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During the day I spend a lot of time on the road. There are countless days when I drive in excess of 250 miles. Like many people, my smart phone is an integral part of my daily routine — especially when I’m on the road. Having quick and easy access to my maps and email at a glance is a must for me. Rather than constantly picking up my phone and checking it, what I really needed was a convenient and reliable window car mount to make interacting with my phone safe and convenient.
Enter the Montar car mount — a universal window and dashboard mount for your smart phone or GPS unit. Made from hard molded plastic, the Montar is extremely sturdy and easy to operate. Advertised as the world’s best universal car mount, the Montar delivers where others have failed.
Not all suction cups are created equally
The secret sauce in making a great window mount is all in the suction cup. The Montar has a patent pending suction cup. After spending just a few minutes with it, it is obvious why they patented it. This particular suction cup is different from any other one I have used in the past. It is coated with a sticky film. I know what your thinking — that will make a mess all over my window when removed and it will attract all sorts of dirt, crumbs and hair when transported to another surface. Turns out that not only will it peel off your window with relative ease after you get it started, but the surface is also washable!
If it ever becomes dirty all you need to do is rinse off the surface of the business side of the suction cup and let it air dry. Almost like magic, the sticky coating is like new again and ready to be stuck to another surface. The suction cup itself is sturdy enough to adhere to your window by itself. However, the addition of a clip that you lift when removing and installing the mount to your window adds even more stability and makes the Montar virtually one with your window.
Features
The Montar will hold any device with a screen size up to 5.3″ wide with secure rubber grips that prevent scratching and allow for easy, one-handed quick install and removal of your device. The strong, spring-loaded arm firmly keeps your phone in place until you want to remove it. The rubber-coated arm that surrounds your phone can be rotated a full 360 degrees, and held in position by an adjustable neck at the base of the mount. While in use, all your ports and buttons are still fully accessible, allowing you to still charge your phone and attach earphones at the same time.
Conclusion
I really can’t praise the Montar enough. Sometimes it’s the little things done right that make a product so valuable. I have never found or used a more stable window mount. My phone has never bounced or come dislodged from the Montar even over rough terrain.
The suction cup still works just as well today as the day I installed it. I move it from my personal vehicle to my work vehicle and back again four days a week for the past 6 weeks now, and it still performs flawlessly. I would highly recommend purchasing the Montar. For only $35 by itself, and $40 with an included charger cable, I give it my strongest recommendation.
I wish someone would make a good tablet mount. I like to use my nexus 7 as a gps
I can’t say how good any of these are for tablets, but I’ve used them for my phones and they are pretty awesome.
Proclip doesn’t use suction cups, it installs in your car in a way that does no harm and can be removed. Expensive, but custom fit to your car and your device.
http://www.proclipusa.com/tablet-holders/device/google/nexus-7-asus-v-2012.cmsv
Slip Grip has a variety of mounts, and is has versions for several popular cases, too. I actually use the plain back version and mount it to my Proclip car mount.
http://www.slipgripcarmounts.com/ASUS-GOOGLE-Nexus-7-Table_c_27657.html
Well, per the review of this one, it will hold any device up to 5.3″ wide. The nexus 7, per googles tech specs page is 120mm, which is approximately 4.7″, wide. So this one should work.
but after watching the video, it says up to 88mm, which would be about 3.5″, so i think there is a typo in the article, so nevermind. might wanna fix that in article.
Sorry guys, you’re right. It’s any device with a screen size up to 5.3″ My bad
I’ve seen a couple of double DIN N7 solutions on the internet. You should look into those.
Single DIN solution. =.3
The Nexus 7 is like the exact size as a radio. I was so happy. It was so easy to do without cutting. And I was able to keep my radio. I use my tablet as a cool visualizer while driving. =.P
So yes. I am one of those people who has a regular non-sporty 1995 car with this high-tech device as a radio. LoL!!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004M8ST36/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
This is what I use for my tablet before I suited my radio area for my Nexus 7. The mount. You’ll see in the picture the bottom and top look different. Well you can change those. In other words, there are four copies of the thingys on the top and the same on the bottom. And if you look on the bottom you see a line. That expands.
You can also turn the mount sideways. Depending on the device. You’d put the Nexus 7 on as you see it, but you’d turn it to the side for phones. And those little thingys can slide around, so you can make room for your charging port.
The only thing I didn’t like about it is that the suction will loosen over time. It’s not permanent, it just loosen and you have to just put it back on. This means if you’re not careful you can hit a bump and your Nexus will fall on your floor and you’ll be like “AH!! I was at the fork in the road!!” and you won’t know which turn to take and you’ll take the wrong turn. =.[
if you could add wireless charging to this it would be gold for every Nexus 4 owner
Curious how this holds up to the iOttie one-touch mount. Which also has a sticky suction cup that’s never failed me but also is by far the easiest mount to secure and release your phone from.
