Evenin' all!

Prepare for some potentially pretty daft questions. I've never had and hardly ever used a sat nav. Mrs Moo is having to use the FL2 to travel with work at the moment and I'm getting a little tired of getting 'I'm lost' phone calls... There are a couple of posts re people installing a retro fit sat nav in the hole beween the centre air vents on XS models and lower. From what I can see, these seem to be older Sony and Kenwood sat nav units, which don't seem to be available any longer (unless I've missed some threads).

A quick browse at Tesco at lunchtime suggests that the TomTom XL may well fit the hole, but I think it has the on/off switch on top, which is not going to be very helpful.

My questions:-

1) What recent cheaper (<£130) sat navs fit the hole?
2) Are there some that don't have inaccessible on/off switches?
3) Does the voice giving directions come from a speaker within the sat nav, or does one somehow plumb it into the stereo?
4) Presumably when mounted in the dash hole and without any additional antennae, a stv nav can still pick up a GPS signal?


Any help for a sat nav novice gratefully received!

There is or used to be a Sony stick in the hole job and post on it under mods and there is a sticky on mods unders the ultimate stanav.

Tomtom XL does fit the hole, I push mine in and rest it against two blocks of packaging foam, one either side to keep it vertical the unit is a friction fit when it is about 30mm back from the front of the hole , I can easily hook it out to switch on and off simply by rocking the top down, and mine has never come out of place in use in over 27000 miles .
the power lead plugs into the base of the unit and helps with the friction fit.

The Garmin 1490 series fits perfect if you dont have the TV version. The on#off button is not accessible but if you wire it through the cigar lighter you dont need to bother. Ralph
Zurmatt Silver, Diesel, Automatic, side steps, mud flaps, mats, boot liner, TomTom Start 60 installed, rubbing strips, removable Brink tow bar, after market tinted glass, front styling bar, Rear spoiler, Motorlicious tail pipe trim. Wood Company centre armrest

Thanks for your replies. Re the TomTom XL and the Garmin, where does the sound come out? I'm guessing there's no simple way to get it to come through the stereo, so I presume it comes out of the sat nav itself. Presumably in spite of the sat nav being in the hole at the top of the dash, the sound is loud enough?

Cheers

The unit is plenty loud enough

G'Day Mr Moo, I've fitted a Garmin 1490, there's a picture of it in my gallery. No problems with sound level and I posted installation details in the Technical section under '12 volt from dash area' - sorry, but I don't know how to transfer that post to here!

egipp's input... (Looks very neat )

https://www.freel2.com/forum/topic7797.html

Thank you for your kind comment mcphersonstrut, appreciated. Off topic, I would doubt you're as old as I, but my first knowledge of a 'mcpherson strut' was on my first car, a 1958 Ford Anglia, which had just been introduced with independent front suspension. The 'Mcpherson strut" was being heavily pushed by Ford at that time and may, I think, have been a Ford patent, or at least design.
Cheers.

I have a tomtom520 and mine doesn't fit in the cubby hole

Are people forcing them it? Freelander 2 TD4 GS Manual MY11 - 61REG Stratstone Mayfair
Sumatra black, cloth, DAB Radio, Park Distance Control Front, Privacy Glass, 17" Full Size Spare Wheel.
Aftermarket: Mudflaps

Search for the threads by stownrow. He's fitted two different sat nav units in the cubby hole. Another member of the failed FL2 clutch/DMF club, twice.

All interesting stuff as I'm looking at getting SatNav put in at some point.

Has anyone priced up getting the original LR SatNav fitted?
Or is this something that had to be done at the factory?

Pegleg wrote:

Search for the threads by stownrow. He's fitted two different sat nav units in the cubby hole.

Is that so he can go 2 places at once????? 2002 Honda VFR800
2002 Toyota Celica 140 Silver (mid life crisis - again!)
2007 FL2 GS Manual Army Reconnaissance Green + freel2.com sticker
2004 Toyota Celica 140 Black - Gone
2000 Toyota Celica 140 Silver - Gone
1998 Toyota Celica ST Pearl Green - Gone
1996 Nissan Primera 1.6 - Gone
1994 Rover Montego 1.6 Auto - Gone

I have a TT XL IQ
It is a perfect friction fit, when I pull up it is laid flat and can't be seen. The power cable was routed through the rear of the cubby, I made a hole in the corner under the mat. The lighter type plug was wired to a flying lead socket wired to a spare fuse, in the passenger footwell fusebox. No wires can be seen anywhere.
The unit is easy to remove for updating and having to tilt it up each time I use it is no great deal.
Cheap solution, looks good, sat nav signal perfect, might get the TMC adaptor too.

Sorry this doesn't actually answer your question about the latest sat navs as I have an old TomTom One V3, but, I thought I would show you the mounting system I use.

I bought a powered cradle from fleebay, and a suction mount from Amazon and filed the ball down to fit in the socket of the powered cradle. This is it in the car:



This is it with the sat nav fitted:



This is it from the side:



The suction mount comes with an adhesive plate that I used to stick to the top of the cubby hole bin at the back.
I drilled a hole in the back of the cubby hole bin and the wire to the cradle goes behind where its connected to a permanent 12v supply.
[FYI - The powered cradle comes with 2 cables: one for powering from the centre dash power socket, and, one with an in-line fuse for permanent connection to the vehicle].
Not the smoothest/sleek integration, but, it works for us.

Not sure if I'm allowed to post links to the actual item sale pages, so I won't but can send details or edit this reply if people want details.