Customer Ratings & Reviews

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.

This Garmin doesn't have the capability to input our RV's dimensions, so we bought it for that reason. The folks at Best Buy were great about taking it back. We bought the trucker version, and a knowledgeable Best Buy employee helped us set it up. For a car, this works just fine, but not for a motorhome.

Prefer my old nuvi that garmin no longer supports. Found out after I put a new battery in it and couldn’t update maps. Much cheaper construction. No case. Just touching the edge of the device causes it to switch to a different screen function. Not as fast or intuitive as Apple Maps. Bought it for redundancy and road and traffic alerts. Does that okay. If you’re a gadget guy or gal, go for it. Otherwise save your money and use your phone. You need your phone for most functions anyway. Was surprised that sometimes it took some time to acquire satellites.

Garmin always assumes you want to take the interstate. I often prefer to travel state highways which are less congested. Since it include info on National Parks, etc I thought it would have more options for route selection. You can shape your route but it usually takes 3 tries for it to work. I have yet to get the voice commands to understand commands. The one exception is Alexa works but I don't use that much. The battery life is super short so you must keep it plugged in if you are traveling more than an hour. The charger connects in the back which precludes using some cell phone holders. I seriously considered returning this due to the difficulty in using it but figure it may come in handy when I am out in poor cell signal range and I don't have paper maps with me. On a positive note, the voice directions are pretty good, giving you landmarks to indicate where you are to turn.

This unit is very nice, but I am disappointed that this unit no longer has the shorter driving distance feature.

This unit needs a rechargeable battery that holds power so it can be used when not plugged in. It comes in when power is supplied whether you want it in or not. You need to shut it off, then it will come back on when it gets a refresh of power.

Most of the features on this unit are helpful. The directions are not. It wants to send me way out of the most direct route. I don't know if that is a Garmin Maps issue or what. It also has a hard time understanding my voice commands.

Not compatible with cars with no blue tooth . Hard to activate voice control

It’s nice but it doesn’t have fully familiar names of places

Solid gps, but the only issue I have is with the Hey Garmin feature. Honestly it mistakes a lot of voice commands and when using voice search for an address, it doesn't always get it right. Also, certain trips tend to have weird route's and compared next to Google maps, tend to be a few minutes longer.

More complicated than the older ones. Not user-friendly to start

Not as great as the older version. The bottoms are touch screen and dont always work. I think a better or the most upgraded model would work better.

Had ‘exchange’ a defective product and store only had a previous generation product available. Lower capability for an additive fee to ‘replace’ the inoperative unit.

Its good but didn't like how tailored these are to your phone now. Whole reason I got this was to avoid plugging in my phone all the time or connecting it. Wish they were more stand alone. Without your phone, finding locations is pretty much useless.

Works great, but would like it to be easier to change the route Push’s to the interstate of freeways too much

its a garmin, so its a good product. but disappointed on how difficult it is to use. ex how to change my home to where i live. not florid. somewhat disappointed with product.

No real instructions with it just had to figure it out on my own

It’s ok just has to be plugged in at all times Traffic is accurate.

No one in the store knew anything about the GARMIN products.

Standard Garmin GPS, beyond the mount, the mounting unit sucks. Completely different from the other 5 Garmin I have with a ball, this one has some stupid rear circular mount that makes it impossible to pop in and out with other components. Probably gonna be my last choice for a bit.