18. Garmin Language Guide

Figure 65: Language Guide

The nuvi 660 ships with a trial version of the Language Guide that allows to translate a few words and see what the guide offers, but to have access to the entire guide, you'll have to spend an addition $75 to buy the guide from Garmin's website.

Supported languages include: English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish, and the nuvi can provide text-to-speech between any two languages

Figure 66: Garmin Language Guide

You can choose to either lookup a word or phrase, or translate a word from one language to another.

Figure 67: Using the Language Guide

The optional Language Guide provides translation of individual words, or pre-defined key travel phrases (i.e. "how much does that cost", etc.).

Figure 68: Choosing the Translation Language

The Travel Guide supports bi-directional language translation.

Figure 69: Listening to a Word

The nuvi can perform text-to-speech audio translation so you can hear how to correctly pronounce a word.

19. Travel Guide

Figure 70: Travel Guide is accessed via the Travel Kit Menu

Garmin sells Travel Guides for the nuvi 660 that are essentially electronic guides to restaurants, tourist attractions, hotels, and more. Like the Language Guide, the nuvi ships with a lite version of the Fodor's North America travel guide, so you can see what the travel guides are like, but if you want the full guide you'll have to pay extra for it. Travel Guides ship on SD memory cards that you insert into the nuvi.

According to Garmin's website, the travel guides are available for the following countries at the following prices:

• Fodor's North America (SD Card) - $69.99
• Garmin Travel Guide, Europe (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, France, Monaco, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Andorra, Spain, Italy, Portugal, San Marino, Belgium, United Kingdom, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands) - $160.70
• Garmin Travel Guide, Central Europe (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein) - $74.99
• Garmin Travel Guide, France - $74.99
• Garmin Travel Guide, Scandinavia (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden) - $74.99
• Garmin Travel Guide, Southern Europe (Andorra, Spain, Italy, Portugal, San Marino) - $74.99
• Garmin Travel Guide, Northwestern Europe (Belgium, UK, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands) - $74.99

Figure 71: Fodor's North America

The Nuvi ships with a sampling from the Fodor's North America Travel Guide. Full travel guides cost extra.

Figure 72: Navigating the Travel Guide

Within each travel guide, you can drill down the category list, searching for a particular destination or category.

Figure 73: Travel Guide Categories

You can browse the list by location and by category, such as restaurants, hotels, tourist attractions, and more.

I really like the idea of augmenting the POI database with actual travel guides and reviews of restaurants, hotels, etc. My only wish was that Garmin would offer travel guides from slightly more upscale publishers, like Frommers or Zagat.

20. SaversGuide

Figure 74: SaversGuide

Savers Guide seems like a silly idea to me: it's an electronic coupon book (that you buy for $49!), and the nuvi notifies you if you are close to a business that participates in the Savers Guide and will give you a discount. I can see where this is a great business model for Garmin - location based advertising has been a marketers dream for years. Charging $50 for the privilege of having advertisements presented while you're driving is, I suppose, an even better business model for Garmin -- but I'd just as soon pay $50 NOT to have that... So, bottom line: skip the Savers Guide.

21. BlueTooth

BlueTooth on the nuvi 660 functions similar to other BlueTooth enabled Garmin GPS units. Once paired with a BlueTooth enabled cell phone, you can use the nuvi 660 as a hands-free speakerphone to place/receive phone calls, dial a number from your phone's address book, or dial a POI's phone number. The nuvi 660 has a Bluetooth range of approximately 33 feet (10 meters), and a built-in microphone on the front of the unit.

Figure 75: Configuring the Bluetooth Settings

Unlike other GPS units, however, the nuvi 660 allows you to use the integrated FM transmitter with your BlueTooth connected cell phone -- making it possible to use your car's stereo speakers as a speakerphone. I absolutely LOVED this feature. Where I live it is illegal to use a cell phone while driving except via speakerphone or earpiece. I've noticed that on most GPS units, the speaker is sufficiently loud when parked, but when driving at highway speeds it becomes difficult to hear the other party on the phone call. Using the FM transmitter to broadcast the call via your car's stereo eliminates this problem.

I found the microphone built in to the front of the nuvi worked well. Callers said it didn't sound like I was on speakerphone, and the quality was "good enough". I did notice that when there was a lull in the conversation, the nuvi would mute all sound, prompting me to say "are you still there?". I assume this is part of the background noise canceling the nuvi performs to reduce road background noise.

In my review of the TomTom GO 910, I complained that the BlueTooth cell phone integration didn't allow you to view the signal strength or battery life. Garmin has addressed this nicely, and cell phone information can be viewed by tapping the phone icon from the menu page, and then tapping on Status.

The nuvi documentation states that you can pair multiple cell phones to the 660 via Bluetooth, although it doesn't specify how many phones you can pair. I was able to pair 2 phones without issue.