Simplify your drive. Whether itâs a family vacation, weekend getaway or your daily commute, the 7â˛â˛ Garmin DriveSmart 76 sat-nav brings new levels of freedom, convenience and peace of mind to your time on the road. Garmin voice assist helps you easily find and navigate where you want to go. Enjoy easy-to-see maps on a bright, crisp 7â˛â˛ high-resolution display. Talk to me. Enjoy convenient Garmin voice assist for directions and hands-free calling. Get guidance and warning about Environmental Zones on your route. Know the best places along your route with Tripadvisor traveller ratings. Get a heads-up with driver alerts for sharp curves, speed changes, school zones and more. Make all the right moves with clear, detailed map updates of Australia and New Zealand.
Simplify your drive. Whether itâs a family vacation, weekend getaway or your daily commute, the 7â˛â˛ Garmin DriveSmart 76 sat-nav brings new levels of freedom, convenience and peace of mind to your time on the road. Garmin voice assist helps you easily find and navigate where you want to go. Enjoy easy-to-see maps on a bright, crisp 7â˛â˛ high-resolution display. Talk to me. Enjoy convenient Garmin voice assist for directions and hands-free calling. Get guidance and warning about Environmental Zones on your route. Know the best places along your route with Tripadvisor traveller ratings. Get a heads-up with driver alerts for sharp curves, speed changes, school zones and more. Make all the right moves with clear, detailed map updates of Australia and New Zealand.
Simplify your drive. Whether itâs a family vacation, weekend getaway or your daily commute, the 7â˛â˛ Garmin DriveSmart 76 sat-nav brings new levels of freedom, convenience and peace of mind to your time on the road. Garmin voice assist helps you easily find and navigate where you want to go. Enjoy easy-to-see maps on a bright, crisp 7â˛â˛ high-resolution display. Talk to me. Enjoy convenient Garmin voice assist for directions and hands-free calling. Get guidance and warning about Environmental Zones on your route. Know the best places along your route with Tripadvisor traveller ratings. Get a heads-up with driver alerts for sharp curves, speed changes, school zones and more. Make all the right moves with clear, detailed map updates of Australia and New Zealand.
Simplify your drive. Whether itâs a family vacation, weekend getaway or your daily commute, the 7â˛â˛ Garmin DriveSmart 76 sat-nav brings new levels of freedom, convenience and peace of mind to your time on the road. Garmin voice assist helps you easily find and navigate where you want to go. Enjoy easy-to-see maps on a bright, crisp 7â˛â˛ high-resolution display. Talk to me. Enjoy convenient Garmin voice assist for directions and hands-free calling. Get guidance and warning about Environmental Zones on your route. Know the best places along your route with Tripadvisor traveller ratings. Get a heads-up with driver alerts for sharp curves, speed changes, school zones and more. Make all the right moves with clear, detailed map updates of Australia and New Zealand.
Last updated at 07/30/2026 10:20:38
Garmin DriveSmart 76 MT-S, Portable GPS Satellite Navigation AU/NZ (7 inch)
Free delivery
Affiliate Disclosure: We may receive a small commission for purchases made through this link at no extra cost to you. This helps support our site. Thank you!
Garmin DriveSmart 76 MT-S GPS Navigator 7\
Affiliate Disclosure: We may receive a small commission for purchases made through this link at no extra cost to you. This helps support our site. Thank you!
