60c Auto Mount = Glass Or Dash

[vfrpilot]

Upgrading to the 60c after using dash mounted V for years

 

Will switch between vehicles en route to caches & work travel.

 

Gimme your impressons!

 

Thanks, in advance

[Birdman 1]

My 60csx came with the auto kit. A removable sticky pad, a permanent sticky pad, and the bean bag mount. Since I don't trust the removable one and I don't want to stick anything on my dash forever, I use the bean bag and it has worked great. Easily carried from my truck to wherever. I even use it in the house, This is my first GPSr and I am trying to learn all the features, I just place the bean bag on the arm of my recliner and can work it with one hand while holding the manual in the other hand.

[+ZackJones]

I tried using my 60c with one of those suction cup stalk mounts attached to the windshield and didn't like it at all. The beanbag setup that Birdman_1 uses is the way to go.

[CenTexDodger]

I have a RAM mount with a locking suction cup. It is rock solid. I had poor luck with adhesive mounts. The Texas sun would cause the adhesive to give out.

[+scott9282]

Just received the auto nav kit for my 60C. I use the beanbag mount and it seems to work very well. An added bonus is that it is simple to take the thing off the dash and stash it, thereby eliminating a mount being visible to theft minded persons. Granted it won't stop a break-in, but it eliminates having an advertisement that there might be something worth stealing in the car.

[+Team Black Bear]

I use a RAM mount with the large size locking suction cup. It works great and has never come off the window. Also I like the option that it is easy to remove and relocate to a different spot on the windshield if needed, and the best thing is no adhesive or holes on the dash.

Edited February 6, 2006 by Team Black Bear

[ImpalaBob]

I've read that some States have laws forbidding windshield suction devices. We use the Garmin Bean Bag when needed. Many phone holders can also be made to work. ImpalaBob

[moonpup]

I super glued my Garmin auto-mount right to the dash I tried the adhesives mounts and they kept coming unglued. I don't have room on my dash for a beanbag mount and I never tried the RAM suction mount.

 

All I can say is this mount is never coming off the dash...

[+Munin]

I also use the beanbag mount, and I think it's a good approach if you'll be switching between vehicles on a regular basis. While I only have one vehicle at home, I encounter a variety of cars when I'm out of town for work, and it's an easy mount to work with - touch down at the airport, stop by rental kiosk and get keys to car, grab the beanbag and cigarette adapter out of my luggage, dig the GPSr out of my carry-on, and 30 seconds later my cheesy rental car du jour has a GPS nav system. It's quick'n'easy to move around, and the beanbag's sat nicely on the dozen or so different dashboard styles that I've encountered while traveling.

 

Only issue I've had with the beanbag mount is when I've taken my cachemobile (a Jeep) offroading - the little grippy feet on the beanbag don't help much if the poor thing's airborne half the time due to bumpy/rocky/rutted/etc trail surfaces. On regular roads (paved, or at least graded dirt), the beanbag works fine.

[+benjamin921]

It's inevitable that the suction cup will fall off at some time. The bean bag works well.

[+Sputnik 57]

I've used my RAM suction cup mount for a year and a half, on road, and off road in my Jeep TJ, and it has never fallen off. Of course eventually it will. Glass is, after all, a liquid*, and some millions of years from now, my windshield will be just a puddle somewhere. Does the beanbag mount not move in a hard turn or quick stop? I have never used one, so won'r presume to know what problems you have with them.

 

*Edit: Okay, I had to check this. Actually, it is an amorphous solid, but the point is the same.

Edited February 6, 2006 by Sputnik 57

[+cmartin33]

I've had the glass suction unit for a year now and I have no problems with it, works great, solid bond, has never fallen off the glass, pops on/off fast.

[+Munin]

I've used my RAM suction cup mount for a year and a half, on road, and off road in my Jeep TJ, and it has never fallen off. [...] Does the beanbag mount not move in a hard turn or quick stop? I have never used one, so won'r presume to know what problems you have with them.

Good to hear that the RAM suction cup works well when offroading - I'm also driving a TJ, so I might give one of those mounts a whirl come springtime. It'd be great to have the topo display visible while I'm heading down the trail.

