Nuvi 660 Durability

The Nuvi is not engineered for extensive off-road use, if one is particularly careful, it could be used off-road, but I'd advise against it; And I would NOT get it wet, as Nuvis are not rated as being even water resistant.

A better bet would be the Etrex, GPS-6* or 7* series from Garmin, those are rated waterproof - (IPX7).

Ouch, I guess I'll return the 660 and get something more sturdier.

As Keith said, I would be very careful about using the Nuvi outdoors. If your main use of the GPS is for outdoors, I agree with the recommendation of the GPSMAP 60 or 76 series of receivers. I own a nuvi 660 and a GPSMAP 60Cs. I wouldn't think of taking the Nuvi outdoors. Not only because it is not waterproof/ruggedized, but because it would be cumbersome to hike with. It doesn't really fit in your hand well and I would be afraid of breaking the antenna off. My GPSMAP 60Cs however has led a hard life riding on the handlebars of my 4 wheeler, being vibrated, rained on, spashed with mud etc and still works flawlessly.

~Rob

I agree that the Nuvi does not lend itself to being a great 'off road' device. I enjoy the battery to be able to bring it in the house and still have power, or a few times as I'm walking around a town, it's nice to have the ability to track what street I'm on, but I wouldn't trust it hiking or doing 'off road'

My old street pilot 2610 thus far has been bullet-proof. While it has not internal power, it's faithfuly worked in both car, motorcycle, off-road jeep, being exposed to dust, rain and vibration with it taking all that punishment, and still working fine.

Has anyone ever dropped their GPS off of a skyscraper? Hows about putting it in intense heat? How deep under water can these gadget go anyways?

I used my nuvi 350 for hiking & geocaching until I got a handheld unit and found the main problem was the touch screen. It kept changing when you put the unit in your pocket or accidentally touched a part of the screen.