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: Awesome!
Summary: 5 Stars
I had my doubts about this when I first purchased it but I'm super glad I did...
The Garmin Nuvi 350 comes with a windshield suction cup mount and a flat base that can be optionally stuck to your dashboard. Since I live in California and it's illegal to suction/stick anything to your windshield, I was forced use the sticky base on my dashboard.
Eventually the suction cup stretched out and would no longer stick to the base when it got warm. Fast forward to vacation: I mistakenly left the suction part behind and when I got home, I had nothing and was forced to find a replacement. After scraping the base off of my dashboard (and I mean SCRAPING. The glue is a pain in the neck to get off) and going through a small bottle of goo gone, I decided I was going to look for something that didn't require me to stick anything to my dashboard.
Yay for this mount! I drive a Mazda 6 Sportwagon. It literally doesn't move no matter what kind of turn I make. Granted - I'm no Mario Andretti but for us average folks, this thing does the job. It feels more substantial than it looks with 4 pretty heavy weights , 1 on each side of the connector and it has a non skid surface underneath to keep it from sliding.
It's also useful because when I'm getting out of my car, I just grab it from the dashboard and stuff it underneath my passenger seat and people walking by have no idea it's in there.
Customer Review: Bulky but worth every penny
Summary: 5 Stars
I live in the Philadelphia area where, like most major cities, there is a real problem with cars being broken into to steal GPS's. A recent newspaper article stated that thieves look for the rings on the windshield left by the suction mounts of the GPS. That way they know there is a fair chance of the GPS unit being in that particular car. So, I started looking for solutions around the dreaded ring.
I was concerned that friction mounts would not be stable enough and tend to slide around when taking turns. Not so, with this product. Our family has a VW Passat, Toyota Camry and Toyota 4Runner and the mount stays still no matter how hard you take a turn. It's also nice that it can be easily repositioned anywhere on the dash and that the passenger can look up shopping, hotels, restaurants, etc. without having to lean over. They can now simply slide it off the dash to do so.
My only complaint is that it is a bit bulky and won't fit into the glove compartment or center console of the VW, so I end up putting it on the floor and covering it with a newspaper. The unit will fit into the Toyota's center consoles although a bit tightly. I imagine it would be difficult to fit into a brief case or purse as well.
I am not a big accessory geek and tend not to buy any extras for cell phones and other gadgets, but this is a must for anyone wanting to protect their car and GPS.
Customer Review: Finally, the right mounting solution
Summary: 5 Stars
I have become addicted to my Garmin Nuvi 660 and used it for six months with a successful windshield mount. But now I have bought a new car. I discovered that the windshield suction mount left an ugly black ring on the window of my old car. (I assume I can get this cleaned up when I detail the car for selling.)
So no way was I going to put one of those on my beautiful new car. I tried the Garmin dashboard mount but shied away from the "permanent" disc. I found the "temporary" disc was just not up to the job of holding this device in place -- at least on my vehicle. I found this very frustrating. I read about the Portable Friction Mount, found a Best Buy store that had it in stock and ran out to buy it.
Though it is not terribly good looking, it does the job very well. I tried whipping around a few tight turns in parking lots and the whole thing stayed put. As another reviewer said, this lets you easily remove the thing and put it on the floor so it's not obvious. That may be more valuable than you would think. I know somebody who removed his Garmin Nuvi (and took it with him) but left the window mount in place. The car was broken into and the window mount alone was stolen. (Probably that was a pretty frustrated thief.)
Also, this will be easy to transfer to a rental car. And it will make it easy for my wife to borrow my Nuvi. Hmmm!
Customer Review: Great alternative to stock mount
Summary: 5 Stars
Due to my job, I use my Garmin GPS unit in many different cars. I tried using the stock windshield mount, but found that after some time the sticky rubber cup began melting(?) in the hot Southern California sun and would leave parts of rubber behind on windshields, which is not only unsightly but also reduced its ability to stick. In addition, there's a trend of car thieves breaking into cars when they see either the GPS mount or the round mark left by the suction cup when GPS owner attempts to conceal the unit. I know this to be a fact because my coworker lost a unit in exactly this way.
Based on these two reasons, I purchased this friction mount from Amazon.com hoping that it would fulfill three requirements of mine:
1. It does not slide around on the dashboard, regardless of how aggressively I drive.
2. It is quickly transported from vehicle to vehicle.
3. It does not leave marks or anything else to indicate that a GPS unit was in the vehicle.
This unit fulfilled all three requirements admirably. One of the cars I drove rattled to the point where the mount would shift as I drove, but not significantly enough to ding this unit. I definitely wish they sold this unit as the stock mount option for their GPS units, but I can understand the reasoning behind providing the cheaper, semi-permanent mounting option.
Customer Review: The perfect mount
Summary: 5 Stars
When I bought this mount 6 months ago, the user reviews gave the impression it is a flawless accessory (as of now, 2289 reviews with an average of 4.9+ !!). I could not agree more. After months of use, on my car and other cars, I still find myself smiling and thanking Garmin for this wonderful device.
My car has a sloping dash. A rental car I recently used had a steep slope and I was skeptical the mount will stay put. I was wrong. This mount refuses to move even a tenth of an inch from where you leave it.
There is no "mounting" step. You just place it on the dash! When your driving is done, you pick it up and keep it away from unfriendly eyes. The nuvi series clips on in a second - so easy that you can do that in the dark. I find the "mount" and "dismount" procedure so simple that I stow away the device and GPS everytime I park and leave my car unattended on a multi-stop shopping trip. I cannot imagine myself doing that with a suction mount.
The round knob allows you to position the GPS at just the angle you want. The GPS screen is some 4 inches above the dashboard, which is more or less at the height most easy to view. I never felt the mount or GPS is intruding my view of the road.
I wish I had one worthy complain to write to add some balance to my review. I just do not have a single complain.