I'm shopping for Nav, and I think I'm down to one of two Garmin Units. The Nuvi 660 and the Zumo 550. The Zumo will store up to 50 routes. Both will store 500 waypoints.

My main concerns are:
1) Custom routing (I'm hoping the waypoints will do it, otherwise the choice is pretty much made).
2) Bluetooth for hands free phone answering (I refuse to wear one of those damned headsets, but fishing my phone of my pocket while diving into a corner way too hot is a little unnerving).
3) 3.5mm Line-Out (Headphone/speaker) jack (It'll get integrated with my stereo).
4) Price (under $1K, and preferably closer to $500).

Anyone know of other units that fit the bill. The Magellan Maestro 4000 is lacking on Way points (20) has no Bluetooth, and no line-out, so its a non-starter.

 

The nuvi looks like it has more singing and dancing baloney on it and I really like Zumo's the programmable waypoints and external software to set up routes on your PC and download later. The Nuvi 660 didn't mention this. It would seem to me it should have that as well. If not I would vote for the Zumo.

Maybe call Garmin and see if the Nuvi has the waypoint planning software like the Zumo does. If so I'd go with the Nuvi because the Zumo is made for a motorcycle and you'll have to wire it up. Also one of the reviews mentioned the interal hard drive on the Zumo is almost full with just the OS so uploading turn intensive waypoint maps may overtax it.

 

That's sort of the conclusion I've been coming to. I like the route sharing idea in the Zumo, but if the Nuvi can get the job done, I'll probably go with. I can always get a more rugged nav system to with the Atom .

 

I was traveling for work this past week and the guy I was with had a tomtom which worked very well. What it made me realize is you don't really need that big a screen. His was pretty small but big enough to give me the direction I needed and the voice command really made the difference. That and the smaller screen made it much more portable so it's easier to pull out and put in your pocket. That being said I'd still probably want the 660 with all the singing gadgets and big screen just because I think it's cool.

 

Yup, cool counts too. Plus, how could I possible respect something with name so similar to smelly by-peds used to scout the ice world of Hoth.

 

The Nuvi Rocks FWIW... It's not much for pathfinding and waypoints. But it's function is hard to argue with and the overall operation is top notch...

I dunno anything about the Zumo, never heard of it. But FWIW The Nuvi the wife has is the cats ***.

 

I don't know the Zumo at all, but we've had our Nuvi 350 for a couple of years, and it's really great.

 

"Tauntons...and you thought they smelled bad on the outside."

 

It still sounds similar, and I don't want the smell of wet bipedal yak in my car.

I think I'm stopping by another electronics store to see if I can find units to fiddle with. And I still need to make that call to Garmin.

 

Yeah for some reason they always gloss over the manual route planning stuff. If the Nuvi doesn't come with the offline software like the Zumo does I'd be very disappointed. That seems to be the difference to me.