Customer Reviews

Car Vent Mount for Garmin Nuvi 750 760 770 650 660 670 680 200 200W 250 250W 260 270 350 360 370 GPS

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Assembly required. Instructions were just a few sentences and were not enough. The ram mount does not bolt on properly to the main unit. There is not enough space. I had to fasten it with only one bolt that was provided instead of two. It turned out not to be an issue though because one bolt holds it on strong. Yet I don't understand how the mountguys (who make this unit) sell this, knowing both screws don't fasten properly. I also had loosen the hinge and flip it so it traveled vertically instead of horizontally. It seemed this was a rubiks cube problem! You use your own garmin cradle and it attaches to the unit. There is very little space to attach one end of the garmin car charger to the back of the cradle once the cradle is attached to the mount, though it is just enough.

I finally configured it to work on my car vent despite the instructions and flawed assembled parts. It took a lot of time. However, it now works and it's pretty sturdy. I use it for my nuvi 350. I must say I am now pleased with this mount.

One other concern is the heat from the vent hitting the back of the garmin. I e mailed mountguys but they never responded. Garmin says that the temperature of the Nuvi should not exceed 145 F degrees. I measured the climate temperature with a thermometer of the heat coming out of my car vent when set at the highest temperature. It was 145 degrees F. Not good.

To deal with this, I have to turn down the heat or redirect the heat to the floor vents so I don't have to risk too much heat hitting the nuvi. After two weeks I found myself being very aware of the garmin by feeling it to see if it is too hot when using the heat. I had to fiddle with the climate control settings frequently. I tried to direct the louvers to blow the air towards another direction away from the garmin, but because of the mount, you have little room to move the louvers. Finally I stuffed velcro across the vent to block most of the heat. That works. However, when I feel the top of the dashboard directly above that vent, it is about 25% hotter than the other vents. I wonder if blocking the heat backs up the heat, causing heat sump and possible damage to the air channels or wiring underneath the dashboard. Again, I am forced to redirect the hot air to the floor.


On a plus side, having the car charger continually plugged into the cradle means that I never have to charge my garmin in my house. This is convenient and might outweigh the inconvenience of fiddling with the climate controls. I think mounting it on the vent allows me to hide the car charger wire more easily, as opposed to if it were mounted on top of the dash or on the windshield with a big black ugly wire hanging down.

I did talk to a Garmin tech about battery replacement and he told me the lithion ion battery will last 2-3 years. A probable $200 estimated charge will be the cost to replace it, said the tech.

Another plus is it is easier to reach out and touch the screen when the nuvi is mounted on the vent. It is just inches away from my right hand.

I purchased this for my NUVI 660 to be mounted on a 2002 Acura CL. I had some reservations after reading the review, but decided to get it anyway since it was the only one I could find and take my chances.

This mount must be a newer model. Although it did require some assembly, the mounting plate was already bolted to the NUVI ball adapter by both screws/bolts. Now, sliding this mounting plate onto the main mounting unit did require quite strong pressure. I received installation instructions consisting of 2 pages, but putting everything together was quite straightforward and I only referred to the instructions when I had a doubt.

In my specific case, the vent mount did not fit in the left-center vent (the Acura has two center vents) due to the design of the dashboard. I had to install it on the right-center vent, a little farther than I would have liked, but no big deal. The whole process took me less than 20 minutes and that included my trying different install options.

Overall, I think it serves its purpose as an alternative to the dash mount and it's a keeper for me.

My dashboard is curved, so a vent mount was the only way to go to avoid using the windshield.

There was very little assembly(no tools were required) though it was a little confusing because of bare bones directions.

While the mount works, I found that the weight of the unit would pull the mount out of the vent if I went over even a moderate bump. After some experimenting I solved the problem as follows:

The mount has two plastic clips that attach to the vent and a latch on the bottom that supports the weight of the Nuvi and provides stability. That latch, which I rest right below the vent against the console, was dislodging from its position when I hit a bump, which meant that the Nuvi had nothing to support its weight and would pull out of the vent.

I put a strip of velcro on the console right below the latch, and then for added thickness put another strip of velcro on top of the first strip(note--do not remove the backing from the second strip or you will have the glue exposed). Problem solved. Now the latch is lodged securely, and does not slip when I hit a bump because of the velcro right below it.

Nonetheless, even with normal driving I find that from time to time the plastic clips in the vent start to pull out, and I have to push them back in.

For my car this vent mount was the only solution. I gave it only three stars because while it works, it required the tweaking that I described above.

