I got my wife a Garmin Nuvi 350 GPS for her Versa. Without going in to a lot of detail, let's just say that she really needs one. Anyhow, I didn't want her to have to mess with cables and suction mounts whenever she wanted to use it. I was looking for a simple solution that would place the GPS within easy reach and not require her to look away from the road too much. This is what I did:

First I ordered an Arkon vent mount (GN047). Here's what it looks like:

Next, I ordered a cheap car charger cord for the Garmin from ebay. I will be using the straight OEM cord in this installation,but I needed a second cord so we can still switch the GPS to my car when we want to. I didn't want to cut or alter the OEM cord in any way so I decided to install a power plug under the dash so I could just plug it in. I picked up a standard 12V power plug and installed it at the fuse box. Here's the positive connection:

And here's the ground:

Then here's the plug all wired up:

Next, I had to gain access to the air vent to run the power cord. First I took off the top dash piece by pulling it forward toward me:

Next, I removed the two screws at the top of the face piece that surrounds the stereo and A/C controlls. Then you can easily remove it:

Once I had that out, it was pretty easy to route the power cable through the vent and down under the dash. Sorry I don't have any shots of this part, but it was a bad angle for photos. It's fairly self-explanitory when you have it appart. Here's what it looks like with the mount installed:



Here's the GPS unit snapped into the mount:

And because these GPS units give verbal instructions (and this model even plays MP3s) I can use a short stereo headphone cable to connect it to the stereo if I want:

My wife is very happy with the setup. She'll leave the mount in place all the time and simply snap the GPS in place when she needs it.It doesn't get in the way of anything and she can still open the storage compartment.

Forgot to mention...The way that I wired the power plug under the dash, she doesn't even need to hit the power button on the GPS unit.It will turn on when she starts the car and shut down with it too.

WOW..... great job....... and you are trained well! I guess it's true, a happy wife means a happy life!

Great details on the istall. I use the 250 Garmin and I stick it to the window. I usually charge the unit and it runs for about 3 hours before I need to recharge it. My main usage if to see how fast or slow the student is going without making it obvious.

Driving Instructor wrote:WOW..... great job....... and you are trained well! I guess it's true, a happy wife means a happy life!

Great details on the istall. I use the 250 Garmin and I stick it to the window. I usually charge the unit and it runs for about 3 hours before I need to recharge it. My main usage if to see how fast or slow the student is going without making it obvious.

Thanks. I had fun doing the job. It only took about an hour or so. That's funny how you use yours to check the students speed..lol. And yes, a happy wife does indeed mean a happy life!

question about the placement of the install...does it get in the way of the heater? If you have your heat on in the car, does the GPS get too warm? Just wondering.

I'm against installing anything that attaches to the vents because it could overheat. Plus I think it looks tacky doing it that way. I prefer to install it above the dash directly in the center. That's just my two cents.

How hot is the air from the heating vents?

If it is below the operating temperature range of the Garmin... which goes up to like 140F - I don't see how the Garmin could overheat.

pindropsound wrote:question about the placement of the install...does it get in the way of the heater? If you have your heat on in the car, does the GPS get too warm? Just wondering.

I wondered about that too before I did it but it's not a problem. First of all, when my wife runs the heater she has it blowing at the floor (heat rises) or up at the windshield to defrost/defogg. She rarely has the heat coming out of the dash vents. Secondly, even if she does run the heat through there it simply makes it warm..not hot. If you mount a GPS up against your windshield on top of the dash on a hot summer day it will get much hotter than this one will. An added plus is that in the summer when she does have the A/C coming through that vent, it keeps the Garmin cool.

I chose this way for a few reasons. My wife is only 5' tall so it's uncomfortable for her to reach up to a unit that is stuck to the windshield. She can reach (and see) this way much better. Also I did it this way so she never has to mess with wires or mounts. As soon as she snaps it in the cradle it turns on. I think it looks great there, but that's personal taste. We really like the benifit of being able to take it and use it in other cars. I can use it in mine or take it with us when fly somewhere and then pop it in the rental car.

very nice!!

I know this post is a little bit old, hehe, but I had to give my 2 cents as well...

I use a very similar (if not the same) setup with my iPod, and I was also worried for the temperature, but I was forgetting something, every vent has a switch to open/close it (right in the bottom of the vent)... I always keep that vent closed, so the iPod doesn't get too cold or too warm...

Just an idea...

I was thinking about installing some things like this with the wires in the vents but I was afraid that if the wires in the vent ever got hot enough it could cause problems with the product.

Are the wires ok in the vents? I hardly use my heat anyways but if I did would they be ok?