Garmin GPS Placement

[WyoRock]

With a few great ideas from this forum, I've finally found a suitable place to mount my Garmin. It's tucked in a corner of the dash, so not readily visible from outside, yet is easy to view and reach from the driver's seat.

 

 

Above photo shows where I've mounted the Garmin. It's actually attached to the door, not the dash, to be a bit less visible from outside. But you can mount it on the dash as well (but then it has to be positioned a bit further away from the windshield post).

 

 

You should be able to see the pretty thick power cord easily tucked behind the door gasket. At the bottom, you may be able to see a bit of the white part of the wire as it snakes under the dashboard. CAUTION: If mounting the Garmin on the door, leave enough slack in the wire before tucking it behind the door gasket. Otherwise when you open the door all the way, the wire pulls the GPS off the door!

 

 

I used the standard Garmin suction mount, but added a Suction Cup Buddy purchased from eBay. It's a non-adhesive disk that seems to be clear silicone. It's very grippy and is sticking to the hard plastic corner of the door panel. It can also stick to the top of the dash.

 

The other end of the power cord is plugged into a female power receptacle that I wired in to the #10 (ground) and #8 (12V RAP) discussed in http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/topic/155775-2014-rap-retained-accessory-power/ This way the GPS automatically powers on with ignition, and shuts off with ignition off, after I open the driver's door, or 20 minutes later, whichever comes first.

 

Hope this helps others out. It was easy to do and works well for me!

 

[ember1205]

Interesting idea. Personally, I don't believe I would "trust" having it mounted to the door because of the movement and such. And, just one "fall" could completely destroy it as it would almost certainly end up landing on pavement / cement.

 

I'm curious about two things from your setup, though...

 

1) It appears that you have the Traffic antenna. Do you have an issues receiving traffic data without that block resting up on top of the dash? I haven't been able to figure out if its actual positioning has anything to do with the ability to receive the traffic data as it seems to only work when it's up on top of the dash.

 

2) How has the suction cup thing been holding up? I have mine currently on a bean bag on the dash, and it slides around too much for my liking. I need it to be fairly close to me though, and the factory suction cup always falls off when the temps go very high or very low (mid-summer, mid-winter).

[WyoRock]

Interesting idea. Personally, I don't believe I would "trust" having it mounted to the door because of the movement and such. And, just one "fall" could completely destroy it as it would almost certainly end up landing on pavement / cement.

 

I'm curious about two things from your setup, though...

 

1) It appears that you have the Traffic antenna. Do you have an issues receiving traffic data without that block resting up on top of the dash? I haven't been able to figure out if its actual positioning has anything to do with the ability to receive the traffic data as it seems to only work when it's up on top of the dash.

 

• I haven't had a chance to check out whether I still receive traffic data. I have to drive about 80 miles before I get to dense enough "civilization" to receive the traffic data! Once I do, I can report back.

 

2) How has the suction cup thing been holding up? I have mine currently on a bean bag on the dash, and it slides around too much for my liking. I need it to be fairly close to me though, and the factory suction cup always falls off when the temps go very high or very low (mid-summer, mid-winter).

 

• The Suction Cup Buddy (from eBay) has been great. No unauthorized releases from its grip in about 2 weeks. If it does release, odds are it will fall to the driver's side floor. Unless of course, as luck would have it, it releases, as you say, when the door is open. Then splat! I guess to prevent that, I can stick the mount 5 inches passenger-ward on the dash, OR I could epoxy the mini-USB end of the power cord to the Garmin and watch the thing dangle if released.

[ember1205]

I appreciate getting an update if you get to try before I do. I'm going to see about re-routing the wiring on mine and will see if it impacts it when I do.

 

Glue the wire in, huh? So, make it sort of like a noose? If it jumps, it will just hang itself? lol

 

I've had good results with the stock mounting device and suction cup to where it has gone for weeks with no issue. The biggest problem that I seem to run into is when the temps inside the truck get very hot - that's when it lets go from the windshield. The beanbag mount is nice because I can place it where I want, but it doesn't stay put like I want it to. I might just try some of that rubebrized no-slip stuff that you can get at the home improvement stores for your shelves and see if that will keep it in place better.

[Kyle Soldani]

Hmm, neat idea! Here's how mine is mounted using a PanaVise mount (I grew tired of the suction cup always coming off).

 

[PMattras]

The people "without the built in trailer brake" this setup has be working great for me. No issues of falling out and stays firm with the window down. It is out of the way and close enough to see when driving. Out of the sun. I made it so no screws are exposed to cause scratching etc.. With the tinted windows you don't see it from the outside when it is parked. I put a black hat on it as well to prevent it better to be out of view.