In-car phone cradles....

[E65Ross]

Can someone recommend a decent, well-made in-car phone cradle that I can use for my Samsung Galaxy S3? I got one off Amazon a while ago, but it's pretty crap to be honest!

Many thanks

Ross

[zcacogp]

Two pieces of sticky-backed black velcro. One on the dashboard, one on the 'phone. Costs pennies, and you can put them everywhere - side of your monitor, handlebars of your bike, helm of your boat .... the list goes on.


Oli.

[CoolC]

Brodit.

[E65Ross]

zcacogp said:

Two pieces of sticky-backed black velcro. One on the dashboard, one on the 'phone. Costs pennies, and you can put them everywhere - side of your monitor, handlebars of your bike, helm of your boat .... the list goes on.


Oli.

And how am I going to have the phone upright in a position where I can clearly see the map at roughly eye-level?

[E65Ross]

CoolC said:

Brodit.

Many thanks!

[CoolC]

E65Ross said:

CoolC said:

Brodit.

Many thanks!

No problem. Be warned though, they are chuffing expensive.

[zcacogp]

E65Ross said:

zcacogp said:

Two pieces of sticky-backed black velcro. One on the dashboard, one on the 'phone. Costs pennies, and you can put them everywhere - side of your monitor, handlebars of your bike, helm of your boat .... the list goes on.

And how am I going to have the phone upright in a position where I can clearly see the map at roughly eye-level?

Erm, by sticking the velcro on the dashboard in a suitable position?


Oli.

[E65Ross]

zcacogp said:

E65Ross said:

zcacogp said:

Two pieces of sticky-backed black velcro. One on the dashboard, one on the 'phone. Costs pennies, and you can put them everywhere - side of your monitor, handlebars of your bike, helm of your boat .... the list goes on.

And how am I going to have the phone upright in a position where I can clearly see the map at roughly eye-level?

Erm, by sticking the velcro on the dashboard in a suitable position?


Oli.

Fair enough for the suggestion, each to their own....but personally I'd rather not have a somewhat naff-looking piece of velcro on my dashboard when I don't need my phone mounted on the dash At least with cradles etc you can easily remove them, and when they are in place they at least look half decent.

Again, each to their own and I do appreciate the suggestion.

[ZesPak]

I've got some RAM mounts, some of them are quite bulky but I love the X-mount they have. Holds my Nexus 5 and iPhone 4, my wife's S2,...

[br d]

I use a Spiderpodium, got it from Amazon, bend it to fit then flatten it and stick it in the glove compartment when you're not using it.

[dhalv]

Tried a few different types, but the Kenu Airframe works a treat and is the one I recommend

Check it out:

http://www.kenu.com/products/airframe

[LotusMartin]

dhalv said:

Tried a few different types, but the Kenu Airframe works a treat and is the one I recommend

Check it out:

http://www.kenu.com/products/airframe

This ^ you get what you pay for here - this is pretty underwhelming when you open the box, and doesn't seem sturdy when fitted, but it does the job perfectly. Works great for my iPhone 5s, screens up to 4.8" apparently.

www.amazon.co.uk/Kenu-Airframe-Portable-Car-Mount/...

[Shaoxter]

Another vote for the Kenu Airframe, I have the same Galaxy S3 phone as the OP.

At first glance it looks really expensive for what you get but it's solid and works superbly. A extra bonus is that it helps keep your phone cool in front of the vents (most of the time) rather than baking under the sun on a window mounted one.

Just make sure you don't scratch the dash trim when attaching/removing the phone.

[Liszt]

CoolC said:

Brodit.

Another Brodit fan. Dedicated mounts for different cars. Most don't damage the trim, but are very sturdy. Different options for charging as well.

You pays your money....

[E65Ross]

Thanks for the further suggestions, the Kenu Airframe looks like a pretty good bet to be honest.

Just how much are the Brodit ones then? The airframe is quite expensive but I'd rather pay for something that works properly!

Having said that, I'm mainly using it for my phone sat nav because my Garmin is so old now it's rather dated.....somewhere around 2006! It's useful because it has full European maps. I've got the Skobbler app on my phone which has European maps which is a must for me, but the airframe is basically £20....I could get a brand new Garmin for £100 which will ultimately be better......Hmmmm, decisions!

[CoolC]

Depends on the layout of your dash, but could something like THIS work for you?

[Shaoxter]

E65Ross said:

Having said that, I'm mainly using it for my phone sat nav because my Garmin is so old now it's rather dated.....somewhere around 2006! It's useful because it has full European maps. I've got the Skobbler app on my phone which has European maps which is a must for me, but the airframe is basically £20....I could get a brand new Garmin for £100 which will ultimately be better......Hmmmm, decisions!

Why would a £100 Garmin be better? It's just going to be outdated again.
There's plenty of phone apps with European maps and loads for features for much less than £100.

[E65Ross]

CoolC - that looks quite interesting so thanks for posting

Shaoxter said:

E65Ross said:

Having said that, I'm mainly using it for my phone sat nav because my Garmin is so old now it's rather dated.....somewhere around 2006! It's useful because it has full European maps. I've got the Skobbler app on my phone which has European maps which is a must for me, but the airframe is basically £20....I could get a brand new Garmin for £100 which will ultimately be better......Hmmmm, decisions!

Why would a £100 Garmin be better? It's just going to be outdated again.
There's plenty of phone apps with European maps and loads for features for much less than £100.

The Garmin offers lifetime map updates. It's better because Skobbler, currently, doesn't offer post-code searches or the ability to add in via-points - some times I prefer to go a certain way so adding in a via-point is a great way of doing that easily.

Which is a better sat-nav software with European maps which I can use without needing data charges? Ultimately, google maps navigation is perfect for me.....but it requires data and phone signal (even if you download a map area, to calculate a route etc etc it needs data which rules it out for going abroad for me....and again, no via points sadly.

Thanks

[Shaoxter]

E65Ross said:

The Garmin offers lifetime map updates. It's better because Skobbler, currently, doesn't offer post-code searches or the ability to add in via-points - some times I prefer to go a certain way so adding in a via-point is a great way of doing that easily.

Which is a better sat-nav software with European maps which I can use without needing data charges? Ultimately, google maps navigation is perfect for me.....but it requires data and phone signal (even if you download a map area, to calculate a route etc etc it needs data which rules it out for going abroad for me....and again, no via points sadly.

Thanks

Copilot on Android does all of that for about £30

If you want to go via certain places/take the scenic routes you can also drag the route (like google maps on your desktop) as well as inputting numerous destinations.

Most useful thing for me about Copilot is the ability to input GPS coordinates because then you can plan the whole trip beforehand.

[E65Ross]

Shaoxter said:

E65Ross said:

The Garmin offers lifetime map updates. It's better because Skobbler, currently, doesn't offer post-code searches or the ability to add in via-points - some times I prefer to go a certain way so adding in a via-point is a great way of doing that easily.

Which is a better sat-nav software with European maps which I can use without needing data charges? Ultimately, google maps navigation is perfect for me.....but it requires data and phone signal (even if you download a map area, to calculate a route etc etc it needs data which rules it out for going abroad for me....and again, no via points sadly.

Thanks

Copilot on Android does all of that for about £30

If you want to go via certain places/take the scenic routes you can also drag the route (like google maps on your desktop) as well as inputting numerous destinations.

Most useful thing for me about Copilot is the ability to input GPS coordinates because then you can plan the whole trip beforehand.

That looks perfect. I'm due a phone upgrade later in the year, will I be able to download it "again" to that new phone??

Edited by E65Ross on Tuesday 22 April 12:09