Santa (I lent him the money) left a Garmin C530 GPS and I am wondering where those of you with a portable GPS unit are mounting them.

I don't want a permanent mounting (this is why I bought a unit that can be moved between cars), I don't want a lot of wires hanging about, I don't want to stick it on the windscreen, since it waives a steal-me flag, and I want to cover up or put the GPS unit out of site easily when I park the car.

I thought of three options:
1. Cut a piece of thin plexiglass out that fits in the cubby hole under the radio and sticks out about 4 inches. Fasten maybe with tape. I can mount the GPS with suction cup on this glass-like surface, and cover up when parking. I tried the suction cup on the small area in front of the door, but it will not stick.

2. Stick an upside down drinking glass with a smooth bottom in the cup holder, and use the suction cup on the bottom of the glass. Again, either pop off or cover up when parking.

3. Rig up some sort of plexiglass piece that goes in the center vents, and sticks out. I would then use the suction cup on the smooth plexiglass.

Thanks!

 

Before I got the TCH and XLE with NAVs I had (still do) a Garmin Street Pilot. It has a "bean bag" mount that worked nicely. Easy to plop on the dash during use and easy to stash away when I left the vehicle.

 

You will need an outside antenna as the camry windshield has a reflective coating or something like that.I have a garmin street pilot 2730 and couldnt get a signal,garmin sent me another and had the same problem.I went online at garmin and found i need an antenna.I found one at circuit city for 30 and another 30 for to have it installed.now all is well

 

That's odd. I still use my laptop + GPS and the GPS sensor sat on the dash and worked fine.

 

Just got a Garmin GPS 10x receiver. It has SIRF technology. I don't know how it works, but it picks up the signals very fast (seconds instead of a couple of minutes) and it even picks enough satellites indoors to navigate by where the regular receiver would not even pick a single satellite.

My advise, if looking for a GPS receiver, definately look for one with a SIRF receiver.

 

I've tried my Street Pilot in my TCH and it works just fine without any external antenna but mine is a 2610 FWIW. Usually it locks on at least 5 satellites.
The TCH (and non H Camry) use INTERNAL GPS antennas. They are located at the base of the windshield right next to the hemispherical daylight sensor. It looks like a depressed hole about the size of a dime.

 

Will your model fit in the compartment?

If so, I would:

1) Get a spare power cable and hardwire in through the back
2) Make a piece of plexiglass with a thin layer of rubber on the bottom, to reduce sliding.
3) Suction cup the unit to it and slide it out when driving, stow it behind the door when parked.

Anyway, just my $0.02,

Bigsk8r

 

Anyone have any pictures of theirs installed?

Thanks

 

Thanks for all the suggestions. I will take pictures of whatever I decided to do, and post them. I am leaning towards the Bigsk8r solution.

BTW, I get a pretty good signal even when it is inside the storage cubby hole. Must be the SIRF receiver.

Edit: I was wrong, the signal stinks inside the cubby hole.

 

Here's a 25 page thread on mounting GPS:

http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/t...TOPIC_ID=46749

I still haven't ordered the Garmin Nuvi 660 that I want...I opted to get snow tires/wheels first.