Garmin GVN 53 install Pics

[leadf00t]

First off I'd like to thank Rotus8 for his help Saturday, even though I decided to use the fuse taps, he was a big help in locating the best place to wire in the nav. I wound up putting the Acc on the rain sensor fuse since I have a sport, I dont need it, and tapped into the rear stoplamp-Horn fuse for the Battery connection, and put the ground behind a bolt on the frame. If you've seen the Magden gauge post you know I purchased the 7" lcd screen from the caradvanced.com website. It has 3 video inputs, and an RGB input. I now have the Magden gauges, and the nav installed on it. The install wound up taking about 5 hours, because I had to make a couple of trips to Auto Zone, and couldnt make up my mind where I wanted to locate the gps antenna. I wound up putting it under the drivers side of the lcd screen. One of the good things is I could remove this, and you'd never know it was there, or move it to a different car. You can get the screen, magden gauges, and the garmin for the price of the stock nav system, and not splice a single stock wire. The only thing I dont have installed yet is the audio portion. There is a set of rca's, and a small speaker that comes with it. Theres also a mute wire in the harness to use with a stereo. I'm going to buy an adapter, and run the rca's into my aux input, so when I need to hear the voice navigation, I can switch over to the aux input.

Box contents.
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa16/leadf00t/IMG_0749.jpg

Back of the lcd screen
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa16/leadf00t/IMG_0753.jpg

Picture of the dash with the screen removed.
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa16/leadf00t/IMG_0750.jpg

Here is where I mounted the gps antenna. I used a piece of velcro to hold it in place.
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa16/leadf00t/IMG_0756.jpg

You have to remove the glove box for the install.
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa16/leadf00t/IMG_0752.jpg

Fuse taps.
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa16/leadf00t/IMG_0762.jpg

The garmin comes with like 15 feet of wire, so dealing with it was a pain, but you could install it anywhere in the car.
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa16/leadf00t/IMG_0763.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa16/leadf00t/IMG_0764.jpg

I decided to mount the unit itself in the glove box, and run the wiring behind it through the removable plastic piece in the back of the glovebox. Made a little mod to the piece.
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa16/leadf00t/IMG_0759.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa16/leadf00t/IMG_0760.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa16/leadf00t/IMG_0761.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa16/leadf00t/IMG_0765.jpg

There is a little door on the unit that opens so you can insert an SD card, and update your maps.
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa16/leadf00t/IMG_0766.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa16/leadf00t/IMG_0768.jpg

Finished pics.
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa16/leadf00t/IMG_0757.jpg

Four bars in my garage - not bad
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa16/leadf00t/IMG_0758.jpg


Here is a picture of the speaker installed by someone from a different Mazda forum. Just in case someone wanted to see what it looked like. I didnt install the speaker.
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa16/leadf00t/index3.jpg

[Yaggie1]

Nice !! Looks sweet !

[oaklandopen]

i don't get it....did you have nav before or did you just get a complete system to include the popup OEM screen?

[leadf00t]

i don't get it....did you have nav before or did you just get a complete system to include the popup OEM screen?

No I have a sport model. I didnt have a screen, or a nav. The screen, and nav are both aftermarket.

[oaklandopen]

No I have a sport model. I didnt have a screen, or a nav. The screen, and nav are both aftermarket.

ah thank you...so what was the final $$?

[leadf00t]

ah thank you...so what was the final $$?

The screen was $650.00, I bought the magden gauges used off the forum, so I only paid $475 shipped for the M1. They're $649 new on Magdens website. I paid $375 for the GVN53 new. So I have $1500 in my setup. Retail it would have been around $1675.

[Kain]

Very nice. How's the reception with the antenna in the dash?

[leadf00t]

Very nice. How's the reception with the antenna in the dash?

Good I had 4 of 5 bars when I was sitting in my garage. It was snowing pretty heavy driving to work this morning, and it was working just fine. Took a little while to aquire the signal, but once it did it was fine.

[spoolin_05]

does that nav wire in to any lcd screen?

[leadf00t]

does that nav wire in to any lcd screen?

As long as it accepts a composite video input it will work with any screen.

[spoolin_05]

how much was that?

[Abilor]

Sweet install! Good job!

Just curious though, for the time, effort, and money involved, you could have just as easily gotten a full blown carpc with NAV. Why did you choose not go that route?

[leadf00t]

how much was that?

I paid $375.00 for the Garmin GVN53 unit. I got it at cost from a place I order computers thru for work. Here are some places that sell it.
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=garmin+gvn+53&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=9464819594404969055&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&resnum=4&ct=result#ps-sellers

[leadf00t]

Sweet install! Good job!

Just curious though, for the time, effort, and money involved, you could have just as easily gotten a full blown carpc with NAV. Why did you choose not go that route?

I work in IT, but never thought about going the carpc route. I knew when I bought the screen that I was going to have the Magden M1, and then be adding the Garmin before summer. If I decide I want to sell either unit, I can sale one, and still have the other. I like to keep my options open, and not tie myself into one does it all solution. It also eliminates a single point of failure (unless the screen craps out). crossing my fingers !! Also it looks completely stock, unless you start digging you would never know that it didnt come with the car, and it all can be removed, and no one would ever know they were there, unless they'd seen them. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I didnt splice a single factory wire for either one.

[leadf00t]

Hope to have a video of the nav startup & while driving soon. (Sorry it's coming, been really busy with work).