This article reviews the Garmin Nuvi 660 satellite navigation system. The Nuvi 660 is positioned at the higher end of the Nuvi range and is aimed at people who like extra features like TMC, Bluetooth and an FM transmitter.
There is also the newer Garmin Nuvi 760 which is similarly priced to the Nuvi 660 but with an improved spec. This review will help you decide which system is for you.
Box Contents
This is what you get in the box.
- Garmin Nuvi 660
- Preloaded City Navigator® NT maps for UK and Europe or North America (full coverage)
- Vehicle suction cup mount
- FM traffic receiver with vehicle power cable
- Dashboard disk
- USB cable
- Leather carry case
- Quick start manual
- CD Rom containing user manual
- AC charger with interchangeable 2-pin and 3-pin configuration plug
Detailed Specifications
- Unit dimensions: 4.9″W x 2.9″H x .9″D (12.4 x 7.4 x 2.3 cm)
- Display size: 3.81″W x 2.25″H (9.7 x 5.7 cm); 4.3″ diag (10.9 cm)
- Display resolution, widescreen: 480 x 272 pixels
- Weight: 6.2 ounces (176 g)
- Battery life: up to 7 hours
- USB connector
- SD Card Slot
- Speed camera warnings out-of-the-box
- Text to speech. Speaks road numbers as well as street names, e.g. “Turn left in 200 yards onto the A4” and “Turn right in 200 yards onto West Street”
- MP3 player
- Picture viewer
- FM transmitter
First Thoughts
The Nuvi 660 looks similar to the other widescreen models in the Nuvi range. It has the same good looks and easy to use interface.
A USB cable and AC charger is included plus you get a leather carry case. It’s nice to finally see a Nuvi with all these items included, normally one item or the other is missing. The Nuvi 250W for example doesn’t include a USB cable and the Nuvi 770 doesn’t include an AC charger, which is all extra money to pay out for.
Garmin have included a quick reference guide which covers the basics you need to get started. The system I reviewed also included a CD-ROM containing the full user manual. The full user manual is also available to download from the Garmin web site but the CD-ROM version of the manual was a welcome touch.
GPS Receiver
The Nuvi 660 has an excellent GPS receiver, just like the other systems in the Nuvi range. A satellite signal was established within a couple of minutes. There is no need to stand outside to get a signal. You can get a signal indoors providing you are situated fairly close to a window.
I was amazed how strong the GPS receiver on this system is. Even standing 10 feet away from a window with the blinds closed it still managed a satellite signal. In terms of GPS reception it is the best Nuvi I’ve tested so far, outperforming the 250W and 770. This is probably due to the fact the Nuvi 660 supports WAAS/EGNOS which is covered later in this review.
The Nuvi 660 uses a flip-out GPS receiver which is a different approach to the 250W and 770 which both have built-in GPS receivers. There are plus and minus points to this approach.
On the plus side, as soon as the GPS receiver is folded away the GPS receiver is turned off. This is good if you want to conserve battery power. This is probably one of the reasons why the 660 has a 7 hour battery life compared to the 5 hours for the 250W and 770.
On the minus side, it does make the 660 more bulky to setup in the car, as you need to allow a bit more room for the flip out GPS receiver so that it doesn’t touch the windscreen.
In addition the flip out GPS receiver makes the Nuvi 660 more difficult to hold in pedestrian mode. When testing the Nuvi 770 in pedestrian mode I could keep the 770 inside the leather carry case whilst walking around. The flip out GPS receiver on the 660 makes this impossible and I feel you’re more likely to drop the 660 with the GPS receiver opened.
Maps
The Nuvi 660 includes full coverage of either the UK and Europe or North America depending on where you buy the unit. Like all other sat nav systems in the Nuvi range the map data is very detailed and covers individual street level detail. I tried browsing the maps around several European countries and found the level of detail to be excellent.
Navigation
Planning routes by the fastest time or shortest distance are supported, plus there is also an ‘Off Road’ profile which enables you to navigate from one place to another without regards for roads.
There are options to plan journeys using other vehicles such as lorry (truck), bus, emergency vehicle, taxi and pedestrian. A bus profile for example would allow the Nuvi to select bus lanes when planning routes, whilst pedestrian mode would allow you to walk the wrong way down a one-way street.
