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| Garmin nüvi 660 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator | 
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| Brand: Garmin
Category: CE
List Price: $797.94
Buy New: $329.99
You Save: $467.95 (59%)
New (71) Used (1) Refurbished (10)
Avg. Customer Rating:  990 reviews
Sales Rank: 3
Format: Cd
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Native Resolution: 480 x 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 12 x 12 x 5
nv:Type: Car Kit
Waypoints: 500 with name and graphic symbol
Trip Computer: Average Speed
Trip Computer: Resettable Odometer
Trip Computer: Timers
Trip Computer: Maximum Speed
Inputs: 12/24 Vdc
Display: Color
Touch Screen: Yes
Voice: Yes
Battery Life: 7 hours
Antenna: Flip-up patch
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
MPN: 010-00540-00
Model: 010-00540-00
UPC: 053759065110
EAN: 0753759061265
ASIN: B000H49LXQ
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 okay but too expensive given the imperfections May 13, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
(long review)
After taking a business trip to visit a dozen retail stores and spending hours preparing maps, taking wrong turns, stopping to take cell phone calls, etc., I decided it was time to get a GPS with bluetooth. I wanted something that would help me on such trips in the future but also with mp3 as our car has no CD or mp3 player built in. So I bought the universally recommended Nuvi 660 in December of 2007, and tested it on the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay area where I live.
GPSes have come a very long way since the first time I tried one a decade ago (and thought it was useless). But for the 450 dollars or so I spent on the device, I am not impressed. Most of my frustrations with the Nuvi are probably applicable to most GPS units as of 2008, from what I've been able to gather . So here are my pros and cons for this unit:
Pros:
Once the unit is on and mounted, it is easy to use with a very readable display and a nice user interface.
The GPS talks in a very clear, easy to understand voice, and I mostly don't need to look at it while driving.
If I do want to look at the GPS, there are several different views, and helpful hints within the views that are very logical and easy to use. For example, I love that it tells me that the turn will be in 200 feet.
For the most part, it gets me within a 100 feet of where I need to go.
When errors are made, it is pretty graceful about recovering by recalculating new directions.
The FM transmitter combined with MP3 is really great - replacing our pile of cassettes with modern technology - it's really my favorite aspect of the Nuvi 660. The integration with the GPS function is good as it pauses the music when speaking - so this makes it better than having separate mp3 and GPS devices. A great side benefit of the FM transmitter is that you can use the car radio's volume control knob.
The volume of unit is loud enough to hear in noisy conditions (when not using FM transmitter)
I like the trip info page - by recording the time on different routes, I can see which is the fastest, which has most stop time, etc.
My 3 year old son totally loves this device and is really into watching the car go on the map to a place he chooses. He is learning about maps, big versus small maps, left, right, etc. And we have a bunch of toddler music loaded on it so it ends up as a great entertainment device for long car or plane rides.
Allows for a variety of ways to input addresses directly on the unit, and being able to save favorites and bring them up easily is very helpful.
POI database is nicely integrated into the GPS, and even nicer when a phone is hooked up with bluetooth.
Cons:
The basic mapping function is mediocre in the hilly area where I live (though I admit the roads around here are a killer test for a GPS unit as they are big curves and hills, many roundabouts with 5 or more roads, and some complicated highway interchanges, including the "maze"). Here are navigation drawbacks:
1) Assumes I will be going maximum speed limit as opposed to an average which is slower due to traffic, construction, school zones, stop signs, and traffic lights - so therefore rarely chooses the fastest route. This also means that the Nuvi's time predictions are almost always too optimistic.
2) When road veers slightly, the GPS does not warn me, and this has sometimes caused me to take a wrong turn when there's a fork in the road.
3) When navigating complex highway interchanges such as "the maze," Nuvi does not tell me which lane I should be in. While it correctly says which side of the highway an exit will be on on a straight, simple highway, it often gets this wrong when there are multiple highways merging or peeling off.
4) There have been errors in the maps on several occasions that lead me to a dead end or did not correctly place a road.
While I love the GPS voice navigation, it lacks a few things that force me to look at the screen, such as when I need to veer left, or "you need to take the FOLLOWING left onto Smith Ave. To get the best navigation out of the device, it helps to look at the screen.
