BMW Portable Navigation System

[macmook]

Hello all,

I am not a fan of iDrive, so I didn't get it in my 135i convertible. But I do miss having a nav system.

The BMW Portable Navigation System is a rebranded Garmin Nuvi. I would prefer the BMW model over a retail offering because I believe the power, etc. is hidden in the mounting bracket.

But I have no idea how it mounts. The 1 series doesn't have a dash seam above the trim and the only place looks like on the top of the HVAC cutout.

Has anyone installed the BMW Portable Navigation System? If so where did it mount? Is the power feed hidden? Do you have pics?

regards,

Alex

[macmook]

Never mind. I had only searched the General forum. Found my answer in the electronics forum. Not pretty...

[subscience]

I've been considering the same thing myself and I do agree with you that the mount is the deal-maker/breaker here.

But I personally thought it was well implemented (and surely beats running exposed wires). How come you didn't like it?

[macmook]

I re-verified with the dealer that no holes would be drilled in the dash and went ahead and installed the BMW branded Nuvi 360.

The Nuvi is pretty much stock with BMW locations added as points of interest and a few BMW vehicles as icons. It works as well as any other Garmin GPS system. The touch screen and menus are all well organized and intuitive.

The bluetooth works with my iPhone and imported the address book.

In the 135i the bracket emerges from the right side of the instrument dome flush with the dash. It isn't quite unobtrusive but not bad. The only ugly part is the power wires run in a channel in the bracket and are visible from the front windshield.

All told not a bad job. I am not an iDrive fan. The portability of the Nuvi is an attractive feature too.

Alex

[JimD]

Anybody notice that there is also a wide Nuvi version available from United? It seems to be a rebadged 760 or 880. The numbers for the mount are different so I am thinking it may mount a little different too. The 760 has bluetooth and MP3 capability. The 880 takes voice comands but lacks MP3.

Jim

[macmook]

The 360 also has bluetooth, MP3 and slide show. As you suggest, the wide Nuvi display units are unlikely to fit on the bracket that was used on the 360. It was quite tight to the instrument dome.

[Mad Dragon]

If I had an '09, I would have gotten the iDrive. It's light years beyond the older CCC system.

[135isandiego]

Im having the portable nav system installed on Saturday, Ill let you know how it goes and post some pics

[macmook]

btw - The BMW Nuvi 360 came with V2.2 of the Garmin software and a 2008 map set. Once you register - it will upgrade to V2.3 and offer a free 2010 North American map set.

[135isandiego]

Awesome! Thanks

[macmook]

Pix.

[JimD]

Looks good. A picture from through the windshield of the back or of the front side with the GPS off the mount would help too.

[macmook]

Here are pics of the mounting bracket with and without its cover and the backside of the mount.

[135isandiego]

Thanks for the pics!! I was worried about how it was gonna look, i had never seen an install on a 1 until now. Looks great!

[Endre]

I have used the same system for my H&K, and it is possible to get it a litle more to the right so bigger nav fits (Like my H&K). Also a tip is to use only black cables/black hose so thet the cables dont show.

[JimD]

Macmook,

Great job on the pictures!!!!

I did not realize it had a cover for when the GPS was detached. Looks clean and professional to me. I think I know what I will do now. A couple hundred for an up-to-date GPS that I can replace as it becomes out-of-date plus $50 or less for an installation kit seems a lot better idea to me than $2100 for admittedly a more capable unit but one that will become outdated and is not readily replaceable. Software updates for the built-in version cost what a new pretty decent portable GPS costs.

Thanks.

Jim

[BlackjackMulligan]

wow considering that it has Bluetooth in it makes the price very attractive. How does the BT work? Does the sound come from the unit itself or from the radio speakers?

Also, I'd simply take a black permanent marker and color the red wire black. You'd have a much harder time seeing the wire.

[JimD]

You can do bluetooth several ways. The 760 and 880 have FM modulators built-in so if you live away from a really big city and can find some empty FM bandwidth, you can broadcast GPS instructions, music from the MP3, and phone calls to the car sterio using the FM modulator. You can also plug the GPS into the aux input of the BMW radio using the headphone jack of the GPS but you need to get the wire that is under the center arm-rest to the GPS. And you can also just use the speakers of the GPS. I am planning to find a way to get the plug-in method to work. I figure I can find that wire in the dash, it has to go to the radio.

The other cool thing about the way that Garmin does bluetooth is the phone book from your phone comes up in the touch screen of the Nuvi. So you can touch a phone number to dial it. Or you can probably just give the name to call it if you have the 880.

With the GPS tied into the car sterio, the GPS will reduce the volume of music to give its instructions - or to take a phone call - and then turn it back up when the interruption is over. I see the MP3 capability as a good way around the single CD limitation of the radio. Load your CDs into the GPS and then pick them off the touch screen to play.

I have a nuvi 350 in my truck now (waiting on my 128i convertible) and use it to play MP3s sometimes using the plug into the aux port method. Works well.

Jim

[BlackjackMulligan]

Sounds like a nice set up!

I wonder if the BMW version taps into that wire, or if the wires that go to the mount are strictly for power and ground?

[JimD]

My guess is it is just power. The instructions for the narrower mount are in the DIY section and that seems to be what is going on.

Another way to make a red wire less visible is to cover it with black heat shrink tubing. It looks like the red wire comes directly out of the BMW mount so it would be difficult to change to black. But it would be pretty easy to cover it with a piece of heat shrink tubing (which I have).

Jim

[macmook]

As far as I know it is only power. The unit comes on and goes off with the ignition. It does prompt to continue on battery power when the ignition is turned off.

[JimD]

I learned another reason to go with a Garmin portable today. I got an email from Amazon where I bought my nuvi 350 about a year ago asking if I wanted to buy updates. You can get a map update for about $50 one time or lifetime updates for less than $100. Much more reasonable. I think I'll wait and do it with a new 760 in a year or so but it seems like a much better deal than yearly $200 updates for the iDrive.

Jim