I'm planning on treating myself with a portable Nav system. I have narrowed my choice on the 660 by Garmin. Anyone use this GPS and can shed some light on it before I make my purchase.

Features I want in a GPS.................................
1. USA , Canada and Puerto Rico
2. Speech Directions
3. Larger Screen Size ( 3.5 or higher )
4. Real Time Traffic
5. Abilty to change spoken langauges.....Via update or something
6. Battery life
7. Ability to hardwire unit
8. Ease of use
9. Points of interests, Service stations, waypoints

Features I could live without............................
1. Europe
2. Bluetooth hands free calling
3. MP3, Photos,
4. FM reception thru car audio

Now I have been told that the Nuvi sounds is not loud enought and in addtion the preloaded maps are sometimes not up to date so an upgrade is needed. The upgrades can be pretty pricey and Garmin's customer service blows is what I read on some reviews. I have found the price of this unit at around $250 for a new unit but are these units any good or should I look elsewhere. I also use a farenheit screen on my Z with my DVD/ MP3 headunit but this can't be wired into the unit or can it..........

Paging Paul350z, The Tech and Spike100.....

 

I had the 660 for a year or so. I loved it. I drove half way across country without a single hitch.

It pretty much meets your criteria. The battery life is really no big deal when you're driving because you'd have it plugged into a cig lighter. The real time traffic is through the cord that plugs into the cig lighter. The only issued with that is that if the traffic service isn't in your area, you're out of luck. I'm in the Louisville, KY area and the service wasn't available here.

You could hardwire it, but again that takes away your real time traffic ability. It's very easy to use and has many nav points. You can also add POIs.
It has Bluetooth, which really doesn't work that well. The output is either through the unit, which is of course a small speaker, or you can use the FM transmitter which is built into the cord. If you've ever used any kind of FM transmitter, you know they don't work worth beans, especially if you're traveling. If you find a dead station at the beginning of your trip, it's very possible that by the end of your trip, that station will no longer be dead.

Garmin has other units like the 660 that don't have the "...live without features" that might suit your needs better.
I sold mine a few months ago because my HU has built-in Garmin nav. I really like the Garmin products. I can't rate them above anyone else, because I've never used others. You wouldn't be disappointed with it though.

 

Treefiddy thanks a bunch for your thoughts and review. I've done more research and the reviews were good for the unit. I leaning more and more towards this unit and the included features. One thing is the internal speaker loud enough to hear over the Z's road noise/

 

The internal speaker is pretty good for the navigation. Bluetooth is a little iffy, but still works ok.

 

I have the Nuvi 660. It does to bluetooth hands free, MP3, and photos (although I've never used these features, except for trying out hands free for a while). It also does the FM to car stereo.

The text-to-speech is good, screen size is good, it has traffic for around $5 / month (if your area is covered, as someone else mentioned above). You can hardwire it -- it'd be a bit harder if you want to keep your traffic, but it's possible (a car stereo shop can probably do it for you if you can't do it yourself). The points of interest database seems to be pretty good too.

Here are my main complaints about the unit.

1. The MAPS seem to be pretty late to get new roads. I realize they update only once a year, but some roads are even more out of date than that. We had toll roads added and it took forever to get them (they still don't have them all).

2. The battery life seems to have gotten pretty bad on my unit -- I think it was better before, but now it probably only lasts 1-2 hours. In my opinion it should last more like 6 hours. More recent models may have better batteries.

The 660 is almost two years old I think, you might look at newer models.

 

agreed the 850 is nice, i sell allot of those

 

Keep them coming guys..............thanks.

 

Ed,

TreeFiddyZee and mtreat really nailed down the important points. I can’t add much to the accurate discussion these guys present in their messages.

The difference between NAVTEQ and TeleAtlas (the map database suppliers) is becoming less of a selling point.

I do think that the Garmin provides the best application software (fast, intuitive, and reliable).

--Spike

 

Thanks Spike a recent search of this topic had some good posts from you so I thought I'd drag you in the discussion. My ONLY concern now is I get the 660 will I have to automatically shell out extra to update the maps. My understanding and correct me if I am wrong is the GPS should already come with the latest update.

 

I have the 255W, and the only thing lacking is Real Time Traffic. I assume that requires a subscription. What does that cost?

Maps are available at garmin.com. I got one for free.

 

The Garmin device you purchase may not have the latest maps. But, when you register the purchase with Garmin, they will allow you to download the current map set at no additional charge for your device as long as you buy from an authorized dealer.

But wait… what if you buy unknowingly from an unauthorized dealer? Mercifully Garmin will help you here and provide the latest map-set without an additional charge. Garmin is a good company that sees there’s no advantage punishing buyers who cannot be expected to vet the “gray market.”

--Spike

 

Did some shopping today to a few electronic stores and got the Garmin Nuvi 255W. All the features I needed were included execpt real time traffic tracking. I did some random tests on the way home from the store and the unit worked perfectly. I even skipped streets to turn in and the unit quickly got me back on track. Overall it was a good purchase and at $220 dollars I'm satisfied. The internal speaker was loud enough to be heard over the Z's road noise and exhaust and the ease of use was a welcome addition..........Thanks guys for the posts on this thread.

Dave this thread needs pictures ?