A great way to mount your Garmin

Older post, but as long as the subject keeps coming up, this is worth answering.

I guess if you plan on keeping the car until you junk it, it an okay mount. A permanent mount like the one you show is a little harsh and hard core for resale value of a car. Plus if you went through the trouble of drilling into your trim panel why wouldn't you have also fish your power wire though the dash and out the trim panel as well for cosmetics?

Having it on the passenger sun visor is too far away. I guess I'll keep my bean bag mount. I can move it wherever I want and it is always close by.

Pro-Fit now has mounts that screw to the dash using the dash mounting screws. I just noticed they have some with the Nuvi ball already installed. I had one for my cell phone. Got rid of that cellphone but had the mount left over. Got one of the Garmin AMP mounts to adapt the Pro-fit mount to the Nuvi. Works great.

i have a vent mount and i love it

Some people do not predicate all their decisions in life on what the cheapest way to do everything is. If everyone based all their decisions on cost then everyone would have been driving a Yugo and we all know that didn't happen.

If you spend $50,000 on a vehicle and the worst you could face is a lousy $100 to replace a small trim panel if you had to. It's no big deal if it makes for a far superior way of mounting the unit and also far less noticeable to potential thieves.

As far as for fishing the wires through the dash I also use the same type mount in my Corvette Convertible and move the cradle and the traffic receiver to that vehicle when I use the GPS in it. So the only part that normally stays in either vehicle when the GPS is not mounted is just the hardly noticeable base with the mounting ball.

Yeah I don't like the vent mount, my son out his weight on it get out of the vehicle and broke the vent.

That's what makes us all different, a very small few spend that kind of money on a car yet alone two of them, then drill into the dash.
That type of mount does not allow for very much adjustment either left or right and up or down, plus the GPS is below the sight line of the windshield, making it hard to use with out taking your eyes off the road for longer periods of time by looking down below the dash. So not the safest for people around you either.

I wouldn't Hack up the dash board of a $50,000.00 auto just because you have the bucks, mainly because it doesn't look good, especially with such a restrictive mount for movement, but that my opinion and I wouldn't recommended drilling a dash board unless you drive a beater car.

I only reccomend the bean bag also.

Have to admit the vent mount seems a little iffy to me. I realize that the GPS doesn't weigh much but doubt that the auto makers designed the vents to hold objects. I plan on getting a bean bag eventually but in the mean time my two main vehicles have big enough cup holders that I put the winsheild mount in them and angle the unit enough that I can see it if I need to. Since it has TTS I don't REALLY need to see the map, I hear what road to turn on and when. An occasional glance is the most it gets and should get.

This is a personal preference issue, I don't like them but to each.....

The mount has the same exact amount of adjustment up and down and side to side as the suction cup mount does. It is a standard mount designed and sold by Garmin to be used with all of their ball mount style GPS units. It is even the only mount that is included in some of their kits.

It is in about the same exact position that most navigation screens are located at in factory installed automotive navigation screens I have seen. It is no more distracting to glance at then the speedometer or the radio are and far more stable and easier to reach for both the driver and the passenger then the suction mount or bean bag. I'm not speculating like you are but have actually used all three in my car. It does not block a portion of your forward vision like the windshield suction mount that you prefer and that at a minimum California and Minnesota have outlawed. I do drive to the San Diego and Los Angeles areas quite often and it meets their new mounting requirements.

Many Many Thanks! To all the posters in this thread for their insight and suggestions for the best GPS mounting solutions... This is just one of the reasons that keeps me coming back to POI Factory week after week!

Does anyone know how to mount a nuvi so that it cannot be removed, or at least not removed easily? I know the quick disconnect mount makes that hard to do. Maybe build a box around it with the front opened? Any thoughts? (Going into secure vehicles - meaning the public would never have access to the interior but needs to be somewhat secure from easy possible theft by others in the company)

Secure vehicles sounds interesting, does your company provide camera surveillance in the parking lot? If so, you may not need to go to extreme measures to protect your Nuvi other than keeping it out of sight.

I use a bean bag and I am tottally happy with it.

Thanks fo r the imput.....we were just going to order one......you people are great

I have always mounted my GPS low in the left side of the front window. It is easy to reach and isn't blocking and view out the front of the window. Because it is next to the A pillar it is blocked from an outside view. The only drawback is the cable run from the outlet.

I know that California still bans window mounts but that still leaves lots of us with that option.

Bob

Our local Walmart (Winchester, VA) sells all of the mounting accessories at about 1/2 or less the cost of Garmin including bean bag and vent mounts.

I've used the beanbag on & off since my first StreetPilot back in '98. Works good but looks amateurish IMHO.

I've used a vent clip with my iQue 3600 for the last 5 years or so and those that say damage will be done to the vent are right. My vent is broken but still holds the iQue OK.

What I did for my wife's Subaru is I took a Ram Mount and the cradle that came with the Nuvi 760 and epoxied the Ram mount to the Garmin cradle as in picture four with JB Weld, cut off the top clasp that goes over the top of the Nuvi 760 so as to make it easier to get in & out.
http://www.ram-mount.com/mount/garmin_nuvi700_mounts.htm#ram...

Then I used a door that the he Subaru has that flips up there above the radio that probably covers the space in the dash that A Subaru GPS fits into. I then used JB Weld to epoxy the ball from the Ram mount inside there. I'm more than happy with the results. The mount and cable stay put, and the Nuvi 760 comes out with a push on the button on the bottom as easy as can be.

I have six picture which I hope are self explanatory.

http://web.me.com/paulchristenson/filechute/one.jpg
http://web.me.com/paulchristenson/filechute/two.jpg
http://web.me.com/paulchristenson/filechute/three.jpg
http://web.me.com/paulchristenson/filechute/four.jpg
http://web.me.com/paulchristenson/filechute/five.jpg
http://web.me.com/paulchristenson/filechute/six.jpg

I would rather not epoxy anything to my car - it's leased.

Yea know. Everyone has a preference for mounting their GPS unit. I have used the vent mount for years with no problem in the Lexus 350 and it can easily be removed.
However, all the other options are also good. It also depends on the type of vehicle you drive and the suspension. A vent mount would never work in my sports car.

Well, it is inside a flap door and if need be, I could unepoxy it. And I didn't recommend doing this, just showing what I was able to do.

And, if it's leased it's not your car. But probably wouldn't do it either.

Best mount as a whole.

The car is a lease, he doesn't want to put any wholes in it.

with Bean Bag you can take unit away and not worry about it. The window mounts leave tell tale circle

mark

I agree. ProClip mounts are the way to go although I think they are a little pricey! It gives a nice clean pro install look. I use one for my GPS and the other for my Sirius in two different mount locations in my truck.

They are pricey but:
1. quality material
2. well designed
3. preserves that OEM look