Dusted off the 660.

[ScramblerChris]

Never mind dusting the 660 off I've had to dust off this thread now!

As usual, life tends to get in the way of things and I haven't been able to ride my bikes as much as I'd planned and so hadn't done anymore with my sat nav. But following riding recently I've decided to do something about it.

Having recently replaced the PC the first job was to reinstall Garmin Express and Basecamp during which I was surprised and happy to see that I could update the maps which I couldn't do when last posting and also install to the PC/Basecamp which I also couldn't do. OK, it's CN Europe (well part of it) NT 2025.1 but that will do me as many years younger than my existing maps! When installing, at 54% I received an error message signalling an update failure but on checking the 660 the maps seemed to have installed OK and I read somewhere that these messages aren't unusual? We shall see.

Other thing was to 'butcher' the sat nav harness as there was no way I wanted it as standard on my Scrambler. I say butcher but you have to be more gentle than that, well in some ways! First job was to cut off the unwanted additional leads and splitter connector as I only wanted power. I then cut back the cable and cut back all the non-power cables and removed the sheathing etc. I cut these cables to different lengths to avoid any shorting and covered in heatstrink. I then soldered a short length of smaller diameter twin-core cable to suit the entry of the right-angle male connector used on the Tiger 1050. This was a slight mistake as when checking on the bike decided that a straight connector would be better. Fortunately I had a straight Powerlet in the box from when I'd originally bought the sat nav, so no delay there. The cable diameter was a little too small so I built it up with layers of heatstrink.

With this done I should be good to go but I decided to have a look at the links kindly provided by another member. Both had opened up the cradle (which I'd done in the past) so I did this again. I didn't want to disturb the cable entry as they'd done but whilst I'd staggered the redundant cables I thought I'd make doubly sure and remove the plug on the circuit board and cut the cables off. With this done I put it back together. Unlike with a lot of things nowadays you can easily take the cradle apart.

Fitted it and the sat nav to the bike and nothing! Slight twist of the Powerlet though and it powered up, brilliant! Might just need a bit of a clean as it seems to be good quality and made in Germany. Failing that I'll get another or use the right-angle one.

Just need to remind myself how to use Basecamp again now! Good to see that the 660 is still being discussed. I did briefly think about getting another sat nav but no real point really as I really like the 660 and it does everything that I want and is in first class condition, well apart from the harness!

Chris

[jfheath]

Well done !

Regarding Basecamp and the 660…..

When I had the 660, Garmin were pushing users to use it for route planning rather than mapsource.

Basecamp had all sorts of issues in those early days, and I stayed with Mapsource. Later on, I got a 590 - trading in my 660 - and Basecamp had to be the tool to use - it catered for the via points and shaping points that were introduced with the Zumo 590. By then, Basecamp had sorted out its many teething problems and was very much improved.

Subsequently, I noted that Garmin’s advice had changed - 660 users must use Mapsource.

I don’t know why and cannot test it out - but I would check how routes created on Basecamp behave on the 660 especially using both via and shaping points. Mapsource used only via points - intermediate route points - but they were not the same as the Via Points in Basecamp. No route point on the 660 ever insisted that you visit it - so route points definitely did not behave like the Via points on the 590 and later models. On the 660, you could leave the route and rejoin it anywhere and it would pick up navigating from ahead there.

Hopefully someone will chime in and comment on whether or not Basecamp routes present problems for the 660. Looking through previous reports at the time - people had issues with Basecamp and the 660 - but that isn’t proof - people have issues with Basecamp no matter what Zumo they use. That isn’t Basecamp’s fault - it is still one of the best route planning solutions available.


Link to Mapsource page - look at that changelog - when Garmin used to let us know what had been fixed ! Mapsource will find the maps that you installed for Basecamp.

[FrankB]

Someone I know, who has made the change from the 660 to an XT, gave me his 660 to experiment with. I tested it with TripManager, see here the results: https://frankbijnen.github.io/TripManag ... zumos.html

To summarize:
- You can use MapSource, BaseCamp, or online planners like MRA and Kurviger.
- Transferring routes/tracks can be done with Mapsource, BaseCamp, or TripManager.

If you use routes with Route Points (Doesn't matter if they're Via Points or Shaping Points) the 660 will show 'Flags'.

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I have never driven a 220 or 660 with spoken directions, but I suspect that they are all announced. If you dont like that you can send a track from the route and on the 660 convert it to a route. Make sure to set auto recalculation to OFF if you do that.

If you are using BaseCamp and you have the same maps in BaseCamp as on the 660, there is also a tool called RTWTool https://www.javawa.nl/rtwtool_en.html that can 'unflag'. For the 660 you have to use the 'old style unflag'.
It will not work for MRA or Kurviger.

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[ScramblerChris]

Thanks for the replies and information.

Yes, I remember the odd problems with Basecamp when it would add in loops etc. without any logical reason. I did manage a trip from the UK to Austria and back though, without many issues apart from actually getting to a couple of hotels when in the vicinity.

Will probably only be used in the UK now so I shouldn't get into too much trouble! Looking forward to planning some routes again compared with in the car where I've been frustrated mainly times when sent down totally unsuitable lanes!

Chris

[Mzokk]

I still have an Old BMW NAV IV which is the BMW version of the 660 (I don't think that there are any differences in its navigation operation just its ability to display vehicle parameters from the BMW). I used this on my 2014 R1200RT until 2022 and it routed well using basecamp routes (much better than my Zumo XT in that regard). The last mapping release for these devices is NT 2025.10, which was released in July 2024. About 2023 Garmin Express stopped enabling the units ability to load the whole of Europe split between the unit (which has only 4GB of memory with about 2.5 GB available for mapping) and an SD card so you get these options.

Screenshot 2026-05-16 132301.png (120.08 KiB) Viewed 423 times

These units run Garminised OSM mapping (for up to date mapping) very well with the caveat that you are limited to a 4GB file size (that largest allowed by the FAT32 file system)

[ScramblerChris]

Hi

Yes, those were the options I got when I installed 2025.10 and that part of Europe that includes the UK suits me fine, as does the map update considering I managed with the original map from 2012!

Had a play with Basecamp and produced a route from The Midlands to Cornwall. Used the method I read about, setting the start and finish points, letting Basecamp produce the route and then altering as required using the rubber band.

Worked a treat, so ready to go again.