Calling all Garmin C320, 330, and 340 users.... How have you set up your GPS in the Prius?

I have a Nuvi 660 so I don't know whether you have the same option for your model. I purchased the beanbag dashboard mount. It works great. You can basically put it anywhere and it stays put. When you park the car, just hide the whole thing in your center console. It's also very easy to remove the GPS unit from the mount.

 

I also have the Nuvi 660 and the beanbag mount, but I want to eliminate the power cable dangling down the from atop the dash.

The mini-plug is a very clean solution - the next step is to hard wire the power to the fuse block. I've done things like this before, and learned the hard way the first time, by simply cutting off the cig adapter and wiring the remaining leads to a fuse tap, promptly frying the cellphone on first power up. OOops.

I was thinking today - technology has come so far in so many ways in past couple decades, yet auto makers still resort to providing old-school 12v outlets sized for cig lighters, instead of something much smaller, like a 3.5mm jack. These cumbersome power outlets should have left the vehicles when the ashtrays did.

 

From reading this site, I decided to buy the Garmin 350 GPS system for my Prius. Got it today and had it up and running in 5 minutes. It works great. Thanks to all for your input.

 

I've got a Nuvi (can't remember the model number off the top of my head, but I use the aforementioned "bean bag" friction mount and I must say it works like a charm. Drove all the way from MO to Yellowstone and back and it didn't slide one time.

As for the cord, I just run it across the dash and use a "twist tie" in an A/C vent to hold it place. Works fine.

 

I just mount my Nuvi 250W on the dash... right on the woodtrim with the provided suction cup.

 

Wire routing

I've ordered the Garmin Nuvi 350. Dell.ca had a good deal on it yesterday, at CAD$249.

I'm considering my various mounting options, but can someone provide some pictures of where exactly you're hiding your dash/vent/windshield mounted GPS's wiring? How much disassembly of the dash (if any) is required to fully hide it?

I remember installing the ICE indicator in my original Prius 2001, and I had to remove a fair chunk of my dash. I wouldn't have figured it out (safely) without the step-by-step instructions I had.

I'm thinking I may eventually just do the middle cup holder method though, because it's probably easier. We'll see when the unit arrives.

 

For anybody that's interested, Costco has been selling the Nuvi 360 for $249.95. Buy.com was selling refurbs for $199.99. This was about 2 weeks ago.

Currently, Costco is selling the Nuvi 650 for $299.99

I bought a 360 for my wife for Valentine's day - Liked it so much that I turned around and bought one from Buy.com for myself.

The 360 synchs with my IPhone and grabs the phone book (200 contacts) almost instantly. It doesn't download the contacts. I just allows you to access the contacts from the GPS's screen.

Now I'm going to put my Garmin IQue-3600 up on Ebay. I'll probably keep the Garmin 2610 because it can do stuff that the newer units can't.

UPDATE: Just checked Buy.com - They are now selling refurb 360's for $295.00

 

The 360 is currently going for CAD$290 at Costco.ca (Canada). That's why I went for the 350 instead, for CAD$250 at Dell.ca. It was a one day sale only though at Dell.

Considering I don't have Bluetooth in my Prius, I figured I'd be better off saving the $40 anyway.

 

Another vote for the beanbag mount. It works great. It's neat, quick, simple, reliable, and will definitely stay put. $40 from Garmin plus shipping...$27.88 from Amazon with FREE shipping!

 

UPDATE: I have since replaced my 3.5 Magellan with the larger 4.3 GPS. I hestitated at first becasue i thought it would block the bottons on the left side of the screen. It doesn't...its almost a perfect fit.