In this product review, I’m going to give you a quick look at a collection of products that can help mount your portable devices in a car or other vehicle.
In recent years, we’ve seen more and more device convergence – GPS has been added to your phone and phones are being added to GPS units. As we slowly move towards the ultimate single device, there is a growing need to be able to have easy access to that device in the car.
In my case, I often use my mobile phone with a navigation software package, and there is nothing more annoying than having to try and balance it on the dashboard in the hope it doesn’t slide off as I’m trying to find the right highway exit.
This is where Arkon mobile device mounts can help. Arkon have developed a massive collection of mounts specifically designed for your phone, PDA, media player or smartphone, as well as mounts for most existing GPS units.
Each mount consists of 2 parts; one part for the device itself, and one part that mounts to your car.
Arkon offers loads of options for mounting to your car including mounts for in your cupholder, on the sun visor, on the vents, with a windshield mounted suction cup, a dash mounted friction beanbag and even mounts that attach to the power outlet in the car. In addition to these universal mounts, Arkon also offers a lineup of vehicle specific mounts.
If you are like me, you’ll need a mount that can be moved from (rental) car to car. For this purpose, I found the windshield mount to be the best solution as the mount is nice and small, and folds up to be very compact.
Once you have selected the right vehicle mount, you can easily clip the device mount to it. This also means that any investment you make in the vehicle mount is never lost if you upgrade your device and purchase a new mount for it, you simply slide the old mount off and replace it with the new one.
The mounts are very reasonably priced. An iPhone mount is just $19.95 (plus $7.50 shipping). Larger or more complicated mounts like the beanbag mount or the sturdy gooseneck mount retail for $29.95.
My windshield mount has become a standard piece of kit I carry around with me, along with device adapter for my PDA and iPhone. Being able to actually see the screen of my device and keep it from flying through the car is great.
You can find the entire lineup of Arkon mounts on their site, where you’ll also find handy guides on how to pick the best mount for your specific needs.