Garmin 665 vs 660

[JonnyCinco]

Am I reading this correctly. $150 for an xm receiver? is that the only difference. Please tell me I am wrong and the $150 is justified somewhere.....



though it is garmin...so probably not.

 

[tomatocity]

And you get to pay $100 a year to use the XM receiver.

 

[JonnyCinco]

thats what I thought. Had XM when it first arrived on the scene. It was good back then...but now it is just filled with commercials and stations that play the same ole shite over and over

 

[Dirt_Dad]

I just got rid of my 2yr old 660 and bought a 665. The 660 is fine, but in someways more annoying than the 550 I had before it. The reason I made the switch was for weather. Also got traffic, but I do my best to stay out of anyplace where traffic reports could help. The basic software is the same, but it is not possible to add the XM receiver to the 660 and have it work. You need the get the 665.

I did not pickup the subscription to listen to the audio channels, instead I have only the weather/traffic. I'm doing it on a monthly basis so I can cancel during the winter when I don't need weather avoidance. I'm told the monthly bill will be $7.

GPS wise the 660 and 665 are indistinguishable from each other. The difference all comes from the XM receiver.

 

[newventurer]

JC, like you I had XM years ago and dropped it due to the amount of commercials they allowed for a paid service,,,it was out of control.

I have the 665 and if you just look at the extra cost for the XM radio I agree it doesn't make much sense. For me it was the ability to get the Nav Weather and Nav Traffic through the XM service, yes at an additional cost.

I justified the cost as acceptable given that I know how live real time radar weather on my display and real time traffic alerts. Just last week I am riding along listening to my XM radio, its much better know with fewer commercials, and the voice prompt interupts the music and says, "Rain in the area" I push a few buttons, up pops the live radar, I can see where the storm is and which direction it is moving, determine it is not a problem based on my heading and go about my ride. Later on I am on the tollway cruising along at 70 MPH and the voice prompt interupts my music, "Traffic ahead" I slow down and sure enough there is road construction ahead and traffic has slowed to a crawl. I can exit early and avoid a mess. It also tells me the amount of delay to expect (in minutes) I guess based on changes in average traffic speed.

To me these are awesome conveniences that make my riding more enjoyable and worry free, especially in areas that I am unfamiliar with the traffic or weather patterns.

 

[JonnyCinco]

So....it is fairly "live"?? With the voice prompts, that does seems nice. But in the good ole USA, but Lougle phone will let me know traffic (fairly accurate) and if needs be, weather.....obviously, I have to stop to check though....


And there is a subscription for just traffic and weather? monthly? no year contract?

 

[Dirt_Dad]

So....it is fairly "live"?? With the voice prompts, that does seems nice. But in the good ole USA, but Lougle phone will let me know traffic (fairly accurate) and if needs be, weather.....obviously, I have to stop to check though....


And there is a subscription for just traffic and weather? monthly? no year contract?

My month to month subscription covers both traffic and weather for $7 per month. They tried to entice me into a year contract, but I had no interest.

I got tired of having to stop to check the iPhone for weather. The vast majority of the time I'm in some roaming area with my Verizon phone that means very, very slow weather updates. Usually several minutes sitting somewhere waiting just to see where the weather is located. After 3 years of this exercise I'm just tired of waiting for weather on the side of the road. Thus the 665.

 

[ggeorge11]

I would love to have on of them, but for now I use the Colorado 400T.

 

[newventurer]

One other thing I forgot...it gives you a forecast as well so you know what to expect starting out.

 

[digitalmoto]

I'd love to have the 665 for weather and traffic, however that huge conglomeration of wire bundle kind of worries me and I've read on various forums about XM. It depends on the particular agent you get on the phone whether you can get just weather and traffic, one agent says yes, the next no saying you need the entire package to get the weather and traffic, then the next says that no you can not get any of this on the Zumo 665. Lastly, they take your credit card for a recurring charge and trying to cancel is damn near impossible. All this is second hand stuff I've read, but I've read enough to ruin the hopes of getting a 665 and doing the traffic/weather which would be all I would ever care about.

I've had XM in my car before. I had no problems canceling the service. One phone call. Done.
I've got the 665. The wiring bundle isn't that big of a deal once you route it through the head and top right side panel there isn't that much extra under the main right panel.
Last month, I activated the XM services. The weather and traffic is REALLY nice. I'll be hammering down the freeway and it will tell me there's traffic ahead. I roll off and within 1/4 mile traffic will be all brake lights. It's really nice for that.
I'm not sure what to think of the weather part yet. Last week I was waiting for a train to pass and started playing with the live maps. A huge storm was rolling in off the Pacific. Good to know. But looking at the sky told me the same thing. Also it tells me when there's rain in the area. I live in Portland. There's ALWAYS rain in the area!
The music service is OK. I have trouble getting stable reception when I'm cranking through corners, under trees or in caynons. All of which is to be expected. But again, I live in a place with lots of corners, trees and canyons. Results may vary.
Overall I really like my 665.
Double bonus is that my wife loves it too. She's used the unit for over 4000 miles on various road trips since January of this year.