Garmin DriveSmart 66 six months later

Things I like and do not like about the DriveSmart 66

[sat]

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[kansaswolf]

I found 1 of these in the trash 🗑️ yesterday. It works perfectly. I charged the battery 🔋.

[BryanzHAn]

So I finally gave in and bought the DriveSmart 66 certified refurbished from eBay for $139 to replace my DriveSmart 55. It'll still be my backup device though.

[gene]

My problem with this device, which is my most recent of several models, is the route guidance is too "stubborn". I was navigating to a store about three kilometers away. It wanted me to go east one km, north one km, and east one km. However, I don't like the middle north road it recommends (too much traffic). So, I want to go east two miles, then north one mile. But the device is so intent on using that middle street (maybe because it's a major route?), that when I go past that street, it keeps wanting me to back track to the west to get to it, even when I'm directly south of the destination. So, instead of say an 600 meter stretch to finish the route, it wants me to go 2600 meters with three extra turns. Ludicrous. I wanted to change the navigation settings, but all I see is "straight line", which is just a route guidance pretending roads and buildings don't exist, and "faster time". 2600 meters is slower than 600 meters, so that's not faster. Anyone have any tips?

[robjohnson]

I have a DriveSmart 51, probably 7 years old. Don't use much, mostly just on occasional long trip. Battery is finally about shot. Not too worried though as it boots pretty quickly. Looks like there are replacement batteries around $40, that's probably not really worth it for me.. It has 16GB memory, I added a 16GB microSD to allow for easier map updates primarily.

[hhova]

Just got an 66ex from a pawn shop. It was super cheap. Loaded it and looks good. Will use it on a project car I plan to use as a daily.
How does it pair with your phone and or Wi-Fi? Also how is the traffic alerts?

[mike]

Thanks for the information! I bought this unit, and am very happy with it. My one complaint is the audio portion. I cannot get the unit to talk to me consistently. I have tried the aux cable, Bluetooth, Alexa, and occasionally I can get it to work. But if I leave the car and come back to the route, I have no verbal assist. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

[rubenrobles]

Does this work as a stand alone? ...or does it have to be linked to an app on your phone? T.I.A.

[jesus-islord]

Is this the Garmin DriveSmart 66 EX GPS Navigation Device,

[jlsfishin]

Very helpful, thanks for the advice and video

[ahouke]

Hello, I want to buy the drivesmart 66, but I don't know if garmig is going to launch new models in 2023, do you know about it? Thanks in advanced.

[TomiMara-ckiu]

Can i connect it to my car speakers and play music from my phone with the garmin music interface?

[BryanzHAn]

Checking back on this. Does your DriveSmart 66 experience any lags/delays while navigating the menu? Mine does and I don't know why. When a tap some buttons sometimes it will take about 1 second for the unit to respond. I tried to reproduce this isssue on my DriveSmart 65 and the 65 was more responsive than the 66.

[stovepipe]

got the same 1 and I love it had it over a yr now only bad thing I dropped it and cracked the screen but cant really tell its cracked

[Thatsmessedupman]

I just picked up a Drive 53. Coming from a TomTom I find it strange how limited even the 66 is in what can be displayed on screen. TomTom allowed to display Current time, miles to destination, and arrival time all on the screen in the corners. I see one can CHANGE to display some features but that requires the driver to tap the screen . Many times distance in miles is not the same as TIME and vise versa.

[bertvalerie]

Thanks for the video. I often like to plan my trips and destinations in the house and away from my car. Will there be enough battery power for say 20 minutes without having to supply USB power, or other?

[edwinmiller]

I appreciate the follow up! Thank you!

[stevenbritton]

Thanks...There's absolutely no chance of this overheating where I am haha!

[interestingvideos]

How does this compare to the 85 model?

[seeyouthen]

@sat103 I opened mine up yesterday evening and Im having an issue with getting audio to work through my Bluetooth speakers incl Alexa. It wont happen. I went through the setup on a tutorial for the 86 and it has a step 'display over other apps'. This is the crux as I didnt see this step on my 66 in the Drive app. So will do it manually on my phone when I get home from work.
I notice you didnt make mention of Alexa on this unit(or I didnt notice). Have you used Alexa at all on the 66 and if so how were your findings?.