Garmin DriveSmart 86

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.

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 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) Garmin’s 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) Garmin’s 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 ‘OK Garmin’ feature for directions is very good.