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September 18, 2009

Garmin Zumo 660: Good Choice for Motorcycle Use

Garmin's Zumo series are particularly configured for bikers, and the Zumo 660 sticks out as the crown of that series.
by Drat Louis

Garmin zumo 660 Motorcycle Navigator - 4.3 Active Matrix TFT Color LCD - HeadphoneParticularly, just because it's specially designed for bikers, that does not mean that you can not use the device in your automobile. It only implies that some enhancements of the product, causing it to be easier to input information when wearing gloves, and allowing for bikers to use it more effectively.

Specifications
The Garmin Zumo 660 measures 13.5 x 8.4 x 2.3 cm (W x H x D) and weighs 270 grams. The touchscreen color TFT is 4.3" in size and supports a resolution of 480 x 272 pixels. The electric battery is adequate up to 5 hours, and the motorcycle and car power adapters are included in the box. The GPS receiving system chipset is not divulged by the producer.

Design
Although the unit looks somewhat delicate with the full screen, appearances can be deceiving. The unit is waterproof (IPX7 standard), having in mind that it can withstand submergence in water up to 1 meter. The color display is very beautiful and clear, readable in direct sunlight, and the visuals are crisp with vivid colors. The Garmin Zum 660 GPS for motorcycles is beautifully designed and professional, just as you would expect from Garmin.

The on off button is located at the top and the audio frequency is on the left. The mini-USB connector and the microSD card slot are located at the back of the device.

The motorcycle and vehicle mounts are included in the product's packaging.


Features
Due to the wind noise disturbance that you experience while riding, it is typical that you will not be able to hear voice navigation prompts from the device, particularly with a helmet on. Garmin addressed this issue by placing one earphone jack under a weather cap at the leftmost of the device and used a A2DP compatible Bluetooth chip, which enables you to stream the voice commands on your MP3 directly, with stereophonic sound.

Compared to other budget and intermediate level products from Garmin, the Zumo 660 GPS for motorcycles features 3-D buildings images, lane assist, a junction view, and a digital fuel indicator, letting you see all the data about your trip and your vehicle at a glance.

The Zumo 660 has millions of Points of Interests (POI) and you've the choice to add your favorites. You can also save your routes and share them with your biker friends or view your tracks in Google Earth.

Garmin nuvi 660 Automobile Navigator - 4.3 Active Matrix TFT Color LCD - Headphone, USBAddressing Google Earth, the Zumo 660 has the feature to download Panoramio pictures to your device and pilot to the destination points with ease. You can also use Google Maps for this intention.

If the inbuilt memory is inadequate for your music, paths, and tracks, you are able to amplify Garmin's storage with microSD cards.

The Garmin Zumo 660 also sports a "where am I" function, which directly shows your location in latitude/longitude and presents the nearby location of hospitals, police stations and gasoline station.

Price to Performance
The Garmin Zumo 660 retails for $799.99 from Garmin and $727.28 from Amazon (much cheaper now -Ed.). Amazon may not reveal the price, you will have to add it to the shopping trolley first. Since it is specifically configured for bikers, it does not have as many contenders, but it still offers a good price to performance ratio.

Overall Evaluation
The Zumo 660 is a dependable unit with few shortcomings. The unit is not able to exhibit the names of towns/cities, just road names; this makes it is difficult to work out where you are going. And sometimes, surprisingly, it can not find the names of towns. Finally, there are some issues with the MapSource software. You need to take a couple of tweaks to allow the unit to work as designated. We will have to wait for a fix from Garmin for all those issues. Other than these facts, the Garmin Zumo 660 GPS for motorcycles is a very dependable and affordable device to use when traveling.


Looking to buy cheap Garmin Zumo 660 GPS for motorcycles? Visit Buy Cheap Online for deals on where you can find the cheapest and best GPS online.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Drat_Louis

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"You see things vacationing on a motorcycle in a way that is completely different from any other. In a car you're always in a compartment, and because you're used to it you don't realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You're a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame."

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