Hey whats up fellas,
I want to get a navigation system for my Z. Here's the thing I dont want to pull my factory Bose system out. I want to get a nav system that I could put into the cubby hole where the factory navigation would go. I dont want to plug it into the cigarette lighter. I want to find an alternate power source and wire it there. I dont want to see wires I want a clean install. Now my question is what nav system would you recommend? (I'm looking at germin nav systems currently.) Can this type of job be done? Does anyone have any pics of there nav system? That way I have an idea of what it would look like. Thanks in advance for your help.

Raul

 

start here! then do searches on kenwood navigation. you will see that this monitor fits great in the cubby you are talking about.
-j

https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....ood+navigation

 

I see what you mean. But for the Kenwood you need the unit and a screen your looking at over a $600.00 system. I'm takin about getting a portable system and then installing it in the cubby hole to work there permantly. Can this be done?

 

ive been looking for that too ever since i bought my z about 4 months ago.. i dont want to spend more than 600 and i want it to be a portable yet permanent sytem that i can hide within the little compartment

 

With a portable gps you have an antenna that needs to have a clear signal...sticking it in a cubby might give you none/crappy reception. The kenwood setup looks nice.

 

I had a Garmin Nuvi 660 that fit in the cubby fine. It also had no problems picking up satellites. Having it in the cubby wasn't to my liking, so I bought a windshield mount, but it can be done.

 

I just installed the Garmin Nuvi 760 (piano black) in my 06 cubby. Its hardwired to the back of the pass cig lighter. I have the Alpine/blackbird set-up but that location is too low and not comfortable for me to view. I now just use the Garmin for Nav. It works great, nice and portable.

As for external antenna,,,,my garmin picks up great in the cubby, no problems what so ever. As long as the signal is not blocked by metal,,,your GPS signa will be fine.

 

A good portable navi/gps is still anywhere from 300-400. I want that kenwood setup as well, very OEM ish style. I wish non-navi cars can put navi in it.

 

i have a garmin and ill probably take it to my nearest best buy so they can rip me off and install it without having a cable visible to the ciggarette lighter... i personally prefer the cubby rather than the windshield since i already have a radar detector up on my windshield

 

Thanks for all the feedback. I guess i will be going with a garmin unit and have it wired to the cig lighter in the passenger side. I want a real nice clean install.

 

If you decide to “hard wire” the portable GPS device, keep the device’s power-plug and fuse as part of your wiring. The reason for doing this is the power-plug steps down the voltage (from 12v to something like 9v) and the fuse provides an extra measure of safety for your expensive device.

Do a search on this sub-forum to see many discussions and solutions for what you are planning.

Here is a very good thread:

https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....n+%2B+portable

--Spike

 

You can hardwire it yourself,,,Its not very difficult. Remove the upper/cubby console,,,route the wire through the back of the cubby,,(there are two small holes on each side) you will need to dremmel out just a little to get the plug through..run the cable down, behind headunit, then behind lower part of pass side dash and over to the back of the cig lighter. ,,,use the 3M splice connectors,,,clip onto the red ( add red of hardwire),,,then clip onto black(adding black of hardwire),,you are done...

I bought my hardwire kit for my Garmin Nuvi,,,from www.thegpsstore.com They are located in Wilmington, NC.

 

Looks easy you have any pics of the finished product? How do you like it so far?

 

When it's hardwired, does the portable gps/navi turns off when you turn the vehicle off? That would be nice, rather then having to manually turn it off.

 

As long as you hardwire to the switched power, then yes. I just plugged mine into the cigarette lighter and it shut off when I shut off the car.

 

Yes,,,the GPS unit will shut down when the car is turned off, if wired to the pass cig,,which is switched...

As for photo's, all I have is my iphone for a camera,,I will try to snap a few photos today and figure out how to post them here...