I'm looking at buying a GPS for my car, but I don't want to use the suction cap that comes with them. I want to be able to mount the GPS in the car so that it either looks integrated (ie fibreglassed into the centre console) or so I can hide it. It's mainly for security reasons.

My ideal solution would be to buy a DVD headunit with a built-in GPS but they're way out of my price range.

I've thought of mounting it where the ash tray goes, but I reckon its too low and out of the way to be practical.

The best idea I've thought of so far was to mount it so that it sits inside the pocket below the headunit. Mount it on rails so that it slides out - sort of like a headunit with a slide-out screen. That way it could be completely hidden, but you could slide it out with ease. The only issue with this is that I have absolutely no idea how I'd actually go about doing it lol

Does anyone know how I could mount it in the pocket, or if there's anywhere else I could mount it? I'd be willing to make something, but my DIY skills are pretty lacking (I've never fibreglassed before but I'd give it a go). The only other requirement is that I don't want to hack into my trim - anything I do has to be reversible.

Cheers

Actually i would be very interested in knowing if this is possible too! My gps just keeps faling off my window no matter how many times or how hard i press to keep it on there. Suction cups fail.
The security would also be a bonus as i always take mine down when im parked in town so nobody can see it.

Great idea, the integration..... but remember that a GPS unit has to get a fix on a number of satellites and unless you have a remote receiver/antenna which can plug into the GPS unit itself, then it needs to be mounted near-ish the windscreen.

I bought a couple of small TomTom One's (latest shape) a few months ago..... they don't have provision of an external GPS antenna AFAIK ( they DO allow for connection of a traffic-radio antenna via the sole mini-usb port).
By buying other brands you may find one where an optional extra GPS antenna can be attached.

If you want to avoid windscreen mounting, TomTom sell plastic discs which can be attached to the dash and you suction the unit onto this disc (no doubt it'd be easy tomake something similar yourself, and likely cheaper). There is also a brand on mounting custom-made (has a part for various brands of GPS, which attaches to another part specific to your vehicle...... searching....... ProClip is the brand).... its pricey, I believe.

How about a fibreglass mount on the bottom of the A pillar?

remember that a GPS unit has to get a fix on a number of satellites and unless you have a remote receiver/antenna which can plug into the GPS unit itself, then it needs to be mounted near-ish the windscreen.

Thanks for the heads-up :)


TomTom sell plastic discs which can be attached to the dash and you suction the unit onto this disc (no doubt it'd be easy tomake something similar yourself, and likely cheaper). There is also a brand on mounting custom-made

Something like plastic discs would definitely make the task easier. Thanks again :D


How about a fibreglass mount on the bottom of the A pillar?

I thought about that, but I'm worried it might be too far out of the way to operate. At least when you have your GPS suction capped to the windscreen you can slide it out with ease if you want to play around with it.


The security would also be a bonus as i always take mine down when im parked in town so nobody can see it.

I live on campus at university so GPS thefts do happen :( I know I wouldn't use it if I had to hide it in my glovebox every time I left the car.

you could always mount it where your ash tray is
or get a h/u with a GPS built in

The only other requirement is that I don't want to hack into my trim - anything I do has to be reversible.Best solution there is to pick up a spare from a wreckers and hack into that one; if it works, cool, if it doesn't, you haven't stuffed your only trim. And if you want to reverse it, just keep your original trim lying around, and swap it back out when the time comes.

This was my solution with a Garmin c320

http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57832

Cheers

Depending on you GPS unit - plenty of new GPS chipsets can get a fix even undercover. These include the SIRF III chipsets and a few others.

If you have a relatively newer GPS unit, you should still be able to get a satellite fix. It may take longer, but you will get one.

I have a SIRF III Bluetooth GPS receiver - To get a fix quickly, I leave it sitting next the gear stick. Once it's locked on a signal, i can sit it under my headunit in the Din pocket, even in my center console!!

I am very interested in the factory mounting of portable GPS units. But, I would much prefer to have the system use the screen i've got.
Its a Pioneer AVH P6850 thing I had installed when I bought the car so its about 2 years old.
It does have touch screen and, like a computer, Iwant to have the GPS to output its images to the screen. Bonus if it can also use the pioneer touch functions.

I've asked the shops around me but the 12yr old 'customer service representitive' just says "nah mate, wot cha need is dis 15" sub!...Be Wikid" mostly because he has no idea about anything else. **WARNING GENERALIZATION ONLY**

Does anyone know if these portable GPS units output video to other screens??? and accept the touch input? saveing that, I will have to flush fit one.

Looks pimpin, Looks like a GPS

http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/3602/interiorfrontdashfq2.jpg

Best solution there is to pick up a spare from a wreckers and hack into that one; if it works, cool, if it doesn't, you haven't stuffed your only trim. And if you want to reverse it, just keep your original trim lying around, and swap it back out when the time comes.
Yeah, I have a spare centre console I can butcher up.


This was my solution with a Garmin c320
http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=57832
That's pretty cool :) Not quite what I want to achieve though - I'm anal about making it LOOK integrated, and I'm worried that that might not be enough to deter your average low-life thief.


Does anyone know if these portable GPS units output video to other screens??? and accept the touch input?
I thought about that too - fold-out screens are cheap as chips on eBay, and I reckon I could handle the (lack of) quality if it was only for the GPS. Let me know if you find an answer :)


Looks pimpin, Looks like a GPS
Hmm, now that I've seen a picture of it, it doesn't look THAT out of the way. maybe I could put a screen in there and angle it up and towards the driver's seat...

