What will I gain or lose by upgrading from Zumo 550 to 660/665

The announcement of the new Zumo 590 has me thinking that it is about time to update my GPS. I'm not real keen about the bluetooth only connection on the 590. I am currently using the 550 with a Starcom Advance intercom. I do have the bluetooth dongle, BTM-02 for the Starcom though. My main reason for upgrading would be for a larger screen and the ability to show weather on the screen. I see the 590 will do this via my android phone, but I was in several areas last year where I couldn't get a data signal. The satellite based system would be a real help here. I've read that the 660/665 units have had their share of issues, where the 550 has been a very reliable unit.

So for those of you that have made the leap, what can you tell me from your experience?

mlheck said:

I'm not real keen about the bluetooth only connection on the 590.

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Just for clarification: the 590 has a "headphone jack/audio line out" in addition to bluetooth

I made the jump from a 550 to a 660. I use BaseCamp for my routing. A created route sent to both of my units (550 and 660) with all three having the same map sets. The 660 does not 100% follow the route. The 660 has done some interesting decisions. Get me lost, NO. Not take the best track, YES. Overall, happy with the upgrade. Just need to pay attention to what it is doing. Hard wired for directions and MP3's.

The 590 looks nice, but they're spend (like all zumos) .

From what I have been able to gather from the scarce amount of information available, the line out is only for GPS guidance audio. All mp3, Pandora, phone audio and mic are strictly Bluetooth.

I agree the 590 is very pricey, thus the reason I'm asking about the 600/650.

mlheck said:

From what I have been able to gather from the scarce amount of information available, the line out is only for GPS guidance audio. All mp3, Pandora, phone audio and mic are strictly Bluetooth.

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I didn't see anything that indicated that. What I read lead me to think that the phone would be a source of music, traffic and weather data, the Zumo would control the phone and provide output. The audio output could go to a bluetooth headset or a wired headset.

I have seen posts that the 590 has an octopus harness like the 660 series........

mlheck said:

The announcement of the new Zumo 590 has me thinking that it is about time to update my GPS. I'm not real keen about the bluetooth only connection on the 590. I am currently using the 550 with a Starcom Advance intercom. I do have the bluetooth dongle, BTM-02 for the Starcom though. My main reason for upgrading would be for a larger screen and the ability to show weather on the screen. I see the 590 will do this via my android phone, but I was in several areas last year where I couldn't get a data signal. The satellite based system would be a real help here. I've read that the 660/665 units have had their share of issues, where the 550 has been a very reliable unit.

So for those of you that have made the leap, what can you tell me from your experience?

Click to expand...

You don't get xm with the 660. So the 665 would be your direct next step up and not loose any functionality. The really nice part of the 66* series is you can customize your screen to show what data you want from a nice list and several themes for that main screen. The 550 had very little customizing.

You don't have the hard buttons on the 66* like you do the 550 which is good, many of those break.

The routing is a lot faster on the 66*.

I guess I stand corrected then about the audio output on the 590.

As anybody had any issues with their 660/665's?

My 665 has worked well. I had one issue in heavy rain when it just turned off but I think that was a bad clip connector I was using at the time for the power tap.. hasn't happened since.

So here is a stupid question. Does the XM weather and radio work in Canada?

The services are available in Canada.

RaYzerman said:

I have seen posts that the 590 has an octopus harness like the 660 series........

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It doesn't ship until next month and Garmin hasn't put all of the specifics up yet. (Or they hadn't as of a few days ago.)

-- Mark

Here is one thing that I would like that the 590 has. Can I stream stereo audio via Bluetooth from my Droid through the 665? I know the 550 won't do it.

Easy question on the 660 : where is the phone jack located exactly and would a 90 degree or a straight phone plug work the best on the unit ?

TourNut said:

Easy question on the 660 : where is the phone jack located exactly and would a 90 degree or a straight phone plug work the best on the unit ?

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It's at the end of the cable that's attached to the cradle.

--Mark

I have looked at the new 590, but not looked in depth as I have a new BMW Navigator V. The Nav V is also new and has most of the technology of the 590. There are some differences but not a lot. The Nav V has twice the internal memory of the Nav IV / 660 / 665. This means there is more than sufficient room for the entire North America map set with plenty left for the always bigger updated maps. They have a faster processor which means they route faster then the 660. They do have BT only for the stereo audio out. I did not like this at first, but as this seems to be the way things are heading with Garmin, I got the BT module for my Autocom. I am very please with the performance and sound quality. No issues whatsoever as the Autocom BT module is bike powered and pairs without issue every time I start the bike. The screen is also a higher definition screen so the detail is much better.
As far as the weather and traffic, the Nav V and the very similar Zumo 590 now use a smart phone app. There is is ONE Time fee for each...approx. $5 for the weather app, and approx $15 for the traffic app....one time fee, not monthly. As long as your smartphone is paired with the gps, it works. There are other features on these new units that the 660 doesn't have and that is the reason I waited for Garmin to release new units...the 660/665 was getting pretty old tech when my 550 died..for the second time.
We all have different priorities and budgets to work within, but if you are already considering a 660/665, I would really suggest you spend a bit more and get the much newer technology of either the Zumo 590 or the BMW Navigator V. Btw, the Nav. v still has buttons on the cradle mount like the hard buttons on the 550 so you have the option of buttons or touch screen.
Cross Country BMW in Metechun, NJ has been running a great discount deal on the Nav.V. Over $100 off for the unit with the cradle. Then spend a couple bucks for the BMW power connector to use to connect the power and ground.

Btw, I have used an Amplirider amp to boost the weak output from the Zumo 550. The Navigator V has much louder output, but as the Amplirider is already installed, I do run the new Nav V audio from the Autocom BT module through the Amplirider before the Autcom active plus unit. This allows me to adjust the music volume on the fly with the amplirider's remote volume control..something not easily done on the gps as Garmin assumes you are using it with a BT headset which would have its own volume control.

I am starting to lean toward the 590 over the 665. For the cost difference I would rather have the newer technology. I hadn't really thought much about the Navigator V, but I do like the mount with the external buttons. Does placing the Navigator in the mount though turn off the on screen buttons that appear to look exactly the same as the mount, thus providing more screen availability, or do they just become a set of redundant buttons?

mlheck said:

I am starting to lean toward the 590 over the 665. For the cost difference I would rather have the newer technology. I hadn't really thought much about the Navigator V, but I do like the mount with the external buttons. Does placing the Navigator in the mount though turn off the on screen buttons that appear to look exactly the same as the mount, thus providing more screen availability, or do they just become a set of redundant buttons?

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Redundant. The physical mount buttons have different functions depending what is on the screen, but you always have a choice to use the mount buttons or the touch screen. Just with gloves on you know the real button is always going to do what you intend which might not always be the case if trying to use the touch screen with gloves on. There are a few feature differences between the Navigator V and the 590. For example, the 590 has the curvy road option for routing while the NavV didn't have that...but now since an update it does. I assume some of the other features of the 590 may be added to the BMW unit in the future via software updates...but if not, they weren't reasons I own a gps anyway. One I doubt the Nav V will get is the interface for tire pressure...because the new BMW Bikes already have TPMS on them.