Garmin Nuvi 660 GPS Review

The Garmin Nuvi 660 GPS has the same features as the Garmin Nuvi 360, plus it adds an integrated traffic receiver, FM transmitter, and wide 4.3-inch display. It is a very good auto navigation system, although the extra features are of somewhat limited value, in our opinion.

The Nuvi 660 GPS has a large, bright, easy-to-read display screen. The 4.3-inch size means that there is room for more menu buttons onscreen, taking Garmin's legendary ease-of-use rating up a notch higher.

Garmin nuvi 660 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator

As with the Garmin Nuvi 350 and Nuvi 360, it has a text-to-speech voice prompt which speaks street names for you. This is an extremely useful function which promotes safer driving.

This Garmin portable GPS comes pre-loaded with maps of the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. An extensive database of points of interest makes it easy to look up restaurants, movie theaters, and many other attractions.

Bluetooth functionality for hands-free calling works quite well. It connects with your phone quickly, giving you a phone icon onscreen from which you can dial calls.

On certain phones, the Garmin Nuvi 660 will download your address book and call history, allowing you to make calls using those lists.

Once a call is made you can conduct your phone conversation through the device's microphone and speaker. Received calls will display caller ID onsrceen.

Microphone quality is good, and speaker quality is adequate--although at higher volume levels there is some noticeable distortion.

The voice-guided directions are automatically muted when you are on a call--a nice touch which highlights the thoughtfulness Garmin puts into their products.

The Garmin Nuvi 660 GPS has a traffic receiver integrated into the power cord. This is a smart design which reduces the inconvenience of multiple cables. To receive traffic updates, you must subscribe to the traffic service for a monthly fee.

When traffic updates are received, the Nuvi GPS will display current incidents starting with the nearest to you. You can then ask the device to calculate a new route around the incident.

The device also adds an FM transmitter to play MP3s and audiobooks wirelessly through your car stereo. It uses a vacant radio frequency to send the audio to your sound system. It also has a line-out jack to connect to headphones or a stereo auxiliary port.

One obvious drawback on the Nuvi 660 is the lack of external volume control.

The traffic updates, while a great idea in theory, don't always work that well in reality. Sometimes the information comes too late for you to act on it and sometimes there's nothing you can do about it anyway. Another common issue is the re-routing feature doesn't always find a good route around the traffic situation.

The FM transmitter works well in smaller cities; however, in metropolitan areas there are so many radio stations that it is very difficult to find a space on the dial with no interference. You'd be better off using your stereo line-in jack, if it is so equipped.

In our opinion, the Garmin Nuvi 660 GPS has a few less than perfect features. It does not keep a list of last cities entered, so you must enter the city each time you are putting in a new destination.

The keypad used to enter information is laid out alphabetically, not QWERTY-style. This can make it more difficult to use for those who are used to typing on a keyboard.

This Garmin automotive GPS gives the estimated arrival time, not time until arrival, forcing you to look at your watch or a clock and mentally calculate how long it will take to get there.

Finally, the Garmin Nuvi 660 GPS does not support multiple routing, limiting its usefulness for those who often make multiple stops along their route.

Final Thoughts

Is it worth the money? That depends. If you crave a large screen and hate traffic jams with a passion, then the Garmin Nuvi 660 GPS is probably the GPS system for you. If not, you may prefer the less expensive Garmin Nuvi 360.

Either of these Garmin automotive GPS systems will provide you with solid, easy-to-use navigation, hands-free calling and multimedia features.

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