 

As far as the beanbag goes, my experience has been that as long as the road's reasonably smooth, sharp turns and rapid stops/starts are okay - the rubber on the bottom is quite grippy. Repetitive vertical jarring is the main problem I've encountered - a stretch of moderately washboarded dirt road can send the beanbag dancing around/off the dash. Minor vibration sources (expansion joints, rumble strips, grooved pavement) haven't been a problem - they don't bounce the mount hard/high enough for it to lose contact with the dash.

[bordercrazy]

Glass or Dash either way the RAM mount is the way to go IMO. I’ve seen and had some experience with the factory mounts not bad (except their suction cup ones). Anyway RAM makes quality stuff all the way from airplane GPS mounts to police equipment mounts. I researched this a fair bit to mount my Meridian on my sport/race quad. I can pick’em up and put’em down over rough(really rough) terrain w/ no problem's from the GPS at all.

 

[vfrpilot]

As I said, I've used the standard mount (GARMIN) for my V for years, I have two - have it velcro-ed to the dash. You know, hook & loop

I just put the 2nd "slip in" section in my new crewcab pickup & I simply switch between that & the work truck.

Rock-solid & multi adjustable (which is nice).

I ordered my 60c & the GRAMIN dash mount - which I'll also velcro.

 

If I feel the need to hide it, I simply remove the whole thing - but most of the time just slip out the unit with the mount attached.

 

After 12 hours - & one reply, I thought this post was dead -

 

After reading, I'm thinking on the beanbag tho also... anyone have a link to a photo of it so I can see one?

 

Thanks for the input everyone!

 

Anyone have model #'s for the ram AUTO & motorcycle = 60c?

[+HaLiJuSaPa]

I've read that some States have laws forbidding windshield suction devices. We use the Garmin Bean Bag when needed. Many phone holders can also be made to work.

 

Being a user of a windshield mount for my GPS, I am curious which states ban it. I tried to research on the Web and the only 2 states I found were California and Minnesota (and Minnesota's law was rather vague on the matter, allowing it if you can prove it doesn't distract your driving). I imagine that my home state of NY allows it since more than any other state they push the idea of having your EZ Pass permanently on your windshield (albeit in a way where you don't see it because it's behind your rear view mirror).

 

Does anyone else know? THanks.

Edited February 7, 2006 by hairymon

[CenTexDodger]

As I said, I've used the standard mount (GARMIN) for my V for years, I have two - have it velcro-ed to the dash. You know, hook & loop

I just put the 2nd "slip in" section in my new crewcab pickup & I simply switch between that & the work truck.

Rock-solid & multi adjustable (which is nice).

I ordered my 60c & the GRAMIN dash mount - which I'll also velcro.

 

If I feel the need to hide it, I simply remove the whole thing - but most of the time just slip out the unit with the mount attached.

 

After 12 hours - & one reply, I thought this post was dead -

 

After reading, I'm thinking on the beanbag tho also... anyone have a link to a photo of it so I can see one?

 

Thanks for the input everyone!

 

Anyone have model #'s for the ram AUTO & motorcycle = 60c?

 

The problem (in my opinion) with using adhesive or adhesive backed velcro for the 60c vs. the GPS V is that the 60 is vertical, so any force that the unit endures (stopping, turning, etc) is more pronounced and it really pulls on the glue. Then when I get out and the truck sits in the sun, the glue fails. That has been my experience anyway.

 

As far as RAM parts, I don't have model #s, but go to GPS City and they have a full line, and it is fairly easy to search through and find what you need. Gool luck to you!

[+Munin]

After reading, I'm thinking on the beanbag tho also... anyone have a link to a photo of it so I can see one?

 

A few quickie shots from my cachemobile this morning. If you haven't seen one before, the beanbag mount basically consists of four weighted pads (front/back/left/right) surrounding a central section where the GPSr bracket attaches - you can rotate/tilt (and lock) the bracket to suit your viewing needs. Note that the combination of the world's narrowest dash (Jeep Wrangler) and world's biggest handheld GPSr (76CS) makes for a tight fit. In the rental cars I get for business trips (Grand Am/Sunbird/etc), the base doesn't hug the edge of the dash like you see here.

 

Beanbag mount without GPSr:

 

Beanbag mount with 76CS:

 

Closeup of mount:

 

Closeup of mount with 76CS:

[+GOT GPS?]

I have the beanbag mount with my 60C, and it has never gripped the dash very well in my 96 ford escort, and it slides around very easy on the dash, and does not lay flat. My GPS V was better, in that it did not stand up so high.

