Garmin Portable Friction Mount - Frustration Free Packaging

I am using this mount with a Nuvi 855.Overall I think it is fantastic. I have used a friends car often in which there is a GPS (TomTom) stuck with a suction cup to the circular disc mounted to the dash. I found her GPS would often fall off when I was touching the screen. I would resort to taking it off and fiddling with it on my lap whilst drive. Not such a safe way to go. Also, with that kind of mount it was not easy for the passenger (my beloved co-pilot) to access the GPS or move it around or take it into her hands for full control (an important manoeuvre for full co-piloting).It was because of the experience with my friends mount that I bought this one at the same time as my Nuvi 855. I am very happy with this mount.PROS - Things I really like about it:- It is SUPER grippy. It has an incredible surface on the underside which makes it not slide at all. Even if I try to nudge it 8as a test), it is hard to move it. Excellent. There is certainly NO movement whilst driving, even when I am driving fast into a tight bend. And yet, if I want to reposition it, or my passenger/co-pilot wants to change the position, it's so easy. Just lift it a little (as in, just a slight upward motion whilst pushing it to a different position) and move it.- The Nuvi rotates well in all directions. It rotates from side-to-side, pivoting where the mount arm goes into the mount base. Very nice. Makes it real easy for my co-pilot to view it and take control when I am hectic with busy traffic. It also pivots where the bracket joins the mount arm, which is a ball-and-socket connection. I can see that the fixed dash/windscreen mount that comes with the 855 uses a ball-and-socket connection too, so nothing extra gained in that regard.- When put away, NOTHING remains on the window or the dash. No round disk stuck to the dash. No circular mark left on the windscreen. Both of these are giveaways that a GPS may be hanging out someone in the vehicle... and is something savvy potential GPS thieves know to look out for.- When it comes time to put it away, the Nuvi easy detaches from the bracket. Requires pushing a button as you grab it. One relatively easy manoeuvre. Then putting the mount away, is as simple as picking it up and sticking it somewhere. Couldn't be easier. (See Bulky issue below)CONS:-It is a little bulky. I can't, for instance, stick it under the seat without first detaching the connector arm from it. This makes for an additional step when getting in and out of the car. I then have two objects to store/hide... a mount base and an arm with a bracket stuck to it. I find this a little inconvenient, though not a major issue.- It is relatively heavy. I travel (internationally) a fair bit, and I'll be taking this GPS and the mount with me. It is on the heavy side compared to other mounting solutions, beacuse it has four little "sand bags" on it. But if you are primarily just using this in your home car... I don't think this will be an issue at all.- Ball and socket system: I do actually prefer the way the TomTom connected to its mount. It would just slide down onto the mount. No buttons, no bracket, and no bracket based DC power system (this last point may be specific to my Nuvi 855). This means more parts to wear out and/or break. This, to me, appears to be the weakest part in the over all design. The Nuvi is solid. The mount is super solid. But this additional bracket that connects the Nuvi to the mount arm has clips, and spring loaded buttons... relatively weak compared to the other parts.I prefer the way the TomTom attaches to its mount. There are some slots build into the moulded rear panel on the TomTom. I can see, however, that this potentially is what makes the TomTom thicker than my Nuvo 855.So, this attaching system on the Nuvi is something I can easily live with... as I like how thin it is.CONCLUSION:The cons I have mentioned, are purely to be thorough in my review. I don't consider them an issue for myself. I think this mount simply rocks. I have researched all the mount solutions available on Amazon and the Garmin site, and I think this one is the best one available.What's more, it's a great price here on Amazon.Bottom line? Get one with your Nuvi order!!TIPS AND TRICKS- Getting the bracket on and off of the ball on the arm can seem hard to do. The trick is that you need do it on the side of the ball (any side, top, left, right, bottom). Just stick the ball into the bracket with the arm itself touching the bracket (as a result of it going in at an angle rather than straight on). Then it pops in and out easily.

This works really well. Lots of weight to staying put on the dash.

I had just purchased a Garmin 855 GPS and wanted an alternative to the windshield method...for all the reasons listed by a gizillion reviewers. However, it's amazing to me that there is not a better explanation and pictures with the product description to let the buyer know exactly HOW the GPS unit ATTACHES to the the mount. I was a bit confused about this, as I had read some reviews which said you can (or can't!) use the plastic arm that came with your new unit...making it sound like you simply take the plastic arm that came with your GPS and use it with this "friction mount." Well now, I ended up going to the Garmin site and discovered that their part number for this unit ended in #2, whereas the unit on Amazon ended in #0. Hmmm. So I emailed Garmin, asking for an explanation as to the different numbers...wondering if there were actually two different products. I did get an email reply from from Garmin within 48 hours (good thing). However the reply (bad thing) was: "Thank you for contacting Garmin International. I would be happy to help you with this. The part you want would end in 02, some sites sell the mount without the arm. Just to be safe I would use the part number from our site. Have a good day." (Didn't seem like a definitive answer to me!)In any event, I bought the unit ending with #0 through Amazon, but from the vendor named "Beach Camera" for $23 and change (free shipping because I took advantage of the free month's trial of "Prime," and no sales tax to my state. Meanwhile, Beach Camera's packaging and shipping was excellent...arrived in 48 hours to my rural locale. And the mount did in fact INCLUDE the arm NEEDED for the mount to work. That is, the arm consists of a plastic molded part that has gear teeth going around the circumference of the round base, which MESH with the plastic part attached to the friction mount. The tab that you see in the friction mount's photo functions like a clutch, so that you depress it and can then rotate the arm in any direction until you get the desired viewing angle of the unit. And there is also another plastic tab attached to the friction unit which locks the arm in place once you get the GPS angled where you want it. So the point is: the suction cup windshield arm that comes with the GPS will not work with the friction mount. It obviously is not molded with gear teeth to mesh with the friction mount. So you can just put that aside in case you want to try a windshield mount in a future life. A side note: The plastic shell encased Garmin friction mount from Beach Camera had a copyright date of 2008 on the package...so maybe earlier units that were identified with the product number ending in #0 did not have the arm with the gear teeth? I can't say. However, rest assured that if you order the unit from Beach Camera (Amazon comes up on their checkout process), you will get the unit that will work with your Garmin GPS (of course I would stick to the GPS unit #'s stated as being compatible in the product description). I have posted this lengthy review because I gained some satisfaction in taking a chance on getting the right mount (given the vague response I got from Garmin), and hope to save other folks some time trying to figure out if the mount will work "out of the box" for your new GPS. It just ain't much fun to buy a reasonably pricey product (GPS) and then deal with the frustration of getting the necessary accessory to work right.In conclusion, I would add that although the friction mount would likely work well on many different dashboard configurations, I am using the unit with a 2009 Honda Accord. And it is perfect! With the Accord, you have the option of putting it either on the top of the dashboard, or on the flat area just in front of the display for the radio/clock, etc. I have placed it in the latter position, finding that it is closer (therefore easier to touch the screen without over-reaching) and it also doesn't interfere with the view of the road (obviously a safety concern)...but is as high up as you can get without doing so.Hence, as the Aussies say: "no worries" about purchasing this excellent accessory.

Too Expensive OEM Accessory - But, it's the right one to use for my car. Stable, Doesn't Slide. The 17mm ball fits the iSaddle CH-156 Bracket Cradle Mount for Garmin Nuvi 50 50LM GPS:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HQA6MKY