Garmin DriveSmart 76 MT-S, GPS Sat Navigation
Delivery $8.99
Garmin DriveSmart 76 7-inch GPS Navigator
Delivery between 4â11 Aug $7.95
Garmin DriveSmart 76, Live Traffic with Smartphone App
Free delivery
originally posted on garmin.com
First, your customer service is very good, very helpful, very knowledgeable, and with me, knowing so little about technology, they were very patient with me and resolved all my questions with my older Drive 55 and my new Drive 66. The Smart 66 product has many more features than my Drive 55 had. Although my 55 still worked great, I wanted an upgrade. My 66 has larger screen, which I like. I experienced the new delay in rout feature, which told me about the upcoming 39 minute delay while driving to my destination. Garmin 66 immediately offered an alternative rout which saved me the time and driving frustration of the backed-up traffic. I found out later that there was an overturned truck accident that I was able to avoid. I love this newer feature since my 55 didn't ... MoreFirst, your customer service is very good, very helpful, very knowledgeable, and with me, knowing so little about technology, they were very patient with me and resolved all my questions with my older Drive 55 and my new Drive 66. The Smart 66 product has many more features than my Drive 55 had. Although my 55 still worked great, I wanted an upgrade. My 66 has larger screen, which I like. I experienced the new delay in rout feature, which told me about the upcoming 39 minute delay while driving to my destination. Garmin 66 immediately offered an alternative rout which saved me the time and driving frustration of the backed-up traffic. I found out later that there was an overturned truck accident that I was able to avoid. I love this newer feature since my 55 didn't have it. I am on the road so much and the voice activation is all I use to direct me, and to recall my recently visited addresses. There are times that the radio/road/car noises while driving may cause a communication issue in receiving my voice commands, but I find this not to be a problem at all. Garmin ALWAYS provides my driving directions. I would recommend this product.
originally posted on halfords.com
So I bought this to placce my old Garmin which I broke the charger cable a bit, so I thought I would take the oppportunity to upgrade.I like the voice commands which seems to work surpringsingly well, I was dubious about the phone sync option but it serves to remove the distraction of checking your phone for messages as it just displays them on the screen like a modern car HUD set up, theres a phone call options but i've not had chance to test it as no-one has phoned me when I'm driving since i've had this device.Now the navigation set up, seems to work well and like I said I like the voice command as I can ask to navigation to places without having to look up addresses ( if they are main places like hotels and stations). but there are some features that this ... MoreSo I bought this to placce my old Garmin which I broke the charger cable a bit, so I thought I would take the oppportunity to upgrade.I like the voice commands which seems to work surpringsingly well, I was dubious about the phone sync option but it serves to remove the distraction of checking your phone for messages as it just displays them on the screen like a modern car HUD set up, theres a phone call options but i've not had chance to test it as no-one has phoned me when I'm driving since i've had this device.Now the navigation set up, seems to work well and like I said I like the voice command as I can ask to navigation to places without having to look up addresses ( if they are main places like hotels and stations). but there are some features that this Garmin seems to be missing or that work differently that I liked on my old Garmin, such as it auto displaying parking options when you are nearing your destination so you can select to be re-directed to one of these. Also this Garmin claims to have traffic warning cameras, but I've yet to figure out how to set these alerts up, it looks like it might be in the up ahead settings but I may have to sacrfice one of the exisiting setting to use it such as showing food stops, which isn't really ideal. And my final gripe is, I can't seem to find a way to set up custom POI, it say somthing about it being on the app but I can't see anything and there are no options on the device.Theres a route planner and editor where you can add stops to a planned route, but I haven't found a useful way to use this as it doesn't show where service stations are on the map on this section of the interface, which is where I would like to plan my stops on a long journey.So in short it works well for basic navigation but it seems to have lost some features of the older more 'basic' models and some of the new features are not very intuitive to use so I don't feel i'm getting much value out of them.I also miss being able to download icons for my vehicle ( I had a great pirate shipe one I miss :( )
