How does a nuvi 660 stack up today?

The powered cradle, which Garmin seems to have gotten away from, is a NICE feature. I hate having to plug/unplug the USB cable every time to use it in the car. I feel it's going to fail one day on my unit.

I've also read where many people still consider the 660 to be the peak in the entire Nuvi line-up for features, quality, reliability, etc and everything has mostly gone downhill from there. Some still use it as a standard of reference for newer units. Sounds like it has stood the test of time quite well.

I never saw the traffic demo on my Nuvi 660, and it was only because of drop in price for lifetime traffic and many posts here saying how good it was, that I even bought it..
After purchase, had intermittent operation of traffic, and it was only because of a post here that I got it going.... No thanks to the manual.

I was carefully routing the wire between the lighter and suction mount in knooks and crannies of the car, EFFECTIVELY SHIELDING THE ANTENNA by the metalwork of the car....

Once I started draping the cord over the rear view mirror.... Traffic worked beautifully! Looked a bit ugly, but worked beautiful!
Of course the firmware bug in V4.80 that occurred at about the same time didn't help either!

Comparing V4.90 and when we got it new..... 2-3 years ago.... Night and Day Difference!!

Custom picture on bootup!
Custom Vehicle!
Custom POI's!
Custom Text to Speech phrases!
Accurate touchscreen (remember earlier versions?)
More accurate Maps (Throwing money at it -- Lifetime maps -- helped!)
I like the suction, wired mount...

Even with all the extra's we loaded in -- It is a bit quicker now than when new....

I'm happy with it....
We've had some rocky-ness, as we learned things like it won't recognize MP3 directories, Won't memorize a route with a detour, a firmware bug or two...
Only USBV1 speed means map upgrades are slower than newer units....
I hear that later units moved Traffic receiver away from power plug, which probably gets it more receive signal strength....

But overall, I'm glad that I went this route, and if I had to do it again, I'd still buy this model!

The printout of the Manual I made now contains lots of written notes and suggestions that weren't in the original manual... Which, if they had been added 2 years ago, would have prevented many issues of "What the Heck!" as I stumbled onto some of the 'features' that first look like "Bugs"....

I don't think anyone (besides you two) thinks the 660 was the peak of the xx0 Nuvi releases - if any, it would be the 760/780 ( don't personally consider the 800 series to be a true Nuvi with it's fat case and wimpy voice commands).

The 700 series at least has built in antenna, supports tracklog, vias and routes, has the speed limit indicator and can sort out a list of destinations into the most efficient route.

It also takes advantage of the quick disconnect with Garmin Locate, which I've never used, but do believe that it can be useful for finding my way back to my car when my Alzheimer's takes hold.

There are some among us (I do not include myself among them) who think that Lane Assist and Junction View are the greatest things since sliced bread, but those features were only introduced with the xx5 series units.

There are many among us who know that the 276c and it's big brothers were the best automotive Garmins released to date. I AM a member of that group.

New models in a nutshell; Thinner, Lighter, Faster, More features

Well we can add three more to the thought about the 660. My son , grandson, and mysely all have 660's and have never had a problem. Each are 2 to 3 yrs old and still have good battery power. Work great with the beanbag mount. Never used the traffice part as it isn't avaiable around my area. Works greart with my cell phone and bluetooth. Like most of the newer ones with all different kinds of problems. But who can say which is best.

I don't have another model to compare it with, but my 660 is still going strong and it does everything I want from a GPS.

I don't use the bluetooth much, but I use the heck out of the mp3 player.

I don't use the traffic signal subscription, and I do just fine without it (If anyone lives in NYC it don't even matter if you have that feature). So it has been doing great for me for my touring on my Harley Davidson. I download countless restaurant locations where my riding buddies and myself check out places to eat, but it's all about the ride. I do a preview on Mapquest first check out the different hiways and CR's and make determinations on what raods to ride by zooming in on the GPS as I ride, no one is ever disapointed (twisty roads). Only thing is the battery won't hold a charge more than 30mins, so I have a RAM mount for bikers and cigarette lighter connected to my electrical harness. So far so good....

Have you read the topics and seen the videos showing how to replace the battery yourself? It looks fairly simple.

Both 660 and 680 are going strong. Some of the key features of these to me are the patch antennas -- something I can point, and an antenna connector so I can use a good external antenna in some vehicles. Screen size is important as well; my eyes aren't as good as they once were.

I don't need a lot of bells and whistles. So it can't play movies or open beer bottles...

I'll replace these when they die (batteries don't count; I can replace those), or something with a compelling feature comes along.

What's that compelling feature? Other than the button that avoids all the traffic? I don't know!

Something you can point? Don't think that matters. As for the mechanical aspect, just something to break. It can be snapped off, cable cracks over time from constant opening/closing, etc. I've read about both happening...

No one is suggesting that the 660 is bad. But there is absolutely no way that it is the 'peak' of Garmin's Nuvi product lineup.

Beyond the features I mentioned earlier, that flip antenna does break after a while if you exercise the hinges enough, by the way.