[Closed] What in car phone holders are you all using??

[img] [/img]

I use this clip style. Fits both our phones easily and works if the phone is in or out of the case.

[img] [/img]

[url= http://www.ram-mount.co.uk/xgrip%C3%82%C2%AE-universal-smart-phone-sat-nav-holder-with-1-ball-p-1635-c-360_162.html?sesid=82ulpn9rj7v1uu9ujb651ek4s2 ]RAM Phone Mount[/url] not cheap but good quality kit and I'm well into the RAM ecosystem with various mounts, arms, bases, etc for bikes, motorbikes, windscreen. Have a diamond base attached to the dash tray in the van.

I use a cheap generic one from ebay it's soft on the sides and works well, it'll hold any phone I've tried and my garmin. If it rotated it'd be the best thing ever.

Gotta be a brodit I paired mine with a dashmount bracket for my 1 series and ran the charging cable behind the dash and into the usb port under the arm rest. Hard wired for the bmw info system and constant charge with no holes needed in the dash. Happy man here.

- edit I see you're after one to use with a case - not so good!

nick - what's that model please..?

DrP

Not sure of the model but they are a couple of quid from eBay. Search for clip phone holder. We've got one in each car. Both different but both work fine.

E.g. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CAR-WINDSCREEN-SUCTION-MOUNT-HOLDER-CLIP-CRADLE-FOR-MOBILE-PHONE-PDA-NAV-/252056227220?hash=item3aafb8cd94:g:k~sAAOSw4SlV8yGj

would you put up with a small Tetrax magneticish thingy stuck to the back of your phone ?

errr..Bluetooth is surely the answer

I'd like it mounted for sat nav really...

DrP

I also use the one Nick recommends. It is fine, they tend to break quite easily but at only £1-£2 each they easily replaced.

I liked the look of the magnetic one with car and bike mount that someone recommended the other day on a bike navigation thread, might look to upgrade if I can remember what it was called

DrP - Member
I'd like it mounted for sat nav really...

DrP

okay, you didn't mention that in your original business requirements. 😆

I needed one that could take my phone with a flip cover too. We had one like nickjb posted, but when the cover is open, the phone doesnt fit tight.
Ended up buying one of these as I needed to grab the phone from top+bottom rather than sides to allow flip cover to open:

http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/griffin-universal-dashboard-windshield-in-car-mount-p57969.htm

[img] [/img]

Wouldn't any of the adjustable ones on Amazon work? I have one like this for my iPhone and the arms just stretch out to fit the phone.

[img] [/img]

Loads similar or Amazon [url= https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?k=car+mount ]here[/url]:

My phone (Xperia T) is a pain in the ass to mount in the car. The position of the buttons means that almost all jaws that grip the phone press a button or are in the way of the charging port etc.

The only place to realistically hold it is at the ends, avoiding the headphone socket, or at the top end of the sides, where there is about 20mm of free space on both sides.

I originally had one of these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0044ANNHE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[img] [/img]

but the suction cup tore away from the lever after about a year or so (of almost daily use admittedly).

I then bought one of these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B010I04VF6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[img] [/img]

but the suction cup on it is rubbish. It stays on the window for perhaps a minute before falling off. I had a replacement as the seller to me 'that is very strange, they normally stick very well" but that was just as bad.

So, I ordered one of the mounts that nickjb shows above from ebay:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252056227220?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

The suction cup is mega strong, but still easy to remove from the screen.
But, because I clamp the phone at one end, it was quite wobbly due to play between the ball & socket....

So - I took the jaws from the rubbish suction cup model & fitted them to the one with the good suction cup - the ball & socket are the same size so I could just swap them - and this has solved the wobbly issue.
I suspect that if you mount the phone centrally in the cheap ebay one it won't wobble, but that's not an option for my phone.

So, in summary - get the cheap ebay one.

