Simont, Thanks very much for your kind comment. It's not a difficult operation to fit it, just a little bit painstaking. If you like, I'd be happy to give you a blow by blow account of how to go about it.
Cheers, Graham.

Update: The 1490T is easy to get at once you've done it once - straight from the centre panel, starting at the top. The only part I don't know about installation would be where the power is connected mine was already done and I didn't follow the cable to it's source. Simply pop to top cover, remove 6 screws and gain access to the plastic cavity which houses the sat nav units. Finding the 2 screws under the small rubber ledge beneath the screen was relief.
That's the hardware part. Screen is brilliant, voice commands are clear. Since it's hard-wired in the ON position which can be annoying on long, night drives, I simply uploaded a blank, black jpeg file and switch it to Picture Viewer for such drives (adjusting brightness to 0% doesn't work).
Software is another issue and relative to the mapping technology available for each country. Here in Oz, the Garmin software is great for cities and towns, but poor offroad. I haven't tried the commercial offroad mapping packages as they are very expensive ($350 or so) but a bloke spent a squillion hours appending free government mapping data and made it free to anyone interested. It's called Shonkymaps (yep!). The detail in the bush and national parks is great, though navigation as we know it doesn't seem to work. It's basically a map that shows you where you are - an alternative to hard copy but your position is shown. Maps stay put, so when you drive off the screen you need to scroll manually. It mucks up normal navigation in the cities/towns but you can switch between the different software depending on where you are or where you want to go. I'm heading remote either next week or the one after, so the practical feedback will be available for anyone who's interested (ie: using Shonkymaps).

Thanks for the map information jaksbak, I'll certainly have a look at that. On the power question, mine takes a feed from the fuse box behind the glove box, and I put a switch in the line, mounted in the glovebox, to overcome the 'always on' problem. However, I think the official installation takes power from the front power socket terminals, so putting a switch in might not be so easy - yours is a neat solution.

Update on the mapping. I went bush today and found the standard Garmin mapping stopped working effectively a few kilometers into a forestry plantation. I took another Garmin and my Nokia phone with it's mapping also. They all stopped working, other than showing you in a green blob.
By switching to Shonkymaps (menu/settings/maps/info) the tracks all showed, along with other interesting info such as creeks, swamps, mines, fire towers etc. Unfortunately, the mapping wasn't in sync with the Garmin so the vehicle would show but disappear off the map after driving for a while. You could manually scroll the map but this was downright dangerous driving offroad. When it was time to drive back, we moved into the Navigation section and selected "Drive Home". The navigation voice commands are a bit confused as they only appear to recognise main roads, but strangely, the maps move with the vehicle in this mode. The solution was to turn down the volume to stop the constant "Re-calculating" voice message until the main road is reached; whereby we stopped and changed back to the normal mapping. Everything was back to normal. Not perfect, but free and very handy to have if you ever need the mapping detail offroad.

I have added to my gallery the long overdue pictures from when I installed my unit last month. (Note that I don't have one of the finished product, but will add one soon).

When I installed my unit, I also took the built in speaker out and placed in where the center speaker grill is, in the hope of improving the sound quality during calls, but it didn't seem to help too much.

The hardest part of my install was the locating of the earth, but that was because I was worried about where I connected to. I started to unfasten one bolt and the AC fan started spinning, which caused me to very quickly screw it back in. I was then confused because I expected the unit to be powered when the fob was inserted and the ignition enabled without the engine running but the circuit I used in the fuse-box was only enabled when the engine is running.

The overall finish is great. The unit is brilliant for sat-nav but not so great for bluetooth in my experience (might have to try a parrot unit). I will have to try the topo maps I was given for free when I purchased the unit from JB HiFi one day.

Feel free to ask questions. 1st time FL2 owner. 2007 SE i6 in Tambora Flame.

