This is not a new problem. Finding the perfect way to mount your smartphone for practical use in the car has always been tricky. And let me clarify “practical use”. I’m not talking about texting, scrolling through e-mail or social media sites. I’m talking more in the way of using the maps and navigation features, answering phone calls hands free or… ok, maybe scrolling through a few things, but only at a stoplight where the worst that can happen is the person behind you give a honk to move it along and stop being such a distracto.
I had a few objectives with mounting a small screen in my car—some seemingly contradictory. I wanted it to be easy to see, out of the way, able to rotate and accessible to power. The latter is particularly important when using GPS related functions, especially on long road trips where the batter will go flat fast.
The Montar Universal Car Mount has fulfilled all of these objectives plus a few. It’s very easy to un-mount and re-mount as needed. This makes it practical for traveling to a location where I’ll have a rental car. While I’m still amazed that rental car agencies still offer to rent you a GPS unit for $6-10/day, they usually mount better than your phone. Bring the Montar with you and your phone works great.
Also of significance importance is how easy it is to get your phone in and out of such a mount. Montar has come up with just the right amount of spring in their clamp, material to grasp the phone and the omnidirectional swivel makes it easy to go from portrait to landscape mode. Also, since my wife and I have different kinds of cases on our phones, a case specific mount won’t do. The Montar is truly universal from various cases on the same kind of phone to being able to accommodate the bigger and bigger screens coming out.
Again, a simple concept with a simple solution. $30|winnergear.com