The routing profiles offered by the Nuvi 660 is an improvement over the 250W and 770 which only offer the basic automobile, bicycle and pedestrian modes.
You can specify an address using the following options:
- Address – you can enter either a post code (full 7 digit postcode entry is supported), or you can enter the city and street name manually. One irritating feature is that you need to select the country every time you enter an address. If you only ever use the Nuvi 660 in a single country then this will get annoying after a while.
- Go home – if you have saved a home address then you can navigate to that address.
- Point of Interest (POI) – you can navigate to the following POI categories: food, fuel, bank/ATM, lodging, shopping, parking, entertainment, recreation, attractions, community, hospitals, transit and auto services. You can also spell the POI name if it does not fit into one of these categories. Once you select a POI category such as food you can then choose a sub-category such as Asian, Chinese, Fast Food, etc. You can search for POI either near your current location, a different city, along your current route or your destination. This is useful if you want to find a fuel outlet or restaurant along your current journey for example.
- Recently Found – the Nuvi 660 stores a list of recent destinations which you can navigate to again.
- Favourites – these are a list of destinations which you have saved as a favourite. These could be things like the location of friends and family for example.
- Intersections – this screen allows you to enter two road names and then navigate to the point where those two roads intersect.
- Cities – if you just want to navigate to a city without entering a specific address then use this screen. By default the Nuvi will list cities closest to your current location and you select one from the list. Alternatively you can spell the name of a city if it is further afield.
- Browse Map – you can browse the map and zoom in and out. Once you have found a location you tap the screen and navigate to that location.
- Co-ordinates – you can also navigate to a set of co-ordinates. You have the option to use a variety of co-ordinate formats
(h ddd mm’ ss.s”, h ddd mm.mmm’, h ddd.ddddd, British National Grid)
The maps are clearly displayed and easy to read. At the top of each map is a green text bar. If you press this then your route is displayed in text only mode. This can be useful for seeing the next few turns on your journey. You can scroll through your entire journey this way if required. You might use this for example when looking at a complicated step on your journey.
The trip information button is displayed at the bottom left of the map and shows your estimated arrival time. If you press this button then the trip log is displayed which shows information such as total journey time, maximum speed and average speed. If you just want to drive around without entering a route then this button will display your current speed.
The turn button is displayed at the bottom right of the map. Pressing this button will display the Turn Page showing the next step of your journey in more detail.
The Turn Page is basically a combination of the map view and text view on one screen. I never use this feature myself but some people may find it useful. If you just want to drive around without entering a route then the turn button will act like a compass and display the direction you’re driving.
The Nuvi 660 includes simulator mode just like the 250W and 770. This feature allows you to plan a route and then simulate the journey without leaving home. If you plan a long journey though be prepared to wait a long time and there is no way to speed up or slow down the simulator speed.
I tested the Nuvi 660 using the same routes I used when reviewing the 250W and 770. This is basically a cross-country route from Wiltshire down to the South coast. The route planning was consistent with the routes chosen by the 250W and 770, getting me to my destination every time without any problems.
The Nuvi 660 also includes text to speech which means it will call out road numbers and street names, for example “Turn left in 200 yards onto the A4” and “Turn right in 300 yards onto West Street”. The voice is identical to the one used on the newer Nuvi 700 series. The voice sometimes sounds a little digital (computer-like), but overall I found the pronunciation of street names acceptable.
WAAS/EGNOS
The Nuvi 660 supports WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System). This is a system of satellites and ground stations that provide GPS signal corrections, giving you even better position accuracy, on average up to five times better. WAAS can give you a position accuracy of three meters or less 95 percent of the time. This compares to the typical position accuracy of 100 metres offered by other sat nav systems.
Currently, WAAS satellite coverage is only available in North America. There are no ground reference stations in South America. In Asia there is the Japanese Multi-Functional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), while Europe has the Euro Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), which provide the same advantages as WAAS.
In my tests I didn’t see any noticeable improvement in position accuracy with WAAS/EGNOS switched on, but I did notice a marked improvent with satellite reception when indoors. Even without any visible view of the sky whilst indoors the Nuvi 660 was able to lock on to a satellite signal.
