, so this is only the second one I've tried. But still...
The screen is amazing. Clear and bright, easily seen during the day and at night. The bigger size makes it even nicer. I got a kick out of the different voice options--right now, I'm using the male British voice and it's a riot (yes, I'm easily amused). The unit was easy to install onto my dashboard with the included suction mount/dashboard disk. Very sturdy. The 660 gets a signal right away and calculates routes quickly. I would have preferred a QWERTY keypad, but that's minor. I tried out the FM transmission feature and it worked like a charm. I don't have a Bluetooth-enabled phone, but I am eagerly awaiting the day I can utilize that ultra-important (to me, since I am anti-headset) feature.
The unit just looks and feels high-quality. The directions are accurate, and when you go off course, it automatically recalculates. I only just received the 660 a few days ago, but so far, I'm very satisfied. Go get one!
After doing a ton of research, I choosed the Nuvi 660 for its portability, large screen size and easy to use interface. I got it for my dad who is not very tech savvy and english is not his first language. 4 months later - he loves it. The fact that he can use it tells me anyone can ;o)
This is my fourth navigation device (2 built-in units in cars, and a Magellan). I enjoy using GPS devices and have wanted to own a Garmin unit, which tend to be very well reviewed by both professional and consumer reviewers. I've had the Nuvi for a few days and have been able to do some comparisons.
Overall, built-in car units are preferable due to dashboard screen displays, no distracting windshield mounts, no dangling cords. But they are very expensive, non-portable, and often have older, less-detailed maps and POI databases.
The Nuvi 660's strengths (so far) are the excellent text-to speech feature (very helpful to hear the actual street name when approaching a turn with multiple possible streets or lanes), and the the extensive Point-of-interest database. Restaurants, Starbucks, hotels - all easy to find and surprisingly complete. In addition, the voice is loud, easy to understand, and the Nuvi's wide-screen is easy to read. It is very easy to use - you can be up and running in minutes without reading the manual (although there are several tips and short-cuts available in the documentation - which unfortunately is only on the included CD).
The built-in traffic function is working, but I haven't had a real need for it yet - this is something I'm looking forward to using though.
The windshield mount is very strong (I have no concern about it falling off), but due to the rake of the windshield I need to either set it higher than I'd prefer, or lower but farther away. I may need to investigate alternative mounting solutions. I know there is a sticky-disc that can be mounted on the dashboard, but I'd rather not apply adhesives for this purpose. Plus, the traffic receiver is embedded in the car charger, so although the Nuvi can run on its battery for several hours, the charger is needed for the traffic data feed (the dangling cord would be unnecessary otherwise).
A couple of areas for improvement:
Favorite destinations - no way to sort by name or frequency of use (importance). They auto-sort by distance only.
In limited testing so far, I notice a delay or lag in directions compared to the built-in OEM car unit (both use Navteq maps). In some cases, the Nuvi was saying to turn right when I was already making or completing the turn - the other GPS had given the same instruction earlier. I have also seen this reported elsewhere.
Entering addresses - the touch-screen process is easy and is similar to the Magellan RoadMate, but the Magellan helps the process along by eliminating all invalid letters (That is, if you are typing "Maple Ave.", Magellan only shows valid letter selections for the designated town - the Nuvi retains the full keyboard. Fairly minor, but I found it to be a noticeable difference.)
I look forward to using the Nuvi further. It's wide-screen, light weight, excellent voice commnads, detailed POI database and portability make it a very attractive GPS device. In addition, the higher price includes the traffic features, Bluetooth connectivity, the MP3 player and more.
I have had this GPS for 5 months now and am extremely satisfied with it. I can hear it above all road noise (I have a Civic which is a very noisy car) and the screen is always crisp and clear and easy to see, even in sunlight. I let my elderly parents take it when they have to go somewhere they don't know and it's been a godsend for them. I like the book feature where it will read books for you as you are traveling, then mutes the book reading when it's time to tell you to make a turn. Great product in every way.
Before I purchased the Garmin Nuvi 660, I had been using the navigator on my LG phone through Verizon. That service gave me everything that I wanted except for traffic updates. In addition, it was 9.99/month. After deciding to go with a regular navigator, I originally purchased a Tom Tom 510. I soon discoverd after using the Tom Tom that it was not at all user friendly, had a extremely poor POI database, and didn't serve me the during the few times that I used it. So, I returned the Tom Tom and purchased the Nuvi. I'm completely impressed with the Nuvi. It is very user friendly, it's processor speed is quick, poi data base is very useful and comprehensive, comes with a traffic reciever, reads out street names for you **be careful b/c many GPS's don't do this which makes you take your eyes off of the road more**, redirects you when there is traffic ahead (with the traffic reciever), includes traffic data in with it's calculation of your arrival time, works fairly well with my cell phone, has a nice sized screen, is completely touch screen, has MP3 capubilities, and a bunch of other extras. Garmin is also a more established company than a company like Tom Tom. Garmin support seems so much better. Tom Tom service is nearly impossible to recieve, and when I did recieve it they were of absolutely NO help to me. Some weakness of the Nuvi include that the windshield suction cup that comes with it isn't as high quality as I would like, the software doesn't allow you (not that I could figure out so far) to plan a trip from a destination other than where the GPS is currently located, the MP3 player doesn't accept a lot of formats that most of my music on iTunes and Window's media is already in--they make you purchase music and books on tape in certain formats, so I would have to purchase and download music that I already have. Some things that I would recommed purchasing when you buy this unit is an external microphone for when you talk on the phone. People say that I sound like I'm spoeaking into a can when using the Nuvi's bluetooth capubilities to talk to them through my cell phone. If you are really picky about the suction cup mount--it's not as easy to take off and put on the windshield--I would look into a different mount if they are avalible.
