Garmin GPS nuvi 660

The Garmin GPS nuvi 660 was released in 2006 and is a widescreen bluetooth GPS nav unit. When it first came out it was quite an expensive GPS, but recently the price has dropped dramatically due to low demand and some customer disatisfaction and as such can be difficult to find.

If you decide to buy this sat nav then I suggest you also get the Garmin portable friction mount which is a superb mount for attaching any of the garmin GPS's to your car.

Getting traffic alerts is a cool feature and so can be used even when you know your route to find a better way to go. There have been many times that I've avoided traffic problems on the way home even though I know the route.

You can see the map in either 2D or 3D depending on your preference. I prefer 2D but there is no denying that watching your trip on a 3D map can make navigation slightly easier in places that you are unfamiliar with.

Garmin GPS nuvi 660 Pro's and Con's

The car mount is great and it powers the GPS at the same time (no extra long cables running between your legs).

The bluetooth feature makes phone calls very clear - it almost feels like someone is sitting in the seat next to you.

The menu system of this nuvi is not as simple and easy to use as some of Garmin's other GPS models. I think they were trying to be smarter with the layout, but people preferred the simplier menu systems of earlier models such as the Garmin nuvi 270 GPS.

The mapping update doesn't seem to be as fast and that sometimes causes it to be quite jerky rather than smooth.

It has an external antenna which can make the unit quite bulky and some people have said that it has broken off on their models.

The text for speech feature is sometimes too soft or hard to understand which is unusual because I thought all Garmin model's use the same voice/program for this - but it seems that they don't.

Tech Specs

Product Features

A super-bright 4.3" widescreen display for improved map viewing
660 integrates Bluetooth wireless technology with a microphone
Speaker that lets you make hands-free mobile phone calls
Simply dial numbers with the n?vi's touch screen keypad to make a call on a compatible Bluetooth phone
It also supports configurable vehicle icons

Technical Details

Brand Name: Garmin
Model: 010-00540-12
Connectivity Technology: USB
Display Size: 4.3 inches
Battery Average Life: 7 Hours
Map Type: North America