As cyclists we'd all be a lot safer on the road if everyone else put their phones away whilst driving. We should take the lead on this.

http://www.brake.org.uk/rsw/15-facts-a-resources/facts/1131-distractionfacts

"drivers who perform a secondary task at the wheel are two to three times more likely to crash"

"Driver reaction times are 30% slower while using a hands-free phone than driving with a blood alcohol level of 80mg alcohol per 100ml blood (the current limit in England and Wales), and nearly 50% slower than driving under normal conditions."

I've been knocked off my bike 3 times (some would argue that's not enough!) but in all 3 instances the driver was either yapping on the phone or trying to tweet / facebook / play pokemon / whatever else drivers now think is safe to do whilst they drive "but it's boring driving in traffic" (the excuse by the last person to knock me off).

"drivers who perform a secondary task at the wheel are two to three times more likely to crash"

I don't doubt that. But, like all statistics, you need more information...
Wearing a metal hat makes it 1000 times more likely to be struck by lightening, but the initial risk is low..

I'm not going to be hunting pokemon or facebooking - it's to hold my phone in sat nav mode!

DrP

As cyclists we'd all be a lot safer on the road if everyone else put their phones away whilst driving. We should take the lead on this.

I use mine for SatNav. I have tried that with my phone in my pocket, but kept getting in the wrong lane.

Plain and simple the Ashtray in the centre console that came with the car.

I'm not going to be hunting pokemon or facebooking - it's to hold my phone in sat nav mode!

Even though most drivers say this it's quite noticeable cycling to work that many drivers are also "fiddling" with their phones even when their phones are ostensibly just in "sat nav" mode - largely because the phone continues to receive calls / display messages / app notifications.

Unless your phone is in airplane mode whilst being used as a sat nav (in which case GPS doesn't work on most phones) all the other phone functionality continues to work / present a potential distraction.

OK.

DrP

Just accept you are history's greatest monster, DrP.

You sicken me.

I use this one, when using my phone as a sat nav:

http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/olixar-dock-go-car-holder-p47851.htm

£30 gets you a perfectly decent sat nav with built in mount to avoid all the phone faffing around (phones are never ideal as sat nav, tendency to overheat and loss of signal stuffs them anyway).

Falperon couldnt disagree more, phones in someways are far more advance than a basic satnav.

My phone does live traffic updates, gives me re route options incase of traffic, has offline maps and im never in the situation that the maps are out of date.

"but it's boring driving in traffic"

Jesus wept.

Falperon couldnt disagree more, phones in someways are far more advance than a basic satnav.

My phone does live traffic updates, gives me re route options incase of traffic, has offline maps and im never in the situation that the maps are out of date.

Plus, I can just shout "OK google..navigate to the zoo" and it does all that, without me having to take my hands off the subway i'm holding or book I'm reading.
Much safer...

DrP

Amazes me that most (modern) cars have bluetooth yet drivers still feel the need to clamp a phone to one ear... 😐

I've lost count of the number of trucks & delivery vans I've seen coming off the dual carriageway into the industrial estate with the driver on the phone.

without me having to take my hands off the subway i'm holding or book I'm reading.

I can recommend a book stand I put on the dash when I'm driving? I like the ones with an integrated cup holder for your beer....

i have 2...both from Lidl for about £5 each
[img] [/img]
this one for when i need to use the phone for navigation

[img] ?set_id=880000500F[/img]
and this one fer when im using the phone for playing music. i drive a ford cmax and the lighter socket is near the handbrake so the cradle sits the phone just below the gear lever so i just plug the phone in and leave it

both are very good although my samsung s6 just about fits in to the top one

Brodit. The end.

Brodit are shit if you have any sort of case on them.
The Belkin cup holder mount is the only one that works in the 1 series well.
Cable management built in.
Rotates.
Swaps to another car in seconds.

Brodit are really good and you can get an adjustable mount that works well with phones that have a case.

I have one of these Belkin mounts that slot into the vents, it's really very good and unobtrusive.

[img] [/img]

Agree with people saying phones for satnav are better than satnavs for satnavs.

My focus had built in sat nav, but it took ages to program the destination in (after finding the postcode on my phone anyway) and it was crap at directing around traffic. So I always use google maps on my phone, and plug it in while its in use.

The brodit ones look slick, but doesn't it cover the vent a bit?

