30. GPS Performance: The Mighty SiRF

The Garmin Nuvi 660 uses SiRF's high performance SiRF StarIII GPS receiver. This chipset is extremely sensitive and able to maintain solid signal reception even when driving in challenging situations, such as dense urban environments (behind tall buildings), bridges, and canyons.

In fact, in my testing, I was able to get a strong signal even indoors. The integration of SiRF's chipset into the latest generation of in-car navigation systems has been a watershed event for GPS manufacturers.

Prior to this, line-of-sight to the sky was required to receive GPS signals, resulting in less than reliable GPS performance in many situations. SiRF's chipset has ushered in a new era of GPS performance, allowing signals to be acquired quickly and maintained while driving. GPS devices are more reliable than ever today, but be sure to buy a device that has SiRF's chipset. I'm always amazed that people continue to buy GPS devices that are old and outdated and cost even more than some of the newer devices with SiRF chipsets -- even from the same manufacturer.

31. Useful nuvi Tips & Shortcuts

• Touch & hold Back to return to the Menu page at any time
• To adjust the audio or brightness, quickly press and release the power button
• To switch audio output between the built-in speaker and the FM transmitter, quickly press the power button twice

32. Updating the nuvi Software (WebUpdater)

Figure 94: Garmin's WebUpdater Software

Garmin provides an easy utility for updating the firmware/software on all their GPS units. Garmin's WebUpdater software can be downloaded from Garmin's Website. The utility automatically checks the model number connected to the computer (via USB), the version of software currently installed, and the version available for download. If a newer version is available on Garmin's website, the WebUpdater will ask if you want to install the new version. Of course, if you prefer, you can still download the individual updates for the nuvi manually.

There's no official rule on how frequently Garmin makes mapping updates available for their products. Their map supplier, NAVTEQ, generally releases map updates 6 times per year. However, you can expect to wait around 1-2 years for updated map data to make its way into your device.

33. Pros

• Beautiful, super-bright, white backlit screen is easy to read even in sunlight, living up to Garmin's claim of "sunlight readable display")
• Slim, portable design
• Integrated FM transmitter
• NAVTEQ Mapping Data
• Mapping data is stored in memory rather than a hard disk, making the unit very lightweight and less susceptible to hard disk failure or damage from dropping.
• SiRF's Star III GPS chipset yields phenomenal performance. I even got 4 out of 5 signal strength bars indoors! The SiRF enabled nuvi performed well in Manhattan's GPS challenging urban environment, tracking even behind tall buildings and short tunnels.
• Excellent routing engine
• Fast boot/shutdown times
• Bluetooth / Cell phone integration works well and is thoughtfully implemented (nuvi handles things like call waiting, pausing music playback during a call, etc.)
• Solid windshield mount keeps the unit secure and in place. The nuvi is easy to angle on the mount, and it doesn't vibrate or shift while driving.
• Includes everything you need to receive real-time traffic data
• WebUpdater software makes updating the nuvi's internal software easy
• Fast CPU performance: the nuvi is zippy and responsive. Navigating menus is quick, and route / re-route calculation is fast
• Good quality internal microphone works well for hand-free telephone.
• Long battery life (up to 8 hours per charge)
• Lots of configurable options
• Capability to add travel guides
• Support for loading custom POIs
• Ability to route to lat/long coordinates
• Garmin has finally added the ability to pan the map when looking at the map view
• Garmin is a mature company and everything here just works the way it's supposed to. No unpleasant surprises, or buggy code. Software feels well tested and thoughtfully implemented.

34. Cons

• Cost: suggested retail price is just over $1,000 (although online retailers are selling it for under $750)
• Weak FM transmitter. Nuvi needs to be very close to the car stereo for good performance
• No route exclusion feature (ability to exclude certain roadways when choosing a route
• No multi-destination routing/optimizing (although you can include up to 1 stop along a route)
• No physical volume control (you have to navigate the menus to adjust the volume, although this is less of an issue if you're using the FM transmitter to use your car's stereo instead of the nuvi's internal speaker)
• Sometimes the nuvi waits too long to reroute -- If you miss a turn, I found the nuvi waiting a nail-biting amount of time before finally accepting the fact that I had missed the turn and it needed to re-calculate. This is especially frustrating if you're on a highway and the exits are close together.
• Unit feels fragile, and could be more rugged.
• When typing out a street name, it's not intuitive where the delete (backspace) key is (it's buried on the top right as a gray left arrow).
• No multi-destination routing (you can only add 1 stop along the route, but you cannot, for example, enter 5 addresses and have the nuvi optimize the order of addresses)
• Some useful features are only available via shortcuts that require you read the manual (i.e. save my current location, view the maneuvering list)