Kal Rubinson

I am about to buy a small, active GPS antenna which has a magnetic mount and I want to know if it will adhere to the speaker grille on the top of the dash.

Does anyone know if it's ferromagnetic or aluminum or what?

(Yes, I know I could simply put a magnet on it and tell but, as a city dweller, getting to my car in the garage is not a simple task.)

Kal

amdeutsch

Ok, just this once. Lucky for you I have to go get a beer anyway.

Glug, glug, burp. OOPS, sorry. Yep, its magnetic.

Harris

Does your car have Bose system?

amdeutsch

All C320s in the US come with Bose. Look at his sig.

Kal Rubinson

Thanks. I owe you one (beer, that is).

Harris

Ohohoh.....lucky Americans!!!

MB-BOB

Kal, tell us more about your GPS system. I'm thinking about getting an aftermarket unit that would sit in the ashtray area, but don't know much about antenna requirements, placement of antennas, etc. Are you intending to run your antenna wire behind the dash to the speaker grill area?

Kal Rubinson

The GPS I bought is a Garmin iQue 3600 which is a combination GPS/PDA. It does auto-routing with voice and graphic guidance.
While you can use it as it comes, battery life is very short with the GPS function enabled and the built-in antenna wants to be placed high on the dash where it is difficult to see and/or blocks driver's view.

My plan is to add the Gilsson external active antenna (2.2"(L)x 1.8"(W)x 0.5"(H) which should magnetically adhere to the speaker grille where it approximates the windshield. Reports state vast improvements in reception with this. The iQue itself will be mounted at the empty space below radio head unit and a short power lead will go to the cigarette lighter.

I do not plan to build in or hide any of the wires since the iQue will be removed for other uses and the car is leased. The antenna and power adapter can be stored in the covered ash-tray compartment.

While I chose this one for many reasons, alternatives to consider for this application are the Garmin GPS V, Garmin StreetPilot III, Garmin 2610 and the Navman iCN630. All of these are less than $1kUS, autorouting and removeable. For permanent installation, there are many other options.

tifosiv122

Here is where I placed my GPS...works perfectly...its metal, so the GPS stuck fine.

Erik

Kal Rubinson

Erik-

I see the antenna but what's that stuck to the windshield? Doesn't look like any GPS I've seen. :p

tifosiv122

That's a Cobra radar detector.

Erik