Cayman GPS

My CS didn't come with the nav system (the dealer told me the Porsche ones are not that great), but I am feeling the need for a portable one. Any recomendations out there that won't completely break the bank? Moderator-feel free to move this if chat is not the proper forum. Thanks!

Love my Garmin Nuvi 660. Fits in well and moves amongst all my toys. Read about it @ http://www.gpsmagazine.com/2006/10/garmin_nuvi_660_indepth_review.php The price has dropped to around $700 now that there are some newer models with traffic reports included (something not needed where I'm at).

Garmin Nuvi series of Navs are Great! Easy to use and is cordless. ( Battery will last up to 3-4 hours in low light) I think the 660 has a larger screen than the old 350 or 360 and you can have Bluetooth if needed. Very good choice.

Thanks!!! Perfect...you guys confirmed the direction I was already leaning. The Cayman never has enough toys!

We also have an article on installing the factory one after the fact, see the home page or Articles section for details.

You might as well look around the offerings at ProClip for mounting while you are at it. There are a couple to choose from for the Cayman. The vent mount causes a bit of the wide screen to be hidden and the angle mount can interfer with larger passengers. I like it best. http://www.proclipusa.com/ The FM modulator works well for playing directions through the radio speakers.

In the commercial where the guy is talking to his GPS , is that a Garmin ?

Look into the Nuvi 680. I have the 660 and the 680 seems like a decent upgrade.

Could be if you live in an area where the extra features are available or needed. Just a bit more pricey. In fact there are now a whole bunch of Nuvi's to choose from: http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=82414 680 review: http://www.gpsmagazine.com/2007/02/garmin_nuvi_680_indepth_review.php

Great Articles... Thanks again for all the info. It looks like I am definately leaning towards the Garmin 660. Hopefully I can find it somewhere in town this weekend (at the sub-$700 price point).

Check-out the new Porsche-Design portable navigation: http://www.planet-9.com/showthread.php?t=8421&highlight=porsche+navigation

I would strongly recommend TomTom Navigation products for me they are streets ahead of Garmin and Navman in terms of usability. The maps for all systems are either from Navteq or Tele Atlas and they tend to swap between them on a regular basis. I have reviewed most of the systems available in the UK on one of my websites, PM me if you want the link. LP

Ditto, but I waited and got the Nuvi 670 model with European maps included (in addition to standard North America) for my non-Porsche drive. The Tom Tom line was second choice, but even the company couldn't reliably predict how much coverage it has for northern half of Canada. Not your problem, I guess. ==RedEye

RedEye Thanks RedEye because the first trip that I need it for is skiing at Lake Louise (rental SUV from Calgary). I ordered the Garmin 660 this morning...so it is what it is and I hope it covers my multi-car at home and rental cars for business/vacation needs. Appreciate all the feedback from everyone!!! FYI...met Mr Clean at his event this morning and parked next to his white CS...It was a real ying and yang thing having my black CS next to his white heavily optioned race car. I hope the other CS guys that responded showed up at some point too. It rained most of the day. Zone 4 CS crew remember the PCA DE at Mid-Ohio in May. let's make sure the Caymans have a good showing!!!

Welcome! Hope the hills are good to you - great snow this year...

Can anyone tell us how they have rigged their Garmin GPS in the Cayman? Do you run the wires under some panels or do u just hook it to the 12V and let the wires hangout? Also, where do u all mount the unit - windscreen location, or dashboard?

The stock system is an easy install if you can take the hit on the cost. I am very happy with the overall performance of this system.

The stock system as in the one that comes as an option when u purchase the car? Isn't it around 5K or more? Do the dealers install it after purchase or is it something that I can do myself with minimal experience?

Check out the Cayman Club articles/ Electronics section for lots of stuff...including a fuse box diagram: Electronics - My Articles I didnt see an article on hardwiring a GPS system, but there is at least one on hard wiring radar detectors. I have a Garmin 670 with European maps. Because it will allow on one destination at a time and not multiple POI's (points of interest) to be programmed along one route, I wish I had purchased a nicer Garmin ( I think 700 series). If you want to plan a route, say a drive in the Cayman, to make several planned stops, or take a particular route, the 660/670 will not allow this to be done. When I planned my most recent route, I did so on Google maps. It was a fantastic single route, that the navi computer would have never planned for me. It just takes the shortest route from A to B. I then added each POI to my address book on the 670. When driving, I would pull up the address book and choice the next POI along the route and the Garmin woudl take me there. And so on and so on. Too much user interaction IMO....so even though Garmins are great, I did find one weakness. A second weakness for the 660/670, IMO is the zoom feature. Its fantastic at zooming, but my complaint is the "levels" of zooming. If one is driving and you want to zoom in or out significantly, it is VERY annoying on the 660/670. You have to hit the "+" or "-" buttons like 50 times....:crazy: If there is a quicker way to zoom in and out I am not aware of it! I wish it had the ability to zoom with a scroll bar or a scale bar kinda like google maps. One touch on the scale bar and you are where you want to be or pretty close. Just my 2 cents.

