Where to mount GPS

I purchased the dashboard friction mount for my Garmin Nuvi 660. It's a little expensive for a weighted beanbag but it works very well. I have it on the dashboard towards the left (I am left handed). The best thing about the mount is that you can move it around to wherever it's most comfortable for you and also use it in another car. I didn't want to permanently stick the plastic disk that came with the Nuvi on my dashboard.

 

Photos of my Garmin Nuvi 350 mount are attached... I used the suction cup mounting disk that came packaged with the 350. I also installed a USB power converter behind the dash and wired in the power jack.

I have no problem with satellite reception. The Nuvi 350 receiver is SiRF.


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I bought a Garmin Nuvi 350 -- I don't need bluetooth so I didn't spend an extra $60 for the nuvi 360. A vent mount off ebay was another $26.. which is absurdly expensive for bits of plastic, but what can you do?

It works pretty well. I really like the fact that if you plug it into your car, it'll turn on and off automatically. Also, I can pop the whole thing off the mount and it fits neatly into the drawer under the center console so it can be hidden from view.

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I have a Garmin Nuvi 260 -- I also don't need bluetooth. A $15 suction mount from the web which I rigged up as a hard mount works great at it sits low enough to not be seen from outside the car unless your really looking for it and high enough to be used while driving (even better for left-handers).

 

I have the Garmin 360 and use the Garmin "beanbag" (aka Portable Friction Dashboard Mount) and it works fantastically. Picked up the beanbag through Amazon and saved a few bucks. It doesn't slide, allows easy positioning wherever I want, and when I park somewhere, I can easily pull the gps off and put the bag and gps in the glovebox without any suction-cup marks on the glass that thieves are searching for.

 

I bought a Garmin Nuvi 250W (widescreen with internal antenna) and mounted it on the flipdown door below the radio using two pieces of velcro on the bottom of the GPS and matching strips on the door. If you place the velcro carefully you can close the door and the GPS will pivot back into the compartment using the velcro as hinges. I went further and mounted a small power socket in the back of that little compartment and fitted a matching plug to the Garmin power cable which I had shortened, I was able to access the Dashboard lighter power wires by removing the glove box to get power for a new fused extension lighter socket which I mounted in the glovebox. I now plug the Garmin lighter plug into this new 12V socket and it feeds the power plug in the back of the GPS compartment. (Note- you must feed the Garmin with 5Volts DC- not 12 volts from the lighter wires. You can use the Garmin Lighter plug to do this because it has the 5 volt converter in the plug.)

Now the GPS slides out of sight when I close the door and it turns on and off with the Car ignition. The Garmin works fine when pivoted out and will often even find Satellites even when inside the compartment.
One side note- The Nuvi's that I have seen including this one take a long time to first locate satellites if the car is moving- they are much faster if the car is stopped. Once they locate 4 satellites they are fine with keeping up and even reacquiring the signal if it is temporarily lost- and if fact they very rarely loose the signal once acquired.

One nice feature is that you can still remove the Garmin to use outside the car when you want by just pulling the Velcro apart and unplugging the GPS -though it is normally internally hidden in that handy little compartment.

 

That sounds like a really interesting setup John. Any chance of seeing some photos? Thanks.

 

Here are some photos of the Garmin Nuvi 250W mounted in the cubby under the radio. I chose the 250W because it has an internal antenna- units with a foldup antenna wont work because there isnt room in the cubby space to conveniently open the antenna. Yes- the 250W works fine there.
The first Pic shows the Nuvi in the operating position.
2nd Pic shows the door closing and the Garmin folding back into the cubby .
3rd Pic shows the back of the garmin with the original power cord cut and spliced to a new power plug.
4th Pic shows the Original Nuvi power plug inserted in a new 12V extension socket that gets power from wires feeding the Lighter outlet. The 5V output from the Nuvi Power Plug goes to the power socket mounted in the back of the cubby (5th Picture). The square block that the red wire goes to to the left of the glove box is a fuse the protects the extension socket. (Maybe redundant)
The extension socket has extra lighter sockets that I use for my phone, etc

 

One more tip-
You can get to the lighter wires by removing the lower glove box. Do this by
disconnecting (just push it off) the link on the right (outside) of the opened box- then push the flexible glovebox sides inward to clear the stops. when the box opens fully you can pull it straight back to remove it.

 

Here is where I mounted my TomTom One XL. I just got back from a trip to the centre of Australia from Adelaide and this has to be the best place to have a GPS. You need to see as well as hear a GPS and the closer to your line of sight the safer it is.

The mount is a ClickOn item and it is hard wired into the aux. power to keep the GPS charged. You can hear it loud and clear and it is at the tip of your fingers when you need to fiddle with it. Angle can be adjusted to reduce glare on the screen too!

When you park the GPS slides off the mount for storage out of sight, no wires to mess with.

 

Mine sits on a beanbag mount on my dash cover.

No problem and never moves. Easy to use in my second vehicle.

Cheers.

 

Patsparks,

Who is the manufacturer of the clip mount that you used? I know ProClip has a mount designed for that vent but yours seems to be sitting pretty high on the vent which I like.

 

I mounted my Garmin Street pilot C330 with the Dash Disc on top of the MFD wich looks great. The power cord goes into the upper glove box to the lower glove box to the power outlet so it is not visable. I always place my GPS in the glovebox when not in the car anyways. Thus ther e are no suction marks on the window or dash. The black disc on a black dash over the MFD is not noticable.:kev:

 

Try ProclipUSA. I just bought one that goes in the center next to my screen but I had to get the extention for left. They also have a mount that sits in the left of the streering. I have a Magellan 4250 that I bought at Costco. I love it and have used it extensibly throughtout the country without any issues. It also comes with AAA service. Good luck