With Bing, GoogleMaps and Waze getting more and more popular for your navigation needs you may find yourself looking for a car mount for your Windows phone. Arkon offers a universal Vehicle Mount Kit that not only includes a vent clip but also a Suction Cup Mount that can mount on the windshield or dash.
If your tired of sitting your phone in the passenger seat or sliding across your dashboard and need a vehicle cradle, follow the break to see what type of impression the Arkon Vehicle Mount kit made.
Design
The Arkon Vehicle Mount Kit ($29.95) comes with a universal cradle, vent mount, suction cup mount, a mounting disk to use on your dash, and an alcohol pad to clean your dash.
The universal cradle has to adjustable, padded posts that can be positioned to suit your particular phone. The cradle holds your phone in place by two padded sides that close in around your phone; pinching and holding it in place. A button sits on the bottom left side that will release the tension on the cradle's side so you can remove the Windows phone.
The universal cradle mounts on either of the included mounts. The vent mount has two clips that attach to your car's AC vent blades. The clips can rotate to accommodate vertical and horizontal vent blades. A swivel post is at the bottom to stabilize the mount and a tension swivel sits at the base to allow you to fine-tune how the phone is positioned.
The Suction Cup Mount arm is about 3.5 inches long (overall from base to cradle is about 7"). The mount attaches to your dash or windshield by a suction cup. If your dashboard is textured in a manner to prevent the suction cup to seal, a plastic disk is include that can be affixed to your dash. As with the vent mount, the suction cup mount has a tension swivel to allow for fine-tuning of the phone's position.
Performance
The universal cradle fits a wide range of Windows phone including the Touch Pro 2, Tilt2, Samsung Jack, Fuze, Touch Diamond, Samsung Omnia and the AT&T Fuze.
The cradle held my Tilt2 in place nicely and the adjustable posts helped customize the fit. You can also separate the posts enough to accommodate a car charger.
Vent Mount
I typically have a GPS unit mounted to my car's dash so the vent mount gave me an option to avoid cluttering up the dash even more. The clips attached easily to the blades on my car vent and a swivel post sits at the bottom to help stabilize things.
The mount did have a bit of bounce to it and with the more serious bumps in the road, this caused the phone to slide in the mount itself. I never felt as if the phone was going to fall out of the mount but it did shift forward slightly.
The mount does extend a good bit from the vent to help air flow around the phone. The manner in which the clips attach to the vent does hinder the vent's adjustment. If you car's design requires you to close the vent blades to shut down air flow, you won't be able to do that. I also have to wonder if mounting your Windows phone in front of a hot air flow might become an issue.
Suction Cup Mount
The suction cup on this mounting option really sucks. In a good way that is. The mount held firmly to both the windshield and mounting disk. My dash is textured enough to prevent a proper suction cup seal so I have to depend on the plastic mounting disk that adheres to the dash.
The flexible arm is stiff and I'd recommend positioning it before applying the suction cup. Once in position, the tension swivel does a good job of changing or fine-tuning the cradle's position.
As with the Vent Mount, there was a little bounce with the Suction Cup Mount. However, I didn't see any change in the phones position in the cradle.
Overall Impression
The build quality of either mount style is very good but the bounce associated with the vent mount was a little disappointing. The amount of bounce may vary from car to car (reviewed in a Chevy Impala) and your results may differ.
The suction cup mount offers a little more versatility with where you place your phone. It has less bounce and was the overall better choice.
So why buy a kit with two mounting options? You may be a multiple car household and the vent mount may work better in one car than the other. You can keep the mounts in place and simply remove the cradle. This would make it easy to switch from car to car.
The Arkon Vehicle Mount Kit will run you $29.95 over at the WMExperts.com Store. Arkon also offers the suction cup mount separately for $19.95.
