I just bought the GARMIN 330 and all I have to say it is a great piece of work. It has all the capabilities of the stock navi except the mpg calculator and miles left til empty tank, but it also doesnt cost the extra 1200 dollars. I was able to get it for under 800 at best buy using some coupons and installed right in the parking lot.

Anyways, at the moment I have it mounted on the windshield which is a great location. However, I was wondering if anyone knew how to remove the lid of the navi compartment. I plan on trying to mount the system into that area. Is it possible to remove without breaking the hinges?? Any tips/advice would be great. Thanks in advance!

 

You will have take apart the dash to remove that compartment.

 

Has anyone here built a custom enclosing within the compartment to hold their portable navigation system? If so can you post pics??

 

You can remove the cover (cover only) by prying on the door right at the hing. It takes alittle effort and courage, but I have had my cover off twice.

I mount my garmin in the cubby (with the door open) and I use the mount to keep it from falling out. It looks like the unit is sitting in the cubby, but the stand is down below. I would like to come up with a better solution, but this works best so far.

 

I looked at the unti today at best buy and it is sweet! I'd also like to place it in that compartment, but looking at the measurements, I don't think it's going to fit in there.

glf35, can you post a pic of your unit with the base in the cubby?

 

Here are some photos of removing the lid.

 

Here is a photo of the Garmin. The lid is on and in this photo it is held in place with velcro. It sits in exactly the same place with the stand down in the cubby, but I changed to the velcro last night. The velcro seems to hold it well.....still testing

I also included a picture of my ride.....

 

thanks for the pics, do you think it's possible to mount it so you could close the cover and have the unit descend into the compartment? Or will is it too big to fit in there at any angle? I was looking at the measurements and I don't think it would be possible without removing lid from it's hinges.

 

Does anyone know if power wires can be routed to the bottom or sides of the cubby opening by carefully drilling a hole?

 

Yes, there is some open space behind the cubby enough to route wires through.

 

Theres actually a lot of space back there
Im running several wires

 

I had the opportunity over the holiday weekend to use both the garmin 330 and the new Tom Tom Go 300. me and the wife both liked the tom tom over the garmin in almost every category. I 'borrowed' it from my dad - he jsut got it $599 from an online retailer. I returned the garmin and bought the TomTom unit for the mrs.

Not really on topic - but thought I'd throw it out there as an alternative for those considering the garmin.

- pink

 

Yes I loved the TOM TOM as well. The problem I had was not with the unit, it was user friendly, a bit larger, and just plain sweet. The issue was the maps for the Raleigh NC area were not acurate. I had major sections of interstate 40 that did not exist in the map. The unit would route me off. This was not the only error, new sections of I540 were not there and they have been complete for the last 2 years. If Tom updats the map, it would be the best unit available. With out the updated map.......

Let me know how yours works out. I considered the possibiliy that I had an older unit, but it has only been out for a few months. Support said a new map was comming out soon.