Where do you put your aftermarket GPS in your Prius?

I just bought the garmin bean bag mount (cheaper from Amazon than from Garmin) for my Garmin 660 and tucked it into the space by the left tiny window on the left dash. The wire fits nicely along the vertical space under that and along the bottom of the dash under the steering column. It never moves and I believe it is left of the air bag so hopefully, it won't kill me if I get into an accident.

 

Interesting. If it does kill you, will the GPS point to heaven or another place? :behindsofa:

 

I use the suction mount for my TomTom Go 510 on one of the cup holder covers in the center console. It's nice because it puts the GPS in a more ergonomic position (no reaching) and allows me to run the power cable discreetly to the outlet in the console. The only disadvantage is that you have to look away from the road to see the screen, but I generally just listen to the voice guidance.

 

We have two Garmin hand helds. My eTrex Legend Cx was purchased for use on my jet ski. When using it in the Prius I have a suction mount with about a 10" flexible shaft. I put the suction cup on the little window behind the windshield and in front of the drivers window.

My wife has a Garmin Nuvi 350. That one sits on the little swing down door below the radio as shown in other responses to this thread.

The Nuvi 350 is very easy to use, has voice commands, and a nice touch screen. It's my first choice for use in the car.

The eTrex is water proof so perfect for ocean rides. It has survived hundreds of hours mounted on the jet ski glove box cover where it sometimes gets constant salt water splash. The eTrex has many more features than the 350 but has a small screen, no voice, and no touch screen.

Both units have their place, both are used in the Prius.

jd

 

Welcome to PriusChat!

Recently there have been a rash of break-ins due to GPS exposure, in Calif. We solved our problem by not having in clues. Our GPS fits perfectly on the CD door under the stereo. Our GPS fits exactly, so that it is held in place by friction instead of showing off a suction device or whatever. Once we park, we throw the gps into glove compartment, voila', no show!
GPS black market is at the top of the list for stolen goods from autos. Our device is a Magellan

 

Like many, I disconnected the center speaker above the MFD for better sound quality. Since there's no use for it, I just took the speaker out and use the squareish hole as a GPS holder. The mount sits perfectly in the hole so as to make the GPS unit sit just right on top of the dash. I ran the power cable through the dash and plugged it into the front power outlet. For most drivers and passengers, you won't see much of the hole (unless you really crane your neck towards the dash).

When I have time, I'm hoping to fabricate a cover to make the mounting look clean.

If I have even more time, I want to fabricate a spring mounted door made out of the factory speaker grill, attach the GPS to the grill, and have it swing up when I want to use it and close down and lock when it's not in use. We'll see about that one.

 

Well I got it all fitted, no I haven't taken all that time I was doing other things.
I also put the receiver for the tyre pressure monitor I purchased a while back. I can plug it in yet as I haven't got the sender units in the wheels yet, Friday I will.



Before I started, see the consumption?



Stripped down for the install. No need to remove any dash panels if your not hard wiring it in.



This is held on with double sided tape and a huge amount of clamping force, doubt the tape is needed. You can see the power cable goes into the dash at the top of the vent panel. I stuck the power supply in front of the steering wheel in the dash, there is loads of space. Doing the wiring is why I pulled the dash apart.



I put the base of the swivel mount as high and as far right as I could so it doesn't obscure the MFD.



The phone mount has the second part of the swivel on the back. It is held on with a single screw with thread locker on it.



Here it is all mounted, easy to reach, easy to see and hear.



I hooked up to 12 volts here which I got from the back of the console. I hooked in to the power socket supply which can be reached by removing the rear cup holder, it just wriggles off. I mounted a second power outlet in back of the console and didn't wish to break into the original loom twice.
No pictures of it but the tyre monitor has a plug for a cigarette lighter socket so I put a lighter socket behind the lower panel of the dash and plugged it in. This means simple hook up and a fuse in the circuit.



The socket in the back to run a laptop for my son while travelling. Excuse the scratches.