originally posted on garmin.com
I have owned several Garmin devices over the years and was excited to get the DriveSmart 66 with Alexa and the one star is for Alexa. There are no stars for the DriveSmart 66. They device volume is totally dependent on my cell phone's volume. So when my phone goes into Do Not Disturb mode, I have no sound from the DS66. So if I am trying to navigate a trip, no way of hearing the directions. I almost wrecked my car twice trying to log into my phone so I could turn up the volume during the day because I could not hear the GPS because my phone volume was low. Why the heck is the device volume 100% dependant on my cell phone settings?? My other Garmin devices did not have this problem. Then on top of that they screwed up the "Saved Places" internal app that worked so ... MoreI have owned several Garmin devices over the years and was excited to get the DriveSmart 66 with Alexa and the one star is for Alexa. There are no stars for the DriveSmart 66. They device volume is totally dependent on my cell phone's volume. So when my phone goes into Do Not Disturb mode, I have no sound from the DS66. So if I am trying to navigate a trip, no way of hearing the directions. I almost wrecked my car twice trying to log into my phone so I could turn up the volume during the day because I could not hear the GPS because my phone volume was low. Why the heck is the device volume 100% dependant on my cell phone settings?? My other Garmin devices did not have this problem. Then on top of that they screwed up the "Saved Places" internal app that worked so well on other models, does not work at all. There is no way to scroll the list of your saved places. Finally, the other internal app that I rely on so much "Phone Book" is also crap now. Ask to see Phone Book it randomly lists some contacts (the list is always different each time) when you try to scroll down the page, the 66 crashes and resets. Happens every time you try to scroll your phone book. You cannot call last dialed, nothing. Whomever worked on the 66 project should have been fired for taking great GPS's and making this non-functional waste of money. When I can hear her respond, Alexa is awesome. Why did they need to change the Phone App that the other models worked off of? Is that what makes the DS66 such awesome crap? Totally disappointed.
Garmin DriveSmart 76 MT-S, Portable GPS Satellite Navigation AU/NZ (7 inch)
Free delivery
Affiliate Disclosure: We may receive a small commission for purchases made through this link at no extra cost to you. This helps support our site. Thank you!
Garmin DriveSmart 76 MT-S GPS Navigator 7\
Affiliate Disclosure: We may receive a small commission for purchases made through this link at no extra cost to you. This helps support our site. Thank you!
Garmin DriveSmart 76 MT-S, GPS Sat Navigation
Delivery $8.99
Garmin DriveSmart 76 7-inch GPS Navigator
Delivery between 4â11 Aug $7.95
Garmin DriveSmart 76, Live Traffic with Smartphone App
Free delivery
First, your customer service is very good, very helpful, very knowledgeable, and with me, knowing so little about technology, they were very patient with me and resolved all my questions with my older Drive 55 and my new Drive 66. The Smart 66 product has many more features than my Drive 55 had. Although my 55 still worked great, I wanted an upgrade. My 66 has larger screen, which I like. I experienced the new delay in rout feature, which told me about the upcoming 39 minute delay while driving to my destination. Garmin 66 immediately offered an alternative rout which saved me the time and driving frustration of the backed-up traffic. I found out later that there was an overturned truck accident that I was able to avoid. I love this newer feature since my 55 didn't ... MoreFirst, your customer service is very good, very helpful, very knowledgeable, and with me, knowing so little about technology, they were very patient with me and resolved all my questions with my older Drive 55 and my new Drive 66. The Smart 66 product has many more features than my Drive 55 had. Although my 55 still worked great, I wanted an upgrade. My 66 has larger screen, which I like. I experienced the new delay in rout feature, which told me about the upcoming 39 minute delay while driving to my destination. Garmin 66 immediately offered an alternative rout which saved me the time and driving frustration of the backed-up traffic. I found out later that there was an overturned truck accident that I was able to avoid. I love this newer feature since my 55 didn't have it. I am on the road so much and the voice activation is all I use to direct me, and to recall my recently visited addresses. There are times that the radio/road/car noises while driving may cause a communication issue in receiving my voice commands, but I find this not to be a problem at all. Garmin ALWAYS provides my driving directions. I would recommend this product.