While it doesn't bother me, my wife found the window mount to be very visually distracting so she simply can't use it - and she even complains when I am using it and she is in the back seat. Of course this will be true of all window mounted units. It is possible to buy a dashboard mount which modestly improves this issue.
Getting the Nuvi on and off the dashboard adds an extra minute to each car ride. The dashboard mount is better as it cuts down the time a bit - especially because you can just take the whole thing and put it on the floor in 2 seconds when you're leaving the car.
No buttons for volume, mute, and brightness - means I am forced to navigate the screen while driving, something I'd rather not do (and my wife gets very nervous when I do it anyway).
Primitive power management - no sleep mode, and turning it on takes a leisurely 30 seconds. Also, it took me a while to figure out several things you really need to know about turning it on, such as you need to hold onto the power button for several seconds, and that the GPS positioning happens much faster if you have the antenna up when turning it on).
Some things about setup are awkward. Bluetooth was the worst - I was lucky enough to find a forum post explaining I needed to downgrade the Bluetooth software to 2.4 to get it to work with my Blackberry Curve 8320 - Garmin tech support did not know.
Other than a complicated custom POI software you have to download from Nuvi (that I haven't tried yet), there's no simple way to get in addresses from your computer. If I want to visit 15 places on a 3 day trip, I'd much rather type the addresses in my computer, not using the much slower on-screen keyboard.
The included manual is skimpy and leads to common mistakes/confusion such as how to mount/dismount onto the windshield, that only mp3 format works for music, stating clearly the kind of SD disks to buy, describing the turning on/off tricks, etc.
The online manual is incomplete despite being fairly wordy. To discover many features or clarify how the unit worked, I often went onto various online forums to find answers. Luckily this is a popular model so I always found answers (eventually).
Picking a destination using the map is a tad awkward.
Have to go through a warning screen every time it powers on.
It's nice to have a slide show feature but it doesn't allow ordering, or sorting by date.
In Summary: If you're hoping to buy a GPS unit that will be as good as a decent human navigator that knows the area, you will be disappointed by this unit, and pretty much everything else out there. The maps are not perfectly accurate, and the unit doesn't have data on stop signs, traffic lights, school zones, etc., so you will often be sub-optimally routed. However, the device certainly beats printing out dozens of maps and having to stop the car and look at a map after every wrong turn when you're traveling alone in a new area. The media player and bluetooth features are nice additions that integrate well with the device. So it basically does the job, but it seems pretty expensive given the imperfections.
 GPS May 13, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I bought this for my husband and he is thrilled. He has been looking for one for a while and says this is has all the features he wanted.
Love it! May 13, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I bought this GPS for my boyfriend for his birthday/graduation present. It was the first GPS either of us had ever used. It was easy and fun to set up. We used it the day after he got it to take a 2 hour trip. We were extremely happy with it's performance. Not only does it give excellent directions, but it also keeps track of how many miles and your average speed and such, and it was helpful in finding somewhere for us to have dinner. We also used his phone through the bluetooth and listened to music through it. All together, we are very happy with this purchase.
excellent purchase May 13, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
After checking out various products in several stores, I was all set to buy a lower-model Garmin. I came to Amazon, thinking I'd get it for a somewhat lower price. To my enormous surprise, not only did I find that lower-model Garmin available at a good price, but Amazon had the nuvi 660 ($650+ in stores) priced at under $350! With free shipping! The 660 had some excellent features, but I hadn't felt comfortable with the extra cost; I ended up getting it through Amazon for LESS than I'd have paid for the lower-model machine in a regular store.
It works perfectly. Couldn't recommend it enough! Don't buy a car charger separately, though, since it DOES come with one. I would suggest you DO buy the Dashboard Friction Mount, because the suction cup windshield mount is only okay. The Friction Mount works nicely.
Still Got to Watch the Signs May 13, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Plugged in to find nearest Walmart in Atlanta, GA and ended up at the flag with no Walmart in site. Sometimes can't find satelite and asked you what city you are in. Maybe the battery was low...who knows. Those 6 lane highways you really got to watch the signs and don't depend completely on the Garmin Nuvi to know it all. Other then that it serves the purpose in keeping you from getting lost and always being able to find home. :)
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