This isn’t Pit-worthy and I seek some real suggestions. We own a 2010 Prius and the interior hard surfaces are not smooth. There’s a slight texturing to the dash and all other surfaces ( save for small detail areas that are of no use in this situation. )
The options for mounting my cell phone seem to be:
Suction cup to the windshield with a long enough arm that the phone’s weight rests against the edge of the dash. Also, long arm eliminates loss of field of view.
The Air Vent style. Now, I’ve got a somewhat beefy phone. It’s a Galaxy Note 8 in a rigid rubber case. Not the heaviest of cases, but it is clearly heavier than just the phone itself. The one air vent spring-loaded mount I’ve been using has just self-destructed.
Downside is that the weight of the phone ( and I suspect of ANY phone, even out of a case ) is heavy enough that the air vents are tipped down all the way when the clip is shoved into place. This entire design drives me bonkers.
I can’t figure out if I want to live with heavily directed a.c. air flow in the summertime or a suction-cup design.
Anyone with recommendations- including links - please do chime in.
I like my vent-mount. I’ve put fairly heavy things in it without any trouble. I especially like that it’s small and easy to pack so I can use it in rental cars, but I’ve been happy with it in my owned car, too.
I have a CD-mount in the other car, because we were never going to use the CD player. It’s fine, but feels so bulky.
I also have a note phone with a thick case. I found a Baseus air vent holder that has padded feet to give it some extra stability. It holds my phone quite nicely.
Thanks I will look into that.
We use 3 phones in the car. A solid air vent mount would be great on my side, and the CD mount AND suction cup RAM mounts would work for my wife.
If only I could figure out a solar-powered cell phone charger with 3 jacks !!!
Not being snarky (really!) but I want to know what kind of lifestyle demands three independently-supported cell phones in a car at the same time. Or did I misunderstand?
If you don’t mind spending a few hundred bucks, there is a classy solution. Replace your car stereo with a modern one that supports Android Auto or Apple Car Play. Then you don’t have to worry about mounting your phone anywhere; you mirror your phone’s functionality to the touch screen in the car stereo’s head unit. Granted this solution isn’t for everyone, but it is the A++ way to go.
In my wife’s Prius, I put in one of those Wizgear mounts that has the 3M adhesive to stick it to a smooth surface just to the left of the radio. You do have to reach around the phone to get to the volume knob, but there are volume controls on the steering wheel so it’s no big deal.
I use this one from Anker. It’s an airvent mount, but fits my iPhone X (plus case) quite well, and has wireless charging built in (you have to run a wire from the mount to the USB plug - but you don’t need to plug your phone in). Works well, and the clamp is very tight. It has two little feet on the back that keep it from tilting, and you can really lock it down once it’s where you want it.
I’d argue that option, since we’ve had any number of rental cars in the past 2 years, and their connection to either of those options seems to be spotty at best. In particular, I have to connect my phone via USB to a specific plug - and if the wrong air molecules hit that cord the connection is lost. Nice to have that happen when you’re using the phone for navigation and you can’t pull over to fix it. This was a problem on a number of different cars, not just the one.
Another option is a combination of a “beanbag” base and a suction-cup mount. I looked into this 3 years back when we were going to rent a minivan for a long trip. The suction cup mounts can be very tough to remove from a windshield - plus it turns out they’re illegal in a lot of places. So I bought this and this.
The first one does a better job than the second one. Both will slide a bit if you take a hard enough turn at enough speed, but the first one is far less likely to move far or to fall.
I can’t find the suction-cup phone mount we have in my Amazon history, for some reason, but any one should do just fine including the one that Allyn linked to.
I have a GPS in my car. I bought a maybe 4" round plastic disk with double sided tape on the bottom. I stuck that to the top of my dashboard and then use the suction cup mount for the GPS to stick it to the disk. Look for accessories at the Garmin or TomTom websites.
In the age of COVID-19? Not much. In our normal work lives? Plenty.
I’d be using my cell for GPS Map/Directions while on the other side of the car, my wife is using her work cell for a conference call and might be juggling personal emails on her personal cell.
Love this concept. The "slightly textured always curved " surfaces all over the inside of our Prius is VERY Star Trek: The Next Generation. But it doesn’t make it very easy to attach things.
In my experience, no matter how snazzy an adhesive may seem on Day 1, as the summer(s) roll on, the adhesive slowly gives out. I’m left with an incredibly oogey mess that must be dissolved using Goof Off or Goo-Gone. Both do damage to vinyl and stink. I think I need to stick ( heh heh ) with non-adhesive solutions here.
It may sound as though I’m being completely contradictory re: adhesives. Not really. If I can use a serious 2-part epoxy to attach to the radio console, I know it will not slough off in the heat of summer.
Or the freezing cold of winter in an unheated garage.