So I bought this to placce my old Garmin which I broke the charger cable a bit, so I thought I would take the oppportunity to upgrade.I like the voice commands which seems to work surpringsingly well, I was dubious about the phone sync option but it serves to remove the distraction of checking your phone for messages as it just displays them on the screen like a modern car HUD set up, theres a phone call options but i've not had chance to test it as no-one has phoned me when I'm driving since i've had this device.Now the navigation set up, seems to work well and like I said I like the voice command as I can ask to navigation to places without having to look up addresses ( if they are main places like hotels and stations). but there are some features that this ... MoreSo I bought this to placce my old Garmin which I broke the charger cable a bit, so I thought I would take the oppportunity to upgrade.I like the voice commands which seems to work surpringsingly well, I was dubious about the phone sync option but it serves to remove the distraction of checking your phone for messages as it just displays them on the screen like a modern car HUD set up, theres a phone call options but i've not had chance to test it as no-one has phoned me when I'm driving since i've had this device.Now the navigation set up, seems to work well and like I said I like the voice command as I can ask to navigation to places without having to look up addresses ( if they are main places like hotels and stations). but there are some features that this Garmin seems to be missing or that work differently that I liked on my old Garmin, such as it auto displaying parking options when you are nearing your destination so you can select to be re-directed to one of these. Also this Garmin claims to have traffic warning cameras, but I've yet to figure out how to set these alerts up, it looks like it might be in the up ahead settings but I may have to sacrfice one of the exisiting setting to use it such as showing food stops, which isn't really ideal. And my final gripe is, I can't seem to find a way to set up custom POI, it say somthing about it being on the app but I can't see anything and there are no options on the device.Theres a route planner and editor where you can add stops to a planned route, but I haven't found a useful way to use this as it doesn't show where service stations are on the map on this section of the interface, which is where I would like to plan my stops on a long journey.So in short it works well for basic navigation but it seems to have lost some features of the older more 'basic' models and some of the new features are not very intuitive to use so I don't feel i'm getting much value out of them.I also miss being able to download icons for my vehicle ( I had a great pirate shipe one I miss :( )
I have owned several Garmin devices over the years and was excited to get the DriveSmart 66 with Alexa and the one star is for Alexa. There are no stars for the DriveSmart 66. They device volume is totally dependent on my cell phone's volume. So when my phone goes into Do Not Disturb mode, I have no sound from the DS66. So if I am trying to navigate a trip, no way of hearing the directions. I almost wrecked my car twice trying to log into my phone so I could turn up the volume during the day because I could not hear the GPS because my phone volume was low. Why the heck is the device volume 100% dependant on my cell phone settings?? My other Garmin devices did not have this problem. Then on top of that they screwed up the "Saved Places" internal app that worked so ... MoreI have owned several Garmin devices over the years and was excited to get the DriveSmart 66 with Alexa and the one star is for Alexa. There are no stars for the DriveSmart 66. They device volume is totally dependent on my cell phone's volume. So when my phone goes into Do Not Disturb mode, I have no sound from the DS66. So if I am trying to navigate a trip, no way of hearing the directions. I almost wrecked my car twice trying to log into my phone so I could turn up the volume during the day because I could not hear the GPS because my phone volume was low. Why the heck is the device volume 100% dependant on my cell phone settings?? My other Garmin devices did not have this problem. Then on top of that they screwed up the "Saved Places" internal app that worked so well on other models, does not work at all. There is no way to scroll the list of your saved places. Finally, the other internal app that I rely on so much "Phone Book" is also crap now. Ask to see Phone Book it randomly lists some contacts (the list is always different each time) when you try to scroll down the page, the 66 crashes and resets. Happens every time you try to scroll your phone book. You cannot call last dialed, nothing. Whomever worked on the 66 project should have been fired for taking great GPS's and making this non-functional waste of money. When I can hear her respond, Alexa is awesome. Why did they need to change the Phone App that the other models worked off of? Is that what makes the DS66 such awesome crap? Totally disappointed.
