GARMIN GA 25MCX GPS aerial

I found that my street pilot would lose reception under trees and between tall buildings.

My work as a field service engineer means that I spend a lot of time in the car and sometimes this was exrended unecessarily when I got lost in strange towns.

The other disadvantage was that it could take a couple of minutes to locate enough satellites for a good position fix. I noticed that the unit had a socket on the back for an external entenna, to I took to the web to find one.

Full price these antennae are about £40, but a quick search of ebay found me one for £14.95.

It arrived and I plugged it in. The cable is long enough for the antenna to sit at the back of the car (a Peugeot estate) in the middle of the roof, just above the tailgate. The cable was then led inside, tucked into the trims around the windows and doors and finally brought forward to the dashboard with a couple of feet to spare. The antenna itself is a small plastic box with a strong magnet on the bottom, so theer is no fixing to worry about.

I plugged the lead into the Sat Nav and switched on. In a couple of seconds it was displaying "Ready to Navigate"

Since then, about 10 days ago, I have covered over 2,000 miles and have not lost reception once, including the wooded section of the A350 just north of Shaftesbury in Dorset, where I always lost signal for about 2 miles.

I have noticed some of the plating wearing off the plug, exposing bare plastic.
This is because It is not a good idea to leave the SAT NAV in the car when parked, so I have to take the cable out if I park somewhere dodgy, like city centres. I must say that this does not appear to have affected performance.

It's a simple upgrade that requires no technical knowledge and is very effective, I therefore have no reservations in recomending it to any sat nav user.

to assist, I have included the technical specs and details of compatible units below:

Compatible with the following Garmin GPS units:
eMap, iQue M3, iQue M4, iQue M5, iQue 3000, iQue 3200, iQue 3600, iQue 3600a, Quest, Quest 2, 12CX, 12MAP, 12XL, 15, 15L/15H, 25 series, 40, 76
GPSMAP 60, 60C, 60CS, 60CSx, 60Cx, 76, 76C, 76CS, 76CSx, 76Cx, 76S, 96, 96C, 175, 195
StreetPilot c310, c320, c320, c330, c340, i2, i3, i5, 2610, 2620, 2650, 2660, 2720, 2730, 7200, 7500
Nuvi 300, 310, 350, 360

It will also work with any other GPS receivers with MCX antenna connector, such as:
Navman iCN 610, iCN 620, iCN 630, iCN 635, iCN 650, 3000, 3300, 3400, 3450
Lowrance iFinder H2O, H2O+, H2O+ C iFinder Hunt, Hunt C, iFinder Map & Music, iFinder PhD, iFinder Pro, iWay 100M, AirMap 500
Holux GM-100, GM-101, GR-230, GM-250, GM-251, GM-270CF
Billionton CF GPS, Emtac Bluetooth GPS, Emtac BTGPS II Trine, Emtac GPS jacket, Motorola Encore GPS, Belkin Bluetooth GPS, GlobalSat PCMCIA cf card, RoyalTek RBT-3000, Fortuna Pocket Xtrack, Fortuna Clip-on, CoPilot

1. Features: High signal gain: 32 dB to 55 dB Gain
2. Low power consumption: 6 to 11 mA (max)
3. Low noise: noise figure less than 1.8dB at f0
4. Magnetic mount
5. Power Protection Circuit
6. Power Input Sensor: Reverse polarity short circuit shutdown
7. Over-Current Sensor: Thermal over-current shutdown
8. Output Impedance: 50 ohms
9. Power Input: 2.5V DC to 12V DC input
10. Super strong polycarbonate radome
11. MMCX antenna connector
12. Physical dimensions: 1.4"(W) x 1.7"(L) x .5"(H)
13. Over 16 feet long double shielded coax cable
14. Waterproof