Garmin Portable Friction Mount - Frustration Free Packaging

The first time I tried this mount was in a rental car for a Garmin C530, and I never thought it would stay on the slightly sloping dash of the Pontiac Grand Prix but it held firm going up and down San Francisco's hilly roads. That prompted me to buy one for my car. Essentially this mount is a bean bag with a mouse pad like rubber base but its engineered to stay where you put it and not slide around unless you move it. The good thing is that it stays put even if you brake suddenly, and if you drive in bumper to bumper rush hour traffic like me every day you'll appreciate this even more!The advantages are:- No sticking on windshield. This is a BIG advantage as the windshield mount starts to come off easily after a year of usage, less if you leave it in your car while it's parked in the sun. There is nothing worse than your GPS sliding off while you're driving round a tricky bend, especially if you are new to the area. Sometimes it can be downright dangerous.- The windshield mount also alerts thieves that a GPS is in the car. A friction mount can be placed down under the car seat when you leave the car without needing to disconnect anything so that you're ready to go quickly when you come back to the car.- The other big advantage is the ability to move it around to the position you want it. If a passenger is sitting in your car you can just slide it to their side and they can input the information while you are driving. It also makes it easy to slide it closer to yourself. Since I have the Nuvi 660 I often make calls with the bluetooth feature while driving, it is easy to slide it towards me when I am speaking to someone in order to get better voice reception.This mount works for all Nuvis as they have the "snap the ball in the joint". If you buy any model of Nuvi then this is all you need, no other adapter parts are needed. It's also easy to switch this mount between cars or move it to a rental car when you travel. It has been the best and most useful accessory I could buy for my Nuvi 660.

I have been using GPS units (mostly Garmin) for the past several years. The mounting system I have been using has been the suction cup windshield mount that comes with the GPS unit. Now as you likely already know, the suction cup is an easy way to mount your GPS for convenient viewing while driving, and you can still pop your GPS unit out of the bracket for security reasons or for pedestrian navigation. If you have more that one car to share the GPS with, then it is convenient to have one suction cup mount and bracket for each car.A recent change to Friction Mount by Garmin:We recently has car service that involved the front windshield. This meant we were not to mount or apply anything to the windshield for 2 weeks. Oh, what do do?? We actually drove away from the auto shop using the "passenger manual hold" technique! I needed to find an option that would allow for clear viewing of the GPS at eye level, without the suction cup or assistance of a stunt-human holding it up in front of me while I drove!So I ordered the Garmin Portable Friction Mount on Amazon.com- It's fantastic!! The base is made out of black "ballistic nylon" filled with a material that gives the base some weight. (Think small, heavy beanbag for your dash) There are 4 "petals" to the base, which serve to add friction to the unit, preventing slipping and sliding while you drive around. There is a stem coming out of the base that has the universal socket end that you simply snap your GPS bracket onto.The Good:The unit is great! You simply snap your GPS in and place the unit anywhere on your dash. The GPS stays put in all but the most enthusiastic driving. When we park the car, we simply grab the GPS off the dash and either place the whole thing on the passenger floorboard (out of sight) or we pop the GPS unit out of the bracket and take it with us. The cost for this base was quite reasonable.Bonus:Over the years of using GPS units, I have experienced two things that are common with the former suction cup mounts. One is that you have to remember to periodically remove and re-mount the suction cup, or at the worst moment ever, you will need to touch your display screen- only to have the GPS suction cup fail and the whole thing falls to your dash and rolls onto the floorboard. (Again, the easy fix is to periodically re-mount your suction cup) Which brings me to the second common thing. The suction cup can leave (temporary) rings on your windshield glass from being stuck there. It is purely cosmetic, but you certainly won't have either one of these situations with this excellent friction mount which sits on your dash.