Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: Garmin Portable Friction Dashboard Mount for nüvi Series and StreetPilot C5XX Series GPS Navigators (C530, C550, and C580)
553 of 558 people found the following review helpful:
Best Solution for NUVI in my Prius and my Ford: Theft Protection As Well!!
My Prius has a rough dashboard and a windshield that slopes very sharply. Thus, the suction cup mounts are not good solutions. Fortunately, the friction mount is a great solution. It works much better than I expected. Very stable, does not slide, and lets me adjust my Nuvi to a variety of different angles. I can place the GPS anywhere on the dash or even on the center...
Not on all dashboards
If you are going to use this; be sure not to use a dash cleaner/polisher; be prepared to catch your Garmin and warn your front seat passenger too; and put it on the seat or between seat console for safety' sake.
My Prius has a rough dashboard and a windshield that slopes very sharply. Thus, the suction cup mounts are not good solutions. Fortunately, the friction mount is a great solution. It works much better than I expected. Very stable, does not slide, and lets me adjust my Nuvi to a variety of different angles. I can place the GPS anywhere on the dash or even on the center console. Also works great when transferred to my wife's Ford.
Only downside to the device is that it has a rather large footprint, but not prohibitively large. I like the fact that I can easily use this in both of our family vehicles depending on where we need the GPS.
UPDATE: Now that I have used this mount regularly since May, I have to say this is the best mounting solution I've found for a GPS or any other device for my car. It hasn't slid out of place once!! Given the rise in GPS units being stolen from cars, this mount allows you to easily stash your GPS Unit and mount out of sight and then put it back into position with ease.
2009 Update: Still using this in my Prius and my wife has one too. It's held up quite well. It IS a bit bulky to store out of the way when not in use, but still a good solution. I usually remove my GPS from the mount (a simple process) and then place the mount as far under the seat as it will go. Not perfect, but the best solution I've found to date.
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This mount works great. The selection of Garmin mounts is confusing as some are two parts and some are one. If you have a Nuvi with the included windshield mount, then this is the only part you need to buy. The included mount disassembles at the ball and socket joint and attaches to this one. I can't say it will never come off the dash if I do some really high speed maneuver, but so far it's held steady for all regular driving.
I like that it's easy to move the mount and gps unit down to the floor when I park. Yeah a thief could still see it if they came right up to my car but at least it's not obvious from halfway across the parking lot like a windshield mount is. A thief that sees an empty windshield mount is probably going to assume (correctly) that I've just put the unit in the glove compartment.
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I knew I didn't want to install anything permanent in my car (like adhesive mounts) because it would look strange and be a pain to deal with when I sell it. And I live in California where it is illegal to attach a GPS unit to the windsheild, plus my windsheild is very slanted so it would be a bit too far away there anyway, unless I mount it way up high on the windshield.
This friction mount works well. It allows me to put the GPS on my dash or on my center console and I don't have to mount anything permanently in to my car. And if I'm going on a trip with someone else in their car, it's super easy to bring it along and put it in their car.
It's also good for if you have a passenger that wants to play with and use the GPS, they can just move the mount over to their side of the dashboard.
I recommend this friction mount although have to admit, it looks a bit strange at first (especially with no GPS mounted on it), but you get used to it.
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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!
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While the friction mount on the bottom of the beanbag is pretty darn stable even with stops, starts, and turns I sometimes would find it sliding across the dash. The solution has been to use one of those little 6x4 inch mats sold at Radio Shack or Walmart for keeping cellphones on the dash. The mat is sticky on one side but leaves no marks or glue. I have not had one slide since using the mat. I even bring the mat with me in rental cars. This gives a very secure mount that is very easy to take from car to car.
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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.
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I purchased the Garmin Nuvi 350 to use for work since I travel quite a bit for my job. I was hesitant about buying the friction mount because I worried that it wouldn't stay put. I'm happy to report that I was wrong.
I recently used this friction mount with my Nuvi 350 on a long trip from NJ to Maine. Not only did it stay put exactly where I placed it on my dashboard for the entire trip, but it stayed put in a near accident. On one of the many highways we traveled, there was a car accident ahead and everyone in my lane slammed on the brakes. Now, mind you, we were all traveling at approximately 60-65 miles per hour. I'm most happy to report that we didn't collide with anyone. ---> Amazingly, the friction mount and my Nuvi didn't move an inch.
You can buy this friction mount with complete confidence. If it didn't move in the situation I was in, it won't move with normal driving. Not only that, but it is easy to remove and stow your friction mount and Nuvi without leaving evidence that you have a GPS (now a favored target for theives).
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I justed pulled my Nuvi 660 off the window attachment, the ball just popped right out, then pushed it onto this ball. It works great, even has a lock/unlock, so you can slide the GPS out of the base easily, or lock it into place. It's easy to move the GPS to get just the right angle but it stays put once It's how I like it. I don't have too much trouble with the unit sliding around. I have a large, flat dash and if it were going anywhere, there's nothing to stop it, but it stays where I put it(I'm not a speeder and don't take turns sharper than I have to). As I live in California where I can't use the window attachment, I wish it would have come with this option. I wouldn't want to stick sticky tape on my leather dash. So far, I"m real happy with it.
UPDATE: After a month or so driving around with this thing on my dash, I'm as happy as ever. It hasn't moved at all, over pumps, up or down really steep hills, even with the power cord pulling on it (as I have it plugged into my cigarette lighter all the time). It's light enough and small enough to move easily and tuck away, it doesn't get in the way at all when I'm driving. I think it's perfect and I love it.
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Although I was skeptical, this holds onto the dash in both my Highlander and RX300. The ball attached directly to the mount that came with my Nuvi 360. No other kits were required.
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As one of the other reviewers stated, it is unclear whether certain Garmin GPS units require one or more additional parts for the portable mounts. This portable friction mount works perfectly with the Garmin Nuvi 660 -- you do need the bracket that holds the GPS unit from the suction cup mount that ships with the Nuvi 660. Just remove it and snap it on to the ball of the friction mount.
The mount itself works perfectly -- my GPS stays put in typical California driving (which has included a few sudden braking maneuvers at rush hour). Excellent solution for those who want to be able to use the GPS in multiple vehicles.
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Recent discussions in the Garmin Portable Friction Dashboard Mount for nüvi Series and StreetPilot C5XX Series GPS Navigators (C530, C550, and C580) forum
