If you’re a regular reader here, you know that I gave dh a Garmin Nuvi GPS navigator for Christmas. To be honest, we really haven’t used it that much because really, we mostly know our way around our hometown of about 14 years. What made me think of this in the big scope of things was an episode of Pitchmen (http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/pitchmen/pitchmen.html) on the Discovery Channel. Anthony Sullivan was trying to sell a man’s GPS holder that sat in a vehicle’s cupholder. More on that later.
In using our GPS unit, we did need to figure out where to hang the thing. Dh prefers to have it squarely in the middle of the windshield, under the rear view mirror. I tried it there a few times, but it hit me with such a big blind spot that it made me uneasy. My A pillars (those slanted sidebars that hold the windshield) are so big in the first place because of the airbags in them that vehicles are often lost in them for seconds at a time, that I didn’t want yet another blind spot. One day I had a fleeting crafty feeling and needed some craft items and was driving to *that* store when I pulled up next to a police car in the turn lane. He had his GPS unit on the other side of his steering wheel, mounted to his windshield next to his A pillar. Eureka! Sure, the wires drape across the steering wheel column if you have it plugged into your power outlet, but you won’t even notice it-promise! I love having it down low next to my A pillar; I can still easily glance at it if I need to and it doesn’t compromise my view out the windshield. After a lot of discussion, dh finally did give in and move the GPS unit lower on the windshield, though it’s still in the center (I just can’t imagine that it doesn’t block his view if he keeps it in the middle where he wants it to be). Where do you like to keep yours when you use it?
Back to the GPS holder that fits into the vehicle cupholder. You know, sometimes I watch the commercials on tv and think, “Wow, that’s a great idea!” Yep, I bought a package of Shamwows after my Monterey cover took 4 days to dry (well, that and I have a dog who still uses my carpet as her personal toilet), the Mighty Putty did fix our grill handle (though any old putty could have done that as well), and yes, who doesn’t have a few Space Bags sitting in their closet? But this GPS holder thing just doesn’t strike me as a winner from a safety perspective. It’s essentially a large cup with notches that will hold a GPS unit. If your cupholder is in a center console, like mine is, you’d have to take your eyes completely off the road and look down at the center console to see the GPS. Not safe! How many seconds would you be distracted by that? I wish the inventor all the luck in the world, but not with this particular product. If you get a chance to see The Pitchmen, you should try it out once. Maybe twice. Billy Mays is more palatable when he’s not shouting at you 😉 .
Use or GPS should go by common sense:
1. should not obstruct any essential area of the windshield, yet be in angle of normal vision
2. should be turned off or rem0ved when you don’t need it especially in the night as the refocusing of eyes is much more difficult.
Note: many countries prohibit anything obstructing windshield including talismans and good luck charms, anything on the dashboard.
I see daily drivers with glaring GPS going to local mall or work, plain silly…
I’ve tried my Nuvi in several places on the windshield.
I started with what seems to be the most common position, below the rearview, but didn’t care for the blindspot. I switched to the left of the driver’s wheel, by the pillar, and liked it there if I needed to have access to it periodically during my trip(programming new destinations, etc).
However, my spot of choice now is just to the left of the rearview. It seems like a natural location, as I’m already glancing up there to check the traffic behind me (when I’m not towing, anyway!). The biggest downside to that would be for drivers that use the sun visor regularly. I’m tall enough that I don’t need to use the visor very often, so it’s not an issue for me.
If I’m going somewhere with the family, I put the unit low in the center of the windshield so that my wife can reach it and I can see it. The kids also like to watch it from the backseat, and that’s where they can see it best.
Besides the whole taking-your-eyes-off-of-the-road issue, another problem that the cupholder-mount for a GPS would have is reception. I’ve noticed that if I pull the Nuvi into the cabin, satellite reception gets spotty, and most cupholders I’ve seen have not been close enough to the windshield to provide good GPS reception.
We keep ours just like you have it in the first picture. In the middle, but lower on the windshield. If I lower it anymore, the slant of the windshield makes it too far away for me to see when I need it. I have never had a blind spot occur b/c of it. I don’t really look at it anyway. I listen to the voice commands. I wonder if I move it to the side if the cord would reach the outlet. The outlet is all the way down by the floorboard in the middle.
I have a new one for you. My father-in-law keeps his mounted to the control panel (with the speedometer, tachometer, etc). Figure that one out. How he sees how fast he is going is beyond me. I guess he relies on the speed gauge on the gps to tell him. That’s probably a bad idea.
If we’re both in the car it goes by the A pillar on the passenger side so that the driver can’t fool with it. If it’s just me I usually stick it in the middle of the windshield as low as I can get it. When we used to have to drive 400 miles one way to pick up my 5 year old stepdaughter we would put it on the back passenger window so she could see the “moving map” and how many more miles till we got home, saved us from 6 hours of are we there yet! And she can now read 3 digit numbers.
I don’t have GPS (mainly because I don’t drive anywhere that I don’t know where I’m going). My dad has a Garmin and he puts his up by the rear view mirror; it’s a natural place to look anyway and the only view it cuts out would be things in the air. Of course he’s tall, so he can reach it pretty well. (He does use his in town, but just for fun. He likes to here it say, “turn left, turn left, recalculating, turn left, recalculating…”.) My dad bought my Mom one, but I’m not sure where she puts it as I’ve yet to see her actually use it. She was really excited about it, but I don’t think she’s driven anywhere recently where she’d need it.
I have found that my GPS is in different places in different cars (oh and some states it is illegal to put it on your windshield at all). ANd my husband and I like it at different spots on the windshield since he’s taller than I am.
That blind spot would make me uncomfortable also. That’s a great idea to put it off to the side, by the A pillar.