BIOS: Technology Means Business

The Nüvi 660 is Garmin’s latest all-in-one sat-nav device, also known as a ‘Personal Travel Assistant’. Sitting at the top of the company’s range, the Nüvi 660 is special because it offers a larger-than-normal 4.3-inch touchscreen display (480x272 pixels, QVGA), integrated traffic capabilities, FM transmitter, and built-in Bluetooth. These new attributes are in addition to the GPS navigator, traveller’s reference, and digital entertainment features.

The Nüvi 660 (£340 ex. VAT) builds on the legacy of the Nüvi 300 series while adding desirable enhancements like a wider screen and integrated traffic announcements, which are two features that have never been packaged together before. With its large touchscreen interface the Nüvi 660 makes it a snap to obtain voice-prompted, turn-by-turn directions, route calculation, and automatic rerouting - even if you stray off course.

Another stand-out feature is that the unit speaks street names, so you know to ‘turn right on Station Road,’ for instance. Garmin has also made it possible to augment the pre-loaded maps with custom points of interest such as school zones and safety cameras. Business users will particularly appreciate the integrated traffic receiver that makes it possible to avoid traffic and road construction delays.

The traffic receiver is integrated with the Nüvi’s 12-Volt power adapter cable, and notifies you of upcoming traffic or road construction delays and the delay’s severity. When traffic data is received, an alert also appears on the menu screen. If you hit the traffic icon, you’ll see a list of traffic incidents, arranged in ascending distance from your current location. Similarly, if there’s a traffic problem on your planned route you can have the Nüvi 660 reroute you around it. Garmin bundles three months of free Total Traffic Network service, after which you may subscribe to 15 months of service for around £40.

Another new feature is the integrated MP3 player, as well as support for audio books and phone calls over your vehicle’s existing speakers. Thankfully, the Nüvi’s entertainment audio is muted when navigation instructions are given. The device even allows you to make and receive hands-free phone calls directly through its touchscreen keypad and a compatible Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone.

In addition, phones numbers may be looked-up and dialled from your mobile phone’s address book or from the phone’s call history log that shows calls received, calls dialled and calls missed (for supported phones). If you don’t know the phone number of your destination, you can relatively easily find and dial it from Nüvi’s points of interest database - such as hotels, restaurants, petrol stations and attractions. When the Nüvi’s FM transmitter is activated, all Bluetooth-enabled phone calls will be emitted over the vehicle’s existing speakers.

If that’s not enough the Nüvi 660 comes pre-installed with some useful travel applications, including a Travel Guide, Language Guide, and World Clock. These guides are available on SD card and provide relatively helpful and thorough information such as restaurant and hotel reviews and recommendations, audible language translation into five different languages, and the first geo-coded ‘coupon book’ that notifies you of nearby discounts at restaurants, hotels, automotive repair, and more. The Nüvi 660 also incorporates the Garmin Lock, a theft prevention system that provides added security by requesting a PIN to operate.

Garmin’s Nüvi 660 uses the same user interface found on virtually all other Garmin products, so it’s a snap to use. In fact, we reckon it’s probably the easiest product on the market to use. The main menu has an entry for ‘Where to’ and ‘View Map’, and the step-by-step process of entering location details is a breeze. Power users - or those in the sticks - will also love its ability to navigate to a set of latitude and longitude coordinates, as well as its ability to pan the maps. The device’s vehicle-routing profiles include Car/Motorcycle, Pedestrian, Bicycle, Truck, Bus, Emergency, and Taxi, and voice prompts were given at appropriate intervals in our tests. Garmin’s text-to-speech converter announced street names accurately, but it doesn’t support multi-segment routing.

The device is sold with a suction cup mount, GTM 20 (North America) or GTM 21 (Europe) FM TMC traffic receiver and 12-Volt car adapter, AC power cable, PC/USB cable (for downloading OS updates and additional software), owner’s manual and quick reference guide. Even with the large screen, you should be able to get around 3 to 5 hours operation, depending on how you use Bluetooth, MP3 playback, and other variables.

The Nüvi 660 is a great GPS unit. The super-bright, white backlit screen looked great in our car and was easily viewable in sunlight. The automatic night mode was also a welcome touch, swapping glaring white to black and altering the colours of maps to make them easier to navigate in the dark. Add to that the combination of its slim profile, great functionality and traffic alerts built in, and you can’t go wrong. You’ll pay to get this performance, but if you can stretch your budget you won’t regret it.

[9] - Editors’ Choice

[Best GPS Pricing UK]
[Best GPS Pricing US]