Introduction

The Garmin Nuvi 660 is an excellent navigation device that is packed full of extremely useful extra features. The Nuvi 660 has a super bright antiglare 4.3″ widescreen with the most up-to-date Navteq maps. Extra features that make it very worthwhile over the Nuvi 650 are the Bluetooth hands-free technology and the integrated FM transmitter that picks up TMC traffic reports.

Main Menu

The Garmin Nuvi 660 is very intuitive with its menu system. The features and extra options are organized in a very user friendly way that makes customization and using features very easy.

The menus follow an easy to understand flow, with more detailed and specific information and submenus being intelligently organized into sections - keeping the nuvi really simplistic and easy to use, something very important safety wise in my opinion while driving a motor vehicle

Navigating and Driving

The touchscreen on the Nuvi 660 makes inputting a destination while driving very easy. The voice directions with the large colour-coded, detailed map make navigating while driving very easy as well. Directions are given visually on the map with arrows, written at the bottom of the screen using distance, direction, and street name, and audibly with a voice reading it out. The voice can be played through your car audio with the FM transmitter so it is louder. The map can be displayed in either a 2D or 3D mode. The Nuvi 660 can also estimate the time it will take to get to your destination and it is quite accurate.

Accuracy and Route Control

The accuracy and speed of data delivery is the best I have seen on any GPS device. The Nuvi 660 comes with a WAAS GPS receiver by SiRF which is leading the pack in GPS technology. The routing algorithms are extremely well calculated. From my usage around my city it has always gotten me to my destination very quickly. Taking wrong turns isn’t a problem either. If I don’t like where the unit is telling me to go and leave it’s chosen route it will quickly recalculate a new route to the destination from where you are now. You can pick between the shortest route or the route that the device thinks will get you there fastest. The FM transmitter on this unit gives you TMC traffic information that the unit can factor into your route to avoid traffic. You can also choose to avoid highways and tollbooths or unpaved roads and you can pick your vehicle type so if you’re in something big it won’t take you down tiny roads. In pedestrian mode it doesn’t limit you to roads.

Portability/Design

The Garmin Nuvi 660 was created to be extremely portable with a windshield suction mount that is easy to apply and remove and a very slim design that allows you to fit it in your pocket. It is only 4.9″ by 2.9″ by 0.9″. Because of the touchscreen there is no need for extra space for buttons so the widescreen covers almost the entire front of the device.

MP3, Pictures, and More

The MP3 player included with the Nuvi 660 is very high quality with the FM transmitter broadcasting it for your radio to pick up and play through your car audio. The screen contains volume, skip forward, skip backwards, play/pause, repeat, shuffle, browse, and audible book buttons. The browse button lists all your songs to look through and the audible book button takes you to any audible books you have put onto the unit.
If you’re traveling there is a travel kit which is featured in the above picture with useful features like a language translator, savings for things like restaurants and hotels, and a travel guide with information on popular destinations on the place you are visiting. The picture viewer is also handy when taking trips to review your pictures and keep the ones you like.

Points of Interest

Points of interest include things such as entertainment spots, restaurants, ATM’s, gas stations, hotels, and even speed trap cameras. With the speed trap cameras it will actually notify you if you are traveling too fast near one. It comes with about 6 million preloaded POI’s and a program called POI Leader that lets you download free POI databases online and transfer them to your unit via the USB or SD memory card.

Bluetooth Hands-Free Calling

Bluetooth technology is a way of wirelessly connecting two electronic devices. This means with a Bluetooth capable phone you can connect your Garmin Nuvi 660 to it and send and receiver calls hands-free. Incoming calls are displayed on the screen and are answered by pressing accept. The FM transmitter plays their voice through your car speakers and a mic picks up your voice for them to hear. Outgoing calls are made either by selecting a number to all from the POI list or by inputting the number on the screen. The touchscreen turns into a keypad for you to use. If your phone also has voice activated calling it is also possible to use this for a truly hands free experience.

Visitor Reviews

Video of Usage

Here’s a video of the Garmin Nuvi 660 and its usage right from start-up.

Comparing the 650, 660, and 670

The Garmin Nuvi 6XX series is very similar. The 650 is the basic model and the other two add features. The Nuvi 660 has Bluetooth technology and the FM transmitter while the Nuvi 670 adds European maps on top of that. The cost of adding the FM transmitter to the Nuvi 650 is $171.51 and you cannot add the Bluetooth but the cost of buying the 660 is less than a $171.51 difference. The cost of adding the European maps to the 660 is almost $300 while buying the 670 instead of the 660 is about a $250 difference. Of course, if these aren’t necessary features for you, they might not be worthwhile buys. A comparison of the devices by Garmin is available in a nice chart right here.

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