Pedestrian and Off-Road Navigation
The Nuvi 660 can be used in pedestrian mode like the Nuvi 250W and 700 series. From the main screen tap the spanner icon and select the Navigation option, then tap the Vehicle option and choose Pedestrian.
The routing profile needs to be set depending on where you intend to walk. From the same Navigation options screen select Route Preference and choose the appropriate routing preference.
For walking along city roads and streets then use either the ‘Shorter Distance’ or ‘Faster Time’ route profile. If you want to walk wherever like regardless of roads, such as across a field, then use the ‘Off Road’ route profile.
The pedestrian mode has always worked well on the Garmin Nuvi range and the 660 is no different.
Screen
The widescreen on the Nuvi 660 is pretty much like all the other widescreen models in the Nuvi range. The on screen controls are clearly laid out and easy to read. It is easy to navigate through all the different menu options and if you need to tweak any of the settings then press the spanner (wrench) icon.
Speakers
No issues with the internal speakers on the Nuvi 660. The voice directions are clear and easy to hear. I set the volume level to 80% and that worked well for me.
Bluetooth, TMC and Safety Cameras
The Bluetooth, TMC and safety camera features are identical to the Nuvi 770 which was reviewed last month. Rather than repeat exactly the same information I suggest you read the sections on Bluetooth, TMC and Safety Camera on the following link.
One thing I do like, which was not mentioned in the previous review, is the ability for the Nuvi 660 to use the text to speech feature to read back SMS text messages you receive. So not only can you make hands free phone calls but you can listen to text messages hands free too.
Suction Cup and Cradle
The windscreen mount is similar to others in the Garmin range, although I wasn’t impressed with the design of the cradle.
The connection point where the Nuvi 660 plugs into the cradle is situated on the back of the 660. This makes snapping the 660 onto the cradle a little fiddly. You don’t get a nice reassuring click sound to indicate the 660 has snapped onto the cradle.
The following image shows the gold coloured connection point which slots into the back of the Nuvi 660.
A couple of times I found the Nuvi 660 had not snapped onto the cradle correctly and it came loose. Once you’ve used it a few times you get the hang of it but it is a bit disconcerting.
The following image shows the Nuvi 660 and 770 cradles side by side. The Nuvi 660 is on the left. You can see the gold coloured connection point for the Nuvi 770 is at the bottom of the cradle. I think this is a much better design than the Nuvi 660. Using the 700 series cradle you get a nice click sound to indicate the system has snapped onto the cradle correctly.
My other criticism of the Nuvi 660 was the suction cup. The suction cup came loose and fell off the windscreen after only a couple of times using the device. The suction cup itself looks identical to others in the Nuvi range so perhaps I had a defective suction cup but it was not reassuring.
System Tools
If you press the spanner (wrench) icon on the main screen there are a large selection of options that can be viewed and customized. These are outlined below.
Map
This screen allows you to set the level of map detail, map view (track up, North Up or 3D View), map outlines and type of vehicle.
System
This screen allows you to toggle on and off the following options:
- WAAS/EGNOS
- Safe Mode
- Garmin Lock
- Touch Tones
- Simulator
Locale
This screen allows you to set the language, voice language, time format (12hr, 24hr or UTC) and units (miles or km).
Display
Here you can set the colour mode (daytime, night time or automatic), backlight timeout (stays on, 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes), recalibrate the screen, change the splash screen which is displayed when the Nuvi 660 is switched on, and toggle on and off the screenshot. The screenshot facility is useful if you want to take a snapshot of the map and save it for later viewing.
Navigation
This screen allows you to change the route preference (faster time, shorter distance, off road), vehicle type (car/motorcycle, pedestrian, bicycle, lorry/truck, bus, emergency vehicle, taxi), avoidances (traffic, u-turns, major roads, unpaved roads, toll roads, ferries, car share lanes), toggle attention tone on and off, and voice prompts (none, guidance only, guidance/status).
Bluetooth
This screen allows you to setup and edit your bluetooth connections.
Proximity Points
This screen allows you to toggle on and off custom POIs (Points of Interest) and Garmin Safety Cameras. You can also set the audio notification (single tone, continuous – speed alerts, continuous – all alerts). This can be useful if you only want a single notification when approaching a safety camera rather than repeated warnings.
