Plugged in my new GPS navigator for the first time

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hbquikcomjamesl

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 1, 2021
Messages
208
It's a Garmin 65 (the base model, not the Alexa model), and it was my birthday present (my only other birthday present was the thankfully very minor subungual hematoma I gave myself working on the spare tire "dummy hub" for my trunk rack).

They've greatly improved these things since the pocket-size one I bought over a decade ago (a DeLorme, I think), which took forever to acquire enough satellites to figure out where it was, and could barely direct a Boy Scout to a candy store.

This one powered up thinking it was in Miami Beach, FL, and before I'd even made it to the freeway on-ramp to go to work, it had correctly figured out that it was in Fountain Valley, CA, approaching the Ellis/Euclid 405 onramp.

And it powers itself up when it senses external power, and powers itself down when the external power goes away. Nice.

It should fit very nicely just to the right of the radio, overlapping the big bezel that surrounds the radio.

**********

Update: I tried attaching the suction-cup mount to the smooth dashboard panel above the glove box, below the airbag, and to the right of the radio. It's not smooth enough, and it's too convex.

That doesn't suck! :(

Then again, I'd never intended that as a permanent solution; I'd always planned on fabricating a bracket, incorporating an appropriately sized ball.
 
just use some velcro to attach to dash. just clean both surfaces with some rubbing alcohol
 
I've never had good luck with adhesive-backed Velcro; generally, when I use Velcro, I either sew it, staple it, screw it, or rivet it in place.

I find that the pressure-sensitive adhesive on adhesive-backed Velcro tends to creep. And I find that if I use cyanoacrylate or epoxy to attach plain Velcro, it doesn't hold well.

And I'm about as sanguine about putting conspicuous Velcro on my dashboard as I am about putting conspicuous screw holes in it. Just because I own the vehicle outright, with the pink slip locked away in the fire-chest within my safe, and have no plans to dispose of it until it's ready to be hauled off to its final rusting place, doesn't make me fond of making avoidable but irreversible changes.

Besides which, the unit has a socket on the back to accept a Garmin-standard mount, and comes with a 17mm ball-socket that latches into it (and a 17mm mount ball with a suction cup on it). Not much in the way of a place to put Velcro that would mount it in the position and angle it needs to be. As it is, I might have to put a shim (and possibly a wedge) between my bracket and the 4-bolt (AMPS pattern) 17mm ball-mount I bought (and won't know that until it arrives).

******
6/23/2021
My shipment from Amazon arrived: a new razor, and my ball-mount.

The ball-mount arrived, and after fit-tests, I determined that it needs to be shimmed to a total of 3/4 inch off the dashboard, and my bracket-in-progress will work. I cut the brass part to length, and then cut and riveted on the first plastic part. I will be forming-in-place an epoxy-putty saddle for the back side, to put it firmly in contact with the dashboard (with plenty of ScotchBlue to keep the curing epoxy from coming in direct contact with the dashboard!), and adding more plastic on the front.
 
Here is the beginning of the bracket. Along with my idea of what a no smoking sign should look like.

GPS bracket 1 by James Lampert, on Flickr
Adding a piece of plastic on the front of the brass this evening. Along with maybe the saddle on the back. You can see a few lines drawn directly on the brass, as guides. The plastic in front of the brass won't have to be contoured to the shape of the dashboard.
 
I've added the first layer of plastic to the front, and the saddle to the back. The fit on the saddle wasn't nearly as good as I'd like it to have been, and so there's still quite a bit of filing and sanding left to do on it.

GPS bracket 2 by James Lampert, on Flickr
I used an entire 2 oz stick of epoxy putty (I used the brand with the simian name), along with a small shot of their 5-minute epoxy to help bond the saddle more firmly to the back plastic. Thankfully, I managed to avoid doing any damage while attempting to mold the saddle to the underlying panel of the dashboard.
 
hbquikcomjamesl said:
I've never had good luck with adhesive-backed Velcro; generally, when I use Velcro, I either sew it, staple it, screw it, or rivet it in place.

I find that the pressure-sensitive adhesive on adhesive-backed Velcro tends to creep. And I find that if I use cyanoacrylate or epoxy to attach plain Velcro, it doesn't hold well. ...

For future reference, I had similar issues trying to use Velcro to attach a "fastback" transponder to the windshield. The Velcro adhesive would soften, creep and eventually peel. But, not all "velcro" is created equal. The 3M "dual lock" stuff has remarkable adhesive that can withstand boiling temps, and the hook/loops have incredible grab. I got the clear stuff just to reduce solar heating further. No problems after that.

https://www.industrialwebbing.com/1-dual-lock-reclosable-fastener-250-sj3560-clear/
 
Yesterday, with the paint dry (but not yet fully cured) on my GPS bracket, I riveted on the ball mount, and added a bit more paint. Here's the result, ready to install.


GPS bracket final by James Lampert, on Flickr

The bare brass tongue hooks under the radio bezel, and the saddle rests on the dash, with a couple of Command adhesive tabs to hold it in place.
 

GPS bracket installed by James Lampert, on Flickr

I'm going to have to add a bit of black adhesive-backed craft foam where I've noticed a slight rattle between the unit and the radio bezel, and maybe make one more adjustment to the saddle, where I can see one of the Command tabs pulling away, but this just about covers it, and turned out better than I'd expected.

It also appears that my GPS navigator has a feature I wasn't aware of: apparently it has the equivalent of Garmin's GTM 36 traffic receiver built in, and can receive and display digital traffic information so long as it's drawing vehicle power through the supplied cable. (And of course, if I'm using it out of the vehicle, either on foot, which I've tried with good results, or aboard a train, which I'm planning to try on my next vacation, then traffic information is irrelevant.)
 
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