Home > Consumer Reviews > Garmin Dashboard disk (small), 2-pack

I ordered these, not exactly sure what I would get -- therefore I am writing this review so that others may have the information that I lacked at that time.

I bought a new Quest GPS system from Garmin. The automotive mounting system that came with this unit was a suction cup mount. The unit sits in a cradle at one end, and a suction cup is at the other. Between these 2 endpoints are two lockable tilt adjustments and a swivel adjustment. When mounted in the windshield, the suction cup "face" points up towards the windshield, and the mount extends away from the windshield (towards the driver). I found three main disadvantages to this setup:

1. The unit bounces when driving over anything but smooth road. It's only a slight range of motion but enough to make it hard to read.
2. The suction cup leaves marks (not permanent) on the windshield
3. Although it never lost suction, from this position if it were to detach from the windshield it would fall downwards, strike the dashboard, and then slide down to the floor, center console, or my lap.

I much preferred the mounting the mechanism of my GPS V which consisted of a bracket that the unit fits into, which locks into another piece attached to the dashboard.

The mounting disks (the subject of this review) improve on the windshield mount, but are not as good as the GPS V system. What you are buying is simply a smooth flat plastic disk with adhesive on one side of it. The package I ordered came with two of these, both the same size -- although only one is needed. You attach the disk to the top of your dashboard with the adhesive, and it provides a smooth spot to attach the suction cup mount. Now this may sound like not much of a "win", but it actually works fairly well. The key (and something very hard to describe without pictures) is that the suction cup mount in this position folds in on itself, so it is no longer an extending arm. The suction cup mount in the folded position is much like the GPS V bracket, with the main difference that it attached via suction to the flat dashboard disk rather than locking into the GPS V dashboard piece. This setup solves problems 1 and 2 above, and limits problems presented by item 3. Additionally, I understand that some states do not allow windshield mounts, and this would also be a useful workaround to that.

All in all, this was a worthwhile buy for me.

A good solution to mounting my I2. The I2 came with one disk, and I purchased a 2-pack for additional vehicles. California does not allow windshield mounts, although most other states, including mine, do.

With certain windshields the unit can lose suction, and falls exactly as described by a previous writer. After it happened twice, I refused to take the chance again and used the dashboard disks. Fortunately, the two tumbles did no damage to the I2. The dashboard position puts the gps right where you can see it, and provides a far more secure mounting.

Make sure you try it in different locations several times before you commit to a final glued-down spot. Tape the gps down temporarily if necessary, and try it both during the day and at night.

For a number of reasons, having mostly to do with the scanning one does from ahead, to side or rear view mirrors, to dash instruments, I found that a location to the left of the steering wheel works best. Tucked in the left corner is good because it doesn't distract from the view of oncoming traffic. But do your own experimenting.

One final safety precaution with a windshield or dash-top mounted gps... set the brightness level as low as you can when driving at night. A bright gps interferes significantly with your view ahead. You can experience this by setting the brightness to high, and then alternately covering and uncovering the gps as you drive.

These are about 2-5/8". Measure your suction cup before you order! These don't fit all gps's! For instance, they don't fit my Magellan suction cup, which is over 3". They look good though, just too small for me to use.

Nothing special but these disc mounts don't really need to be anything spectacular. They do the job exactly as they should and are pretty useful if you need to mount your GPS on mutltiple cars.
Only bad thing about them is that they are almost permanent and will most likely damage your dashboard if you try to remove them. I myself haven't tried this yet since it really isn't a big problem and we forsee using these for a long time.

These disks are just what you need to mount your Garmin GPS in multiple vechicles.I have them in two cars-they work as advertised-the GPS stays put-but remember, these little disks are there permanently!