 

-

Geoff

[Dirtnapper]

RAM mount is the way to go, tried the others, like those above posted...gave out in the heat.

 

 

And here it is with a mod using the Magellan mount adapted to the RAM base. Like this because the power cable mounts on the back, and the unit just slips in and out without having to unscrew the cable when used with the first holder above.

 

Edited February 7, 2006 by Dirtnapper

[toddm]

Another vote for the large RAM mount suction cup, the thing is never going anywhere. If your vehicle experiences something that dislodges the RAM mount, what happens to your gps is going to be the least of your worries. We use it in utah all the time on the trails and I've never even seen it think about coming off, for two weeks it stays sucked to the window in a wide variety of temps and terrain. I wouldn't be surpized if that thing would hold a person's weight. The bean bag unit is a nice idea but there's no way it would stay on my dash, and I'm not about to glue something to it, and with our winters up here I've found out before that those glues don't like -20 in the winter and 100 in the summer.

 

And as for glass, all glass is amorphous (which basically means it has no crystalline structure and gives a ambigous patter under x-ray diffraction analysis) and natural volcanic glass such as obsidian (lava cooled so quickly that it did not have time to form structure) is a solid. Opal which is basically a hydrated amorphous form of quartz is as well. However window glass is a liquid technically and it will flow at standard conditions. If you look at very very old stained glass windows in churches they are noticeably thicker at the bottom, so I'm told anyway.

 

Of course for all intensive purposes even window glass is a solid, ask any bug that's hit your windsheild

[+HaLiJuSaPa]

Another vote for the large RAM mount suction cup, the thing is never going anywhere. If your vehicle experiences something that dislodges the RAM mount, what happens to your gps is going to be the least of your worries. We use it in utah all the time on the trails and I've never even seen it think about coming off, for two weeks it stays sucked to the window in a wide variety of temps and terrain. I wouldn't be surpized if that thing would hold a person's weight. The bean bag unit is a nice idea but there's no way it would stay on my dash, and I'm not about to glue something to it, and with our winters up here I've found out before that those glues don't like -20 in the winter and 100 in the summer.

 

And as for glass, all glass is amorphous (which basically means it has no crystalline structure and gives a ambigous patter under x-ray diffraction analysis) and natural volcanic glass such as obsidian (lava cooled so quickly that it did not have time to form structure) is a solid. Opal which is basically a hydrated amorphous form of quartz is as well. However window glass is a liquid technically and it will flow at standard conditions. If you look at very very old stained glass windows in churches they are noticeably thicker at the bottom, so I'm told anyway.

 

Of course for all intensive purposes even window glass is a solid, ask any bug that's hit your windsheild

 

This is all great, but what do you do then if you live in or often visit a state that doesn't allow windshield mounts? That's why I'm trying to find out where it's banned. I haven't found anything definite other than California.

 

Or is the RAM mount something else that uses a suction cup?

[mloser]

Sputnik 57,

Recent research seems to indicate that glass is actually NOT a liquid. The theory comes from the fact that old church windows have always appeared to be thicker at the bottom. Further investigation shows that the windows were made that way, and did not slowly ooze down over the centuries due to glass being a liquid. I am sure I saw this a year or so ago on the Science Channel or some other of the 267 channels I get on cable, but there are numerous websites, many reputable, that concur with mass media. Take a look at

Glass is a solid and Everything2 and a Corning Scientist's view.

 

Bigfoot is real though.

 

Oh yeah, I use the beanbag mount because I switch between cars. I have been very happy with it although with my somewhat crazy driving style it slips off the dash from time to time. I like that I can grab it and set it on the floor slightly under the passenger seat and hide it from casual viewing when I am parked. I take it inside whenever I can though.

Edited February 7, 2006 by mloser

[+Jamie Z]

Oh yeah, I use the beanbag mount because I switch between cars.

I use a RAM suction mount in my car and a solid mount on my motorcycle. Takes about ten seconds to switch the RAM from one vehicle to the other.

 

If you don't mind spending the extra few bucks, RAM 4" suction mount is the way to go.

 

Jamie

[vfrpilot]

The problem (in my opinion) with using adhesive or adhesive backed velcro for the 60c vs. the GPS V is that the 60 is vertical, so any force that the unit endures (stopping, turning, etc) is more pronounced and it really pulls on the glue. Then when I get out and the truck sits in the sun, the glue fails. That has been my experience anyway.