I was pleased with the Garmin DriveSmart 65. I haven't experienced the problems described in some other reviews. True, it did take a long time to initially update the software and data, over night even through a wired network connection, but this is not an ongoing issue.In use, the unit performs well. It boots up and acquires signal quickly, the directions are accurate and quickly recalculate upon diverging from the planned route, the screen is easy to read, the audio is clear, and it was easy to attach to the windshield with the included mounting pieces. So far, the suction cup has not come loose (and can be a little difficult to remove), but the weather has not been hot, so potential problems with the unit falling off cannot be entirely ruled out; fortunately, ... MoreI was pleased with the Garmin DriveSmart 65. I haven't experienced the problems described in some other reviews. True, it did take a long time to initially update the software and data, over night even through a wired network connection, but this is not an ongoing issue.In use, the unit performs well. It boots up and acquires signal quickly, the directions are accurate and quickly recalculate upon diverging from the planned route, the screen is easy to read, the audio is clear, and it was easy to attach to the windshield with the included mounting pieces. So far, the suction cup has not come loose (and can be a little difficult to remove), but the weather has not been hot, so potential problems with the unit falling off cannot be entirely ruled out; fortunately, aftermarket alternatives are easily available.It is easy to enter new addresses, but the procedure took a little while to figure out at first. A downside of the address list is that it cannot be sorted alphabetically, except perhaps by deleting and re-entering everything in alpha order, because it remains in the order the addresses were entered. When entering addresses with the unit not plugged into power, the charge lasted about an hour.The USB cable is a little disappointing, with an outdated USB 2 type B mini connection at the unit end, and the socket placement on the rear of the unit pretty much requires that the cable be plugged in before being mounted on the windshield attachment. The operating cable is about 68" long, including the cigarette lighter plug end. A shorter cable, with a USB type A plug at the other end for attaching to a PC or phone charger, is about 14" long. The outdated technology here may contribute to the long update times.One thing that surprised me was how light the unit is for its size, lighter than my rather small phone. Others have complained about the plastic construction, but this contributes to the light weight, and the light weight puts less strain on the windshield attachments. It's not at all flimsy.Finally, the unit is a little awkward to store or transport because the mounting components do not fold flat.Given updated USB technology, a clearer user interface for entering addresses, a sortable address list, and more compact attachment pieces, the unit would support a 5-star rating. For the same price, of course.
For people familar with Garmin, Its about the same. What I mean is Software is always years behind. Okay, As a product gps-map viewer, gas station (and anything else) Locater it works far better than the most current cell phone, is it worth it? Depends, taking a trip far from normal routes - Heck ya! I really like it when is shows multi cross or hwy Ramps in an automatic exploded view, A great screen most of the time. I would recommand this unit. The not so great. Everytime I have removed, stored and then put back into the vehicle it doesn't remember how to reconnect to the vehicle, this past time it was necessary to re install the app in the phone to get it to talk over the vehicle speakers. Sometimes the voice is so LOUD its unreal, you can turn the radio volumn ... MoreFor people familar with Garmin, Its about the same. What I mean is Software is always years behind. Okay, As a product gps-map viewer, gas station (and anything else) Locater it works far better than the most current cell phone, is it worth it? Depends, taking a trip far from normal routes - Heck ya! I really like it when is shows multi cross or hwy Ramps in an automatic exploded view, A great screen most of the time. I would recommand this unit. The not so great. Everytime I have removed, stored and then put back into the vehicle it doesn't remember how to reconnect to the vehicle, this past time it was necessary to re install the app in the phone to get it to talk over the vehicle speakers. Sometimes the voice is so LOUD its unreal, you can turn the radio volumn down when it's Yelling but will regain volumn again the next time it talks. my truck has 3 volumn controls and none will correct it, but it doesnt always do that. Another issue, it does have a brightness control, but only through the menu, when close to dusk the screen is overwhelming in brightness, about 20 minuters after dark it will auto-change to night mode, I have had to turn in off when I can't take the distraction, and cant fiddle with the menu while driving alone.When it works It is a very nice unit. Another thing to mention is it's power supply. I have plugged directly into the vehicles usb plug with voltage issues, Like the manual states, Use the included cigar plug adapter with a percise voltage, and the adapter has 2 usb plugs, only one is for the Garmin (blue usb to blue usb) Copy!