Thanks for all the replies. Do you mind sharing how you guys have mounted your Garmins and how you run the 12V wire?

There are some previous threads with photos on how to install the garmin

I use the bean bag mount and its located on the left of the instrument cluster and I only set it there when I need it, otherwise the whole thing stays in the glove box. For power, I bought a 12v socket from radio shack and hooked it up to a switched fuse and the ground in the fuse box, ran the wire through the carpet panel and then under the weather stripping/behind the dash so that it comes out right on top where it plugs into the unit on the bean bag dock. When you stick the key in, the unit turns out, when you take the key out, it says it has lost power and will shut off in 30 seconds unless you press continue to run off the battery .

I bought a Nuvi 760 a month ago and just used the provided suction device. That way I can quickly store the GPS & V1 when I am not in the car. If you live in Memphis, TN. leaving anything on the dash is a no, no! I'm happy with the Nuvi but I don't have the audio turned on, you can customize routes from the mapping software but I find creating routes on the Nuvi is tedious to say the least, take your laptop. Not being water proof the Nuvi is not for motorcycle trips, you need the Zumo 550 or the 276C.

I just got my wife the wide screen 260W. She doesn't need the blue tooth or traffic so this one fit the bill nicely. Very easy to use and inexpensive @ $225, when she leaves it somewhere I won't mind as much. ;-)

Just an update. The proclip arrived today. That was 3 days faster that we had expected. In any case, here is how it looks like. Installing it was quite easy. Just insert the shims as far as they would go and then slowly push in the mount taking care not to break it or to crack or scratch the center console plastic. Slowly push in until it clicks in and both the edges are resting right on their stops. I did not take off the adhesive as I wanted to have the option of easy removal. Tried using the clip without the adhesive and so far I think I can live with the slight left to right toggle of the mount. After screwing on the adaptor to the mount (this has to be purchased separately), I routed the GPS cable tucked it nicely into the wire slot on the side of the glovebox as shown taking care to remove excess slack of the cable so it is as tight as possible but yet not restrictive. From the picture, u can also see how the mount stop sits on the fascia and the console. Here is the final result. The wire is well hidden and the GPS is mounted very securely. The mount is actually a ball joint which fits on the ball receptor at the back of the original garmin mount. Hence, u can adjust the direction of the GPS screen. Also, having it on the passenger side places the GPS unit further from the steering but yet it is near enough that I can reach it with my left hand. Also, I think with this mounted position, the steering wheel will not block line of sight the the GPS screen. ie. My car is Right Hand Drive, and I deliberately bought the mount for Left Hand Drive. It would be converse for US cars for those interested in a passenger side mount. Only problem now is that I have it connected to the constant 12V plug in the center console. Now I am trying to figure a way to hardwire the GPS to the fusebox so that it will be ignition switched. I think once that is done, it would be the best GPS mount system that I can come up with that does not take up windscreen real estate and does not cost a bomb. Ideally, we would prefer to get the PCM, but that is going to cost upwards of $5000. I think I can get a lot of Garmin GPSs with that kind of money. LOL.

Managed to hardwire the GPS to the fusebox. Can refer to the article for reference. Posting pictures here. After removal of fusebox cover and panel. Finding the ground nut...phew. The setup with the 12V adaptor location. Final location of fuse hardwire. Full narration in this article http://www.planet-9.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=227

Just saw this in Articles. Tayman, do you find that you have to take your eyes too far off the road to look at the GPS /make adjustments to GPS ? I'm still convinced that the suction cup on the window is the best way to go - your eye movement is lateral (if you mount it that way) and if you have to touch to make an adjustment, your finger is in your peripheral vision and you don't have to take your eyes from the road. Esthetically, my preference isn't as nice looking as your set up though, great job! Thanks for taking the time to do the article and photos...

I purchased an Arkon Cup Holder Mount for my Nuvi 360 (model GN033). It sits securely just to the right of center and keeps the Nuvi at the level of the center air vents. Very convenient as it's completely removable if needed and I don't drink in my car anyway. Online prices are between $17-20. </title><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en" xml:lang="en"> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html Now all I would like is for at least one of the power taps to be switchable on the ignition.