Volume
Here you can set the navigation volume (voice directions, warning tones, etc.) and MP3/audible volume (when using the MP3 player, audio books and Garmin travel guides).
Travel Kit
The travel kit is accessed by pressing the suitcase icon on the main screen. It contains the following options.
MP3 and Audio Book Players
Use these two options for playing your MP3 tracks and audio books. I transferred several MP3 files to the Nuvi and the MP3 player worked fine.
Picture Viewer
Use this tool to view pictures you’ve uploaded to the Nuvi. You can scroll through each photo, show each photo full screen or do a slide show.
Calculator
Use this tool for performing basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
Language Guide
The Nuvi 660 comes preinstalled with a sample of the Garmin Language Guide. These guides contain common words and phrases, such as ordering food in a restaurant or asking directions in a foreign language. You can get the Nuvi to speak these phrases aloud. This can be useful if you’re travelling around Europe and don’t speak the local language.
It also includes bilingual dictionaries so you can quickly convert a word from English to Spanish, German, French, Italian or Portuguese. You can also convert the other way, such as Spanish to English.
Travel Guide
These are optional extras which you can purchase from the Garmin web site. These guides provide helpful and thorough reviews and recommendations for restaurants, hotels, shopping, nightlife, sporting events and tourist attractions.
World Clock
This tool will show your current time, plus 4 other time zones. You can change the time zones to other world locations and specify whether each time zone should use daylight saving. You can also display a world map showing which regions in the world are currently in daylight and nighttime.
Currency Converter
This screen allows you to convert between a large selection of foreign currencies. You can update the currency rates too.
Unit Converter
This screen allows you to convert from a variety of units, whether it be area, distance, speed, temperature, volume or weight.
Points of Interest (POI)
The Nuvi 660 is just like others in the Garmin Nuvi range. The Nuvi range typically hold around 6 million POI which should be more than adequate for most users.
You can update the POI database on the Nuvi by using this link:
Garmin POI loader.
The first step is to either create your own POI file, or download the many that are already available, and then transfer these to the Nuvi using the POI loader.
The following link provides further details:
How to create a POI file
Summary
The Nuvi 660 is a nice sat nav system. It has the same good looks and easy to use features that are common across the entire Garmin Nuvi range. The navigation worked well and it is backed up by a huge Points of Interest (POI) database.
The TMC reception is excellent and the bluetooth and safety camera features worked well.
I found the cradle on the Nuvi 660 disappointing and not as easy to use as the newer Nuvi 770 series. The suction cup proved unreliable too.
I personally prefer the newer Garmin 700 series and you can pick up a Nuvi 760 for almost the same price as the Nuvi 660. The cradle is better designed than the Nuvi 660 and the user interface has been tweaked and looks slicker.
The Nuvi 760 also sports several new features not seen on the 660 such as support for multiple routes, automatic sorting of multiple destinations, MSN direct and automatic remembering of where you parked your car.
The Nuvi 660 does have a longer battery life though, supports WAAS/EGNOS, and has more routing profiles (such as taxi, bus and emergency vehicles), so if these are important to you then the Nuvi 660 is a good buy, otherwise I would consider the more up-to-date Nuvi 760.
Pros
- Wide screen
- Superb GPS signal with WAAS/EGNOS support
- Easy to use touch screen controls
- Speed cameras warnings out-of-the-box
- TMC signal excellent
- Text to speech – voice directions include road numbers and street names
- Huge POI database
Cons
- Cradle fiddly to use
- Have to select country name each time you enter a destination
Where to buy
Buy the Garmin Nuvi 660 Widescreen Sat Nav from Amazon.
Enjoyed reading this review?
If so consider receiving our FREE newsletter. Each review will be posted direct to your email inbox as soon as it is published. Your privacy is respected and you can unsubscribe at any time.
- Leave a comment
- Subscribe
- FREE Newsletter
- del.icio.us
- Stumble it!
- Digg It
44 responses so far ↓
1 Rob // Mar 15, 2008 at 8:30 am
Excellent review, great detail, well done!
2 seo // Mar 16, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Wooow very detailed review indeed. Thanks!
3 Ray Cassie // Jul 20, 2008 at 10:54 pm
I agree with all review but after a couple of starts it is easier to install onto window fixing.
