I’m sticking with my 660

[GSian]

Anyone with a version one or two device, can have it exchanged by Garmin, free of cost. Do it before their largesse expires.

How would I know which version I have?

 

[Wapping]

How would I know which version I have?

There’s a post / thread with all the details.

 

[Pepsi]

My Zumo 660 is around 12 years old and has never let me down. Two of my brothers also use the 660 and none of theirs has gone wrong either. One of these is the nav 6 as bmw call it. Quite a number of our group also use the Zumo 660 and I haven’t heard any of them having a problem.
Perhaps it is just bmw badged ones?
The first model XT wasn’t very good but the later XT2 and XT3 seem ok.
I don’t know what ghosting means but my Zumo has obviously never done it.
I seem to remember the bmw badged nav 6 did once fall out of the cradle. It still works fine but the bezel is missing.

Why do you say the original XT wasn’t very good?

 

[Wapping]

Ahh, I was under the impression that the nav 6 was the same as the 660. It’s the nav 5 that’s the same.

The first model XT wasn’t very good but the later XT2 and XT3 seem ok.

The Navigator V is not the same as 660.

There is no Garmin XT3.

There is the original XT, of which I have two. Then came the XT2, which differs from the original XT in a number of fairly fundemental ways.

My two XT devices function very well, integrating with complicated bespoke routes created in MyRoute perfectly.

 

[Wapping]

That’s all very well if you want the sat nav to plot your route. I don’t, I want to via the route I choose which is so easy on Basecamp. Just click start and end points then pick up the route and move it to which ever roads one wants to use. I tried this with MRA and could not just pick up the route which immediately ruled this system out for me. Plus I don’t have apps on my laptop.

You can use MyRoute in exactly the same way on an iPad, phone or laptop.

I build quite complicated bespoke routes on my iPad, using MyRoute’s ability to drag the black line of an A to B route, so that it takes the roads I want to use. Some people call this ‘elastic banding’ the route. Whatever it’s called, it works in exactly the same way as BaseCamp and, before that, MapSource.

You do not need an app on your home computer, to access MyRoute, as it’s entirely cloud based. In that regard, it’s no different to using Google maps to create a route. All you need to do is access your personal space (account) MyRoute’s website and away you go.

I have a very powerful Mac home computer. I haven’t used it to create a bespoke route in BaseCamp, for about the past four years *. Likewise, I haven’t used BaseCamp either. I have done everything on my iPad and, sometimes on my phone. All of the bespoke routes, I have then sent painlessly to either a Navigator V / VI and, latterly, to a Garmin XT.



* The truth is I haven’t needed to turn it on at all, to do anything.

 

[glenn2926]

Why do you say the original XT wasn’t very good?

One of my brothers had one and just seemed to have constant trouble with it. He, for some reason couldn’t get the routes sent to him by others to load on it . The XT always tried to re route him. Always seemed to have a different ride distance to everyone else’s. We even tries loading the route from my laptop instead of emailing it to him. His XT always tried to go a different way to my and the others 660s. He wasn’t too bothered as he managed to sell it and bought a second hand 660. This has proved much more user friendly and reliable.

 

[Wapping]

That’s great if you want to use your phone as a sat nav. I don’t. The screen doesn’t work with gloves on whereas my very old 660 the screen does work with gloves on. I have used the phone but having to stop and remove one’s gloves to operate it is a bit of a pain.

The phone’s function is simply the running of the app and streaming the image to the dumb device. You can leave it in your pocket or tank bag. The dumb device is fully touch sensitive, even with gloves on.

I was and remain a big fan of standalone GPS devices. That said, I have been using a sacrificial phone as a navigation device, with very good results, too. I do have a Chigee dumb device but haven’t as yet got around to mounting it on my motorcycle. I think that the Chigee will work pretty well, as and when I get around to using it.

In this regard, I am pretty much the same as Mzokk in post #7 of this thread:

https://www.ukgser.com/community/threads/which-motorcycle-nav-system.438868/post-5647392

I too have several devices mounted. I do this so that I can find out how the various alternatives work and (hopefully) help others who might have a problem. Mzokk does the same.



PS My phone’s screen is fully responsive to a touch from a gloved finger. Whether though it is as good at being manipulated by hand as say, my XT, is another matter entirely. That said, I find that I don’t need to prod the screen too often.

 

[Wapping]

One of my brothers had one and just seemed to have constant trouble with it. He, for some reason couldn’t get the routes sent to him by others to load on it . The XT always tried to re route him. Always seemed to have a different ride distance to everyone else’s. We even tries loading the route from my laptop instead of emailing it to him. His XT always tried to go a different way to my and the others 660s. He wasn’t too bothered as he managed to sell it and bought a second hand 660. This has proved much more user friendly and reliable.

I suspect there’s a dollop of user error vis-a-vis the XT, mixed in perhaps with user settings and preferences. That is not unique to the XT by any means. When running the Wapping Wanders, I lost count of the number of times bods said: “But I can’t load the routes” or “But my device says….”.

Anyone who buys an XT or indeed any Garmin device since just about the 660 / Navigator IV and expects it to be plug’n’play, might be in for a disappointment. This is especially true of the XT. I think I am pretty good with Garmin GPS devices *, but I had to learn how the Navigator V / VI (and now my XT) differed in operation from my Navigator IV and Garmin 660. I made mistakes with them but patience and help saw me win through. Likewise, learning how to best use MyRoute, was a bit of a learning curve too, having been a confirmed MapSource / BaseCamp fan for many years.

Map updates not withstanding, the 660 was and remains a very good device, simple and reliable to use. That said, there are some correspondents to UKGSer that loath it, even today. It too had its teething problems, with people regretting giving up their 550’s, the price of which commanded a premium for a while. The same can be said for Navigator V’s versus Navigator VI’s, the V’s outperforming VI’s in the secondhand market. Funny old world.




* I have never owned or used a TomTom.

 

[Wapping]

Yeah both but it’s much easier with the much larger screen on the laptop, plus I have google maps open at the same time and hop from one to the other for street view of hotels, parking etc.

You should be able to use your iPad in split screen mode, as this screenshot shows:



Both screens operating independently of each other but both visible at the same time.

I use split screen a lot when creating routes in MyRoute but wanting to use Google for additional information, such as hotels or major road closures. The various separate tabs on an iPad come in useful, too.