Hey,
Why don't you try to use carving wood for making a bracket?

i just went for the windscreen option, mine rarely falls off, sometimes stays on there for weeks.

i would have regretted buying an inbuilt gps head unit for a few reason

1) i have 2 cars and use it in both

2) i like to listen to the stereo while looking at the gps, my friends gps overrides the stereo 3 times for every corner eg turn left in 500m, turn left in 100m, turn left now. TO HELL WITH THAT

2) i like to listen to the stereo while looking at the gps, my friends gps overrides the stereo 3 times for every corner eg turn left in 500m, turn left in 100m, turn left now. TO HELL WITH THAT

That'd be enough to drive you insane!

My sat nav on my Car PC doesn't do that :D

Does anyone know if these portable GPS units output video to other screens??? and accept the touch input? saveing that, I will have to flush fit one.

No. None of them do.

I did a lot of research on this a few weeks ago, as I have a nice 7" double din unit with a navi input.

There is one Garmin/Kenwood stand alone nav computer, but it's stupidly expensive for what it is (basically a Garmin Nuvi in a box with a video output and external antenna... around $600ish, IIRC.). It's possible to connect it to suitable Kenwood headunits and have full touchscreen integration, or use it with a remote with a non-compatible headunit.

The price was the decider for me... I'd rather put the money towards something else.

My solution was to build a PC based on a mini-itx motherboard, a super stripped down version of windows XP, with Sygic Drive (http://www.sygic.com/carpc/index.html) and a Garmin serial GPS reciever ($5.50 on eBay). Goes into suspend whenever the car is turned off, and is ready to use within 10 seconds of turning the car on.

It's controlled by a tiny trackball that will live in the lid of the centre console, and boots from a compact flash card, so it has no moving parts other than the fans.

All up, it's cost me about $130, and the end result will be as OEM looking as I can possibly make it.

The other advantage to this approach is the ability to keep the GPS reciever powered whenever the ignition is on. This means it knows where the car is all the time, even when then navigation isn't being used, so the software is always ready to go without having to wait for a fix.

This is important to me, as I used to get really annoyed when my old PND would take 4 or 5 minutes to get an accurate GPS fix before I could use it.

i just went for the windscreen option, mine rarely falls off, sometimes stays on there for weeks.

i would have regretted buying an inbuilt gps head unit for a few reason

1) i have 2 cars and use it in both

2) i like to listen to the stereo while looking at the gps, my friends gps overrides the stereo 3 times for every corner eg turn left in 500m, turn left in 100m, turn left now. TO HELL WITH THAT
My Kenwood/Garmin sat nav gives you the option to choose which speakers the voice prompts come from so you can still listen to music while the prompts are being said :)

My Kenwood/Garmin sat nav gives you the option to choose which speakers the voice prompts come from so you can still listen to music while the prompts are being said :)

I forgot to mention... The Navi PC will have an inbuilt mini amplifier that drives the voice prompts to the speakers on top of the dash. I won't be using them when the new front speakers go in. I may build an interface that grounds the headunit's phone mute line when the GPS speaks, but that's a little way off yet.

Also, I say "will have" for some of the bits and pieces only because I'm still waiting for them to arrive from eBay sellers.

I've done a bit of testing with the PC running in the car and an inverter, and it works like it's supposed to.

I've always been tempted to do a Car PC... but I don't know. Too much mucking around just for a GPS. Plus I vowed never to touch anything stereo-related again :P

I had a play around with a mate's Navman S200 the other night. Bottom of the A pillar is out - a 4.3" GPS is way too big. I still like the idea of it sliding out of the DIN pocket, but I had a dig around at Bunnings and couldn't find anything I could butcher up.

I've decided that the ash tray (ala 1STUNNER in the pic above) could work - you still get a pretty good view of the screen from the drivers eat - but I'm still worried about how much of a theft risk it is. I was thinking that I'd just hack up the standard mount so that it can still pivot, but if I do that, you can slide it right out and take it :doubt:

I am very interested in the factory mounting of portable GPS units. But, I would much prefer to have the system use the screen i've got.
Its a Pioneer AVH P6850 thing I had installed when I bought the car so its about 2 years old.
It does have touch screen and, like a computer, Iwant to have the GPS to output its images to the screen. Bonus if it can also use the pioneer touch functions.

I've asked the shops around me but the 12yr old 'customer service representitive' just says "nah mate, wot cha need is dis 15" sub!...Be Wikid" mostly because he has no idea about anything else. **WARNING GENERALIZATION ONLY**

Does anyone know if these portable GPS units output video to other screens??? and accept the touch input? saveing that, I will have to flush fit one.
What you need is someting like the Garmin GVN 53 (https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=134&pID=10573). You can't use your touchscreen to control it, you have to use the remote control.

I have a Kenwood DDX-7039 HU with a Kenwood/Garmin KNA-G430 sat nav module. This lets me have 100% touchscreen control over the sat nav via my HU.

the ash tray route seems to be the most viable without getting into some pretty messy mouldings.

unless you didnt want airbags and mounted it straight into the steering wheel!!



but seriously, ash tray looked good. you could probably modify the bracked that is meant to stick onto the windscreen, just remove the suction cup and mount that somewhere in the dash.