California mounting

[mahohmei]

I have an Arkon TT214 windshield mount holding my ONE 3rd Edition to the windshield. I will be visiting California soon and renting a car, and I'd like to (1) stay within the law, and (2) not have to mount the GPS way down on the left corner of the windshield.

I ordered an Arkon SPD002 dashboard pad, and so far:

- It holds great on the dashboard.
- The windshield mount holds solidly onto the pad, _if_ it's on my perfectly flat desk.
- As soon as I put the pad on my slightly curved car dashboard, the windshield mount will peel off with very little force.

Is there some sort of secret I'm missing? One potential solution would be to dig out the hard plastic self-adhesive dashboard pad the Arkon windshield mount came with and stick it to the soft mounting pad of the Arkon dash pad.

Thanks!

 

[canderson]

It's probably an issue of balance and/or the texture of the dashboard. The SPD002 is one of those sticky/silicone type devices. Perhaps repositioning the device by flexing the mount into a better balanced position will help.

Question: Does your car have any relatively flat trim around the dash? I have three different TomTom devices stuck to that area in my Santa Fe, and even though these areas are really compound curves, I can get them to stick there most of the time. Do not be afraid of losing satellite reception by placing the units lower. I can set mine in the coin tray of the center console up against the dash and still have fine reception everywhere except downtown urban canyons, and no position is any good when you're in that situation.

 

[mahohmei]

It's probably an issue of balance and/or the texture of the dashboard. The SPD002 is one of those sticky/silicone type devices. Perhaps repositioning the device by flexing the mount into a better balanced position will help.

Question: Does your car have any relatively flat trim around the dash? I have three different TomTom devices stuck to that area in my Santa Fe, and even though these areas are really compound curves, I can get them to stick there most of the time. Do not be afraid of losing satellite reception by placing the units lower. I can set mine in the coin tray of the center console up against the dash and still have fine reception everywhere except downtown urban canyons, and no position is any good when you're in that situation.

The SPD002 stays "stuck" to the dashboard very well...once I put it in place, it doesn't shift around at all, and the only way to get it off is to remove it. That's not the issue.

The issue is the curvature of the dash on my 2007 Nissan Versa (and on whatever Budget rents to us in California). The SPD002 has a circular pad on it to accommodate the suction cup, but it's flexible and soft like the rest of the pad, so the slightest curve on the dash causes the suction cup to not suction on properly, unlike on the hard windshield.

 

[canderson]

OK. Got it. Curvature vs. suction cup. Again, for your own vehicle, I'd consider looking to see if there is an area below the dash that would work. Heaven only knows what they're going to give you for rental. A lot of people use the Arkon version that clips to the A/C vents just to avoid this sort of problem. Does Arkon sell this as an accessory to the mount you already purchased?

 

[mahohmei]

OK. Got it. Curvature vs. suction cup. Again, for your own vehicle, I'd consider looking to see if there is an area below the dash that would work. Heaven only knows what they're going to give you for rental. A lot of people use the Arkon version that clips to the A/C vents just to avoid this sort of problem. Does Arkon sell this as an accessory to the mount you already purchased?

Arkon has mounts coming out of their ears, and they no doubt have one that clips to the air vent--I used to use one for a Delphi RoadyXT XM console, and my experience with them is that they break when you try to remove them.

The last car we rented was a 2012 Mazda2 from Budget, and it had these massive round air vents--I didn't try, but chances are you're not connecting a vent mount to it.

Worst case, my wife will hold it in her hand and direct me while I drive.

I found the stick-on hard plastic mounting disc my Arkon suction-cup mount came with. When I get home, I'm going to adhere it to the SPD002 and see if that works. I thought the SPD002 had a hard plastic disc on it, and that would honestly have been the best solution.