Garmin - Zumo 660 a few thoughts!

[Phabpixs]

Just taken delivery of the Zumo 660 and wanted to drop a few thoughts down for those who might be considering getting this unit!!!

Downsides....

1. It's bloody expensive
2. It's far from perfect
3. It feels antiquated compared to other devices I've used!

Upsides...

1. I'm struggling here!!!
2. Okay I give in - the screen is the only advantage

Okay I'm not being very generous here I know, but for the money it's certainly not good value.

I usually use the excellent COPILOT on my Android phone, and before that I've had TomTom Go520 and a sleeve for the old IPAQ. Plus various other devices along the way when I worked on location based services at Vodaphone.

Why the Garmin then? Well last time round I had such poor after sales service from TomTom with incomplete software updates not fit for purpose and experienced woefully out of date maps [so much for paying to keep up to date] that I decided to give TomTom a wide berth.

Why not stick to ALK's Copilot? simple one here the screen on the HTC is totally unusable in daylight conditions, fine for nightime, but otherwise useless!! but for Less than £25 for UK mapping it's a bargain and more than satisfactory for use in the car where a quasi shaded environment permits it's usage.

What does the Zumo lack? Okay it's less than 72 hours in the hand but I'm left frustrated.

Route planning is limited in terms of options. Interface permutations again are limited to day or night, what about custom colour palates? I'd love to be able to tweek the screen colours to emulate the GSA's dials... no such luck.

I'd love to get the traffic conditions downloaded when my phone is paired with the Zumo... no such luck. Garmins answer is to buy a very expensive 'receiver' and then a subscription.

Unfortunately as this case with many of our suppliers these days, all they're interested in - is flogging you a product! They could have a really good product on their hands if and only IF they listen to the likes of us the end user.

Constructive feedback, that is manageable and implementable would and should deliver a bike GPS product that exceeds our [the customers] expectations.

Who knows if we're luck a Garmin employee might be a UKGSER forum member and take this feedback to their bosses...

What would you like to see in their future bike offerings????

I'll start with a 'much better value for money' product... What's on your wish list????

 

[ilkleyal]

Totally agree, zumo are crap (in my opinion), I have a 660 myself so I am qualified to say so. The Tom Tom system I used for 7 years before buying the Zumo 14 months ago knocks Garmin into a cocked hat in my view. The screen is bloody sloooooooow, delays are everywhere, select something and a second later it catches up. try inputting a postcode and you have to wait a second between presses its so slow.
Just wait until you try and save a favorite by browsing the map, sometimes it lets you put a name in, other times it just says "saved" so you then have to go into the poi and edit it to give it a name. bloody utterly annoying and no one can tell me why it does it. Its a sat nav software package for boys and girls in the street in my view. Its not for a power user like me, I claim to be a power user because I use sat nav every day in the car and do 40,000 a year saving every customer that I have as a poi. I try and avoid using the unit itself to input customer poi's and use mapsource instread on the PC then upload to the device. I bought it and learned to live with its downsides, you must now do the same.

I also use co pilot on the iphone 4 which again, knocks garmin into a cocked hat. So why bother with the garmin? It fits on the bike, is well constructed and was a change from Tom Tom whose customer service was an utter disgrace.

Garmin service I rate 10 out of 10. I sent my failed unit back at 11 months old and had a new one sent out (reconditioned was the official position but it looked new)

Best of luck.

Al.

 

[Sleepy]

That's a bit sad... I've had a 550 for four years and think it's a great, love using mapsource too.

 

[Mutley]

Strange

I'd have done a bit more research before spending £400, especially if I was going to slag my purchase off on here

 

[NLC]

Is it perfect no. Does it do the job. Yes. Is it easier to use than a Tomtom no. Is the service at Garmin good yes. Is the maping on the PC better than Tomtom yes. Do all my mates have a Garmin so we can exchange routes. Yes.

 

[Twotter]

Who knows if we're luck a Garmin employee might be a UKGSER forum member and take this feedback to their bosses...

Or you could send your feedback to Garmin directly

Contact Garmin

Ideas Centre

 

[Deleted account 250319001]

I’ve used sat navs for over 15 years. My last three being Garmin. My 660 is near instant. I’ve never had to wait. That said, I don’t use the Bluetooth and have no MP3 files loaded. But in all honesty, I would recommend the 660. The cost seems high, but some of that is in the mounting system.

 

[ebbo]

It’s a waste of time moaning here about your Zumo, Garmin aren’t listening, they have there own in-house band of bikers who have ‘allegedly’ designed the Zumo for us. I suspect they ride around in gangs on Harleys with loud pipes wearing black piss-pot helmets

P.S. try Mapsource on your PC for drawing up your routes and transferring them to your Zumo, that’s what Garmin is good for and we’ll forget about the missing built in bike to bike radio that the Garmin Rino has and its ability to show where your buddies are on the Rino's map display because the Rinos talk to each other…

But I’m not angry (just disappointed) anyway, I'm over it now

 

[AberdeenAngus]

I have a 660. Have hundreds of mp3 files on it. It's virtually instant and very easy to use especially with gloves on.
I've been very pleased with it.

