Have you hooked up the NUVI to your pc yet? Taken a look for the SRF files?

How about pics of the mounting kit? Would be interesting to see what MINI wants people to pay $175 for.

 

Pics please!

Is the GPS permanently attached or can it be removed from the mount?

 

It can be easily removed. The Garmin Nuvi 360 was meant to be very portable. I plan to take it with me(to carry in my bag) on an upcoming trip to FL to help me find restaurants, stores, etc. It's very lightweight and comes with a leather(?) case and can easily be thrown in a shirt pocket or purse.

 

Does anyone know if the Installation kit includes the MINI specific software for the Nuvi?

 

I doubt the installation kit includes software, it's just a fancy mounting bracket and wiring. If you need the MINI specific files, they are available. I can even email them to you if you PM me.

 

that's really cool...

 

Go to this thread..... Anyone got the new portable NAV All of the info (pictures, srf files, etc is here).

 

I'd like to track our club runs and then publish Google maps using the track data.

However, I saw a comment elsewhere that indicated that the 350/360 do not retain the track data, so you cannot download the information.

Can anyone confirm/deny whether this feature works with the 350?

 

No track data. Just POI management - with POI Loader (PC application).

MMM

 

I love the Nuvi series - we have a 350 and a 660, but I have to keep reminding myself that the Nuvi is *supposed* to be a dumbed-down consumer-level GPS. I find that I miss a lot of the features/capabilities of my old Garmin 276c, but the Nuvi was meant to be intuitive and easy to use, and with that in mind, Garmin released it with a very limited feature set.

 

3M nailed it. You can pick up a cheap, hand-held hiking GPS, like a bottom-of-the-line eTrex for about a hundred bucks, however, and I think it'll give you that capability. I've got an eTrex Vista that I bought back in '01 which still works quite well and can record 10,000 points in the track log.

 

ScottRiqui, I don't entirely agree with that assessment. The features on the nuvi are pretty advanced, I think, but for some reason Garmin doesn't think that track log recording is a feature that belongs in that family. I was initially kind of conflicted about dropping my 2610 for a nuvi because of the lack of track log recording, but I realized that I only used the (much more limited) track log on the 2610 once in a couple of years of ownership vs. the custom POI functionality of my nuvi 370 which I've used at least once a week!

 

Well, I never owned any of the Garmin Streetpilot series, but here's some of the features my Garmin 276c had that I sometimes miss in my Nuvi.

Twice the screen resolution of the Nuvi 350
10,000-point track log
Both Automotive and Marine modes
Waterproof
15-hour battery life, plus a user-replaceable battery

The ability to enter honest-to-goodness *routes*, not just a destination and one intermediate stop

The 276c actually came with a copy of the maps on a disc, and came with the excellent MapSource program (which is not included with the Nuvi)

The ability to display up to four additional pieces of information on the main screen, like altitude, Time to Destination, Time to next turn, car battery voltage, vehicle speed, time, distance to next turn, satellite accuracy or any of 27 other data fields.


I do like the smaller size of the Nuvi, plus the fact that the Nuvi holds the entire North American mapset at once. Also, being able to enter names with an onscreen keyboard beats having to use a rocker switch to cycle through the alphabet.

The Nuvis are great for what they are, and we like ours a lot, but as far as the feature set goes, they're significantly "stripped down" compared to many of the older Garmin units.

 

if i get the mount installed by the dealer, will the voice control buttons in the car work? what about the phone button on the speedo? this of couse when using the mini nuvi with a bluetooth phone

 

No, not unless you have the voice activation system on your Mini. The voice control isn't designed to work with things other than the OEM NAV unit and the OEM bluetooth prep.

No, the phone button on the MFSW only works with the bluetooth prep package.

I believe you can plug the Nuvi into the aux jack on the stereo to hear the voice instructions for upcoming turns over the stereo speakers.

The features you are asking about only work with the OEM NAV and the bluetooth prep packages.

 

I don't think this is the case. The stereo has four inputs - CD, Radio, CD Changer, and AUX, but it only uses one input at a time. The only way to hear whatever device is connected to the AUX input is to select AUX on the head unit, in which case, you won't hear anything *except* the AUX device. In other words, you can't be listening to the radio or a CD and hear a GPS through the AUX jack.

 

You can however plug in to the AUX jack in the MINI and play MP3s on the NUVI while listening to the voice prompts for the GPS

 

ok guys, check this out as I got one from our warehouse and fitted it myself (i work for Garmin).
http://www.mini2.com/forum/general-d...ps-fitted.html

 

My wife just ordered a mini cooper and we are really really excited right now.

What would be the average labor charge from dealer for Nuvi kit installation? Does Nuvi 360 or any 600 series NAV compatible with the kit?

 

Rec,
What mount did you use for that?

Thx,
Pat

 

right, i dont know if i've ever mentioned it before but I work for Garmin in the UK (european headquarters) so that's actually an official MINI kit installed into my MINI you see there.

To answer some questions. I've received some more information from our OEM guys:

In all EU markets its possible to buy the bracket separately, so you can fit your own nuvi. One would presume this is true for the US market.

Its not our plan to release the Mini icons and logo separately as these are one small way that we can add value to our OE products.

Of course we are always looking to develop the next Gen product but there's no way to use the 600 series.

Mini and BMW AG have exclusively selected Garmin as their PND supplier, as far as we are aware they have no plans to create other genuine brackets for other PND's

Official install time is 1hr

Unit has recently been repriced, so people should expect to see the price coming down.

Any more questions, just yell guys :] I've been kinda appointed the company blog watcher with regards to this product

 

When you say the unit has recently been repriced, do you mean the one you order through Mini and is that the Nuvi 660? Or do you mean one you buy aftermarket. I am picking up my new Mini S in a few days and I thought I could purchase a Nuvi 360 or 660 and attach it easily myself. After reading all this, it seems I will need to have it installed via a bolt or something before I can use it. (I'm not particularly mechanically inclined . . .) Any thoughts?

 

the MINI pricing has been recently changed.

only the nuvi 300 range will fit in the bracket supplied by MINI - the MINI GPS unit is a nuvi 360.

installation documents are available on Motoringfile in the DIY section - it details the R56, but the concept is practically identical on the R50/52/53. basically on the R56 it screws to the back of the rev counter, and on the R50/52/53 it screws to the point where the rev counter mounts onto the steering column cowel.

 

Does the MINI kit have the standard Garmin "ball mount"? If so, it might be possible to use the MINI bracket, but replace the 300-series mount with the mount that comes with the 600-series Nuvi, since the "ball" is the same for all of the Nuvis

 

it has a ball mount, yes.

you dont have to tell me all the mounts are the same - i work for Garmin... i know !