Tip for mounting portable GPS unit
Submitted: Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 09:47
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Capt. Wrongway
G'Day all,
Thought I'd pass this info on, as it may be of assistance to someone. Recently I've been trying to find a spot to mount my old Garmin 12 sat in my 120 Prado. This GPS is now a discontinued model of about two years old, but it's a good unit and has only been used a few times. It's one down-fall is that it needs a totaly unobstructed view of the sky. By this I mean, somewhere above the dash line, not below it. I had hoped to mount it somewhere on the shift console, as I am not keen on drilling or glueing anything on the dash. Anyway ...... I think I came up with a good mounting spot. I removed the driver's side grab-rail, the one nearest the windscreen. I then bent-up a small section of light guage S/Steel and fitted it under the grab-rail, using the same mounting screws. I then fitted the GPS's mounting kit to the plate. It now resides close and tight to the edge of the windscreen, with easy viewing, and still enables the use of the grab-rail. I find that it does'nt obstruct the driving view and is very easy to opperate.
It works for me .... it might work for you?
Regards,
Capt.
Reply By: Member - Jay Gee (WA) - Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 10:52
Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 10:52
Well - they are supposed to need "a totaly unobstructed view of the sky" - but in practice we've left them working on passenger seats, centre consoles are other "no so unobstructed
views of the sky" and they have still worked.
We've used Garmin 12XL in Nissane Patrols and Navaras and Mitsubishi Tritons at work with no problems.
Cheers Jeff
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Reply By: Member - t0me (WA) - Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 11:02
Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 11:02
Good tip Capt. Cheers.
I find my long suction cup holder (for the PDA before you perv's start salivating ;-)works
well. The arm gives my pda some shock obsorbing too, since using it I haven't had it lock up once (except it seems to have problems doing GPS and playing MP3's at the same time).
Cheers.
AnswerID:
127600
Reply By: Truckster (Vic) - Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 11:08
Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 11:08
[ View Image]
works for me.
Note: ignore the temp gauge, didnt have correct sender installed.
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Follow Up By: Member - Brian (Gold Coast) - Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 12:31
Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 12:31
Bruce, that's neat as!! ....
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Follow Up By: Truckster (Vic) - Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 12:40
Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 12:40
It lives there 24/7 now since our nazi party has their zero tolerance policy on speeding... I drive by GPS now.
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Follow Up By: Member - Jay Gee (WA) - Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 13:55
Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 13:55
So do we.
What we really need is for all roads to have barcodes that cars can read as we drive along - the car could just read them and know what speed we should be doing - check with GPS to find what speed we are doing - then interface with the cruise control....
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Follow Up By: Bonz (Vic) - Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 18:41
Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 18:41
Thats not yours T-Man the speedo says "0" hahahaha
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Follow Up By: Truckster (Vic) - Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 22:34
Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 22:34
Thats not noice :P
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Reply By: signman - Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 11:32
Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 11:32
Come and have a look at my setup- just around the corner from the Pipeline
Caltex
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127607
Reply By: Peter W - Friday, Sep 02, 2005 at 13:53
Friday, Sep 02, 2005 at 13:53
G'day Capt.,
I also have an old Garmin 12 GPS and drive a 1998 Prado GXL.
Having purchased a proper Garmin 12 holder I mounted same on the upper dash (above the aircon vents) with the help of strong sticking velcro tape cutting the shape to suit the rounded bottom of the holder.
GPS sits to clearly view the sky and you can adjust the holder to suit driver or passenger operation. Has proven to be very sturdy over some rough drives and does not impair visually.
Have now had in operation for over 18 months with no sun damage to adhesive and agree that the old unit is very capable despite being years old.
I also use the GPS as a better guide to car speed given unreliabilty of speedo and overhead highway indicators.
Cheers.
Peter W.
"Life is not a Rehearsal"
AnswerID:
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