4 David Viner // Aug 9, 2008 at 2:15 pm
I’ve been looking at various sat nav systems for nearly a month, and had narrowed it down to the 660 and 760. Reading your excellent article has helped me make up my mind – it’s the 660 for me! I have found other sites that are cheaper than Amazon, and also “white box” products which are greatly reduced.
Thanks for the interesting article
5 anwar // Sep 2, 2008 at 3:35 pm
i bought this garmin 660 for taxi use i thougt its best ,but i am very unhappy becuse most of the place it dosent find,
2. it take longer route than shorter route costumer most of the time complining ans swer at me becouse of thir fare . i am very very disopinted, i have updated the system but still a
same . please give me a solutions
regards
ali
6 Dean // Sep 2, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Anwar,
Can you give me some examples of places it cannot find?
To answer your second question. You can tell the Garmin to use either the shortest or fastest route. From the main screen tap the spanner icon and select the Navigation option, select Route Preference and choose the appropriate routing preference.
7 Nicholas // Sep 5, 2008 at 8:37 pm
very good report, thank you
8 Ian Ferguson // Sep 11, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Anyone know what this is like on Truck or Bus routes ?
i.e. does it work any better any different for HGVs ???
9 Dean // Sep 11, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Ian,
That is one area I didn’t get round to checking when I wrote this review. I had a quick search on Google and found mixed reports. One web site said it was a popular system amongst HGV drivers. I found another web site for caravan owners who were using the Lorry setting to avoid narrow roads and it said it took them down unsuitable roads. Not much help I know.
If possible, see if you can ask for a demo in a shop, and try planning a local route nearby to you and see if it avoids narrow roads or low bridges.
I’m not sure whether it will avoid low bridges out of the box. I know you can download custom Points of Interest (POI) for low bridges, but not sure if it actually warns you or simply shows them on the map.
10 Robin // Sep 22, 2008 at 9:18 am
Hi
Can you change the estimated ‘arrival time’ to miles left?
The EAT is useful, but I’d prefer ‘miles to go’.
11 Dean // Sep 23, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Hi Robin,
I don’t think you can show ‘miles to go’.
12 ryan // Dec 22, 2008 at 2:14 pm
hi great report, But do you know how to store songs onto the sat nav, iv also bought an sd card and it stil wont store any songs. Also how do you update the 660fm version.
13 Dean // Dec 22, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Connect your Nuvi to your computer, it will appear as an extra device on your computer. Then copy the songs onto the Nuvi.
You should also be able to copy songs onto an SD card. If you’re having problems copying songs onto the SD card then I would make sure the SD card has been formatted first, many SD cards are sold unformatted.
14 Top 10 Reviews of 2008 // Dec 22, 2008 at 8:58 pm
[...] NV-U73 Sat Nav 4. Garmin Nuvi 770 Sat Nav 5. Navman S50 Sat Nav 6. Apple iPod AV Connection Kit 7. Garmin Nuvi 660 Sat Nav 8. 3 Mobile Broadband 9. 3 Skypephone 10. DigiMemo A402 Digital [...]
15 Roger Bevan // Apr 2, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Sirs, Excellent reviews -however I would question one thing. I am sad to say that Garmin no longer support the British National Grid co-ordinates system and only Lat/Long.Your report for example mentions BNG for the model 660. I fear it is not there! Very few British Maps show Lat & Longitude But most will show Ordnance Survey BNG.I think Garmin have made a big mistake.
Roger Bevan
16 Scotty // Apr 9, 2009 at 12:02 pm
recently my nuvi 660 Europe has swithed off on long jurneys saying that the battery power is low, even though it is being charged from the cars 12v power supply. It clearly charges from the mains in the house as that s how get it to work in the car for approx 4 hours.
17 Dean // Apr 9, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Is it possible the in-car charger is faulty?
18 Scotty // Apr 9, 2009 at 6:27 pm
Hi Dean,
Thanks, but I should have added that I have a double socket (y shaped) car charger, one socket is for charging my Ipod the othet charging the Nuvi. Please also note that when I changed the two units around on the return leg to ensure that it was not just one of the legs. On both trips the Nuvi switched off with message – battery low, so don’t think that it is the charger.
Scotty
19 Dean // Apr 9, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Hi Scotty,
That is strange. Have you updated the software on the 660 recently? Also have you tried doing a factory reset?