Well done whyte, the loud speaker move is a good effort - might you get the sound improvement if you connected the right size speaker for the mounting? That is, I imagine, if the speaker impedance can be matched, could be more trouble than it's worth. I had the same result on the earth connection as well, puzzling isn't it? I don't know whether you've gone ahead with the mask, but the people who did mine did one too many in the end and you'd be welcome to that if you like.
I very much agree that the unit is very good and the price (and, from what I've read on here, the effectiveness) comparison against the Freelander OE fitment is on our side as well.
Cheers, Graham

Hi Graham,

Yes, I have thought about replacing the very tiny inbuilt speaker with something with a little more capability, but I am not too sure about matching the impedance or even if the power provided by the unit will be enough to drive a bigger better speaker. I will have to talk to those more knowledgeable about it at work.

As for the surround, I really like the look of yours so if you had a spare available, I would gladly take it off your hands. I can xfer some money to you via paypal (or net banking even) to cover the postage and offset some of your costs too. More than happy to Just PM me your details if that suits.

Cheers,
Whytey 1st time FL2 owner. 2007 SE i6 in Tambora Flame.

Hi Whyte, The extra masks are currently sitting with the plastics shop in my local township - I should be up there in the next few days and, if you like to PM me your address, I'll gladly send it on to you. Thanks very much for the offer, but you can forget the costs since it was done as an inadvertent extra for me in the first place. As for postage you can buy me a pot if and when we ever meet!
I'll be happy to spray it matt black for you since I've got the plastic paint, but be advised that it's easy to mark or scratch it when installing it; once in place it's fine. I stuck mine with a small piece of Sellotape to the OE box prior to installing so that it couldn't slip when fixing. I'll let you know when I've sent it.
Cheers, Graham

Cheers. Giving it a squirt of paint would be awesome too. I will PM an address now. And I am going on the road-trip later this month; not sure where you are but if we come close I would be more than happy to supply you with a drink whilst we compare installation notes.

Many thanks,
Whytey 1st time FL2 owner. 2007 SE i6 in Tambora Flame.

Hello, gents. Been reading & watching your posts - great work!
I am about to attempt the 1490 install and would lve to get hold of a mask for the console.
Can you please post details of the plastics shop you used, egipp?
Also - did you use anything behind the unit as a 'backstop'?
Cheers!

Hi Toppo5, The shop is East Coast Plastics in Bairnsdale, Victoria, but I'm sure there will be a suitable supplier a bit nearer to you in Perth! The mask is cut from 1 mm plastic and then sprayed matt black with plastic paint from a model shop. There is a drawing (of sorts!) in my gallery, but I took the Garmin, minus it's shiny face plate, to the shop for them to measure the internal hole. As a guide, I payed $30 for two of them. I used a piece of aluminium angle, cut to clear the power connection and speaker, as a back stop; you can use the holes in the box where the rubber mat locates to fix it or use double sided tape.

Thanks again. Your advice is greatly appreciated. One last question - what actually holds the whole unit in place?
Cheers!

Hi troppo, In my installation the Garmin is held in place by the mask, which is clamped in place between the cubby hole box and the centre console panel. This means it is permanently in place; I have to remove the centre console panel to gain access to the Garmin for map updates, but since this is only done twice a year it's not a big problem. Downloading the map updates takes a lot longer than getting the unit out. If you decide not to use a mask, the 1490T is a 'pressure' fit in the box and holds itself in position quite snugly. In both fittings I placed a thin strip of self adhesive black felt - you can get it from an arts and craft store - along the top edge, between the power button and the right hand edge. This gives the unit a firm fit in the box but also prevents the power button being accidentally operated. When you connect via the F5 fuse leave the unit switched on; the ignition will then switch the unit on and off.
Cheers.

great!
just picked up a brand new 1490T from officeworks for only $199
will fit this weekend if i can get the surround sorted.
cheers!

Hi egipp

Before I lever the passenger side fusebox apart and into pieces
I have a 10a fuse in F5 (I assume it is a spare), but how do I get at the 'dead' side to attach a wire feed to the SatNav?