Everything You Could Need From A Sat Nav?
Hear that noise? It's the sound of TomTom engineers rushing back to the drawing board after getting their hands on a Garmin Nuvi 660fm. Quite simply this in-car Satellite Navigation Device will amaze you with what it can do, and the way it does it.
Let's start with the basics. The Nuvi 660 fm has a large 4.3inch widescreen glare-free screen, Bluetooth, TMC traffic aerial, and a FM modulator / transmitter. It comes pre-loaded with maps of Europe and POI files for speed cameras too. The Nuvi can be used as a travel guide, mp3 player, audio book player, hands-free device, translator, congestion avoider, and a Navigator. Phew.
The screen is very impressive indeed, the best I've seen in a transferable unit. With a very high resolution and a clever design that means it can be seen in all but the most brightest situations. Although the refresh rate isn't as smooth as a TomTom, it is more than acceptable.
Choosing and entering your destination is simple, using either full Post-Code look up, addresses, POI's, recents, favorites, etc. Another great feature of the Nuvi 660fm is that it will attempt to read out road names to you. This means that instead of saying 'In 200 yards turn left' the Nuvi will say 'in 200 yards turn left onto London Road .'
The built-in TMC aerial gives real-time congestion avoidance, which you can choose to work automatically or you can decide which traffic queues to jump. In the UK this is all free for life, but a cheap subscription gets it working in the rest of Europe too.
Don't dismiss the inclusion of a pre-installed safety / speed camera database, the Garmin could potentially save you £60 and 3 points on your license. Remember that unlike dedicated speed-camera detectors the Nuvi 660fm has no active detectors, so it will not be able to warn you about a random speed-trap, but common and and fixed cameras are included.
The Nuvi can be used as a travel-guide or translator with paid downloads from Garmin, and then load up your favourite mps onto an SD card and you can listen to them while you drive with the built-in mp3 player, which really comes into its own when used with FM modulator or transmitter.
The FM transmitter is the big step forward for the 660fm vs. the old 660 which it replaces. Now legal in the UK, simply enter a FM frequency into the device that doesn't clash with any radio stations, and the unit will route all audio output via your car stereos built in speakers, allowing you to have, if you need it, very loud instructions indeed. This is especially useful in noisy vehicles or convertibles. It also means that the built in mp3 player or mobile phone hands-free kit is now on a par with hard-wired units, allowing clear stereo sound, or mobile phone calling that you can actually hear properly. Any music automatically mutes for spoken directions, as do calls. Superb.
So there we have it. The new Garmin 660 FM may cost around £400, but you are getting a piece of kit that is unrivalled by any of its competitors, is a great slim line design, has the great accurate Garmin maps, and comes with all the extras you could possible need. Highly recommended.
If You Found This Article Useful, Why Not Buy Me A Beer? (£2 via Paypal - Click on the Pint Glass!)Comments / Questions:
I am told when i make calls on my garmin nuvi 660 fm, that there is a strange noise/interferance heard by the person on the other end of the phone. OK, check Garmin Phone Compatability, |
I've been trying for some time now to set the vehile height on my Fathers 660fm (he uses it for work where he drives a lorry) I've already dowloaded the low bridge POI's and installed them but I don't want it diverting him around bridges that he could fit under. Is it possible to set the height? Dazzahh. Sorry, as far as I know you can't enter the vehicle height. |
I've never owned a sat nav and am considering buying either the Garmin nuvi 660 or the TomTom Go 520. I've read that the Garmin can struggle to maintain reception in built up areas and can give wrong directions. Is this your experience too? Deb. Never heard of any problems with Garmins like that, the 660 and the TomTom 520 are good units, but you may want to also check out the new Garmin Nuvi 760t. |
I've just bought a Nuvi 660FM unit to replace the (excellent) Street 2650 which had he REAL full facilities for travel (including remote control and personal screen settings). I'm already disappointed with the lack of "travel" features of the Nuvi but have 2 questions. 1. How can I download my 2650 stored Waypoints to the Nuvi from my PC backup. 2. Why does the Nuvi not have a MapQuest computer management/editing facility? Oratavaman 1. You can (and should) back-up ALL the data and applications from your Nuvi by plugging it into your PC with a mini-USB cable, then go to "my computer" right-click on the Garmin icon and "copy", then make a folder on your pc and "paste" the entire contents there. |
Was the review for the Garmin written before or after your review of the Tom Tom 5/720? I'm going to be travelling in the UK and Europe, down as far as Spain, which is best? Yes, the Garmin 660fm review was written before the TomTom ones. |
Hi there, I was wondering if you can watch a film which is downloaded to SD card on this new machine 660fm...would appreciate a comment on this pls. Ash. Sorry, video not available on the current range of Garmin GPS. |
How do i get SD card working for MP3 player it does'nt seem to let me choose external,its a 660FM i have.Cheers, Mogan. All mp3's that are copied to your SD card from your pc should be available in the audio player - make sure your files are .mp3 and not .wma, .m4a or .aac. If there's a lot of files they can take a while to appear in the MP3 player window. Hi, rob thanks for your e-mail on the 24 jan but im still having trouble getting my 660 to play mp3.Its playing mp3 through nuvi but it has a small memory and only holds approx 32 songs.Im just wondering do i need a garmin SD card or a special formatted SD card.Im grateful for any advice on this. Cheers Morgan. You need to load them onto an SD memory card, then you can have hundreds. See page 36 of the owners manual. |
I want to go to the US next year, can I download the maps for the States on this machine? How much would it cost/any other info I need to know? Duncan. You can buy maps for the USA, but they're over £100... You'd be better off getting a Sat Nav with the maps you need already on it, eg: Garmin Nuvi 670 (660fm plus US maps), for all the bells and whistles, follow this link:
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How do I see my current latitude / longitude coordinates on my 660fm? Anon. To get your GPS lat / long up, press the menu button at the bottom of the map screen, then the Satellite Signal Strength indicator in the top left hand side of the next screen (the little bars) and you'll bring up an interesting screen that shows you GPS accuracy, the Satellites the Nav is listening to, and your lat / long in the bottom left of the screen. |
Can the picture view feature provide a "slideshow" sequence of pictures from jpegs stored on SD Card,or just thumbnails and single individual picture selected? Colin. The 660fm offers a basic slideshow that cycles through your pictures, or you can view them individually. |
Got Nuvi 660fm but unable to find actual journey mileage before start and also when entering address without post code , it will not let me enter my required address and switches to unwanted addresses .. help please (have 3.90 on system installed on it. Rex. Not that up to date with using all the features of the 660fm, try these resources : Pocketgpsworld Garmin Forum, Expansys Garmin Forum, and the GPS Passion Garmin forum, I'm sure if you look through or post a new thread you'll find your answers, get back to us when you do and we'll post the answer here. |
| Does FM transmitter shut down when no sound is being emitted from Nuvi? When selected the FM Modulator is always on, even when no voice instructions are being transmitted, so you can't listen to the radio at the same time. |
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