I would give this a 4 or 5 star rating if it: 1) allowed more than one option to be displayed. I would like to see elevation AND distance to destination, for example. There is room for another option in the upper right corner. For its cost, this is a big deal. 2) voice volume control is faint.. 3) Garminâs verbal navigation is difficult to set up own its own and/or sinc with Jeep and iPhone. They seem to conflict ... annoying. Should be more adaptable, intuitive and easier to figure out in the settings. I spent way too much much fiddling with this and still not right. 4) Already on established back road to Mt. Lemon near Tucson the Garmin showed I was driving in the forest, not on the dirt road, a map/navigation error. My old nuvii Garmin never made that error, this ... MoreI would give this a 4 or 5 star rating if it: 1) allowed more than one option to be displayed. I would like to see elevation AND distance to destination, for example. There is room for another option in the upper right corner. For its cost, this is a big deal. 2) voice volume control is faint.. 3) Garminâs verbal navigation is difficult to set up own its own and/or sinc with Jeep and iPhone. They seem to conflict ... annoying. Should be more adaptable, intuitive and easier to figure out in the settings. I spent way too much much fiddling with this and still not right. 4) Already on established back road to Mt. Lemon near Tucson the Garmin showed I was driving in the forest, not on the dirt road, a map/navigation error. My old nuvii Garmin never made that error, this concerns me because I use it for back country roads a lot. On the Plus side I like the added storage capacity and ability to download maps and software updates via bluetooth, very nice. Also the screen size is good and it weighs less than my old nuvii. And the âOK Garminâ feature for directions is very good.
I had Garmin Drive 5 for about 4 years, It was mounted on the right side of the main screen on my 2016 RAV 4 . I used a cupholder with goose neck to squeeze it the space in the dash. Rav 4 owners would know what I am talking about.Recently I have been using Google Maps on my android phone for city driving . My phone would sit in a coffee cupholder and viewing was no good. I would rely mostly on voice directions.Garmin Drive 66 is almost the same size as my old Drive 5 with a 6" screen due to a very narrow bezel. The mounting in my car gives me an excellent view.My experience over the last 3 days1) The option of bluetooth connection to both the phone and the car are confusing. In the end I decided not to connect to the car audio but use the Gamins speakers. ... MoreI had Garmin Drive 5 for about 4 years, It was mounted on the right side of the main screen on my 2016 RAV 4 . I used a cupholder with goose neck to squeeze it the space in the dash. Rav 4 owners would know what I am talking about.Recently I have been using Google Maps on my android phone for city driving . My phone would sit in a coffee cupholder and viewing was no good. I would rely mostly on voice directions.Garmin Drive 66 is almost the same size as my old Drive 5 with a 6" screen due to a very narrow bezel. The mounting in my car gives me an excellent view.My experience over the last 3 days1) The option of bluetooth connection to both the phone and the car are confusing. In the end I decided not to connect to the car audio but use the Gamins speakers. Connection with phone with Drive app is required to get some important functions. I have no need for AlexaCity driving is less accurate than Google Maps. I wonder whether the Drive is using the European Galileo satellites preferentially to the American GPS satellite.This may explain greater accuracy with Google Maps on my smartphone.Garmin is superior for out of city driving although I have not tested drive 66 yet. The road directions and lane change recommendations are excellent.It is nice to have voice commands. "OK Garmin" "Take to PetroCanada"It is having difficulty in understanding some of my commands on addresses which I am entering manually.
