| South Wales Police hope beanbag mounts to cut satnav crime
 Police officers in Cardiff are handing out beanbag satnav mounts to motorists in a bid to cut car crime.
They hope the beanbag mounts will encourage motorists to become more security conscious and removes the tell tale marks left behind on the windscreen by the more commonly used mounts.
With each beanbag mount costing £20 this isn't a cheap exercise but with funding has been obtained from the 'Safer Capital Partnership' to purchase 60 of the Nav-Mat mounts.
“Early indications are encouraging in terms of the take-up of the beanbags” said Chief Insp Morgan. Hardly surprising that most people say yes when offered a £20 mount for free.
Whether this is actually an effective way of reducing car-crime and specifically satnav theft remains to be seen but top marks to South Wales Police for trying a new angle.
www.navmat.co.uk
| Comments
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 Posted by philpugh on Mon Jun 01, 2009 3:12 pm |
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| News Team Wrote: | “Early indications are encouraging in terms of the take-up of the beanbags” said Chief Insp Morgan. Hardly surprising that most people say yes when offered a £20 mount for free.
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Hardly suprising! However my wife has used the GARMIN beanbag mount with her nuvi 310 since she got it. Didn't wan't to spoil her new car 
It works very well indeed and packs away into the glove compartment when not in use. Rock solid on the dash and doesn't slide. If anyone gets offered one - take it!
Phil |
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| Posted by MaFt on Mon Jun 01, 2009 3:32 pm |
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i got the one shown for my birthday! works well but not sure if it will cut crime. it's too big to fit in my glove box so removal is now twice as long - take out the beanbag/sucker from dash, open bot, place in boot. whereas teh sucker would just fit in the glovebox...
'spose it get's rid of the tell-tale sucker sign!
MaFt
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| Posted by DennisN on Mon Jun 01, 2009 4:20 pm |
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So all it takes now is for me to get a delivery to Cardiff tomorrow, for you to let me have the coordinates of where the man with the bagga beanbags is standing, for him to still have some left and for him to give me THREE for all my devices. Sorted!! 
Dennis
If it tastes good - it's fattening.
Two of them are obesiting!! |
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| Posted by MaFt on Mon Jun 01, 2009 5:03 pm |
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oh, i forgot to mention, the one i have the rim goes all the way round so the standard tomtom mount doesn't fit... had to go out and get a new mount, a nice arkon one, that was lon enough, and would angle enough to both fit and be useable in the new position!
ditto for the garmin, but i got the arkon for the garmin cos my old one melted in the sun last year!!
MaFt
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| Posted by john877 on Mon Jun 01, 2009 6:25 pm |
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| MaFt Wrote: | oh, i forgot to mention, the one i have the rim goes all the way round so the standard tomtom mount doesn't fit... had to go out and get a new mount, a nice arkon one, that was lon enough, and would angle enough to both fit and be useable in the new position!
ditto for the garmin, but i got the arkon for the garmin cos my old one melted in the sun last year!!
MaFt |
I was just going to mention that as you are unable to get a proper tilt on your tomtom with that mount( full circle using your existing mount) !!
Got a beanbag and mount( arkon) from blueunpluged I believe Darren reviewed on this site and works well
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| Posted by Philip on Mon Jun 01, 2009 6:37 pm |
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| Darren Wrote: | | Police officers in Cardiff are handing out beanbag satnav mounts to motorists in a bid to cut car crime. |
How safe are these in the event of an accident (or even very heavy braking)?
I'm not sure that I would want a satnav flying through the air at me were I ever unfortunate enough to roll my car (or even, as I said, under very heavy braking). At least a windscreen mount would damp the motion of the satnav somewhat ...
Philip |
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| Posted by Darren on Mon Jun 01, 2009 6:39 pm |
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They're surprisingly stable and secure. Very popular in the US, the land of the law suit so you can be fairly certain that they aren't a safety issue.
Having said that, if you roll then a loose satnav is the least of your issues.
Darren Griffin |
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| Posted by carl_w on Tue Jun 02, 2009 4:27 am |
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Surely it would only 'fly at you' if you engaged in heavy braking whilst travelling in reverse?
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| Posted by portman on Tue Jun 02, 2009 9:41 am |
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Used one a few times and you end up taking it off the dash and popping it down in the passenger footwell with the satnav still attached, depends if thieves check the footwells??
Samsung Mega
Tomtom 500
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| Posted by Cursor on Tue Jun 02, 2009 9:59 am |
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delete
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| Posted by MaFt on Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:28 am |
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| Cursor Wrote: | | Is the one linked to in the first post suitable for Tomtom x30 series? |
you would need a decent mount that has some length to get 'over' the edge of the beanbag. i'd recomend a good arkon one.
MaFt
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