[JimD]

In installed a Garmin nuvi 760 into my 128i vert today. I purchased the installation kit from United for the BMW Portable Navigation Plus unit (for $55) but ended up using basically only the bracket. The BMW system would be better integrated with the car and would hide wires better but I decided I could live with the appearance and save roughly $400. The 760 is nearly identical to the Plus but the Plus comes with a slick cradle with wires coming out the back to handle everything. I tried to buy this cradle from Garmin but no luck. So I put a female accessory socket under the panel with the headlight switch on it and plugged the 760 power cord in running the wire out under the hood over the gauges. That preserves the traffic feature of the 760 (the antenna is in the power cord). I also ran a wire to take the output of the 760 to the auxiliary input of the radio and for a remote microphone.

The end result is I have what used to be a top of the line GPS with traffic, posted speed limit, etc.., routes, PLUS MP3 playpack PLUS bluetooth phone. I am still figuring out the remote microphone placement. With the top down, back of the sun visor was not so good. My son says the remote microphone makes a big difference, however, and with the top up, back of the visor worked well. It currently appears high on the pillar is best but not on the windshield (seem to get wind noise if it touches the windshield)

I was trying to create a female outlet for the sound on the cradle but was unsuccessful soldering to the cradle PC board. I installed a right angle plug for the cord and changed some pictures. I wish all the wires ran to the cradle but plugging into the headphone jack is also what turns off the speaker on the nuvi. With the cord plugged to the nuvi and the aux port, I get excellant MP3 playback through the car speakers and if I get a call, the sound is muted during the call (and the call also comes through the car speakers).

The 760 has a FM broadcast capability but I tried that and the sound was not acceptable. I could not get a good frequency - and I live in a pretty small city. The reviews were right on this one, unfortunately. I works but there is significant noise.

I also added a picture of my screwdriver on one of the two screws holding in the gauges, a picture where you can see the 4 screws holding the hood on and a picture of the dash with the hood off where you can see the bracket attachment screws.

I hope you like the pictures. I have about $300 in this and think I am getting a lot for the money. The installation is neither supper easy or supper difficult. You can get to everything but some of the spaces are tight. You will need short torx screwdrivers in a couple sizes.

Jim