We purchased a vehicle without navigation, so I found this Garmin to help find places where we need to go. I love the Garmin voice assist to simply finding a destination. There are different sizes in this Garmin, but I really like the 8â dual-orientation display with free map updates. It provides alerts for speed zones and potential hazards ahead. If you are going to take a trip, Trip advisor gives traveler ratings, there is also a directory of U.S. national parks and the history database of notable sites. You can also pair with the Garmin Drive app running on your smartphone for on-screen access to live traffic, fuel prices, parking, weather, and traffic cams to help avoid delays ahead. I really like how it will also alert you to school zones down the road. I ... MoreWe purchased a vehicle without navigation, so I found this Garmin to help find places where we need to go. I love the Garmin voice assist to simply finding a destination. There are different sizes in this Garmin, but I really like the 8â dual-orientation display with free map updates. It provides alerts for speed zones and potential hazards ahead. If you are going to take a trip, Trip advisor gives traveler ratings, there is also a directory of U.S. national parks and the history database of notable sites. You can also pair with the Garmin Drive app running on your smartphone for on-screen access to live traffic, fuel prices, parking, weather, and traffic cams to help avoid delays ahead. I really like how it will also alert you to school zones down the road. I havenât tried this Garmin feature, but it also has Built-in Alexa where you can ask to play music, listen to audiobooks, hear the news and more but you need a compatible smartphone with Alexa on it or connect with your Amazon account.First of all, you need to connect to your computer (PC or Mac) and download maps then it will use Bluetooth in your vehicle to update. If there is any trouble at all you can call the Garmin help line and they are great and will help to fix the issue. I had a little issue with maps not downloading correctly and the support team helped me to fix my problem in minutes free of charge. There is also a slot in the back for a micro-SD card to expand the maps download so there is no problem with memory being full. All in all, I really like this Garmin and would recommend it to anyone that does not have navigation in their car. It is kind of large so if you have a smaller vehicle you might want to look at a 65,66, 76. We have a minivan, so it doesnât distract or cover too much of the windshield. I do not really like our Garmin stuck on the windshield, so I purchased an âAdhesive Dashboard Pad Mounting Disk for Suction Cup Phone Mount & Garmin GPSâ from Amazon because Best Buy doesnât sell them. No problem with it shaking or falling off.
The DriveSmart 66 continues Garmin's tradition of improving and adding functionality. I have owned Garmin auto and handheld GPS units for at least 21 years (2002) and continue to find them better suited than other brands on the market for my specific needs. In general I really like it BUT it is a step or two backward compared to the 5 year old Garmin DriveLuxe 51 unit it replaced.Here a few things about this unit that I do not like, compared to earlier units I have owned.1) The major problem is that the DriveSmart 66 has lost a specific major function that I utilize heavily - the ability to connect my unit to Garmin's BaseCamp (computer desktop) software.When I plug the DrviveSmart 66 into my Macintosh (running Apple's M1 processor), BaeCamp does not recognize ... MoreThe DriveSmart 66 continues Garmin's tradition of improving and adding functionality. I have owned Garmin auto and handheld GPS units for at least 21 years (2002) and continue to find them better suited than other brands on the market for my specific needs. In general I really like it BUT it is a step or two backward compared to the 5 year old Garmin DriveLuxe 51 unit it replaced.Here a few things about this unit that I do not like, compared to earlier units I have owned.1) The major problem is that the DriveSmart 66 has lost a specific major function that I utilize heavily - the ability to connect my unit to Garmin's BaseCamp (computer desktop) software.When I plug the DrviveSmart 66 into my Macintosh (running Apple's M1 processor), BaeCamp does not recognize it, thus I cannot transfer waypoints and routes that I have created on my computer to it. However, Basecamp continues to connect to my current GPSMAP 64sx handheld, and had no problem connecting to my previous automobile unit, a DriveLuxe 51.I do a LOT of canoeing, meaning I have created over 500 waypoints (and continue creating more periodically) for canoe put-ins and take-outs. These waypoints cannot be easily created on the GPS units themselves because they are in very remote places, hard to locate on a small GPS unit. Consequently, once or twice a month, I am transferring waypoints from BaseCamp to both my auto and handheld units.I worked with Garmin technical support (they did a great job by-the-way), and gave me a work around - using a 3rd party app - Android File Transfer. Clunky, but it does the job. Still, it is not nearly as convenient as transferring waypoints directly from