oh man!!
Im digging it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
please make this available as soon as possible!
and put me on your waiting list if it comes possible!!!
thanks!

 

very nice

 

I'd be into this if the price was right, however, it may come too late. I was going to get the Garmin Nuvi but if this product were available within the next 3 to 4 months, then I'd go for the one that fits into this product.

 

Rick, excellent work and ingenious research and design. The only problem I see is that GPS technology has been changing so rapidly, especially within the past 2-3 years. While the product is being developed in the next 4-6 months, there will be something both better and cheaper available in the GPS market. Higher screen resolutions, cutting edge 3D maps and much much more. The design is obviously limited to a particular series of Garmin GPS units which prevents upgrading in the future.

But with that said, it's going to be an awesome product and I'm sure plenty of people on these boards will pull out the pocket book for one of these puppies pretty quickly, including myself if the price is right. Can you give us an approximate idea on the price range?

 

I own a Garmin 2610 which I like a lot.

A couple of ideas and questions.

This mount is a great idea, however I would prefer a one in the middle that would allow both driver and passenger to see and operate the unit. The unit includes a remote control and it is very nice to have my wife program the unit on the fly. Some of the key things she does is to adjust the map zoom level depending on the situation and to page to the trip computer. I (the driver) definitely can not operate the unit when driving. It's only safe to glance at it.

Where does the speaker for the voice commands go?

Does the placement affect antenna reception top up?

The unit unit uses a CF card for map memory. I currently use a 1 gb card which holds detailed maps for everything I need but not all of the country. While you can download maps into the unit it is much faster to remove the CF card and down load directly from a computer with the map disk. I think a 2 gb card would hold all available maps but how hard will it be to get at the cf card if needed?

I like to download waypoints from my computer into the 2610. Can this be done while the unit is installed in the car using a laptop?

I guess what I really like would be a snap in, snap out installation so that I could take the unit in and out for maintenance and for use in another car.

 

Rick, I'm impressed...subscribing to thread. If this becomes available, I want both, the GPS and V1. Thanks!

Erick

 

Hmmm...Rick. My wife bought those nice leather visor covers from you last year for my Chistmas present. ($200+). Unless I can sell them, I believe she would have significant heartburn over me dumping them to replace with your nav.

Oh well, I've been pitching for the new gearing/diff from you (to her)...looks like I'll stay focused on that for now. :-(

 

exactly what i was thinking. I can't wait til its released. Great stuff Rick.

 

My thinking and planning has evolved since I posted the thread starter. My approach will be to design and make an carbon fiber or plastic overlay for the stock windshield roof rail piece. A few cutouts will be made to the stock piece for fitting the GPS and V1, and the overlay will be bonded to the stock piece. This way we'll maintain all the stock mounting points and not have to worry about making a two-sided mold, which will help keep the price down.

I'm starting work this weekend on the prototype.

 

Very good questions. The middle mount is simply not possible, since the lights and switches are in the center and the center anchors, which are under the lamp covers, provide the bulk of support for the extra weight of the GPS.

Speaker location is easy. There's a perfect location for a small speaker (which we'll sell) under the dash that enables mounting of a speaker with Velcro.

Attenna is no problem in this location, top up or top down. For peace of mind, a remote attenna is available for all Garmin units and ti can be located almost anywhere.

As for access to the memory card and other connections, haven't figured that out yet. I'm buying a Garmin unit to work out these details. The idea of a snap-in, snap-out installation is exactly what we're striving for.

And yes, the technology continues to change. The Nuvi is promising, but the screen is a bit smaller, but we're going to look at it as the possible basis for our prototype.