 

Mine have always held strong - I use the SUPER INDUSTRIAL velcro - The truck sits in the sun all day - I do outdoor work, so I'm in & out all day - but I can see how the verticle angle might affect the stability... - I'm kinda worried about that....

 

edited to correct the quote

Edited February 8, 2006 by vfrpilot

[vfrpilot]

After reading, I'm thinking on the beanbag tho also... anyone have a link to a photo of it so I can see one?

 

A few quickie shots from my cachemobile this morning. If you haven't seen one before, the beanbag mount basically consists of four weighted pads (front/back/left/right) surrounding a central section where the GPSr bracket attaches - you can rotate/tilt (and lock) the bracket to suit your viewing needs. Note that the combination of the world's narrowest dash (Jeep Wrangler) and world's biggest handheld GPSr (76CS) makes for a tight fit. In the rental cars I get for business trips (Grand Am/Sunbird/etc), the base doesn't hug the edge of the dash like you see here.

 

Beanbag mount without GPSr:

 

Beanbag mount with 76CS:

 

Closeup of mount:

 

Closeup of mount with 76CS:

 

Ultra cool!!!

 

Thanks Man!!!

[vfrpilot]

RAM mount is the way to go, tried the others, like those above posted...gave out in the heat.

 

 

And here it is with a mod using the Magellan mount adapted to the RAM base. Like this because the power cable mounts on the back, and the unit just slips in and out without having to unscrew the cable when used with the first holder above.

 

 

Thats nice!

 

It looks stable - so the beanbag has a tendancy to slide huh?!?!

 

Thanks!!!

[+Jamie Z]

Since we're posting pictures, I'll put up some that I've posted before... but it's been a while.

 

 

 

My cradle is a Magellan piece which I attached my modifying the RAM slightly. I've since made a small change which cleans up the look a bit. You can no longer tell it's not a custom fit.

 

Jamie

[toddm]

Very interesting about the church glass, I did not know that, learned something new, or old I guess!

 

I've never heard of anyone in ND, MN, SD getting in trouble for it, it's

probably something you'd have to contact the DMV for in each state and ask. However, I wouldn't be surprized if just about every state has a law against putting anything in the windshield area that could "obstruct the driver's view" so I'd guess in just about every state if they wanted to be unreasonable they could give you a ticket for it.

 

I wonder if they didn't do it as a work around to try and eliminate radar detector use, or to keep people from mounting dvd players there. As far as blocking your view I suppose it is a factor but not much more than a rear view mirror or big parking permit people tend to hang from their mirrors, especially if you keep it off to the side.

 

I think the worst I've seen on that area is lately I've been seeing people driving on the interstates with a portable dvd player on the dash so they can watch movies while they drive.

[vfrpilot]

I've been seeing people driving on the interstates with a portable dvd player on the dash so they can watch movies while they drive.

 

IDIOTS

Edited February 8, 2006 by vfrpilot

[rmm200]

I got the Magellan suction cup mount for the Explorist 600 and I only have one question:

 

What do I need to do to the Magellan clip to use it with the RAM mount?

 

What RAM pieces do I need to buy? The short rigid arm looks less bouncy than

the flexible arm.

 

If shipping / postage was not such a hassle, I would send the Magellan mount back.

 

Robert

Edited February 8, 2006 by rmm200

[+Quoddy]

I used the Bean Bag mount for my 60CS and now use it for my 60CSx. Makes it much easier for multiple vehicles, BUT the main reason for me is that it cuts down vibration to almost zero, making it much easier to view.

[+Jamie Z]

What do I need to do to the Magellan clip to use it with the RAM mount?

 

To modify the RAM to attach to the Magellan Explorist cradle, you'll need RAM part number RAM-B-238U,

 

The Magellan cradle attaches to the Magellan mount with four screws. All you need to do is drill four corresponding holes into the above piece. I even use the same screws, although longer screws will probably work better.

 

Of course, you could just order the RAM cradle for the Explorist (PN RAM-HOL-MA5U) and not have to worry about drilling the holes. The cradle does not come with the ball, however, so you still have to order that.

 

 

Jamie

[+Team BlackZ]

I had two Garmin 60CS glass mounts break at the hinge pin near the suction cup. I emailed Garmin and they sent me a new one, no charge, and the hinge has a different design. Looks stronger. I also use a Garmin bean bag and it works the best.