ARKON GN047 Removable Swivel Air Vent Mount for Garmin Nuvi & StreetPilot

Pros: Clips to my '05 Malibu's center vents perfectly.

No longer have to catch a friction mount through turns. Eliminated glare from windshield at night.

Upper arms of mount can be adjusted easily to fit many different vents. Bottom leg can be adjusted, flipped over or completely removed to fit different vent styles.

Holds my Garmin 255w very securely. I will never go back to a friction mount or windshield mount.

Cons: Arms can be somewhat difficult to remove from vents after mounted.

There is a small hole in the back of the mount that the arms slide into, I use this to slide the arms back out of the mount and then unclip the arms from the vent if I need to remove it.

Ball fits into GPS a little too snugly. I suggest holding onto vent mount when adjusting angle of GPS so not to bend/break your car's vents. Once adjusted to your liking it is fine.

These are the only two annoyances that I have found so far.

Pros: I bought this mount as an alternative to the suction mount on the windsheild as I wanted to be able to leave the GPS mounted and not have to put it on the floor everytime I parked my SUV. Installation was easy, and it holds my Streetpilot C550 in place most of the time.

Cons: None really

Other Thoughts: Due to the vent configuration in my 95 Grand Cherokee, I was forced to mount my unit closer to the passenger side, than the driver's side.

Since the mount has clips on the top, and a stabilizing 'leg' on the bottom, the unit isn't entirely secure, and sometimes slips, or even disengages from the vent when going over bumps or taking tight turns at speed (ie off ramps). This is more a result of the vent placement and style, in my SUV than the manufacturing of the mount.

Pros: It's cheap but it works. The material that matches with GPS. The clips might get broken if you bend so much.

Cons: It's not easy to quickly remove it when it's installed in vent. There's no room to flip down/close the antenna when not in use.

Other Thoughts: Garmin Novu 360

Pros: It keeps my Nuvi close to my fingers so I don't need to stretch to operate it. It does not vibrate or flop around as I thought it would. It does not make any rattling noise against the vent if driving over a bumpy surface. The ball joint is snug and keeps the Nuvi positioned exactly where I want it. It fits the vents on a 2003 Accord no problem and was easy to remove when necessary.

It is a surprisingly simple design that is cost effective and does exactly what it should.

Cons: The unit is all plastic, including the clips which keep their tension around the vent blades based on U-shaped pliable plastic. My worry is someday that plastic will break either due to age or cracking from sun exposure.

I suppose given the low cost of the unit, longevity was not a design criteria but it would have been nice for a few bucks more to replace the U-shaped plastic with a springy metal that could last longer. Mine has not broken, but this all plastic construction is a weak point.

Other Thoughts: In Calif, you can't use suction mount on the glass. Even if you could, it would position GPS far enough away that I'm not sure how people can safely reach over and operate their GPS. It seems to me the vents are the ideal place to mount a GPS and in a car that doesn't have a flat dashboad, the bean bag method doesn't work either.

If your vents seem sturdy enough to support the weight of your Garmin, I'd say this GN047 mount is a worthwhile vent to look into using.

Pros: Good solid attachment to air vent. It holds the GPS firmly with no fear of it coming off. It was easy to attach. Not much to instillation.

Cons: Once I got it on the air vent it wouldn’t come off. I used it on my on a Mazda Protégé and the air vent slats are too close together that I couldn’t open the clips once they were attached to remove it. I eventually got it off by bending the plastic clips with needle nose pliers but now it doesn’t like to attach as firmly.

Pros: The ball fits snug in the socket, holds position well.
Easy to assemble, slide the alligator clips in from the
center to whatever positions you want.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: If your vent pivots then picking one of the lower vent
slats works better, the weight of the GPS will cause the vent to pivot.
If the vent doesn't pivot any slat works well.
(Bought two, one car has pivoting vents.)

Newegg order came quickly, ordered Friday recieved Tuesay.
Newegg price with shipping beat the lowest I tried first.

The first online vendor I tried had me wait for two weeks, they finally cancelled on the friday.

Pros: I received the my order in time and am happy with the product.

Cons: the base of the swivel is little big to place it on most of the dash of the cars as it already has a fill of equipments on it.

Pros: The mount to the vent works well, no problem there. It has a good strong attachment to the vent of the car.

Cons: The 17 mm ball that is on this ARKON mount is not quite right to mate up with my Garmin Nuvi 200W cradle. The Garmin supplied accessory suction mount mates well with the GPS cradle and stays in place securely when adjusting the GPS. This unit does not securely stay into the cradle. It snaps in but doesn't seat very well. The slightest attempt to move the Garmin and it pops out. I am sure a bump in the road would also dislodge the GPS and it would fall to the floor. I'm not risking my $200 GPS on this mount.

Other Thoughts: Very disappointed, in concept the vent mount looks very useful. Not sure it is worth the effort to try and return this since I would have to pay postage to get it back to Newegg for replacement. Since there are zero reviews on this item, it musn't be a big seller. I am afraid any replacement would have the same problem since it is likely to be injection molded and all would be the same poor fit.