garmin nuvi 660 review
Published on September 27th, 2006 in garmin, gps navigation, reviews
PCMag just released a review of Garmin’s new nuvi 660. It already received the Editor’s Choice status from them. It pretty much just talks about how wonderful this product is and just like previous nuvi’s this one is also very easy to use.
It’s really difficult to find fault with the Garmin nüvi 660. It’s the first shirt-pocket portable with a WQVGA, 4.3-inch screen. In addition, the integrated traffic receiver and Bluetooth speaker phone interface round out a set of features that is, once again, the best in the shirt-pocket GPS category.
We agree with the whole review about how high quality this product is but when there are GPS navigation systems out there for less than $400 do we really need pay $1000 for the nuvi 660? Is it really ~2.5 times better than the cheaper ones out there? It maybe Editor’s Choice because the editor probably didn’t pay a dime for the nuvi 660 :).
Related:
October 4th, 2006 at 11:22 am
“We agree with the whole review about how high quality this product is but when there are GPS navigation systems out there for less than $400 do we really need pay $1000 for the nuvi 660?”
There is not a single sub $400 GPS navigator available that offers text-to-speech, live traffic, bluetooth, mp3 & pic viewer, portability and widescreen in one package. The text-to-speech and traffic features are quite desirable and worth paying extra for. And the street price is going to be under $800.
October 9th, 2006 at 5:12 pm
Just found one on Amazon for $749 great unit for the price
October 13th, 2006 at 11:24 pm
I just bought a Nuvi 660. All I can say is that it is incredible to say the least.
It’s like cuting down a Corvette by saying that there are cars almost as fast for half the cost. You get what you pay for. If you want the best, buy it, otherwise sort through the other junk out there.
October 22nd, 2006 at 10:30 pm
I agree with the spirit of the other posters, the initial comments seem very near-sighted, un-researched and fairly misinformed to be taken seriously.
1. $1,000? I just picked one up for $750 at Amazon on Oct 19; and if you Froogle the Nuvi 660, you can find at least 40 vendors selling it for well under $800.
2. Editor didn’t pay a dime? If they didn’t pay a dime for the N660 then they didn’t pay a dime for any other GPS they reviewed. All that then remains is the integrity to review the product in an unbiased and fair manner, letting the chips fall where they may. It’s unequivocally obvious that the sterling reviews made thus far (and I’ve read at least three from reputable online sources) are based solely on merit.
Yes you can buy a GPS for under $400 and you can pay well over that. I guess some of us like our cannoli hand-made with fresh ingredients from a good Italian pastry shop for $2.50, and others don’t mind buying frozen cannoli in the supermarket @6 for $6 ($1 ea.). Yeah, the former IS 2.5 times better and the latter works well if you just want to get by…. Sorry for the food analogy, just craving cannoli. ;-) So yes, some of us with taste and a desire for the best really DO need to pay that price (and don’t mind, either). Let others settle for less.
October 23rd, 2006 at 7:59 am
Thanks for the all the comments readers. No matter what you say we love to hear from you.
$1000 we mentioned in the original post is the MSRP. Of course there’ll be other retailers for different prices. In fact we had a post about the varying prices of the nuvi 660 earlier.
There’s no way we can keep up with the most current prices. This post was first published on September 27th - and Mike’s Froogle comparison is from Oct 22nd. Prices will change.
We still think $1000 is a lot for navigation system - and when we said “… the editor probably didn’t pay a dime for the nuvi 660″ what we meant to say is that the price is usually not a big factor when they’re reviewing the product.
October 29th, 2006 at 7:38 am
I just discovered your Navigadget website. This site is awesome! Already added it to my “Favorites”.
Stever
Mesa, AZ
November 9th, 2006 at 8:15 am
I understand that you need to scrutinize people who recommend neat stuff that they purchased with other people’s money, but I’m not sure that PC Mag is in the business of making pricing choices. When you are the state of the art, things cost more. I want to know if the advertised features work or not. I’ll make the decision of whether or not they are worth the price.
But seriously, the guy with the corvette obviously has never driven a BMW. No-one has every accused corvette of being a quality car. Bad example.
January 3rd, 2007 at 9:36 pm
I found one online with 2 day shipping for $714. YAY!
I don’t have much expericence with other GPS models, but I will say I find the 660 an amazing device. The screen is top notch, and the unit is very responsive overall. The text to speech engine could be better, but that doesn’t really detract much from the performance. (I have neighbors that can’t pronounce many local street names correctly either, lol)
I paired it with my PPC6700, and it functioned quite nicely as a speakerphone. I had no problems at all with the bluetooth implementation. I’ll mention again that the screen is very bright and crisp, and has a great feel due to the responsiveness of the controls. The features are amazing and from what I have read, pretty much the best available.
I was surprised that the unit was sensitive enough to show me walking at 2mph in my backyard while doing the initial configuration. (good job Sirf III chipset)
If anyone is thinking about picking one up, I say go for it. I’m very happy with mine and feel it was worth every cent.
Hope this helps someone!