Do you get the same problem when the ipod is not plugged into the other leg?
One other test, do you get the same problem in another vehicle. A long shot I know but could be worth a go.
20 rob // Apr 11, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Hi Scotty,
I have this problem sometimes with my old garmin, check the chargere is fully inserted into the adaptor, mine keeps wiggling its way loose and so doesn’t charge the unit.
Hope this helps! Thinking of getting one of these as my maps are out of date and are stupidly expensive to update!
21 naim b. // May 17, 2009 at 6:34 am
I just bought Garmin 660 FM (uk &europe)without manual cd and I would like to know wether it has full postcode search and maps of eastern europe.
Many thanks
22 Dean // May 17, 2009 at 2:21 pm
It has full postcode search. Maps coverage of Eastern Europe can vary. Which country were you interested in?
23 joe dwyer // May 25, 2009 at 8:18 pm
i have been using this in my job as a multi drop hgv driver and it only finds the post codes about half the time and it comes up with ridiculous suggestions. this sat nav makes my blood pressure boil and i want a tom tom like every other driver i meet.
24 Mike // Jul 28, 2009 at 9:37 am
I would not buy products from Garman anymore.
Service is poor.
The traffic antena breaks off easily.
The GPS built in antena goes faulty often and is expensive to get repaired and the best option is to buy a GPS external cable.
25 Karl // Oct 6, 2009 at 7:13 pm
In your opinion which would you say is the best.
The Garmin Nuvi 660 or
The Garmin Nuvi 760
26 Dean // Oct 6, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Hi Karl,
There is not much in it. I personally prefer the 760 but it is more expensive than the 660. I just checked on Amazon and the 760 is about £35 dearer, so shop around for the best deal.
27 Karl // Oct 7, 2009 at 9:52 am
Thanks for your swift reply. I should have asked which sat nav would you buy on a budget of £170.00.
28 Dean // Oct 7, 2009 at 9:19 pm
Karl,
I personally would probably buy a Nuvi 255WT and save a few quid. When I reviewed the Garmin Nuvi 775 (which is the same as the 765 essentially) I ran into a few minor issues with the mapping, nothing major but it makes me slightly hesitant in recommending it. I suggest you read some reviews on Amazon before committing to buying it.
It depends really on what features are important to you.
Do you want UK only, UK and Europe, or UK, Europe and USA mapping. Do you want features like bluetooth and traffic alerts (TMC). Do you want a sat nav that you can easily customize or has an easy to use interface.
I can probably better advise you then.
29 Karl // Oct 7, 2009 at 9:26 pm
UK AND EUROPE,BLUE TOOTH, TRAFFIC ALERTS (TMC). EASY TO USE INTERFACE-
READS OUT STREET NAMES, ECT
30 Dean // Oct 7, 2009 at 9:41 pm
The Nuvi 765
would be suitable, although it does get a few negative reviews on Amazon, overall it gets a 3 out of 5 rating.
If you can get away without bluetooth then the Nuvi 265
is worth a look.
31 Dean // Oct 7, 2009 at 9:56 pm
Sorry, just checked again, the Nuvi 265 does have bluetooth and it is FM traffic compatible too, but it looks like the traffic is an optional extra you would have to pay more for.
The Nuvi 265T
has built-in traffic and bluetooth, it is not widescreen but gets good reviews.
Confusing eh!
So basically you have a Nuvi 265W and a Nuvi 265T. The ‘T’ denotes traffic built-in.
Hope this helps.
32 Karl // Oct 7, 2009 at 10:51 pm
Hi Dean. Many thanks for your help its been very usefull. I think i will go for the 265 wt.
Do you know if fm tmc traffic receiver covers the uk and europe.
33 Dean // Oct 8, 2009 at 9:45 pm
TMC covers the UK out of the box, it will work in Europe but I think you need to pay/activate a separate subscription for that. Might be worth you giving Garmin a call to confirm.