I have one of those ones that plug into the cd player (helps if your car has one). It's at the right height for sat nav stuff.

http://www.scosche.com/magic-mount-cell-phone-holder-tablet-mount

Works well. Plate inside flip cover, no problems.

CD mount magnetic one here. I like the magnetic bit especially. And CD positioning is ideal in my car. Obstructs nothing but the screen on the stereo which I don't use anyway with the info screen in front of me.

Downsides - the screw tensioning CD player grip bits require a lot of force to hold still and even then it's got some movement. And they eventually wear as a result. And my car stereo has been holding 2 CDs hostage now for many months, which may or may not be linked to the mount.

I'm with the camp that says phones are better satnavs than satnavs are.

ibolt xprodock. chosen for decent reviews on amazon when I bought it. It holds my phone. No complaints.

I use an Arkon screen mount like the one posted earlier with my iPhone 6+, which is in an Otterbox, works just fine, and for the finger-wagging members of this community, I also use a Jabra BT headset for receiving the occasional phone call.
The Arkon was in use for some time on an occasional basis, but now it's in use for some hours every week day.
This is when I'm doing my current job of ferrying cars around the country for BCA. Yes, many modern cars have satnav built in, but when you are driving maybe three different cars a day, all with different systems, often requiring an SD card which is usually in a sealed envelope, it just too much of a phaff to find out which ones work, and how.
In my own car I use a Niteize Steely stuck to the front of my dash, mostly for playing music if I'm not listening to 6Music.

[img] [/img]

Similar magnetic systems can be had off eBay/Amazon for less than a fiver, and work perfectly well. And they will hold an iP6+
Actually, I have one of these as well:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0194S39PQ?psc=1
At £9.99. A bit more expensive than the eBay/Amazon ones, like this, but I think a bit better made:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Smartphone-generation-BlackBerry-Smartphones-Adjustable/dp/B01DGLB512/ref=sr_1_26?ie=UTF8&qid=1472839061&sr=8-26&keywords=magnetic+phone+holders

I bought one of those £2 holders that nickjb linked to. I'm amazed, it's alright, it works, I couldn't shake my phone out of it and it doesn't come off the windscreen unless you want it too.

£2, including delivery ordered Saturday and it arrived this morning, amazing. I only needed it when I need visuals as my phone plays audio/phone/nav thought the car so, perfect.

Just had to order another Arkon holder, because I stupidly left mine on the windscreen of a car I dropped off at Blackbushe this afternoon! Buggeration! 👿

In my own car I use a Niteize Steely stuck to the front of my dash, mostly for playing music if I'm not listening to 6Music.

I've got one of those magnetic holders too, it's great.

I've got one of those magnetic holders too, it's great.

Same as torsoinalake, I use the Scosche Magicmount dash that I bought from GoOutdoors. Does the job well but does mean I have a little black square on the back of the phone for the magnet to stick to.

Scosche Magicmount here - no need to fiddle with a cradle, just pop the phone on and it sticks in place. The metal plate sits inside the case and you wouldn't know it was there when it's not on the mount - though I'm not sure how it would work with a flipcase.

I have one of the flat mount ones stuck to a flat bit of my dash next to the stereo - so it's also pretty unobtrusive without a phone. They also do mounts with adjustable bits if you haven't got somewhere convenient like that. And of course suction cup ones for the screen - though personally I don't think mounting anything obstructing your view out of the screen is a good idea when it you can see it just as well mounted on the dash below the screen.

Oh and like others I use the phone for satnav, for which it works better than a dedicated satnav - particularly as often I know where I'm going but interested in diverting due to traffic (and it will also find me an off motorway supermarket). I don't do other things with it whilst driving - though will answer a call on the car's bluetooth if I'm on a motorway and the call doesn't involve too much thought.

use one of [url= http://www.iottie.com/Product/Detail/1154/iOttie-iTap-Magnetic-Air-Vent-Mount-Holder ]these [/url] which does the trick. It comes with discs you can stick to the back of your phone case if it's too thick for the magnets to do the trick.