 

[Wanderer]

I'm very pleased with mine. I'd certainly recommend the 660.

 

[Diamaduk]

mines pretty good, no complaints, use music and phone too..

 

[E. Buygum]

I have always found the 660 easy to use and fast and I like the display but then, I've got no interest in dicking about changing the colour or making it emulate the GS's dials (or my Ford Galaxy's either, come to that).

For route planning, Mapsource works really well. I have hundreds of routes, tracks and useful waypoints (many from this forum) on my PC which I can selectively load to my unit.

The “very expensive 'receiver' “ for traffic cost me £10 and there's no subscription charge in the UK (or France, I think). Admittedly that was a bargain spotted on this forum a few months ago.

I have used Garmin for some years and always found the support O.K.

The unit does what I want it to do very well. It has guided me to obscure destinations in many different countries and seems robust and weather resistant. The lifetime map updates are very good.

Negatives: when the sun shines at the wrong angle, the display isn't bright enough but I understand you can get a hood...I have never bothered. In heavy rain, you get a spurious USB error message caused by moisture in the traffic receiver socket. I agree it's not cheap but if you ever wanted to go somewhere on a bike, and your mapreading skills and sense of direction are as poor as mine, it's worth every penny.

 

[Yonkyo]

I've had my 660 for almost 2 years and 20,000miles now, as i bought it on its release date.

Prior to that i've used TT riders 1 & 2 on the bike and Copilot live on my Iphone.

My 660 has worked faultlessly (unlike the unreliable TT units i've had).

I think it represents good value for money, as its very robust and reliable.
its easy to use on the bike, and the routing is good.
With a bit of fine tuning to free up extra memory, its also very fast.

I wouldn't go back to a TT if they paid me.

 

[NLC]

I have always found the 660 easy to use and fast and I like the display but then, I've got no interest in dicking about changing the colour or making it emulate the GS's dials (or my Ford Galaxy's either, come to that).

For route planning, Mapsource works really well. I have hundreds of routes, tracks and useful waypoints (many from this forum) on my PC which I can selectively load to my unit.

The “very expensive 'receiver' “ for traffic cost me £10 and there's no subscription charge in the UK (or France, I think). Admittedly that was a bargain spotted on this forum a few months ago.

I have used Garmin for some years and always found the support O.K.

The unit does what I want it to do very well. It has guided me to obscure destinations in many different countries and seems robust and weather resistant. The lifetime map updates are very good.

Negatives: when the sun shines at the wrong angle, the display isn't bright enough but I understand you can get a hood...I have never bothered. In heavy rain, you get a spurious USB error message caused by moisture in the traffic receiver socket. I agree it's not cheap but if you ever wanted to go somewhere on a bike, and your mapreading skills and sense of direction are as poor as mine, it's worth every penny.

Self amalgamating tape on the traffic receiver socket makes this problem go away

 

[(RIP) Miff]

I LOVE my Zumo660.

A mate bought a TomTom, and the best thing he could do with it is throw it into the sea (if it could find it).....


I left my Zumo out all night (on top of the wheelie bin) and it chucked it down with rain. Zumo was sitting screen upwards, full of water. A quick shake and it was FINE.

 

[Bumpkin]

we’ll forget about the missing built in bike to bike radio that the Garmin Rino has and its ability to show where your buddies are on the Rino's map display because the Rinos talk to each other…

I don't really understand why you have issue with this. The Rhino is different product, to the Zumo, for a different type of user. Added to which the frequency that the unit-to-unit capability works on means it's not legal for use in Europe anyway.

I can see that for the off road adventurer type a European version Rhino would be useful. If enough people asked if such a product existed then that would indicate a demand to Garmin and I'm sure that they would respond, they are a business after all. Maybe there isn't sufficient demand

However, on PMR I doubt that it would be particularly effective anyway due to range limitations imposed by the 0.5W ERP limit. The State-side model I looked at used GMRS at 5W which would make it far more usable. Maybe they've tried it with PMR and found that it's not worth bringing such a product to market as it would promise much but be a disappointment in use?

 

[Funrider]

That's a bit sad... I've had a 550 for four years and think it's a great, love using mapsource too.

Not at all, I expect the OP would be making the same comments if he's bought a 550.

 

[Funrider]

J
I'd love to get the traffic conditions downloaded when my phone is paired with the Zumo... no such luck. Garmins answer is to buy a very expensive 'receiver' and then a subscription.

£30 off ebay new, including a lifetime subscription. Not that expensive then.

 

[Bumpkin]

£30 off ebay new, including a lifetime subscription. Not that expensive then.

Was a tenner a while back

 

[AberdeenAngus]

Phabpixs

If, as you say, you've just taken 'delivery' of the 660, then presumably you bought it mail order.
That being the case you can return it within 7 days for a full refund under the distance selling regs.
You do not have to give a reason.

Considering all 3 of your posts have been sat nav related and you seem to very well versed in them, it seems strange that you were suprised by the look, feel and capabilities of the 660.

If I were the suspicious kind, I could begin to suspect that you were in fact deliberately running down the garmin in favour of an alternative brand.
However, i'm sure that's not the case and you are in fact a genuine biker with an opinion.

Time will tell.