Is this possible without the curly cable running from the unit to the cig lighter ?

Firstly, can the unit be powered from another source, rather than the cig lighter.

Second, can the wire be hidden from view ? ie run behind the dash, rather than in front of it ?

Third, are the 2 points above easy to carry out ?

Yes, Yes, and fairly!

I have a PDA Satnav, its powered from a multi power socket thats located on top of the Airbag ECU under the dash (behind the stereo head unit). I took the power from the existing fag lighter supply, as it was clearly meant to supply a decent amount of power.

The cables then run up the inside of the dash and pop out by the central upper vent, right behind the dedicated cradle for the PDA.

I also have the Blitz boost controller with all its wiring behind the dash. Also have a pair of intake temp sensors in the ashtray, again with all the wiring hidden behind the dash.

Its a bit fiddly, but not difficult.

Just make sure you dont leave "tell tale" cables on view when the car is left.

Around here cars are being broken into and looted just beacuse there is a faint sucker-circle left on the windscreen where the sat nav unit fixes.

Needless to say when I take my little Garmin unit into the house I give the screen a quick wipe with my sleeve as well!

Damn cunning these crooks.

I use a system called Wayfinder which is bloody good. Unlike tomtom and garmin units you cant plop Points of interest in, but i find it is pretty accurate with spedtrap locations and some of them i have found is where the police often sit as well...

It covers all of europe as far as i can tell, with a lot of countries getting more and more traffic info coverage as well, and even has a mapping of the US as well.

Downside is you have to have a compatible phone and it uses GPRS to connect to their servers, the advantage is you can download the maps as well to your mobile, have traffic info and auto re-routing depending on traffic, and its updated free for life and not a dodgey copy of some sort