Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)After riding on a 1000 mile trip this week, here is my review of my first use of the 665 on a road trip. I ride about 20,000 miles per year and have used the Zumo 550 (my previous Garmin) for 45,000 miles the past 3 years, hence my comparison of the 665 to the 550.
Cons:
Major problem with the unit is the XM features shutting down unexpectedly. One of the reviews here experienced similar problems and was told by Garmin that the antennal cable is faulty and a new cable is being designed. I do not think the cable hardware is the issue. I believe it is the software. I experienced the same problem once before I left on the trip and was told by Garmin Tech to perform a hard reset of the unit by holding your index finger on the lower right corner as you turn the unit on until you see the message that "a reset will erase your data". You have to select "yes" or "no". Yes does reset the XM but erased all of my favorites, routes and settings. The unit reverts to the settings as it comes from the factory. Also, sometimes during this trip, I had to turn off the XM and then back on in order to reacquire the XM programming. I have the XM subscriptons for XM radio, NavWeather and NavTraffic. When XM stops, all of those are lost until a hard reset. I had to do hard resets at least 10 times on this trip-very, very inconvenient when riding a motorcycle down the road. I had bought the Zumo 665 to replace my Zumo 550 since the 665 has the Nexrad Radar display...very, very helpful when riding in the elements. The radar works fine when XM is working. When removing the until from the motorcycle mount, be sure it is off. Otherwise, you will have to hard reset to regain the XM features the next time you restart it in the motorcycle mount. Changing stations on the XM radio also stopped the XM features twice. I quit using the XM radio to listen to after the second time this occurred. Garmin has not offered a fix for these problems as of yesterday.
The XM local weather stations are far apart. On the 550, the stations were the closest aviation reporting stations. Example is riding through Louisiana local stations were Shreveport or Baton Rouge. I was closer to both Monroe and Alexandria at different times with no report. The 550 had a weather map so one could look ahead at stations all over the USA, touch one and get the weather and forecast. But, again, the 550 had no weather radar.
The unit shut itself down twice with no input.
Pressing hard on the lower right corner shuts down the unit. This corner needs touching to scroll through points of interest among other pieces of info. A light touch is required to avoid this.
The volume is lower for the XM radio relative to the 550. I can barely hear the radio at 70 mph. The 550 works well at 70 mph. I have the XM and the media player set at 100% along with the master volume set at 100%.
The text and display graphics are smaller than the 550 even though the total screen size is slightly bigger. Some of this is attributed to the amount of info on the screen that I select. I have not tried selecting less screen info yet to see if that helps. I like the info I have displayed now and hate to reduce it.
Pros:
Big pro is the Nexrad Radar when XM is working.
Lots more information such as showing lanes ahead so you can plan sooner where you need to be at intersections, especially on the freeway. Also, shows what the major overhead intersection signs display before you can see them-nice feature.
Lighter than the 550 and the shape makes it less likely to fall from your grasp when transferring it to another vehicle.
Bluetooth for touch free cell phone use. I use in the auto but not the motorcycle.
Conclusion:
Overall this unit, pricy compared to auto-only units, but waterproof and vibration proof will be acceptable once the software fix for XM is ready for upload to make that part of the unit reliable. At that point I will be ready to give the unit a 5.Follow up on July 27, 2010
Here is a follow up as of July 27, 2010. I sent this 665 back to Garmin, who then returned another to me (different serial number). First problem was the off/on switch sticks, so difficult to shut it down. It would turn on fine, but the switch would stick down in the unit.
As far as the XM goes, it worked fine one day on a 200 mile ride. The next day, it quit again with the same message-check XM antenna.
As of today, I have another RMA to return this unit for another. I am still very frustrated with unit-problems still exist.As of October 3, 2010
Garmin finally sent me an entire new until including new XM receiver and all accessories. I changed out the XM receiver and either that or the last software update seems to have cured all my previous issues. The XM subscriptions come up very quickly now, with the weather taking the longest, but never more than a couple of minutes. I'd highly recommend this motorcycle unit if you wish to have weather radar as your cruise down the road.
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