34 Tony // Oct 17, 2009 at 7:45 pm
I have only been using my 660 for a week and confess I’m disappointed. The Fastest and Shortest options don’t work for me. I would prefer more options. For example, the Fastest route to work takes me on major roads like the A34 anM4 which are disasterously busy at commuting times so are not fast! The Shortest route took me right through the middle of Reading – a lunatic thing to do! I need to be able to bar certain roads from it. Also it does not recognise loads of roundabouts, and it sees junctions where they do not exist. My old routes are far better! I am hoping the retailer will take it back. I had heard that Garmin were best because they had actually driven their routes – well, not the ones they send me on! I spent 40 minutes in a queue yesterday on one route, down the hill into Streatly. There was an accident on the A34 and I was seeking an alternative, but I’d bave been better waiting for the road to clear. My 90 minute journey turned into 4 hours !!
35 Dean // Oct 17, 2009 at 10:48 pm
Tony,
Most sat nav systems don’t have the intelligence to know that a particular road will be busy during peak times, they just direct you along what is in theory the quickest route, so you can’t really complain in this area.
You’d get that problem with pretty much every other make of sat nav, although the TomTom Go 740 that I reviewed a while back is smarter in this area and takes into account the time of day you’re travelling. It though is significantly more expensive.
Shortest route is not a profile I would recommend as you found out, it will take you down routes that are often not practical, especially in urban areas. Again you would find that same problem with other makes of sat nav too.
How old are the maps on your system? Just because it was bought new doesn’t necessarily mean you have the latest maps. There may be a map update available which may fix some of the issues you saw with it not recognising certain junctions.
In my experience I’ve found that all makes of sat nav have their faults, none are perfect. Hope you find better success with an alternative.
36 Ben // Oct 24, 2009 at 10:15 am
How well does the unit perform as a handsfree unit when paired to a mobile phone? I know that is has a simple user interface but i am worried about sound quality both within the car, and on the other end of the call.
37 Dean // Oct 30, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Hi Ben,
Sorry for the late reply. In my limited testing I’ve found sound quality within the car to be fine, but sometimes the person at the other end of the call can have difficulty hearing me whilst I am driving. This is not always a problem but it has happened to me before.
38 robert phillips // Jan 15, 2010 at 4:52 pm
the first 660 i sent back the voice level was to low new one sounds.ok . have not tried the traffic side yet .music side. cannot download from my pc to the nuvi unless it has a sd card inserted.this is from garman.plus cannot playmusic from the nuvi 660to the car stereo. which it says you can in the owners manuel
39 Pat // Jan 23, 2010 at 12:05 pm
My Garmin Nuvi 660 worked perfectly for a year and then the warranty ran out and problems began. The car charger ‘exploded’ at the end and pieces went flying everywhere and got lost and the gps device could not store power in the battery, so it was useless trying to charge it either on the computer or at the wall socket. The gps was an expensive device and I am disappointed that with the cost of getting the device looked at and repaired, it is better to purchase another one. A waste of money, seeing as it only lasted a year and a half, before the battery packed up.
40 Fergus // May 28, 2010 at 8:23 pm
I notice you didn’t reply to the comment about the Garmin’s limited grid co-ordinates facility. Most people use British National Grid Ordnance Survey in Britain. My job often entails working in a rural environment where postcodes don’t apply and the BNG grid ref system is a the most reliable way of getting to my destination. I fear that Garmin have been a bit short-sighted in removing this facility from their latest models.
41 Mike // Jul 1, 2010 at 8:38 pm
My Nuvi 660 only lasts about 3 hour not the 7 in the review, and it won’t actually give directions if it is being charged using the in car charger is something wrong here, do you think ?. It is 6 months old.
42 Dean // Jul 1, 2010 at 8:56 pm
Mike,
It should give directions when using the in car charger. I’d give Garmin a call since it is only 6 months old.
43 Oz // Jul 7, 2010 at 10:49 am
Nuvi 660T – Pants.
Looks flash at first, but not goot at it’s core function – navigation. Takes obscure routes randomly, and traffic reroutes when you are a long way from problem, but does not reconsider the original route. Drove into stationary 5 mile tailback on M1 and it didn’t even know. Junction detail shows up too late to be in correct lane, and custome POI’s dont show at all.
Reverting back to Tomtom. Nuvi soon to appear on ebay.
44 Carl // Jul 27, 2010 at 9:20 am
@ Fergus: I have a 610WT and looking to upgrade and also require BNG … Garmin have confirmed that this isn’t available on in-car sat navs
let me know if you know of a model that does!
Leave a Comment