Best advice about Car Electronics.

Before I departed my trip I wanted to aquire a navigation system and after a bunch of comparisons committed to buy a Zumo 660 which is a motorcycle friendly unit. The reason for deciding on this route, exuse the play on words, was that I wanted a navigation system that would give precise directions to a Bluetooth helmet. None of the Garmin Nuvi Navigation would allow that. I'm not going to do a complete review but just some high spots after using it on a thousand mile vacation.

Garmin GPS comes with mounting connections and a wire harness for power. It also has extra connections for auxiliary audio. You can download the Zumo 660 owner's manual from Garmin.com. The garmin 660 features a replaceable battery and it will run the GPS for aproximately 5 hours. Running the Bluetooth and making phone calls will shorten the time a bit. To prevent this, you can keep the unit hooked via the USB or cigarette lighter plug.

The Garmin will take 20 additional routes which was more than enough for my planned trip to the Grand Canyon and if I wanted to add more it would be a cinch with an SD card. It will also hold some tens of thousands of waypoints. Waypoints would be similar to a diversion off the main pre-planned path like my favorite hotels and antique shops not found on the main road.

A very important function is ride plotting. This unit has shortest, fastest routing function, it will not let you take the road less traveled unless you pre-program it. The GPS comes equiped with computer planning software. The Garmin also has a travel function. When I select it, the route changes. It has something to do with car or motorcycle mode of transportation. I can't make sense of it and while looking through the blogs no one else can explain it either.

The Garmin 660 pre-loaded maps is very. The POI file is huge there is capability to load custom points-of interests. I loaded every Starbucks that was within 55 miles of my path. I did note a problem though, if I desired to find a fuel station I will have to zoom all the way in to view them. It should let me see them from a birds view.

The Garmin paired perfectly with my Blue Ant and worked without fail the whole trip. My Droid was a bit more frustrating and would often drop the connection to the nav. System. The audio directions was excellent. I enjoy riding all day and the unit screen can be seen even with direct sunlight shining on it. Something else I discovered is that this GPS can take some abuse. I wandered down a dirt road and it got a little bumpy. This rugged GPS never skipped a beep. I also rode for three days in the rain and the waterproof claims are founded. So, my rating on this unit would be five stars. I have raved about this to all my buddies.

By the way, do you want the best deals on Zumo? If so, I suggest these links: Garmin Zumo 660 or Zumo 220

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