what causes 660 to take a long time to acquire a satellite?

i have noticed if i dont use my nuvi in a week or so, it will take a while to aquire the satelites...

what i do to avoid that is if i know im not gonna be using my nuvi in a while i will just go out in the back yard and turn on the nuvi and just let it aquire every few days... then when i do use it to go on a trip it aquires pretty quickly.

A hard reset (or Clear All User Data) has been known to resolve unit quirks and strange behavior after firmware updates. It's generally recommended to perform it after a firmware update but is not required by any means. However, if you're seeing quirks and strange behavior with your unit after the firmware update, it's a good idea to do a hard reset of the unit. It's also one of the first things that Garmin will have you do when contact tech support regarding quirky unit behavior.

Hard Reset procedure:

This procedure has been known to (but doesn't always) delete your favorites so back them up beforehand: From the nuvi drive, copy x:/Garmin/GPX/current.gpx to your backup location. After the hard reset, copy current.gpx back to the same folder on the nuvi but rename it temp.gpx (important). On the next power cycle, the favorites will be read from temp.gpx into the non-user accessible memory area on the nuvi where they are actually stored (current.gpx is only a shadowed backup of your favorites)

Hard Reset:

*Note that this will clear all user selected settings on the unit
*Note that a "power-cycle" (or power-on/power off sequence) on the nuvi 8x0/8x5 units consists of removing, then reinserting the battery into the unit. Using the power switch on the unit to power it off only puts it into a "sleep" mode.

Power the unit off. Press and hold (and continue to hold) the bottom-right corner of the screen while powering the unit on. Continue to hold the screen until the "Do you want to erase all user data?" prompt appears. Press "yes" and the unit will reboot. Reset all your location settings and user preferences.

If possible after the hard reset, let the unit sit outdoors in the open for about 30 minutes or so to let the unit re-acquire the satellite almanac data.

I have the same problem with my 660 occasionally. It seems to be intermittent though; as if it's the area I'm in.

I had the same problem but I heald the on button to the left for several seconds while turning on the unit and this reset something and it worked great after that.

One thing that may cause this as well, is the fact that as we go between the seasons, the Earth does tilt; hence the seasons. Now, depending on the abundance or scarcity of the birds in your area of the sky, this may effect the GPS.

While I don't know this as fact as of yet, it may be plausible.

The flip-up antenna/GPS receiver assembly is shared by both the 3xx & 6xx units. There is a component on the GPS receiver board that fails causing a loss of satellite reception.

At first, the failure may affect signal strength, causing a longer time to lock. As the part continues to worsen (becomes resistive), it will fool the unit into thinking that an external antenna is connected and cause the unit to only look for satellite signals at the external antenna jack.

You can confirm this issue by inserting a small wire into the external antenna jack and observe that after several minutes, satellite reception is restored... until you remove the wire.

If you flip down the antenna, power down the unit and reboot, you can often get the unit to receive again using the internal antenna for a brief period of time until the part breaksdown again and switches to the external jack. There is a +2.5VDC bias at the external antenna jack that is used to power an external antenna with pre-amp.

The part fails because it is underated and is susceptible to ESD (electrostatic discharge).

- Jim