Garmin Portable Friction Mount
by Garmin
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List Price: Our Price: $17.69 You Save: $22.30 (56%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: GPS or Navigation System See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Garmin Portable Friction Mount
Customer Review: Garmin Mount vs. Bracketron Mat
Summary: 5 Stars
Before finding this product, using Nuvi always was a drag as I usually took the suction cup off the windshield when not in use (to divert attention), or it fell off for some reason, or it left marks on the windshield. Plus I hated having to aim for a spot on the windshield just to find that its blocking my view, and having to re-stick this thing cup again.
After getting this product, using my Nuvi is a snap, I just throw the mat ANYWHERE on the dashboard and the Nuvi is good to go. Most importantly, it really sticks well, and I NEVER had my Nuvi slide from its place (keep in mind that I'm an aggressive driver, and I sometimes take very sharp quick turns)
Things to note if you are comparing this item to the Bracketron mat. I think this product is better than its rival (Bracketron UFM-100BL Nav-Mat GPS Friction Dash Pad) which I also own, for the following reasons
1. its lighter
2. its significantly smaller and occupies less area on the dashboard
3. the nuvi mounting hook is already there (with the Bracketron mat you have to stick your suction cup to the mat) which might fall off sometimes, less flexible, and you have to live with trying to stick and un-stick the damn cup to the mat every time you take it out of place. (Keep in mind this product is more expensive than the other mat since it includes the hook, with the other mat you have to provide your own hook, or you can't use it
4. it has an octopus shape (4 independent sides) which is very flexible and sticks really well on tilted or uneven surfaces, unlike the other mat, which is round and inflexible.
5. the pre-attached hook, provide so much more flexibility in adjusting the view of your nuvi, It just moves in every direction you can think of. it also rotate 360 degrees once you slide the un-locking button, which gives even more flexibility.
Although its double the price of the other mat, I believe its well worth it, and I will gladly buy an additional one to keep as spare, thats how much I like it.
Customer Review: Just the right mount for a Garmin Nuvi (works with all Nuvis)
Summary: 5 Stars
The first time I tried this mount was in a rental car for a Garmin C530, and I never thought it would stay on the slightly sloping dash of the Pontiac Grand Prix but it held firm going up and down San Francisco's hilly roads. That prompted me to buy one for my car. Essentially this mount is a bean bag with a mouse pad like rubber base but its engineered to stay where you put it and not slide around unless you move it. The good thing is that it stays put even if you brake suddenly, and if you drive in bumper to bumper rush hour traffic like me every day you'll appreciate this even more!
The advantages are:
- No sticking on windshield. This is a BIG advantage as the windshield mount starts to come off easily after a year of usage, less if you leave it in your car while it's parked in the sun. There is nothing worse than your GPS sliding off while you're driving round a tricky bend, especially if you are new to the area. Sometimes it can be downright dangerous.
- The windshield mount also alerts thieves that a GPS is in the car. A friction mount can be placed down under the car seat when you leave the car without needing to disconnect anything so that you're ready to go quickly when you come back to the car.
- The other big advantage is the ability to move it around to the position you want it. If a passenger is sitting in your car you can just slide it to their side and they can input the information while you are driving. It also makes it easy to slide it closer to yourself. Since I have the Nuvi 660 I often make calls with the bluetooth feature while driving, it is easy to slide it towards me when I am speaking to someone in order to get better voice reception.
This mount works for all Nuvis as they have the "snap the ball in the joint". If you buy any model of Nuvi then this is all you need, no other adapter parts are needed. It's also easy to switch this mount between cars or move it to a rental car when you travel. It has been the best and most useful accessory I could buy for my Nuvi 660.
Customer Review: Great option for dash mounting our Garmin
Summary: 5 Stars
Although there are already well over 2000 reviews, I wanted to add my own in response to some of the negative comments. I hesitated before purchasing this mount because it looked huge in the picture. However, we did not want to deal with sticky mounts and wanted to be able to use whatever solution we had in two different vehicles. For security, we also wanted to be able to quickly remove the GPS unit itself.
After watching the video review posted by another person here, the size of the mount was easy to see and we decided to give it a try. We have been extremely happy with the purchase. The mount is made of high quality materials, stays in place without any issues, and works flawlessly with our Garmin.
