If, like me, your biggest beef with the ND’s satnav system is the lack of free live traffic information, then you might be interested in my solution that will allow the use of your smartphone with Google Maps Traffic information, Waze or something similar.
Like most, I’m unwilling to stick a mounting disc to my dash or to drill it, so I’ve been thinking about how I could solve the problem. To me it seems obvious to use the otherwise redundant cupholder on the passenger side of the centre console.
I have seen on a US site that some clever chaps have 3D printed a mount that fits in the cupholder slot which looks great but it’s very expensive on this side of the pond so, being mean, I’ve been experimenting with various jars, cans etc to find one that fits the cupholder. Finally, I have found one that seems to do the job and it is nice and stable within the limitations of the cupholder itself.
In my case, I find that a Millicano coffee tin - the smaller 170g size - works best. To get good stability it needs to be filled with something that will give it weight. I use junk I’ve found with my metal detector, jammed in tight, but you could use dry sand or or fishing weights. I’ve taped on the plastic lid with black insulating tape to stop it falling off (and I’ve covered all of the outside of the tin with the same stuff to make it look better). The tin is simply dropped into the cupholder with the base of the tin uppermost. This is metal so it will accept any suction-type mobile phone mount you may have lying about - i.e. the sort that is designed to stick to the windscreen. A drop of washing up liquid improves the adhesion between the phone mount and the tin.
This may all sound a bit Heath Robinson, but I promise you that it works pretty well and looks OK too. I’d post a picture but don’t know how to do it here, so if you’d like one, you’ll need to drop me a PM and I’ll send you one. If you try it and come up with any improvements, I’d be interested to hear from you.
Cheers.
Colin.