Garmin Nuvi 2789LMT Motorcycle and Car Mounts

Mounts for the Garmin Nuvi 2789LMT GPSIn what has become a niche market for larger GPS units, the Garmin Nuvi 2789LMT is Garmin’s 2015 entry in the 7″ screen market.  The 7-inch pinch-to-zoom display operates similarly to what you would find on any smartphone.  This GPS includes a lot of premium features including lifetime traffic, bluetooth and voice recognition.  The GPS also integrates with Foursquare for restaurants and entertainment although you will likely use your smartphone for this purpose instead of the Nuvi.

We’ll review mounting options in a bit.  Like other Garmin traffic enabled GPS devices, guard the cable with your life.  Your traffic subscription is tied to the actual cable.  If you lose your cable, you will need to replace with a very expensive (about $60) traffic charger.  A plain car charger will not provide you with traffic, you need to buy the HD traffic cable with traffic incorporated into it.

Now for the mounts.  The Garmin Nuvi 2789LMT is similar to the hundreds of other Nuvi models before it using a ball and socket design.  This cradle fits over a 17mm ball which is part of the mount.  The Garmin Nuvi 2789LMT shares the magnetic cradle with prior 7″ screen models.  I really like this cradle as it’s much faster to align the magnetic mount with the GPS.  Easy and fast to insert and remove.

The default mount that is provided with the GPS is of the suction cup variety.  This is the same mounting base that Garmin has used for roughly the past ten years (they changed the cradle, not the base mount).  Although this mount has a little longer neck to compensate for the larger GPS size, it’s the same basic design as the other suction mounts they have used.  Garmin also includes an adhesive disk for those that wish to use it on the dashboard.  If your suction cup has failed, read our article on reviving it here.  If after reading the article, it’s still failing but the cradle is still good, replace it with an Arkon suction mount.  These come with a 2-year warranty and these stick real well.

If you would rather not put adhesive on your dash, you could use this cradle with Garmin’s highly regarded bean bag mount which we discussed in a prior article.

How about some alternative locations and mounts?  Vent mounts have been available for many years but Garmin completely missed the parade on these until 2013.  Finally coming out with a vent mount of their own, this Garmin mount is very well made.  Unlike many of their competitors, Garmin saw the need for a vent mount with a clamp on the back if it.  This means these mounts will fit horizontal and vertical vents.

For motorcycle use, we always like to use a custom cradle when available however, as of the date of this article, none exist.  You will want to consider using a well made universal cradle made for tablets because the dimensions of this GPS are very similar to a mid-sized 7″ tablet.  The Garmin Nuvi 2789LMT measures 7.7”W x 4.4”H x 0.7”D and you will need to power it without the cradle.  For motorcycle use, it’s important that you select a mount that has a well constructed cradle that is going to hold your GPS very tightly so that it stays put through the vibration of a ride.  We are big fans of the RAM X-Grip line.  These are heavy duty mounts that are mostly constructed of metal.  The mount has gone through some rigorous shake tests and holds up well on a motorcycle.  We wrote about X-Grips extensively on this site and you can view that article here.  Most motorcycles can use the X-Grip handlebar mount.  These fit handlebars up to 1.25 inches diameter and feature the expandable X-Grip II cradle which can open to 5.75 inches which is large enough to fit this GPS.  We always recommend tethering your device for added security.