Customer Ratings & Reviews

I really like the Garmin DriveSamrt 66 - Garmin has crammed a lot of tech into this little box. I've put around 5,000 miles on this device over the first month of operation, including a 4,000 road trip that included multiple trip changes enroute using the voice control. Most of the time this was pretty seamless. In a nutshell, here are the highlights, and some lowlights... For reference, the device is being used in a 2015 Honda Accord XLE... The good... - Route calculations are pretty quick - seldom taking longer than 4 or 5 seconds. There is no aural message when it recalculates, it just does it - a plus in my book. - The unit can use the car audio through an AUX port, or entirely over Bluetooth. I used the AUX port, using the plug provided in the device charger (and my own cable). I used this mode so the Garmin controlled audio when notifications were made, they didn't compete with the music. - To get the most bang, use the Garmin Drive app on a smart phone which provides traffic, weather and amenities notifications. Delay notifications for the most part were pretty accurate, albeit I didn't use it in really congested areas. During the trip, we were rerouted due to a road closure without a hiccup, saving a headache. - Using the "OK Garmin" interface, searches for rest areas, fuel and meals are now easy to get, and can be added to the current route without touching the device. - The device is pretty light, the ball suction stuck to a dash-disk without any issues, even during hard braking or cornering. The supplied power cord was ample for my use, and the extra fast-charge port for a phone is a nice touch. - Audio played on the phone using the media player was acceptable, and provided decent separation and clarity. If you want hands free Pause, Play, Next, or Replay functionality, you'll need to use Alexa, which I didn't enable. "OK Garmin, Show Volume" will display the control for use though, for example. - Route planning options for fastest, shortest or cheapest routes (avoid tolls) are easy to use. - The unit responded to when power was provided to the plug, and when it was removed - it turned on and off with the key. - My phone is a 4 year old Android, Drive and other functions appeared to work well. - The Drive phone app works with all Garmin Drive enabled devices - the same app runs an RV-890 in my tow vehicle. - Updates are over Wifi, so for me, it can update in my car in the driveway using my home hotspot. Most updates are pretty quick, but full map updates can take 30 minutes or more. - For the most part, the "OK Garmin" voice interface work well. Most searches worked just using the name of a location - "OK Garmin, go to Devil's Tower National Monument". If there are multiple responses available, voice commands can scroll the list, select the desired destination, add it to a current rip, or be canceled. Critique... - When you open the box, there is a label stating "This device is ready use...". It's not. I returned my first one when it didn't turn on out of the box. After 30 minutes of charging, it wouldn't turn on. The replacement unit did the same thing. Instead of taking it back, plugged it into the car charger and left it - after around 45 minutes of driving around, it turned on by itself. I'm sorry Best Buy, as the first unit was also probably functional, but... - Only 2 data elements can be displayed on the bottom of the display, and speed can't be removed. I like to have Speed, Altitude, Time of Arrival, and Distance to Arrival - so I have to adjust it if I want to change. The DriveSmart 86 8 inch display will provide up to 4 elements, but the 76 7 and 66 6 inch displays only provide 2. My 11 year old Garmin Novi (5 inch display), which this replaced, provides 4 elements... - The Drive phone app (at least Android), doesn't have a quit function. Once you load it, it becomes a service, not an app. To turn it off, you have to go into Android, and disable it, or, forget the device. Since it does use some battery, it should have a "Quit" function. This issue is a bigger problem when 2 phones which talk to the same device are present they compete, and it isn't pretty. Such a simple fix for what can be a really annoying problem. - When playing music (I use VLC for Android), when the Garmin turns off, the phone plays for a couple seconds until it senses the disconnection. Not a Garmin issue, but worth mentioning. - When playing music through the Garmin, the sound quality is a bit less than playing directly off a flash drive, which I usually do. I suspect much of this is since my phone only has BT 4.0 - newer phones with a more recent version of Bluetooth will probably have better chips, and better sound quality. - There were some locations "OK Garmin" just didn't understand. For example, "Go to La Grande, Oregon" didn't result in a find. Turns out with that location, it wanted "Grande" pronounced "Grandee" using 2 syllables. So some practice may be required. Saying the full address instead, usually got good results. Indifferent... - As I noted earlier, while the device may be Alexa capable, I chose not the enable it. I'm wary of personal assistants in general as their primary purpose is to track user actions in order to target ads. Not using Alexa didn't notably inhibit the functionality I was looking for out of this device. - I suspect my criticisms or appreciations for this device would apply also to the DriveSmart 76 and 86 units also (although the 86 should be able to display more data). - My old Garmin Novi had an "At the pump" app that I really liked for tracking fuel mileage and usage - especially on trips. I really wish Garmin would add this back as an app. In summary - I'd definitely recommend the DriveSmart 66 to anyone looking to use a standalone GPS in their vehicle. The display is very crisp, calculations are pretty quick, and overall, the Drive app is worth running when on a trip.

