Motoring Discussion > Thank you Tomtom - just spent 20 minutes fixing... Accessories and Parts
Thread Author: RattleandSmoke Replies: 13
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New Sun 4 Mar 12 21:48 
 Thank you Tomtom - just spent 20 minutes fixing... - RattleandSmoke
...my dash.

I have lost my original holder and I need the sat nav tomorrow so I bought an air event holder today. However when I tried to attach it one of the small vents clipped out of place. It seems the product is not suitable for modern round vents which move.

I had to take the clips out and reattach them, thankfully I got to study the high quality engineering and good quality plastics which the vents are made from, otherwise it might have been an expensive trip to the dealer :(

So no damage caused, just 20 minutes of frustration trying to fix the new 4 inch hole in the dashboard!

So if you're in the market for a new air vent sat nav holder be careful what car you use them on.

I am either going to just buy a new sat nav or a goose neck one at £26 :(.

My sat nav is over 3 years old and the maps all need updating etc but it has sentimental value as I got it for Christmas 2008 after I had just passed my test.

Thankfully I have become very skilled in clipping fiddly bits of plastic together due to repairing laptops, but this product could have left some people with a £40+ dealer bill for labour.
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New Sun 4 Mar 12 21:55 
 Thank you Tomtom - just spent 20 minutes fixing... - R.P.
Get one of these Rats - saves a lot of angst !(and money)

www.amazon.co.uk/GPS-Friction-DASH-MOUNT-Magellan/dp/B003TGNVMG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330898099&sr=8-1
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New Sun 4 Mar 12 21:58 
 Thank you Tomtom - just spent 20 minutes fixing... - RattleandSmoke
Ideally need it for tomorrow, but it is not the end of the world, I have got used to just listening to the sat nav on the rare times I have needed it!.

How does that product work?

I have a Tomtom One XL which is on the heavy side by modern standards.

This is what my dash looks like, so not that many places to put things like sat navs

www.mervynstewart.com/carimages/DSCF1155%20(Small)(2).JPG
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Sun 4 Mar 12 at 22:01
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New Sun 4 Mar 12 22:12 
 Thank you Tomtom - just spent 20 minutes fixing... - Dave_
Dead link Rats (I think it's the brackets causing the problem).

Scrunch up a T-shirt or a duster and sit the satnav on top of it on the dash. Or just balance it in front of the speedo or in a cupholder.

I occasionally use the nav on my phone when I've only got a postcode to go on. I can be driving anything at all nowadays so I find somewhere visible and wedge it upright. Works for me.
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Sun 4 Mar 12 at 22:13
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New Sun 4 Mar 12 22:33 
 Thank you Tomtom - just spent 20 minutes fixing... - Rudedog
I had exactly the same issue with a vent holder for my iPhone last week, managed to fit it but when I wanted to change it to another vent the damn thing wouldn't come off and stupidly I pulled it slightly too hard and broke one of the vent vanes, now I'm trying to fix the thing as a new vent means replacing the whole centre section of the dash.
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New Sun 4 Mar 12 22:36 
 Thank you Tomtom - just spent 20 minutes fixing... - RattleandSmoke
Link works fine for me, but it is not a valid hyperlink so I am not surprised you're having issues. Technically it shouldn't work.

This should work, it is left hand drive but you get the idea of the problem.

data.motor-talk.de/data/galleries/969258/3618483/k640-dsc00876-55804.JPG

Rudedog I it fiddly more than anything else, I assume you've worked out how to clip it all back together?
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Sun 4 Mar 12 at 22:36
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New Sun 4 Mar 12 22:39 
 Thank you Tomtom - just spent 20 minutes fixing... - R.P.
Bean bag will work fine Rats just sits on the dash, its weighty so it won't budge.
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New Sun 4 Mar 12 22:40 
 Thank you Tomtom - just spent 20 minutes fixing... - RattleandSmoke
I might be being thick, but how can I see the screen if I place it on a bean bag?
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New Sun 4 Mar 12 22:41 
 Thank you Tomtom - just spent 20 minutes fixing... - R.P.
On that console thing ?
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New Sun 4 Mar 12 22:43 
 Thank you Tomtom - just spent 20 minutes fixing... - RattleandSmoke
Sorry my brain has now gone into meltdown, but then I have just spent 35 minutes reading up on the theories of learning.

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New Sun 4 Mar 12 22:49 
 Thank you Tomtom - just spent 20 minutes fixing... - rtj70
I had a clip for a satnav mount for the air vents (actually an HP iPAQ) in the Mondeo. Quite discreet when there was no cradle. The Mazda6 that followed had vents you could never affix anything to so used the map pocket lid and Velcro!

Soon after I got a TomTom 720 (instead of TomTom on the iPAQ) and used velcro for the mount. I now have satnav as standard in the car but got a spare mount for the TomTom for hire cars (needed for the Panda in Italy last May).

I'm trying to remember the air vents on the hire car (Panda).... not sure they would work well with any air vent mounting bracket.

Time flies - I remember when Rattle's satnav was stolen from his car! Was that really before this site was launched 2 years ago!
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New Sun 4 Mar 12 22:57 
 Thank you Tomtom - just spent 20 minutes fixing... - RattleandSmoke
It wasn't actually stolen it turned up a couple of months later, it had dropped down the back of the cupboard. I was convinced I had left it in the car, but thinking about it the mounting bracket for it probably was stolen.

Was so embarrassed but also very happy when I found it, I was just going to buy a new one the week after.

Probably kept quiet about it at the time because I felt so stupid, although at the time I did state I wasn't 100% certain it was in the glove box. Also probably didn't mention as the thread on HJ was probably long berried by the time I found it. Still as a result never never keep anything valuable in the car now.

Thankfully I didn't put in any claims as it wasn't worth it, but if I did I may have got a few months in Strangeways.
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Sun 4 Mar 12 at 22:58
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New Sun 4 Mar 12 23:46 
 Thank you Tomtom - just spent 20 minutes fixing... - -
RP's suggestion about the weighted non slip base is spot on, i've got one of those for the truck, trucks get notorious pounding especially when empty where anything not glued down goes flying, the base never moves.

Alternatively in SWM's C2 i have stuck the shiny disc base to a section of dashboard with double sided carpet adhesive tape, the usual sucker thing then attaches to the disc, that works fine too.

Car (and truck) vents are not up to holding phones ot satnavs, unless in an MB where things are a bit more rugged.
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New Mon 5 Mar 12 08:09 
 Thank you Tomtom - just spent 20 minutes fixing... - Roger.
I have one of these (Garmin specific, though) tinyurl.com/6tfhmnz and can confirm it works a treat on a Fiat Panda dash!
Last edited by: Roger on Mon 5 Mar 12 at 08:10
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