Update 3-4-2008: A few weeks ago I purchased the Garmin Portable Friction Mount to replace this unit, which seemed to keep loosening up and come out altogether on a very sharp turn. I have written a review for the Friction Mount and think that it is a better solution than this vent mount for my different cars.

I ORDERED THIS MOUNT FOR MY WIFES CARAVAN. WHAT THEY DON'T TELL YOU IS THE MOUNT ONLY WORKS ON VERTICAL VENTS, WHICH WAS DISAPPOINTING. I STILL TRIED TO INSTALL IT ON OUR OTHER TWO VEHICLES WHICH HAVE HORIZONTAL VENTS. THE MOUNT IS UNSTABLE AND MOVES CONSIDERABLEY WHILE YOU ARE DRIVING. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS MOUNT TO ANYONE, ESPECIALLY WITH THE MULTITUDE OF OTHER OPTIONS OUT THERE. I AM TRYING TO RETURN MINE, BUT MFX, THE THIRD PARTY SELLER IS NOT ANSWERING THEIR TELEPHONES.

The description on this mount would be more accurate if it just stated that it was a car vent mount for the Garmon Nuvi Series. I was charged with buying a Nuvi 255W and a vent mount for a gift. I took a chance on this one as the model I bought was not listed in the description. Having never laid eyes on the items in the Nuvi package, I just couldn't figure out how the GPS was supported this "ball on a clip" but every mount for the Nuvi had this ball. I finally found a site with a picture of the cradle that comes with the Nuvi. The ah ha moment. The cradles that come with the Nuvi support this "ball". I now have both in my posession and have determined that this product will work with the Nuvi 255W. It will probably also work with any GPS in the Nuvi series.

I just got my car vent mount for my Nuvi 650 and installed it in my Highlander in about 30 seconds - I love it!!! So much better than the suction cup that came with the unit and I didn't like the "bean bag" look. Highly recommend!

I got this product because some states (like California) have made it illegal to use the windshield mounts. It does snap into the cradle alright, but not with the car charger cord installed. I consider this a design flaw, so be advised if you're going on a long trip where you'd need to charge the unit with the car charger.

I LOVE this air vent mount & couldn't be happier with it. I have an Infinity G35 & fits perfect. Personally, I don't like the way portable GPS units look when they're suctioned to the window or the dash with wires hanging all over the place. It's just not aesthetically appealing in my opinion. So maybe they could of given more descriptive directions, but come on it isn't brain surgery! I didn't find it difficult to mount & I'm a girl ;). It's very sturdy & it's super easy to pop the unit in & out of. I especially love how the mount stays plugged in. You don't have to mess with cords or unplugging anything if you want to take your nuvi with you. Just pop it out & off you go.

I was excited to receive my mount just 3 days after ordering it (the fastest I'd ever received anything off of Amazon doing standard shipping!) As soon as I ripped open that little box, it wasn't but just a couple of minutes that I had the vent mount assembled and ready to go - I really didn't even need to read the directions, but made sure to double check them before I attached the mount to my vent (I have an '06 Corolla, which luckily comes with horizontal slats on the vents).

I only bought a GPS (Nuvi 660) for an upcoming vacation to a different state. After buying such an expensive piece of equipment, I was rather unimpressed with the suction cup mount that it came with. I checked into the beanbag mount at local retailers, but found they were $30+ to purchase. I didn't like how they looked and thought they might fall off just as easy, plus it seems like a huge attraction to thieves that my GPS is just sitting up there for all to see. So, you can imagine my surprise when I jumped online and found something that attaches to my vent and for only $10! Even if it didn't work, it didn't seem like such a big waste of money & time.

The vent mount turned out to be worth my money. It was easy to clip on, pop on my GPS, and go! They say the stabilzing bar is optional to use, but I definitely had to use it to keep the vent from moving downward because of the weight. It was easy to remove the GPS off the mount and just as easy to detach the mount off the vent. I don't have much advice to offer if you have vertical slats on your vents, but when looking at the mount, it doesn't seem like it would be hard to adjust with a little bit of creative maneuvering.

All in all, I highly recommend this product for the price it sells at. I couldn't be any happier with my purchase!

This mount has a major flaw in its design, you have to use the Nuvi cradle that came with your GPS, but the problem is the cradle does not fit correctly into the mount with the power cable attached to the back of the cradle. My work around is to make sure the Nuvi is fully charged when I need it and use the side USB connector when the battery gets low. The side USB connector works if you're navigating to a destination, but otherwise, the Nuvi thinks you're trying to connect to a computer. Also, this vent mount easily moves from center to left or right when you turn the car, it's too loose and there's no way to tighten to minimize this swivel action. The two stars for me is the mount fits well in either center vents of a 2008 BMW 328i.