Bottom line, I would recommed this product. There is currently a newer version of the Garmin Nuvi--I believe it's the 680. The additons to that one is that it has internet capubility. That would really complete the package in my book! Buy this product!
Very intuitive set-up, easy to use. Fun to change accents too! It typically takes anywhere from 1-4 minutes to pick up the GPS satellites and then it's fine. I highly recommend the portable dashboard mount available from the manufacturer--it is well-weighted with sand bags, or something, and doesn't move around at all. Makes it easy to move from car to car. Especially important for California drivers, as putting suction cups on the windshield is a no-no under state law. I would definitely buy this again.
I've owned 3 cars with GPS systems built-in and I think this 660 is the best of all of them.
This item performs just like I had expected. It is very easy to use and I love the larger screen. It was well worth the money!
When i bought the Garmin nuvi 660, I thought that it would be a fun playtoy for when i take trips. I'm recently widowed and no longer have my regular direction instructor. I was pleasantly suprised at the functiionality of the device, it's ease of use and it's accuracy. Takes a lot of sweat out of travelling. Once in a while it will take you to a wrong place, but this is rare. Also, sometimes (not often) it will provide a route that is not the one you want, but with a little more use, that can be overcome for the most part. My best recommendation is that I would buy this product again and recommend it to anyone wanting a gps. I'm totally satisfied with this product. Wouldn't want to travel without one in the future. I bought it as a toy; now i consider it as a necessity.
We have used this extensively since buying. It gets us where we are going, sometimes using routes we think unusual, but always very quick, easy, ways. (We have discovered new, better, routes by using this) I only wish it gave distance to destination on the screen, instead of just time of arrival and distance to next turn. I find it easy to program, but am still playing with some factors. It is easy to carry around in its case. I have recommended it to many people.
This is a great device! I originally got it for my wife..We have used it in my home town of cleveland as well as taken it with us on trips to fla and Lake tahoe and used it in rental cars. A great time saver. Simple and intuitive to use. Just saved us alot of time by giving us good routes to take which were not what we had thought. Downside? I am not sure about whether you can update the maps after a few years. If you cannot it is quite expensive for something which will be obsolete in a 4-5 years.
All in all I am extremely satisfied. The only reason it was not 5 stars is I have the nav system in my 07 camry which I think is better (but also more costly and not portable!)
We have been using the 660 to find addresses as we house hunt. It has been very helpful, with the exception of mountain communities, where it seems to get a little confused. In using the device, we have also discovered that it will send you around the block (or section) rather than tell you to turn around, which could add several miles to your trip. (In addition, it may in our imaginations, but we noticed a little "attitude" in the voice prompt when it says it is recalculating!) Other than that, it has a nice large screen and is very easy to use. For most of our address finding needs, its a great little assistant to have around. I would rate it a 4.5.
I am very satisfied with this portable navigation device.
It calculates very fast, the size of the screen and volume is perfect. I haven't even used the FM transmitter. It is also extremely easy to use.
The only thing I miss is the option of choosing between more than 1 route to your final destination.
I really like the fact it reads the names of the streets/roads.
Do your search... I am glad I bought this one instead of Quest 2.
A top quality product that performs as advertised. For those who are having problems, remember "when all else fails, read the instructions", and Garmin Customer support also works well.
For those who want a top navigation product this works extremely well and is very easy to use, very intuitive controls.
I bought this as a gift for my husband who travels daily. He uses it daily and it has proven more valuable then Mapquest by far!
I bought this GPS to help navigate our way on cross country road trips.
On a recent trip from New Mexico to California and back, the GPS part of the receiver worked as advertised. Good driving instructions, easy to use, quick satellite acquisition, etc. However, when using it as an MP3 player to listen to audio books through the vehicle's FM radio, its performance was less than sterling. There is enough interference from other FM transmitters along the road that the Nuvi was frequently drowned out by noise. This was particularly true when passing (or being passed)by semi-trucks. It seems that many of these have devices that transmit in the FM band that overpowers the Nuvi. We heard lots of Country and Western music as we passed these big rigs. Crossing Arizona on I-40 we also got to listen to more religious broadcasting than we wanted to. We finally gave up on using the Nuvi to listen to our book between Gallup and Albuquerque.
Garmin's technical help suggestion was to move the Nuvi closer to the radio. Of course, that moves it out of sight so its maps are no longer useful.
I love my Nuvi!....it is easy to use, has large clear graphics, clear sound, and I love that it says the street names. It is important to take it with you or at least put it out of sight when you leave the car though; I heard on the radio that gps devices like this are the #1 target for theft and a lot of cars are having windshields broken and their gps stolen.
I am so happy I got a portable unit when I bought my new car instead of opting for a built-in navigation. This unit was invaluable when I traveled to Puerto Rico. If you're a Mac user, Parallels works perfectly with Windows to upload software updates to the unit. Don't hold your breath for a Mac version of the Garmin software. They say it's coming by the end of 2006... wait, it's February 2007....
There are some funny moments with pronunciation but overall, it's pretty darn good. If you're on the fence about getting this unit or another one, take my word for it, its great!
Just used it to travel to and around Florida and back to MARYLAND. The 660 worked like a charm! I absolutely love it.
This product works as advertised, right out of the box.
It was a breeze to setup. The window mount holds very well, and is very stable! The screen is very bright, and readable!
My directionally impaired ladyfriend is now an expert navigator. The 660 doesn't just tell her when to turn, it says the name of the road to turn on. And now I want one, even though I take pride in my directional abilities. Now there's no need to go to Mapquest and then print directions, which you'll have to read while driving. Just type the address into the 660, and get directions. Or find the nearest restaurant, lodging or fuel stop and the 660 will help get you there.
It's great!
Unit holds up to Garmin quality. Good