Figure 38: Spelling out the city name

The larger screen on the nuvi 660 made spelling out the city name much less error-prone than smaller devices. My only complaint is that the nuvi doesn't gray out letters that wouldn't spell a valid city name. On the Magellan RoadMate GPS', for example, only potentially valid letters are press-able, making text entry even faster and more accurate. So as you type out a city name (on the Magellan), the number of letters that can be pressed gets smaller and smaller. With the nuvi, you can spell out any name you want. So if you make a type, the unit might complain that no such city exists, and you have to backup and check the name you entered.

One feature worth mentioning is the nuvi's ability to search for a destination by zip code. Instead of entering a city name, if you enter a zip code the nuvi will choose the correct city for you. This can be handy if you're not entirely sure what the city name is. For example, is the correct city name New York City, or Manhattan? Entering a zip code instead of the name eliminates this kind of confusion.

Figure 39: Select City

As soon as I've entered the letters M-A-N-H, the list of possible matches appears, as shown in figure 38. Tap on the desired city name and move on to street name/number selection.

Figure 40: Enter house number

Like most GPS units, the nuvi 660 prompts you for the house number before the street name. I know this bothers some users, though it's never been an issue for me. To the best of my knowledge, only the TomTom GO units allow you to specify the street name before the house number.

Figure 41: Select Street

After entering the house number, the nuvi prompts you to enter the street name. In this example we're routing to a numbered street rather than a named street, so I tap on the 123 icon on the street selection page and enter 6-5.

Figure 42: Street selection, search results

After entering 6-5 for the street name, a short list of possible matches appears. From here, I select my ultimate destination: 160 East 65th Street, Manhattan, NY.

Figure 43: Confirm address selection and go

After successfully entering the destination address, I can view the address on the map, save it to my address book, or route to it by pressing the large green Go! button.

6. Saving Your Current Location

Although there's no menu item to do so, you can, in fact, save your current position on the map to your address book on the nuvi 660.

Figure 44: Saving Your Current Location

Tapping the vehicle icon on the map allows you to save your current position to the address book (favorites). I like short-cuts as much as the next person, but I really think Garmin should add a menu item for saving your current position. Saving your position is very useful for saving a location that might night have an official street address, or when you don't know where you are and want to save the location so you can return later.

7. Entering an Address Using Coordinates

Entering an address with coordinates is useful if you're into Geocaching. The nuvi 660 isn't a unit you'd want to replace your water-proof, rugged Garmin 60CSx with, but the nuvi's ability to route to coordinates is useful for getting as close to the geocache as possible in the car.

Figure 45: Enter Coordinates

Entering Long/Lat coordinates into the nuvi 660

Figure 46: Supported coordinates formats

This was a pleasant surprise: the nuvi 660 supports all the major formats for entering Lat/Long coordinates. The TomTom GO 910, by comparison, only supports the ddd mm.mmm format, which is not that useful for Geocaching.

Figure 47: Routing to a Lat/Long

Once the coordinates are in, you can view the position on the map, save it in the address book, or press "Go!" and have the nuvi route you to the coordinates.