We bought it as a back gps navigator during our pacific northwest road trip up to Victoria and Vancouver, Canada. It worked prettry well!

Garmin DriveSmart 66 has the best overall. It has the best-in-class directions, points-of-interest data, driver alerts, and free map updates with the best multi-touch display. Did you know if your accustomed to using you phones GPS and use you lose cell coverage, you also lose GPS. That’s why purchasing Garmin GPS is a must. Imagine trying to find a location and losing cell phone coverage. With Garmin it’s uses Satellites, which mean it’s extremely unlikely your are going to lose GPS coverage.

A great Navigator it is completly updated and so happy I bought this one .. Easy to use and very wonderful directions . Some states like Mass changed their exit numbers and thiis navigator has all the correct exit numbers.

I had this product for a year and a half now and i use it for work. The battery life is TERRIBLE and now it will turn on at all. For 300 that i paid for at the time i feel like it wasnt work the cost. Had a one year warranty and now im screwed. Works perfect other than that. Just doesn’t last long.

Not every car has a GPS ,this Garmin is great. Very easy to program and super easy to read and hear .

This is a great GPS. One of the best ones I own. It works great and keeps me on track with my daily drives. Highly recommend this GPS.

Very pleased with the voice activation/control …still learning how to use all its other features !

I replaced an older Garmin Nuvi 54 with the Garmin Drivesmart 66. Being able to transfer and edit older favorates was a plus. The 6" screen enhances the view. A Blue Tooth connection and access to my cellphone and voice activation is a plus. I got tired of suction cups and with with a spring-locked Dash Mount with a 3M Tape Sticky. I added a storage case as well. A couple of trips around town. A 3 hr road trip tomorrow should verify somethings.

I brought this for work. Work miracles for me due to we can’t use our phones for the GPS. It’s not to small nor to big perfect size

This Garmin DriveSmart 66 froze and stop working in a middle of a trip more than once and could not be turned off while it was getting hot. I was afraid that it may burn up. I plan to return this unit.

My experience with this item compared to the Drive smart 65 is frustrating at best! It locks up at the wrong time during commute and causes wrong turns, tells me to turn right instead of left! I have always loved and used Garmin products the way I love and drive Jeep Grand Cherokees! This is the worst Garmin product I’d ever want to use with my Jeep!

It sucks pretty sure it’s the software update. My mom bought the exact same one six months ago works amazing so I bought one. It was crap wouldn’t work at all. I thought maybe it was faulty so I took it back week later. They sent me a brand new one exact same problem does not work. I’m thinking it’s a software update because my mom has an updated her since she got it. Hers works fine. I would never buy it again. I wasted $200 on this thing and there’s nothing I can do about it.

