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"Excellent product but a few significant omissions" on by bjones122
Pros: Excellent form factor, and interface. Fast recalculations
Cons: Missing track logs, improving/editing of lat/lons, fragile plug, infrequent data updates.
Summary: The Nuvi 660 is a fantastic product but it is missing a few essentials. First, it does not record a track log; therefore, you cannot see where you have been. A track log is very handy when you’re on roads that are not in the Nuvi’s database such as jeep trails in the national forests. If you make more turns on these roads than you can remember, you’ll not get any help from your Nuvi to find your way out. Another example is looking for real estate or cruising a new subdivision where it’s nice to know where you’ve been, or to upload your traveled path into another product such as GoogleEarth or other mapping products. Second, the Nuvi’s address lookup and geo-referencing does not always produce an accurate location—not Garmin’s fault as buildings are not always built where geo-referencing rules say they should—our office plots .2 miles from it’s actual location. The shortcoming here is that once you save the location to your favorites, there is no way to improve or edit the lat/lon, so for those addresses that do not plot accurately then they’ll always be wrong in your favorites. My third observation is that the tip of the 12v plug on the charger is made of plastic which can break (I’ve broken one). It’s important to insert the plug directly into the receptacle and remove it the same way. Any lateral force during insertion or extraction can break the tip leaving you with what’s left of your battery’s life. Last, is that more frequent updates of map data and points of interest are needed. These data are well out of date by the time Garmin provides updates. Overall a great product and I'd buy one again even with these omissions.
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"Happy I made the choice to get the 660" on by RGare
Pros: Accurate, large bright screen, simple to use, solid feeling and loud
Cons: No on screen off button, can't save tracks
Summary: Got it to drive cross country in my car, but mostly to use on my motorcycle. With medium loud pipes I can still hear it. The Screen washed out about 50% in direct sun light while riding, but with my sun glasses on I can still see the screen. Which I would consider great. Major wish is that it saved tracks so when I'm on one of those rides to no where I can follow the tracks back.
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"Way better than I would have thought." on by dgravley
Pros: Great screen, very light weight, accurate, wind shield mount.
Cons: Blue tooth does not work with all phones
Summary: I am about to move to Dallas and start a new job that has 20 something different locations. I was terrified to start a new job and in new city. This device has taken a large weight off my shoulders. It is extemely easy to use. Just turn it on and go. I will never get lost again. It mounts securely to the windshield and is removed from the mount is one second. You can also remove the suction cup just as fast. The traffic program works well, although I currently live in Houston and it seems the entire city is gride-locked. The screen is beautiful and very responsive. Audio is loud, but not good enough to listen to music through. The only problem I have is with the bluetooth. I have the LG CU-500. It was easy to pair the phone with the Nuvi, but it does not transfer the phonebook. There is no way to manually put the phone numbers in the Nuvi. So when I get a phone call, it just displays the number. Despite that, it is really cool to make a phone call via the Nuvi, especially if you have the audio through the FM transmitter. The FM transmitter is weak, but I live in forth largest city in america so there is some channel on every setting. I have found every location I have looked for in POI database. The 3D view of the map is amazing. It looks exactly like the roads that are ahead of you, plus it displays the next street name long before you can see the signs. I bought it from one of the websites listed on c-net for 560. That's 300 dollars cheaper than the store. I can't wait to use this in Dallas!
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"My new best friend" on by TechyDad
Pros: Big screen, bluetooth, robust GPS, light weight
Cons: Slow update on next turn screen
Summary: Very easy to use and lightweight and slim. Nice packaging and eash to use interface. I found the Bluetooth to my phone eash to establish and it works well. The screen is big and bright and easy to read. Are there a few things I would change? Yes, but nothing major. Some have complained about the lack of a "next turn" direction - and I agree it would be nice. But it tells you which way you will be turning and you can hit the next turn icon to get more info if required. I have never found this to be much of a problem.
Sattelite acquistion is pretty fast and robust. Never lost signal. I even tried it on a recent flight and was able to track the flight by holding it near the window. Fun to watch the "ground speed" and see where we where flying. -
"A valuable but flawed codriver (like my wife)" on by meintalley
Pros: I can instantly find the nearest Walmart all across USA
Cons: does not give reliable directions...
Summary: I can't decide whether I should love my Nuvi 660 or think I got cheated. I drive a semi and have always used Microsoft Streets and Trips for finding my way to my shippers and recievers. It was generally trustworthy (only one egregious error have I found) but it was impossible to do routing work while on the move and there was never a way to say "take me from my current location to where I just told you I want to go." Thus I bought the Garmin Nuvi 660. It does several things well like allowing me to find the nearest Walmart and it takes me right there after I hit the green GO soft key. But it does not allow me to search for an interstate exit number and set it as my destination as would be needed to say get me to the next Flying J fuel stop.
Also, when searching for a city as my desired destination, the normal drill down routine of selecting a state and then spelling a city is not used. Instead I have to spell the city in almost its entirety ( and I have no choice between querty and alpa key pads) (please add this Garmin!!!) because the program is looking at the entire USA and then searching through all like named cities until I find the state I want. So for example, I'm driving across texas and I search for Houston. The choices that pop up are 1)Houston, AL 2)Houston, CO 3)Houston, FL, 4)Houston, GA, 5)Houston, ID 6)Houston, IL 7)Houston, IN 7)Houston, KY 8)Houston, NE 9)Houston, NC 10)Houston OH, 11)Houston, TN 12)(and finally)Houston TX ...the list goes on. Since Nuvi 660 displays these four search results to a page I have to go through four pages to get to my desired result even when I'm sitting in a parking lot in New Caney, TX. Now Nuvi 660 knows where I am because when I first hit the cities soft key it searches for the closest cities and number one search result is Woodbranch, TX 0.4miles South.
I expect more from a $850 dollar unit.
I drive with both Streets and Trips and Nuvi 660 on all the time. I use 660 for instant on the move directions and they are generally reliable with major exceptions. But I always use the big picture map on my laptop from Streets and Trips to double check that Nuvi 660 isn't sending me up a river without a paddle.
Example. Going through San Antonio, TX yesterday to get to Houston, Nuvi 660 sends me along I-10 through the heart of downtown but mysteriously tells me to do a U-turn and go back the other way. Now, after years of reading paper maps I'm smart enough to look at the big picture on Streets and Trips and continue on eastward on I-10. Eventually, when Nuvi 660 runs out of ways to recalculate how to get me back to that U-turn by taking the next exit and then the next exit, etc. It finally figures out that we actually can get to Houston by staying on I-10 and correctly recalculates a good set of directions.
This kind of directions error would be merely inconvenient in a car but is unacceptably dangerous in an 80 foot long tractor trailer combination.
I think the Nuvi could be a fantastic tool if Garmin would let me take one of their programmers over the road for a week to show them what works and what needs refining. Call on me PLEASE Mr. Garmin.
Robert
Garmin Nuvi 660 user reviews
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MSRP: $749.99
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