Rating: - Had Mine For Nearly A Year. How Did I Live Without It!
I won't attempt to rewrite the already excellent reviews of the Garmin nuvi 660 that are posted here. I'm here to lend support to those who have been waiting for high end portable GPS units to drop in price. And even though this is a discontinued model, it was a $700.00 unit now selling for half and still considered a high quality unit.

I love the 660. I first saw it when a friend pulled it out and showed it to me. He sells them and at the time, it was one of the top models available. But I couldn't afford something so expensive. Then my brother-in-law bought one and showed it to me. It was the same 660 and he let me play with it. I was sold.

So being the huge internet "search for the best deal" buyer that I am, I found that the best price at the time was here at Amazon.com, at $350.00 during January of 2008. I didn't hesitate and bought the last one at that price, apparently a Christmas special. Three days later with their free shipping, I started using it and haven't stopped. My wife and I used it this summer on our vacation out west and it worked nearly flawlessly, only losing us once into a residential area when we were looking for a specific restaurant. I recently had to take a trip to Los Angeles and drive all around the city on their interstate system. This is the ONLY way to navigate LA! It tells you with plenty of time to spare, what lane to change to. I never got lost or stuck.

Yes, there are some things I would like to see. You can't put into this model more than one "Via" point, so you can't be very specific on a route. I tend to only use it to find my final destination to a work location after having run the address through Google Maps. So I know pretty much how to get to the general area and then pop this on to bring me into final approach. It's not perfect every single time, but it does get you close even on those times where the address doesn't match the satellite coordinates.

The Bluetooth handsfree did not work for my Nokia phone so I couldn't use that. The FM wireless link to my FM radio was noisy and poor quality. No big deal since I didn't buy this for that feature.

Prepping the 660 for a trip inside can be frustrating when it does not connect to a satellite. But my biggest complaint is the poor rechargeable battery life if you want to take a short day trip without taking the cabling out of your primary car. The unit will not last several hours there and back. That's just not acceptable and Garmin should try to improve this if they haven't already.

All in all, I am very pleased with the Garmin nuvi 660 and would recommend it to anyone looking for a high quality portable GPS that is now at decent prices due to being discontinued.

Happy traveling!

Rating: - Prompt delivery good service
We experienced prompt delivery and excellent service. The Garmin is working great and we are enjoying it as we travel.

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Rating: - Works great and reliable but caution on the FM Traffic
I bought the Nuvi 660 around July '08 with the dash pad and both work very well and are reliable. The unit plays the MP3 and jpeg files well. The bluetooth also works great. Overall I'm quite satisfied with the purchase/unit.

I did try the free three months of FM traffic and found that it really isn't very accurate - although from someone who has lived and driven the route to/from work for several years I know the best alternate routes. The 660 alternate routes were combersome if I were to follow them. I also don't like that some of the main secondary roads that are congested during rush hour are not on the traffic map - so even though you know they are backed up it takes you there anyway. But you really can't blame Garmin for that because it is another provider who analyzes the traffic patterns.

My charger/FM transciever broke after about 4 months (looks like it came unscrewed) so I think I fixed it myself.

The maps are somewhat outdated as well but again it is Navtrac that is to blame. There is a way to tell them of new roads, etc via their web site, but keep in mind that any changes will have to be installed on a future map update - which you must buy.

As for playing the mp3s and directions using the FM transceiver - its fine but you can't listen to your radio and the garmin directions at the same time - as it requires it's own FM station.

What I really like is the bluetooth which works great and was easy to set up. Too bad it doesn't talk to a bluetooth headset - like my previous zumo did.

I also really like that it is small and portable. This way I don't have to leave it in my car. That's how my zumo got stolen. In my opinion Garmin really should step up and find a solution for this as many people get their GPS stolen.

All in all I'm satisfied with the 660. I just don't recommend purchasing the monthly traffic subscription - unless you are really bad with traffic.

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Rating: - A great GPS for the money
Easy to use, speaks street names and generally gets you where you want to go in the fastest way. I've used on my motorcycle in and my delivery truck and it has proven itself to be a great gas saver by plotting the most efficient ways to get somewhere and then on how to get back. The bluetooth interface for my cell phone (makes the phone hands free) is great. I have factory GPS in both my cars, but will just use this Garmin in my next car because it's better.

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Rating: - Very rudimentary. Overpriced, and overhyped
Where expectations were not met:
* Expected better user interface
* Ease of use -- could have been sleeker
* Expected maps to be up to date or a provision to update maps easily
* Included car charger was the wrong one!
* Frequent mistakes by the GPS

I was working with google maps on a Blackberry alongside, and that performed much better.