BaseCamp to my GPS units. As the transfer process between BaseCamp to my existing handheld unit still works (and worked for my previous DriveLuxe 51), why not have this functionality for the DriveSmart 66?2) My second problem is when using the Route Planner function on the DriveSmart 66. When a route recalculates, it used to show the route from the current location to the endpoint. On this unit, the unit recalculates the remainder of the route, but shows the highlighted route starting at the next intermediary waypoint and then continuing on to the endpoint.I have a weekly route going to 13 or 14 different places. For this example, let's say we have 4 waypoints (in addition to the starting point) in this route, A, B, C, D. When I start the route it shows the complete route from my starting point to A, then on to B, C, and D. When I get to A, because of the direction my car is pointed, I go around the block rather than do a U-turn. So the DriveSmart recalculates. Instead of displaying the route from my current location, A, it displays on the the segments from B to C, and then onto D. Unless I zoom out on the map, I can't "see" on the unit what me next few turns are.I hope this is a glitch with the latest City Navigator North America map update and is fixed in the next update.3) This is a minor quibble, but the graphical interface is more "boxy" (it looks a lot like some of the design elements of Windows 100. More importantly, the information fields take up more space than they did on my previous DriveLuxe 51. So, when viewing a map, in the lower left corner, where the Back Arrow and Speed Limit is displayed, they appear larger and boxier; the same with the display in the lower right corner (Time, etc. and the Hamburger menu). This is a very minor annoyance, but becomes a little more annoying when I have Trip Data or Up Ahead displayed along the right side of the display; it is much wider than on my old unit, reducing the amount of the map I can see.On the positive side, the display itself is much sharper than my older unit.4) Again, a very minor issue, but I don't care for the clip-on mount compared to the magnetic mount my previous unit. I assume this is a cost saving function. On my old unit, the power plugged into the mount itself, not into the unit. So if I removed the unit from the mount (and put it into my glove box), it was a very easy process of pulling the unit off the mount in one easy step. Now, I have to reach behind the unit to unclip it and then remove the power cable from the unit itself, a 2 step process.5) A new feature (compared to my previous unit) is the ability to display and control music that is on my smartphone and play it through my car radio. Perhaps many people like it. But, if I can control the music with my phone, why bother with controlling with the Garmin. When a new song comes on, the Garmin briefly displays the title of the song. Not a big problem, but I don't need it. It appears that I can turn off the music feature, but that seems to disable all other Bluetooth audio like navigation prompts. Why not let me disable ONLY the music. This is a GPS! I want it for the GPS functionality, not for unnecessary MP3 player functionality.Summary: I have spent a lot of time on things I don't like about this unit, mostly some downgrading of functionality compared to my previous Garmin unit. With that all said, I still really like all my Garmin units and find them extremely useful, especially in areas that I frequent where cell service is unreliable or unavailable. I wholeheartedly recommend Garmin units.
I was thrilled to buy; this lots of cool features.Unfortunately it didn't even come close to working right. Pairing for instance. After setup it would sometimes pair with my vehicle, sometimes pair with my phone, sometimes pair with nothing and use internal speaker, all seemingly at random. Except when it wouldn't make any sound at all even though it would display route on screen.Then I would use voice commands to find places. It would produce a list but no instructions, even touch screen inputs, would add the place to my route or even a new route.Alexa was a joke, again pairing ruined that.I spent two days trying and eventually packed it up and returned it with a scathing review.Do NOT buy a 66. If someone gives you one, punch them in the face and make ... MoreI was thrilled to buy; this lots of cool features.Unfortunately it didn't even come close to working right. Pairing for instance. After setup it would sometimes pair with my vehicle, sometimes pair with my phone, sometimes pair with nothing and use internal speaker, all seemingly at random. Except when it wouldn't make any sound at all even though it would display route on screen.Then I would use voice commands to find places. It would produce a list but no instructions, even touch screen inputs, would add the place to my route or even a new route.Alexa was a joke, again pairing ruined that.I spent two days trying and eventually packed it up and returned it with a scathing review.Do NOT buy a 66. If someone gives you one, punch them in the face and make them take if back.Want back to my old Garmin that actually worked fine. I only bought the new one to get the new (non-functional) features.Total fail.