Before talking about the Pros and Cons, I'll say that there's no standalone GPS which will outperform the most popular phone-based GPS out there. So, don't expect this device to be better than your phone GPS, but there's 1 thing that makes a standalone GPS like this one still useful in almost 2025 compared to a phone GPS: It's the satellite navigation which doesn't need a phone nor internet to work. Pros: 1. Screen not freezing compared to 7" and 8" versions 2. Not heavy compared to the 7", 8" versions 3. New updates allow us to search the full address: street# 4. streetName, City, State ZipCode, all at once. Comments on Amazon say this was not possible(my Nuvi can't do it). 5. You can control your phone notifications from the Garmin GPS screen(play music, pickup calls, even search an address from the phone's Garmin app instead of typing on Garmin slower than a phone touch screen) 6. Garmin can display nearby gas stations, restaurants, ATMs on a portion of the screen. 7. USB C cable: you can use one USB cable for both your phone and the GPS instead of having multiple cables like on the DriveSmart 55 and 53 that use old usb mini B. 8. You can use the same mount for your phone for the Garmin DriveSmart 66(just the mount with the round head; not the phone holder) instead of having to install 2 mounts Cons: 1. The GPS mount is located in a position that is obstructing the view in the dash cam version. Never buy the dash camera version or you'll regret it. 2. The 7" and 8" versions screens are known to freeze a lot 3. Setup is complex. Don't try to complete the full setup at once or you'll be stuck. Complete the connection to your computer first by downloading Garmin Express, then use their provided USB 3.0 cable(blue inside the plug) and plug it to a USB 3.0 plug otherwise your computer or the GPS might not detect the cable. Once the cable is detected, start the GPS search on your computer and on Garmin GPS, choose connect to computer and then choose Transferring files option. Every time the connection is disconnected, you must unplug the GPS, wait 5 seconds and restart the setup from scratch. I have a fairly strong Ethernet connection and a powerful PC and it still took me 1hr to complete the setup. 4. Using different cable or cigarette plug than the one provided might automatically reduce the GPS brightness and no way to increase the brightness. Test your USB C cables with the GPS so that if in the future, the GPS cable doesn't work anymore, you won't be surprised to find out that some USB cables don't charge nor turn on the GPS. 5. The battery indicator doesn't show how much percentage of battery is left, and there's no way to check it. All Garmin car GPS I've owned have batteries that don't last 30 minutes but this GPS is the first that can't show how much power is left in the battery. 6. Only fast path route is usefull on the GPS. Garmin removed the shortest path(just like google did on Map longtime ago because communities complain about GPS re-routing many cars on their small roads). There's a straight line option but it's useless because it doesn't show you the roads to your destination. It shows straight lines from origin to destination and if there's no traffic, you can guess your own shortest path from that. 6. Suction mount won't stick well to windshield. It's even worse for the 7" and 8" screen sizes because they're larger and heavier than the 6". 7. You cannot use old Garmin mounts for the current DriveSmart 66, 76, 86. 8. You cannot use your phone mount for version 76 and 86 because they need a bigger round head(compared to the smaller ball head for phone mounts) to hold them.

It's great unit. I replaced my 2011 Garmin GPS with this unit. It was a short learning curve compared to my old unit. Things improved a lot over 15 years. I like the WiFi updates over the old units cable.

I always use my Garmin GPS because i do not want to lower the charge on my cell phone. This brand new DriveSmart 66 is easy to use. My old one was a little smaller & this seems, for me, to be a great size. I have been lucky to visit Italy, Croatia, Slovenia & many other countries WITH TOTAL CONFIDENCE that my Garmin would get me to the right place & it did. Not 1 error. I love my new Garmin & I would be lost without it.

Works great! Big, clear screen, easy to use, and links to phone, with over wi-fi map updates. I like this vs using my phone to navigate, as when you get a call on the phone it puts the phone screen over your map. But with this Garmin, that's not an issue.

Absolutely love it, easy to use and accurate. Love the smart phone connectivity

Easy to install and use. Has a ton of useful and helpful features!

Works perfect and really helps out with knowing your location