Zumo 660 or 665. Is the £100 difference worth it?

660LM around £450
665LM around £550

Looks like the only difference is that the 665 can get minute by minute updates on traffic and weather (subscription only)
Battery life is also better on the 660, with 5 hours compared to 3 of the 665 (is this due to the extra antenna?)

Does anyone have any experience with the 665?

I’ve got a 7 years old TomTom rider which is dieing on its backside and was considering a Garmin for a change

Many thanks in advance

£500 quid? Buy a map. Lot cheaper. :stuck_out_tongue:

If you think the traffic and weather would be useful to you then that’s the deciding factor. In the US the 665 also comes with a satellite radio which would be cool. Irrelivant for the UK though.

With respect to battery life, that should not influence your decision really. On the bike it’s wired, in the car it’s wired, when you connect it to the PC it’s also wired. The only time you really use it when it’s not wired is either when you go walk about or if you were trying to plan a route or enter details off the bike. For both of those functions 3 hours should be more than enough time.

I wish they’d bring out a brand new model, the 660 is fine but I just want a new one with some new graphics or something. I’ve had my 660 for coming up to 3 years.

Also on the 660 there is a USB interface to add additional device functionality such as traffic information.

Thanks Joby,
The traffic and weather are neat features which I’d be happy to pay the extra £100 for, but it’s the subscription fee that annoys me.
I think it’s about £5 a month (possibly each for traffic and weather) for something that I would only really need once a month or twice.

Battery life, not really a concern for the reasons you mentioned. Just wondering why that is though, as the 2 units appear to be identical.

I’ve also been waiting for a new model to come out as I read some bad reviews (not many) about the 660 and it’s been out for a few years now, but because my TomTom is not charging anymore when on the bike, and it keeps rebooting itself just when I’m approaching the turning or roundabout, I’m not sure I want to wait much longer.

Yes, a map is a lot cheaper, but difficult to turn the pages when riding :satisfied:

I must admit though, that since I started using sat-navs on the bike and car, my navigation skills have deteriorated dramatically :crying:

For what it’s worth, it’s usually too late to worry about the weather if you’re already on the bike (or too in advance for it to be reliable, as of any forecast). Traffic I’ve found to be very hit and miss - ie the main road is stationary, so you get routed down another smaller road with no traffic data, which is just as bad or worse.

Personally I’d keep the £100.

Personally I would never buy a Garmin again . Stupid thing dont even know the fastest route out of the square I live in let alone getting across London . Its usless in the city as it takes ages to find the satellites . I just keep it on the bike now for jetstream rides when there is a possibility I will end up somewhere short of fuel … as it is good at finding petrol stations … but thats all . My phones navigation kicks its arse in every other department … and updates for free and make telephone calls .

No it isn’t… Don’t lie. It took us to a petrol station that didn’t even have working pumps anymore! lol

Haha, that’s happened to me before. I was running on fumes and got guided to a pile of rubble which must have been a petrol station at some stage. Still keeps you on your toes.

It’s handy for route guidance. All the Made in Chelsea Rideouts are guided by Garmin. It usually works very well.

Off-topic but I recently bought a Garmin Zumo 350 LM and have been really impressed with it. We’re using it in Florida at the moment, I don’t have a traffic subscription on it and don’t feel the need for it.

I got it for £400 from Halfords online. One of the most useful aspects is the ability to find a place on Google Maps on my desktop, plug in the Garmin then send the location to the unit where it appears in the favourites.

The newer ones have route learning, so if you go a particular route it will choose that, but also if it takes you down a road that is always busy it will avoid it.

Mine was always taking me on a certain road in Watford, it no longer uses it in the morning because it always got jammed up.

Google Navigation is great as long as you have the data allowance in your contract and you are in the UK. A friend got caught out going to Belgium using Google Maps on his phone. Result on very large phone bill.

Fair point, which is why I put mine in the top box and use a Rioting Rob or a Jetstream. They lead the way, put down a corner marker for any junctions, take you to a nice place for lunch and provide laughs a plenty during the obligatory ciggie break. They are prone to mechanical breakdown once in a while and do need regular top ups with oil and there is a major criticism:- they only work weekends and long extended trips so might not be available for trips during the week.

I’m pretty sure (90%) I’m going to go down the 660LM route
I have the traffic option in my sat nav in the car and, as Martin said, sometimes it routes you out a busy main road or motorway into to an even busier A or B road, which is very frustrating, but of course when you get stuck in the car there’s no much you can do. However having the traffic option on the bike could be a useful thing.

I’ve done quite a bit of research online, in particular about the differences between the Garmin and Tom Tom (price being one). My Tom Tom Rider 1 has been quite good with very few problems for many years, but I do fancy a change.
Also looking to upgrade the old Autocom for Scala Rider G9 (in time), which should work a treat with the Zumo.

Has anyone moved from Tom Tom to the Zumo, and how did you find it? Is it like moving from Windows to Mac or vice versa? (Microsoft=you fix one thing and 10 others go wrong – Apple=it jus works)

LOL
Sounds good
How can I get myself one of those?
Are they expensive to run? Do you need to feed them and provide a fair supply of roll-ups? How do they behave in bad weather?
They might turn out to be more expensive than the Zumo after all :slight_smile:

I think if I remeber correctly it was the Jetstream navigation system that failed on that one and the Garmin put us straight and true into a 24 hour BP with ginsters and cigars :smiley:

As an alternative…

I got one of those mobile phone arm band thingy’s off ebay for £3. Well made, some even waterproof. Stuck a Bluetooth ear piece in my ear for sound.

HTC Wildfire with onboard sat nav, job done!