Several reviewers complained about the size in relation to the mount being too bulky to store in the glove box or other locations. I was baffled by these comments, personally, because we leave the mount in the car all the time. We do not feel it is necessary to "secure" the mount itself, only the GPS unit. We simply remove the GPS unit with one hand and store it away or tuck it in our pocket/bag after putting it in a protective case.
Other comments pertained to the mount sliding around after a while, and hypothesized it was due to prolonged exposure to heat and/or cold. Since we have purchasd the mount, we have been in temperatures between 25 and 100 degrees and experienced no residual issues. Our dashes tend to get very dusty, especially during the Spring, but that did not cause our mount to slide around or move out of place.
I have been in vehicles with very awkward hand/or small dash space, so if your dash is very small/awkward or your car extremely small, this mount will probably not meet your needs. However, even a window mounted GPS unit by itself would be a problem in a very small car. Overall, we highly recommend this for use with the compatible Garmin GPS units.
Customer Review: Have the StreetPilot I3? You NEED This!
Summary: 5 Stars
The Garmin StreetPilot is an amazing driving tool, and I don't know what I ever did without it! I have been living in Central Florida for 2 years and do not know my way around at all. I am originally a New Yorker and felt stressed driving anywhere in Florida because I would always get lost so I never left the house! I can go anywhere now and with confidence BUT... the screen is so small on my Garmin that I have trouble seeing the display with the included windshield suction cup mount plus the fact with the hot Florida sun it falls off on its own! I like to see the display because it shows the distance before the next turn and I like that. I drive a Lexus RX300 and was NOT going to let somebody install a permanent mounting system NO WAY JOSE! I did not want to screw up my beautiful interior with any permanent structure! So I hunted the internet for a solution! This Friction mount is the best! It holds my Garmin I3 perfectly and allows me to place it as close as I need it on my dash! Does it slide around? NOPE! I have made some hairy turns and have not made it budge yet! Its bean bags at the bottom with rubber underneath and the spot where the Garmin is placed is a ball joint like on the windshield mount. You just remove your Garmin off the windshield mount ball and place it on the new Friction ball. You can swivel your Garmin so that you can see it the way you want. When I leave the car I just grab the whole unit, bean bag and all and place it in my carry bag. I don't have to release it like with the windshield mount. For the ladies, if you have a decent sized purse/pocketbook (it fits in mine and I don't use the huge tote type bags) the entire thing should fit. The little sides of the bean bags fold over so it's pretty flexible. BUY THIS, it's the only thing other than rechargeable batteries and a charger that you would need to buy for your Garmin.Customer Review: Well worth the price
Summary: 5 Stars
I use this with my Nuvi 660 and have had it for about 2 months now. You have to remove the rectangular mount where the traffic antenna/power adapter inserts from the window suction cup mount that comes with the 660 and install it on this piece, so you will be left with just one functional mount. That's okay, though, because I don't miss the suction cup mount at all since this one, as others have said, can be easily moved from vehicle to vehicle or left on the floorboard to keep out of sight. I use it in a VW Golf, so not a lot of real estate on the dash and what there is is curvy, but it works just fine and stays put wherever I leave it, even during sharp turns and high speed.
Because of the placement of the release button on the 660 mount (on the bottom of the unit) and the relatively short ball post along with the tight spacing of the bean bags, there's not much room to quickly dismount the Nuvi to take with me during brief stops on a trip, but the ball joint allows you to tip up the nuvi easily to push your fingers between the mount and the nuvi to get the release. The ball joint isn't super-stiff (it didn't come that way out of the package), which worries me a little bit if it's going to loosen and sag over time, but I guess I'll deal with that when it comes down to it.
Maybe I'm just imagining it, but satellite acquisition seems a touch faster, too, now that I've got the unit down on the dash--when using the suction cup mount, I had to keep the Nuvi up near the roof of the car sometimes obscured by the roofline (it's a Golf--not a lot of windshield to work with without obscuring my view).
This was well worth the additional cost in my view. My brother has a Street Pilot C550 which would work with this mount out of the box. I've strongly recommended it to him.