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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: $699.99
Buy New: $244.82
You Save: $455.17 (65%)
New (49) Used (3) Refurbished (7)
Avg. Customer Rating:  1431 reviews
Sales Rank: 34
Format: Cd
Platforms: Windows Xp Professional, Windows Xp Home Edition, Windows 2000
Media: Electronics
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Native Resolution: 480 x 272
Display Size: 4.3
Includes MP3 Player: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 2.6 x 2.6 x 2.6
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
MPN: 010-00540-00
Model: 010-00540-00
UPC: 053759065110
EAN: 0076565001226
ASIN: B000H49LXQ
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Generally great product with a few small issues December 1, 2006
307 out of 311 found this review helpful
I recently purchased the nuvi 660 for a road trip from the Midwest to New England. I am now using in my daily commute. The product has performed great overall. Most of the features worked well, and the advertised capabilites are fairly represented. I strongly recommend the product, subject to the caveats below.
I also considered purchasing the nuvi 360, but ultimately decided on the 660 because it has the traffic data receiver and the ability to put the audio through the car stero using an FM transmitter.
Now for the issues I have encountered:
1- The FM transmitter works well in rural areas and small urban areas, but not so well in major metro areas such as Chicago or New York. There are simply too many radio stations in major metros for the nuvi to be able to find a space on the radio dial that is quiet enough to not have interference.
2- The auto-tune feature for the FM transmitter is essentially useless. This feature is supposed to find a place on the radio dial that is quiet enough for the nuvi to use. However, I found that it did a very poor job of this. I almost always had to manually tune the nuvi to a blank area on the radio dial. This is not hard, but a bit of an annoyance.
3- The nuvi will lock up if the FM transmitter is on and you go through some electronic toll collection gates. I only ran into this issue in Pittsburgh. I-Pass/EZ-Pass don't have this effect. The manual does mention that this can happen.
Note - if you have a line in jack on your car stero, you won't have to deal with the above problems as the nuvi has a line out jack.
4- Navigation instructions in areas with multiple merging roads are often spoken late, and sometimes are inaccacurate. I have run into this problem in 4 different areas so far. Each location had several interstate highways with various merges and exits, and the nuvi was hard pressed to keep up.
5- Routing around traffic is not very good. The traffic data is clear and accurate, but the features that finds routes around the traffic mostly suggests routes that are not going to save time. I find it more useful to use the traffic map display and find my own way around the traffic (of course, you have to know the area to be able to do this).
Excellent unit -- Traffic receiver software to be updated December 1, 2006
26 out of 26 found this review helpful
Like others who have used the Nuvi 660, I think it is a superb product. It does just about all that can be expected of a computer-mapping device, and it is easy and intuitive to use. Outstanding display, good speech quality, generally excellent directions.
I tried the FM transmitter, and like other reviewers, found it unacceptable. For me, it is unimportant, so it doesn't enter into the rating.
There is a problem -- at least for the time being -- with the traffic receiver in certain major cities, like New York. The traffic receiver works once every three or four days, and then only after at least 30 minutes of driving. The alerts are terrific, when I receive them, which is only occasionally. I spoke with Garmin about this several times, but their tech support people offered no help.
Then I contacted Clear Channel, who provide the traffic alert via FM radio. They are aware of the problem, which involves failure of the FM receiver to "lock up" in certain areas where there are several stations broadcasting the traffic alerts. The Clear Channel people advised me that Garmin has a software update in progress that should solve the problem.
Bottom line: a very fine product, and with the software update which should come soon, the traffic alert will also work perfectly.
GOOD, BUT NOT WORTH THE MONEY November 30, 2006
44 out of 49 found this review helpful
I've had the unit for about 2 months now, and here is a list of my pros and cons:
PROS:
1.) Fast satellite acquisition and route calculation.
2.) The display is clear and bright (no problem seeing it in sunlight)
3.) MP3 player is nice, but there's only 500MB or so of space.
4.) The voices are fairly pleasant.
CONS:
1.) Traffic feature is a good idea, but it doesn't help that much. The data seems too delayed to be of much help, but occasionally it will route you around an accident. The detour button does a good job of rerouting you once you are stuck in traffic, but other cheaper GPS systems have detour buttons as well.
2.) FM modulator doesn't work very well. You need to use the AUX line or internal speaker.
3.) I find the voice prompts are often issued too late.
4.) The widescreen display makes no sense. The screen should be oriented vertically so that you have more screen real estate in front of your car, not to the sides.
5.) The voices are not particularly good at pronouncing words. Some of the street names are pronounced in a weird way, and you might miss your turn.
All in all it works pretty well, but the only reason to buy this unit over some of the less expensive models is for the FM modulator (which doesn't work that well) and the integrated traffic (which doesn't work that well).
 This is the best there is on the GPS market November 28, 2006
33 out of 34 found this review helpful
Ok,
So this is the 4th GPS i have owned, from the Garmin street pilot in the early 2001 timeframe to 2 magellans and now back to the Garmin product line. The magellan was a great product, till last week it no longer was able to locate satelites, even on sunny days, so back to circuit city it went and with its 2 year coverage plan, it was replaced and upgraded for free to the new Garmin Nuvi. Magellan was very good, and accurate, but the Nuvi beats it hands down. The cell feature is great, hands free works flawlessly, once its set up correctly of course. it did drive me nuts with the cell disconnected message on and on and on till i reset it and reestablised the phone link in bluetooth, since then its been fine. Key is to let your phone find it, not the Nuvi find and pair your phone. Then it does not give you the constant disconnect message. Frankly, its a GPS and its a piece of electronics, its not a missle navigation system, not for the price we all paid, its going to be slightly off, and yes this one will also lead you to a dead end street on occassion, the point is you cant close your eyes and not use good judgement as to where your vehicle is going. Point of fact, its not human, and its only as good as the maps that are loaded. Bottom line, it works great, better than the magellan, by far better, cause it states the street names, does not ding at you when you need to turn, etc.
Buy it and see for yourself, if you cant appreciate the purpose of having a GPS, get a rand mcnally road map, it will accomplish the same thing. Just keep in mind that its an electronic device designed to aid in the navigation, not to be the end all. Nothing short of a guided missle has that capability for 700 dollars. Also the cheapest out there for this unit seems to be BJ's wholesale. Circuit city refunded me 175 ( difference in price plus 10 percent plus tax savings) dollars off the trade in amount of the insurance plan when i brought it the ad from BJ's that had the Nuvi for 749 - so paying 899 is a thing of the past, but hey that circuit city protection plan is worth it, as it replaced my unit with the latest on the market for free, then gave me cash back as well. Good luck and have fun.
Very good, but some limitations November 28, 2006
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
Generally very good product. Larger screen is nice, bluetooth works pretty well with my Treo 650 (microphone isn't great, sound quality sounds like I'm talking from a tunnel). Problem is with the FM transmitter, it is really poor. The signal is so weak that the car radio picks it up with much static. Also, the mapping system appears not to include traffic lights in its calculations of "fastest route". So when I'm in NYC or Wash DC, it takes me on silly routes b/c it bypasses highways to go via straight slow line through traffic lights.
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