Zumo 660

[FJRScrewball]

Interested in the Zumo 660 but wanted to see for myself how readable the screen is in the bright Florida sun before I make the purchase.

If you are in central Florida and have one I would like to meetup and check it out.

Dave

 

[harpo]

I live in north Alabama and have a Zumo 660,and can tell you that you will half to put a viser on the Zumo and run the back light up to 90% or better to see the screen in bright sun light from behind.

 

[Redfish Hunter]

I am in South Louisiana, too far for you to look personally, but I can offer this. My dad and I both use the Zumo 660, his on the FJR, mine on an ST1300. The screen does get "dull" but does not get so bad that you can't see it. Yet I hear from lots of riders who are reliable sources that a hood or sunshield is needed. I think that it depends on the mounting height and the angle of the screen vs. the sun. We both have ours mounted high with the screen 90 degrees vertical to the ground. If you mount it lower and the screen is facing upward, it probably does wash out in the sun. I am in no way saying one is right or wrong, it is what works best for you. I really like the 660 and recommend it highly but it is not without its flaws.

 

[Redfish Hunter]

Took these just now, tried to partially shade the second one to show the contrast. Doesn't look to good in the pics does it?

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[FJRScrewball]

Took these just now, tried to partially shade the second one to show the contrast. Doesn't look to good in the pics does it?

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Redfish,

Thanks for the pictures. Those pictures look just like what I see now with my Nuvi 765T. I was hoping for the price I would be getting something much better.

My brother has a Nuvi 3790 that looks just as bright and gorgeous in the bright sun as in the shade. But, of course it doesn't have the output/input for audio and mic to my Starcom and its not waterproof. He hasn't had any success getting it to connect to his Scala Rider headset either. He just uses it for visual navigation. Too bad they can't put the screen from the 3790 in a Zumo.

Dave

 

[FJRScrewball]

I live in north Alabama and have a Zumo 660,and can tell you that you will half to put a viser on the Zumo and run the back light up to 90% or better to see the screen in bright sun light from behind.

I have a Glare Stomper attached to my Nuvi 765T and it helps. I have it mounted at the front of the tank and so its facing skyward about 30 degrees. Any less angle and the Glare Stomper prevents me from seeing the entire screen without ducking my head down a little. If I'm going to have to do the same thing with the 660 maybe I should just save my money and spend it for other things I want.

Dave

 

[Redfish Hunter]

Those were the first pics I have posted to this forum and I did not check what brightness the screen was set to, I have been using it in the truck. I will check it when I get home. I situated the bike where the late afternoon sun was directly shining into the screen to give you the worst possible perspective, thought that would be what you need to see. I have never had trouble seeing it and it communicates just fine with the Scala Rider G4 and my cell phone. Is it perfect? Of course not, but for what I do it is pretty close.

 

[Fred W]

I have a Glare Stomper attached to my Nuvi 765T and it helps. I have it mounted at the front of the tank and so its facing skyward about 30 degrees. Any less angle and the Glare Stomper prevents me from seeing the entire screen without ducking my head down a little. If I'm going to have to do the same thing with the 660 maybe I should just save my money and spend it for other things I want.

Screwball,

I have a zumo 660, a zumo 550 and a nuvi 765T. Yeah, I know... I'm a GPS whore.

Here are some comparison pictures of the three GPS screens, all with the brightness set to maximum

First, just sitting in the shade

And in the morning sun coming from a low side angle

I have cobbed together a sunshade for the 660 which does help, especially with the sun over your shoulder

Here's a comparison you might want to make note of. Pay attention to the difference in map details

The screen of the zumo 660 is brighter than the 765T. And the zumo 550 is brighter than the 660.

If you are considering buying a zumo, you may want to read my post where I have compared the features of the 550 vs the 66X.

 

[bramfrank]

Redfish,
Thanks for the pictures. Those pictures look just like what I see now with my Nuvi 765T. I was hoping for the price I would be getting something much better.

My brother has a Nuvi 3790 that looks just as bright and gorgeous in the bright sun as in the shade. But, of course it doesn't have the output/input for audio and mic to my Starcom and its not waterproof. He hasn't had any success getting it to connect to his Scala Rider headset either. He just uses it for visual navigation. Too bad they can't put the screen from the 3790 in a Zumo.