June 10th, 2007 at 5:09 am
Bought first unit with xtra chips cost almost 1500. Maps crashed continually, blutooth phone cut out after 3/4 secs. 4 trips back to supplier, new unit supplied. Went overseas with appropriate chip. ok for few days. satelite reception failed. No warranty overseas. International support on mobile phone cost $100’s & failed to fix problem. Bought a Tom Tom, aa’h bliss. More features, better route planning, better voice pronunciation, better , better, better. Would like bigger screen though. Story is apparently bluetooth corrupts files if used. Wish they had told me. Now well over $2200 in the red. Not good enough Garmin, either get it right, or don’t sell it, especially at those prices - no get it right first !
July 30th, 2007 at 8:10 am
Apparently, the new (SPOT) service from Microsoft will be $9.95 a month, starting to serve the 100 most populated cities and possibly spread out from there. Some of the things I’ve heard, the Microsoft service can deliver information on dining, news, weather, games, and stocks. I am wondering what service the Nuvi 670/680 will incorporate. Apparently, the service utilizes FM radio broadcasting that will be leased. Ultimately, I’m sure that instant messaging and e-mail will be an option. Right now there is such a vast amount of GPS mapping systems, that I’ve tried to determine which is the best in the GPS poll.
See for yourself, GPS Poll: http://todayspolls.googlepages.com/home6
September 17th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
The garmin nuvi 660 navigation system is an awesome technology that has come to eradicate the stress and frustration of locating a destination , gone are the days of using maps and asking so many question on motion , the garmin nuvi 660 is very good , i am a dealer and do sell them if you need to buy contact me via my email
petmookk@yahoo.com
peter
January 16th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Garmins fail on really basic functionality!
I don’t get it! This GPS (and for that matter all Garmin GPSes) fail miserably on the very basic thing a GPS is supposed to do and all these reviewers go ga-ga over them! Why?
Don’t believe me or like what I am saying?
Ok tell me this:
You have told the Garmin to navigate to somewhere. It has plotted a route and you are on your way. How do you know which way you have to turn next, right or left?
You look at the screen….nothing! Yeah it says turn in xx miles. But which way?
Sure you can click the top of the screen to get full details but why omit this essential arrow? The screen has plenty of space!
Another scenario which exposes a fatal flaw – Voice prompts are way too late!
You are barreling down a crowded 6 lane highway at 70MPH and a split is coming up. You wanna know which side of the road you should stay on so that you take the correct turn. You look at the screen…of course nothing! (see above) Then you calm yourself by thinking, “ok this thing is going to tell me”….you wait. The turn is 2 miles away…………silence………now the turn is 1.5 miles away…….everyone around you is changing lanes and trying to get into the correct lane……but you?…..listening to silence………you start sweating……..1 mile!……..nothing…… silence!!….you are really frustrated now……..0.7 miles before the damn GPS FINALLY says “left turn in 0.7 miles”. Ooops ! But you are in the right lane. The split is coming up fast. You have seconds to go to the correct lane, but there are 8 lanes on the highway now. You have to go across 3 or 4 lanes in seconds. Man! You are toast! This can easily get you in an accident, I know because I almost got into an accident the other day.
Here is a similar situation:
You are in a 40mph 4 lane suburban road ….your turn is coming up. This thing will tell you like, 0.5 miles before the turn! And then right at the turn! That night I almost skidded off the road when this thing told me at the last moment that the turn is here.
Of course people will say this is user error but I’m not a novice. I am a power user of GPS. I have been using them for 5-6 years now. Most other GPSes tell you the next turn right on the screen with a simple arrow. Good ones start alerting you 2 miles before the turn comes. Then once at 1 mile, then again at 500 yards and then once again at the turn. But this one…only once before the turn and that too ……way too late!
Yeah some reviewers call this good feature “Too chatty”, yeah right!
I talked to Garmin about this flaw and basically the answer I got was the same answer others get…..they don’t care. Needless to say My Garmin 660 is going back to the store.
One last thing….it is missing an indication of the N direction on the screen. That is useful and is included by most other GPSes.
January 22nd, 2008 at 6:20 pm
660 comes ready to go right out of the box with preloaded City Navigator® NT street maps, including a hefty points of interest (POIs) database with hotels, restaurants, fuel, ATMs and more. Simply touch the sunlight-readable color screen to enter a destination, and nüvi (http://www.highspeedsat.com/nuvi660.htm) takes you there with 2D or 3D maps and turn-by-turn voice directions. It even announces the name of exits and streets so you never have to take your eyes off the road. In addition, nüvi 660 accepts custom points of interest, such as school zones and safety cameras and lets you set proximity alerts to warn you of upcoming POIs. The European version even includes a preloaded safety camera database containing the location of safety cameras for parts of Europe
February 8th, 2008 at 8:18 am
I have a car with a rear window antenna. The RF transmitter is so weak that I have to use the internal speaker..
I wish I knew about this problem.
June 21st, 2008 at 5:11 pm
I have a question… A friend has a Magellan Maestro and it come with the feature of “Must use of highway” and is awesome… My garmin nuvi 660 don’t see the highway, see the local road instead the highway. Exist some upgrade to configure my 660 to use “must use the Highway? Let me know…
Rs