M3100 GPS custom car mount without damaging dashboard!

dekoded

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Hi All, I've had my M3100 for a while now and have installed TomTom Navigator 6 on it which works really well with a GlobalSat BT 338 Bluetooth Gps Receiver which cost about £70.

I know there are cheaper BT GPS receivers but I wanted to make sure I could put it out of sight and still get a good signal!

I ordered a brodit mounting kit for my M3100 but when I got it I didn't like the look of the mounting arm that came with it:

http://www.gpsforless.co.uk/product_details.php?id=5846

It looked very ugly and so I decided to try mounting the bracket to my dash instead, trouble is I didn't want to make any holes in the dash.

I came up with a cunning solution! my Focus (2001) has an ashtray that I never use and I found that with some gentle persuasion I could remove the front from the main compartment to allow me to drill 3 small holes and fit little nuts and bolts. This way I would only be damaging a small piece of plastic that I'm sure could be easily and cheaply replaced rather than a large bit of dashboard/fascia.

I now have a perfect place for my BT GPS receiver and my M3100 within easy reach when driving, it even has an adjustable distance setting (eg slide ashtray in/out) :rotfl:

I use SPB diary today plugin so I can use an on screen shortcut to rotate into landscape mode without needing to slide out the keyboard as well.

Hope this is useful to anyone else who owns an M3100/SATNAV and a Focus.
 

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Nice job, like to see ingenuity.

Had you not seen the Brodit "ProClip" mounting system though? These are screwless mounts individually designed for each car that just clip into your dashboard without any damage giving you a mounting surface for your Brodit holder.

Still quite like your design though :thumbsup:
 
Had you not seen the Brodit "ProClip" mounting system though? These are screwless mounts individually designed for each car that just clip into your dashboard without any damage giving you a mounting surface for your Brodit holder.

I bought one for my iPaq H5550 to fit the dash of my Rover 820 and I'm well pleased with it...expensive but worth it IMHO :smashin:
 
I had seen the proclip system but at the time I wanted a screen mount, I had a garmin nuvi and this had a very neat windscreen mount but when I actually got the mount for my m3100 I thought it looked pretty daft!

I then had to have a change of plan, although anyone wanting to fit a m3100 in the same model of focus as I have might not need the extra fitting clip which costs about £14 and just get the holder (about £35)
 

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