Dave

You won't get a 3790 (or any other Nuvi except for the 765) to connect to a bluetooth anything except phones. They implement handsfree/headset profiles only and don't support onward connections.

You really don't want the 3790 screen in a direct sunlight because it is highly reflective, but, like the screen they used on the GPSMAP 276C and it's sister units the 3790 TFT display technology doesn't wash out.

Plus, as mentioned, the Zumo 550 does better with street detail displays.

 

[FJRScrewball]

I have a Glare Stomper attached to my Nuvi 765T and it helps. I have it mounted at the front of the tank and so its facing skyward about 30 degrees. Any less angle and the Glare Stomper prevents me from seeing the entire screen without ducking my head down a little. If I'm going to have to do the same thing with the 660 maybe I should just save my money and spend it for other things I want.

Screwball,

I have a zumo 660, a zumo 550 and a nuvi 765T. Yeah, I know... I'm a GPS whore.

Here are some comparison pictures of the three GPS screens, all with the brightness set to maximum

First, just sitting in the shade

And in the morning sun coming from a low side angle

I have cobbed together a sunshade for the 660 which does help, especially with the sun over your shoulder

Here's a comparison you might want to make note of. Pay attention to the difference in map details

The screen of the zumo 660 is brighter than the 765T. And the zumo 550 is brighter than the 660.

If you are considering buying a zumo, you may want to read my post where I have compared the features of the 550 vs the 66X.

Fred,

Thanks for the comparison photos. It helps a lot in making my decision.

I had seen the 550 before as I know someone who has one and it looked good to me even in the direct sun. I had read your posts comparing the 550 and 660 and some other reviews saying the 660 screen wasn't quite as good and is why I was wanting to meet up with someone who had one. You guys posting the photos provided the same comparison and I can't thank you enough. Only one thing is keeping me from the 550 and that is the lack of stereo bluetooth. I have the Starcom system on the FJR but might want to use it on another bike without Starcom. I don't listen to music all the time but it is nice to have the ability when riding long distances on the slab. The stereo bluetooth thing isn't a deal breaker so now that I have seen the screen comparison photos I just have to decide what to do.

Thanks to everyone who posted.

Dave

 

[FJRScrewball]

Redfish,
Thanks for the pictures. Those pictures look just like what I see now with my Nuvi 765T. I was hoping for the price I would be getting something much better.

My brother has a Nuvi 3790 that looks just as bright and gorgeous in the bright sun as in the shade. But, of course it doesn't have the output/input for audio and mic to my Starcom and its not waterproof. He hasn't had any success getting it to connect to his Scala Rider headset either. He just uses it for visual navigation. Too bad they can't put the screen from the 3790 in a Zumo.

Dave

You won't get a 3790 (or any other Nuvi except for the 765) to connect to a bluetooth anything except phones. They implement handsfree/headset profiles only and don't support onward connections.

You really don't want the 3790 screen in a direct sunlight because it is highly reflective, but, like the screen they used on the GPSMAP 276C and it's sister units the 3790 TFT display technology doesn't wash out.

Plus, as mentioned, the Zumo 550 does better with street detail displays.

Thanks to Fred for the photos showing the difference in map detail. Since I had never seen the detail of the 550 I didn't know what I was missing with the 765 and it looks like the 660 isn't any better.

The screen on the 3790 is glass and it just occurred to me that it might be subject to shattering if dropped. I had an old Sony cell phone that had a glass screen and it shattered into a spider web effect when I dropped it.

Dave

 

[Fred W]

Dave,

Glad to help out a fellow traveler.

There is one more thing to consider if you are looking at bluetooth as the connection of your future. Up until just very recently, there has not been a lot of multitasking functionality of any blue tooth devices. What I mean by that is that if you have a bluetooth headset and you wee talking to your wife (or other passenger) over it, you'd not be able to hear any of the other audio sources. It seems that Sena may have overcome this issue in their latest firmware, but I remain cautiously skeptical until I see it in action.

One thing that I have been asking the intercom manufacturers for, for a long time now, is to produce is an inexpensive wireless link to the helmet (via bluetooth, or otherwise) to be used with a signal processing intercom box similar to a Starcom1 or Autocom, to allow hardware prioritization of inputs and outputs. Well... Starcom1 has provided that solution, albeit at a ridiculously exorbitant cost, with their "Wire 3" module.

