Vehicle Mounting Your Smartphone

It turns out that mounting your iPhone in the car is not as easy as it might seem.  There are a lot of products on the market that claim to attach your iPhone to the windshield, vent, or cup holder in a safe and secure fashion.  The reality is that most of them are terrible products that over-promise and under-deliver.  I should know - I have tried many of them in my efforts to mount my iPhone in my Volkswagon for GPS and audio functions.

 

I have noted a couple of common faults in these iPhone car mounts.  First, they fall off the windshield, vent, etc with disturbing regularity.  This is annoying when your phone is not mounted in them as you have to reposition the mount before using it again.  It is costly when the mount fails and falls off your windshield or dash while it is holding your precious iPhone.  Imagine your phone hitting the dash, the console, and the shifter as gravity overcomes a shoddy car mount.  If you carry your phone in a good case (such as an Otterbox Defender or Griffin Survivor Case) you might escape serious damage.  If you are like most people and carry your phone in the cheapest, slimmest, and lightest case you can find and also happen to believe screen protectors to be a pain in the backside, then you will likely have a broken or damaged phone if you use one of these mounts.

  

A second fault is that many of these shoddily made car mounts will not adjust to hold an iPhone in a serious, protective case.  They require you to either not use a case at all or remove it before inserting it into the car mount.  This wouldn't be so bad if such mounts did not suffer from the first problem I mentioned above but they do.  Also, think about how many times you get in and out of the car each day.  Are you really going to go through the hassle of reinserting your phone into your case each and every time?  Probably not.

 

The third major fault is that many of these phone mounts fail to retain the precise angles needed for you to use your phone comfortably as a GPS or audio player.  Because the various swivel joints or flexible arms are so poorly made they either get knocked out of position as you hit bumps on the road or slowly lose their shape under the weight of your phone. As a result, you spend time at each traffic light readjusting your phone mount when you should be paying attention to your driving.

 

I think I have found the perfect car mount for an iPhone or other smartphone carried in a heavy duty protective case.  It is the Luxa 2 H5 Mobile Holder and it attaches to your windshield. Unlike most phone mounts, it features excellent build quality. This thing is made of cast metal and inspires confidence.  It adjusts and articulates in numerous ways to help ensure a perfect fit to your phone and windshield and it actually maintains those adjustments over time. The cradle that holds your phone adjusts to accommodate a phone encapsulated in a serious protective case such as my Griffin Survivor. Anything that makes contact with your phone is encased in a soft rubber material to ensure a secure grip. The suction cup that secures the mount to the windshield is among the best I've seen.  It will stay attached to your windshield until you decide to take it down.  Potholes and speed bumps don't seem to knock the Luxa 2 Mobile Holder out of position.  I rarely have to fiddle with it once it is attached to the windshield.  I stick it on my windshield, plug the power adapter into my phone, and place my phone in the cradle. After that it is GPS or audio nirvana.

  

The Luxa 2 H5 Mobile Holder is not cheap.  I will set you back $49.99 plus shipping from their website.  However, it is a small price to pay compared to not using that cool phone you spent a small fortune on for fear of damaging it or compared to the cost of replacing your phone when the bargain basement mount your purchased fails and sends your smartphone flying around the car. Spending hundreds of dollars on a smartphone plus thousands on a cellular service contract for it and then trusting it to a $15 piece of plastic doesn't make much sense. With the Luxa 2 H5 Mobile Holder in your car you can actually use your amazing smartphone for all those nifty things you bought it for while keeping it safe and secure. Just make sure you don't let the phone that is within easy reach distract you from piloting your vehicle.

 

 

Update on Monday, July 11, 2011 at 11:37PM by John Bletsch

Posted some pictures of the Luxa 2 Car Mount with my iPhone inserted.