What do you get when you cross a Garmin Montana handheld GPS with a Garmin Zumo GPS? A BMW Navigator GPS. BMW and Garmin have partnered numerous times over the past decade to produce some fairly nice GPS units. The BMW Navigator Adventure GPS very closely resembles a Garmin Montana GPS but has motorcycle GPS firmware and maps loaded to it.
So here’s the trick to accessories for a BMW Navigator Adventure. Buy the ones made for a Garmin Montana. That’s what we will be recommending in this article.
The BMW Navigator Adventure is best used in landscape so be sure that the mount chosen permits full swivel into that orientation. That’s a little different from the Montana which is more often than not used in a portrait orientation.
Garmin offer a nice variety of mounts for the Montana line (remember they will fit the BMW Navigator Adventure GPS). Garmin offers three different mounts for the motorcycle and ATV.
First up is a Garmin Handlebar Mount for Montana and is pictured alongside this article. This is a complete mount which will hold your BMW Navigator Adventure and clip onto circular handlebars up to 1.25 inches diameter. The GPS clips into the bracket. The bracket is attaches to the handlebar mount which is attached using nuts and bolts which are included. What you see in the photo is what you get.
Garmin also provides an Rugged Cradle with Power for Montana which includes a hardwire power cable with cradle but no mount (go figure). This is the part that’s include in the box with the BMW Navigator Adventure. A combo network, audio and data cable with hardwire power is connected to the cradle. This cradle connects to an AMPS mounting pattern. Most use a RAM Mount but you could use any good solid mount that adheres to the 4-hole AMPS pattern.
Speaking of a good AMPS pattern mount, consider the RAM Handlebar Mount with AMPS Plate which will attach to the back of the previously discussed powered cradle. This mount is constructed of metal and carries a lifetime warranty. The mount fits handlebars up to 1.25 inches diameter.
Powering your GPS should not be too difficult. One of the mounts already mentioned come with hardwire cables which are typically connected directly to your vehicle’s battery. You can also power these units with any DC power cable that is made for a Garmin GPS. Just be sure it has a mini USB ending and is made for Garmin GPS units. The BMW Navigator Adventure GPS also comes with a rechargeable lithium battery so depending upon how long you plan to use this, an external power source might not be needed. We wrote a detailed article on hardwiring a GPS which can be read here.
We covered a lot of options in this article. We only touched upon a handful of mounts for the BMW Navigator Adventure GPS. If you don’t find one that matches your requirements, there are a few other mount manufacturers that make accessories for this line of GPS units. While I suppose there are exceptions, generally speaking, if the mount fits a Garmin Montana, it should fit the BMW Navigator Adventure GPS. That’s especially going to be the case for the Garmin manufactured parts.