And the tyre monitor which as you can see isn't plugged in, yet.

 

:bump2:

 

TomTom via suctioncup that sticks to the smooth part of the dash just below the center airvent to the left of the MFD (it would be to the right of the MFD for LHD models). Just the right width, sticks well. Leaves no ring on windscreen.

 

Velcro to Top of Dash, Left of MFD

I put my TomTomONE on top of the dash, to the left of the MFD.

My TomTom ONE came with a round flat dash disc, which accepts the suction cup. You can either stick the dash disc on with its adhesive backing, or use Velcro tape as a previous poster suggested and which is how I do it --- I don't want to alert thieves by leaving a very visible dash disc there.

First photo below shows the Velcro squares on bottom of dash disc and top of dash; and the second photo shows the TomTom ONE in place:

 

Re: Velcro to Top of Dash, Left of MFD

You seem to defying physics with that teeny tiny piece of velcro, take any sharp turns with that setup yet?

 

No problems yet with the tiny Velcro square. And I actually don't expect to have problems. But I know what you mean. Eventually, I'll probably re-do it with 2 Velcro squares or a Velcro strip equal to 2 squares.

 

I've been a happy customer of pro clip usa ProClip Mounting System  - Choose Your Country for mounting my Garmin Nuvi between my different cars in the family. However the Prius design is big and ugly. I've found that I can just use the standard suction mount on the silver dashboard strip right next to the main display.

Leaving the tell tale suction ring on your windshield is a good way to get your car broken into.

I'm not looking to start a flame war but the Nuvi smokes the $2000 Denso unit that Toyota build into the nav system. I can also update the Nuvi maps much cheaper than Toyota charges to update the Denso.

 

I throw it in the passsenger seat and let it talk.
If someone is with me, then it's with him/her.

 

I have a Garmin Nuvi 260 -- I used a $15 suction mount from the web which I rigged up as a hard mount. This works great at it sits low enough to not be seen from outside the car (unless your really looking for it) which should deter break-ins to the car and high enough to be used by the driver (most useful for left-handers).

 

i had a 2006 nuvi 340, which at the time was 299..they can be had for about 120 nowdays. It was stolen 2 week's after i bought it, normally I would take it out when i parked for the night, or if in a store for more then 30 mins. Ironically it was lifted, while I was in target for no more then 15 mins. I asked the store manager to review the lot camera's, they saw nothing because my car was parked outside the view of the only 2 cam's on the lot...lol. this was in my honda btw, not prius..broken glass everywhere, they stole my GPS and left the cd's and radio. Most of the cd's are burnt anyway

I have nothing right now, no real need anyway..i only travel 3-4 times a year out of state..and i know this town like the back of my hand.

wonder if this guy was the culprint=)

 

Y'all northern hemisphere folks that got your brandy-new units
and have mounted them with little stick-on velcro squares are
gonna be hurtin' as high summer kicks in and you wind up with
ridiculous dash temps when parked. You're going to have little
squares swimming around in lakes of goo. Possibly even if you
get religion about using a windshield shade.
.
I decided that physical hard-mount was the only way...
.
And I really like the aftermarket unit feature that you can take
it OUT of the car and download your whole track of the day's
road-trippin' for the archives.
.
_H*

 

Lol. But I'm curious (stupid) enough that I'm going to have to test that theory myself.

 

I apologize if someone mentioned this concept, but isn't directly in front of the existing Prius MFD (LCD display) THE obvious place to mount an aftermarket GPS unit. Obviously, while in use, the GPS unit would block the use of the MFD touchscreen. So how about a mount that allows the GPS to slide directly up (or to the side) as needed. I'm envisoning a mount that's the same size as the MFD screen, but with a cutout the same size as the aftermarket GPS unit - including a black plastic bezel that allows the aftermarket to blend into the assembly (and dash) for a clean 'factory' look. Since the screens on some of the latest aftermarket GPS units are reasonably large, the 'factory' look may be even better than one may think.