Shots of Garmin's N�vi 660 surface

Oh you know we were damned curious to see what the front side of the widescreen Garmin Nüvi 660 looked like. Unfortunately for us, it looks remarkably like like the Nüvi 300 and 360, but that doesn't mean we're not gonna write about it. As you may know, according to best buy this device should have a 4.3-inch 480 x 272 display, 700MB of internal storage, SD slot (duh), and all the rest of the GPS power that makes a Garmin a Garmin. Sorry though, still no price or release.

[Thanks, the Aviator]

[Raz 4 life @ Aug 30th 2006 1:04AM]

I went to a Perkins in Monticello once... The short stack with a side of fries, please! Yes, it's a strange combo... don't ask =)

[Greg @ Aug 30th 2006 1:55AM]

Monticello is the last name on my dermatologist

[Chad @ Aug 30th 2006 8:45AM]

Widescreen is great if you only travel west/east. But when you travel north/south, you have limited screen real estate. An rotating screen and orientation sensor would be nice.

[The Aviator @ Aug 30th 2006 10:06AM]

Chad:

Those were my thoughts exactly. The widescreen is very nice to see adjacent roads (perhaps for detour purporses) but in the normal use, the widescreen has no added benefit over the current 4:3 aspect Nuvi.

[ruzsell @ Aug 30th 2006 10:10AM]

maybe you can turn the screen like i can on my pda then it would be bigger from top to bottom

[The Aviator @ Aug 30th 2006 10:19AM]

ruzsell:

That would be nice but I don't see that happening. You might then compress the Street name display at the top which is an important part of its functionality.

I think this is just a reaction from Garmin because TomTom's devices are all now widescreen. It's really not going to add any real value other than the "cool" factor.

In fact, I would imagine the battery life to decrease because of the larger screen.

If the original $999 price buy.com had posted is correct then that's a pretty steep price to pay for something that really doesn't add much more functionality than a 360. (well it does add FM transmitter, but I've never been thrilled with those devices)

[ruzsell @ Aug 30th 2006 10:39AM]

Aviator I agree! Just a thought. I am new to GPS just bought the 360 didnt even get it yet. 685 shipped free from buy.com not bad price to pay. i will stock with the 360.

[Mike @ Aug 30th 2006 11:17AM]

I grew up in Addison & now live in Wood Dale. What are the chances?

[Jim @ Sep 5th 2006 10:16AM]

Widescreen will drain the internal battery faster, and does not provide much usefulness. I thought the biggest selling aspect of the Nuvi series was their small format. Looks like Garmin is trying to meet the competition.

Keep in mind however that this unit ships with the $150 value traffic receiver and has the internal FM transmitter. If you had considered the 360 plus the additional traffic receiver, maybe this is not a bad deal as orders are already for only ~$100 more than the 360 can be obtained for.

Probably won't get high marks for the FM transmitter. Maybe the MP3's would sound better thru the car sound system than thru the Nuvi's single speaker. My experience with FM transmitters (my daughter has a similar Monster device for her Ipod) are that you can hear the music, but it is not of great quality. Could that be from the MP3 format?

I'd still like to see Lat/Lon capability, road avoidance and user settable avg mph for both limited access and urban streets. Guess one can't have everything?

[Sarah @ Sep 13th 2006 6:39PM]

Does anyone know if the Nuvi 660 or 360 can be used with e-book software - that is book reader software as well as audio books?