What this module allows is for you to pair a bluetooth helmet headset to one of these modules full time, which then plugs into the same old Starcom1 (advance or digital) to "break the cord" between the intercom and the helmet. It seems to accomplish pretty much all that I desire, but at a price that puts it out of reach for all but the wealthiest MC rider. Each of wire-3 module is $178, plus you'd need to order a BT headset for each user.

In the meantime, I'll just continue along with my wired stereo headsets and the best GPS I can find on the market, the Zumo 550.

as always, YMMV

 

[Redfish Hunter]

Screwball, I checked and the brightness is set at 100% in the pics I posted. I have nothing but good things to say about the 660 for my application, I realize it may not be right for you. The glove friendly touchscreen works perfectly on the bike, when I move to the automotive mount it auto adjusts so I don't need the gloves to work it. I can zoom in tighter and get more info as I go but the screen can get very cluttered, although I agree the 550 looked better. We use the Cardo Scala Rider G4 for bike to bike comm and it prioritizes which bluetooth item you get to hear. The phone is #1, the GPS is #2, and the bike to bike comm is #3. I forget where the radio/music falls out. We keep the comm on all the time, the battery lasts all day, the GPS voice commands cut into it and cut it off. If you get a phone call, it cuts off the GPS and the comm. I am painfully aware that we all want and need different things so I hope you are able to make an informed decision from what you got here. I thought that the comparison pics Fred W posted were an especially nice touch, I hope mine were of some use as well.

 

[Fred W]

I just want to temper my prior post to say that any one of the three GPSes that I showed would / could do the job. And clearly the 765T is a considerable amount cheaper that the other two (if you can find one). My main point is that if you can do without A2DP blue tooth output, I still believe that the Zumo 550 is the best thing available for motorcyclists. Of course, like any technologically related item, this is all temporal, and subject to change at any moment/

 

[FJRScrewball]

Screwball, I checked and the brightness is set at 100% in the pics I posted. I have nothing but good things to say about the 660 for my application, I realize it may not be right for you. The glove friendly touchscreen works perfectly on the bike, when I move to the automotive mount it auto adjusts so I don't need the gloves to work it. I can zoom in tighter and get more info as I go but the screen can get very cluttered, although I agree the 550 looked better. We use the Cardo Scala Rider G4 for bike to bike comm and it prioritizes which bluetooth item you get to hear. The phone is #1, the GPS is #2, and the bike to bike comm is #3. I forget where the radio/music falls out. We keep the comm on all the time, the battery lasts all day, the GPS voice commands cut into it and cut it off. If you get a phone call, it cuts off the GPS and the comm. I am painfully aware that we all want and need different things so I hope you are able to make an informed decision from what you got here. I thought that the comparison pics Fred W posted were an especially nice touch, I hope mine were of some use as well.

Redfish,

Yes, your photos were much appreciated. They provided me with a perfect example of what to expect from the 660 in the direct sunlight conditions. That was the main reason for starting this topic, so I could see it for myself before buying. Fred's comparison of all three 550, 660 and 765 puts all three in their respective order.

Dave

 

[FJRScrewball]

I just want to temper my prior post to say that any one of the three GPSes that I showed would / could do the job. And clearly the 765T is a considerable amount cheaper that the other two (if you can find one). My main point is that if you can do without A2DP blue tooth output, I still believe that the Zumo 550 is the best thing available for motorcyclists. Of course, like any technologically related item, this is all temporal, and subject to change at any moment/

Fred,

My 765T is refurbished and I bought it from Best Buy last November for $99. I knew its screen wasn't going to be as good as a Zumo but thought for the money maybe I could live with it. The maps in my car GPS were getting really outdated and I wanted to get something newer and buy the lifetime maps. I bought the older 765T instead of one of the other newer Nuvi's because I knew it had the line in/out jacks to work with the Starcom. If I wasn't happy with it for the FJR then I would still have it for use in the car. At this point I'm still trying to decide how important A2DP bluetooth is to me. Once I answer that question I'll know which one to buy. Thanks again for all the info and photos you've provided.

Dave

 

[someguy]

Is the 660 waterproof?

 

[Redfish Hunter]

Yes, but the bike is not. Don't drive it underwater.

I also responded to your other thread. Yes, it is waterproof, and I have not had any water related issues, so far.

 

[someguy]

Sweet! Thank you!