This wouldn’t even be in my top five. iBOLT xProDock destroys this thing.
Mugen Power is the best thing I found out there for $39.95
http://www.mugen-power-batteries.com/samsung/samsung-galaxy-s4/samsung-galaxy-s4-car-mount-cradle-with-handsfree.html
Universal my ass. My Note 2 days otherwise.
Heh, the first thing I did was check if it would fit a Note 2 lol. I wonder if they’ll release a version to accommodate larger screens.
5.3″ screen size.
I think the best mount is the Mountek nGroove Universal CD Mount. It was reviewed here on phandroid by Chris Chavez. I’ve been using it for my Note 2 for months and love it!
These seem to be the talk of the ‘net. Glad to hear you like it too… mine is supposed to arrive today.
I have the 1st gen, and am waiting for the 2nd gen “snap” to arrive. The problem is, I just bought a second car that has no gaps or cd player slot, so it’s useless in that car. Might try the iOttie mount that was mentioned earlier
if you’re a road warrior, why not do some research before you buy a phone.
instead of buying a crappy universal mount see if there’s an OEM one.
my DROID RAZR MAXX loves riding in its OEM mount.
I don’t like the one offered by HTC, and it’s twice as much. Plus, if I change devices, I don’t have to worry about compatability.
One of the reasons I choose Motorola. I use my car mount daily. None that I’ve seen so far come close to Moto’s. The only negative is that they are phone model specific. I was given a Razr mount, but it was incompatible with my RAZR MAXX. Had to get the one specific to the MAXX. This does seem better that the other universal mount out there.
Device-specific accessories should be bought only when absolutely necessary (unless you’re a sucker who wants to shell out every time you upgrade your phone).
Some people just prefer it. I don’t buy device specific stuff because they don’t usually look cool.
If I wanted to, I’d get things device specific accessories and be all like, “Yea, I’m all HTC’ed out in my car and every where I go.” LoL!!
So when you get a new phone in a year or two you have to spend another $40+ on car mount? What do you do with the old one? Hope to sell it to someone who has the exact same phone you once had?
$35 for this? It’s also looks humongous. Lots of other options that have a much slimmer form factor and much more secure. Device specific mounts can be quite pricey, so even though I usually prefer that option over universal, I can understand those that prefer getting universal setups that’ll work for their devices in the future. Rather than spending $35 on something like this, I prefer buying a proclip, car specific, base mount and then coupling that with a universal arkon slim mount.
Looks are deceiving. It’s really not that big to be honest.
Still bigger than Arkon Ultra slim grip:
http://www.amazon.com/Arkon-SM678-Slim-Grip-Removable-Smartphones/dp/B00BJUE86C/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1375990587&sr=8-2&keywords=arkon+ultra-slim+mount
And iOttie HLCRIO104
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=917806&is=REG&Q=&A=details
Both of those mounts have a slimmer base (and less expensive than the Montar), but still can have a sturdy grip on the phone. For those that don’t want the holder that the Arkon Ultra Slim comes with, there’s this one also:
http://www.amazon.com/Arkon-MG178-Universal-Smartphone-Suction/dp/B0077B9K2E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375991200&sr=8-1&keywords=arkon+MG178
Too bad its not available for purchase … anywhere …
Yeah, I don’t know what happened. When I started the review it was available for purchase.
I contacted them and they said they run out of stock till the 11 of August … guess there were some people who found out its the best mount before this review was posted :)
I have this mount for my Nexus 7. LoL!! It’s expandable. But the Nexus 7 is just TOO large there, so I made a mount area in the dash of my radio for my Nexus 7. It fit perfectly so no cutting was necessary. =.D
Although, my mount has falling sometimes. It’s just because the suction had loosen over time. And it’s modular, so over time putting my phone there would cause it to detach. LoL!!
I don’t see a “perfect” mount. Too me, it’s whatever makes it the most convenient. My previous mount was for my HTC G2. It was like $12. It wasn’t really specific to the device though. But my E4GT (GS2) barely fit on it. So I want my mounts to be compatible with all my devices for quite some time.
I use the iBolt xProDock Active and its pretty awesome.
THe iOttie One Touch Dock XL is the way I go. I love how it is so easy to put your phone into and get it out the dock with one hand. The suction cup is awesome and has stayed secure for me on my dash for a long time. Check it out. http://www.amazon.com/iOttie-HLCRIO101-One-Touch-Windshield-Dashboard/dp/B007FH716W/ref=sr_1_2?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1375935178&sr=1-2&keywords=note+2+universal+dock
I would give you +100 if I could. iOttie solved all the problems I ever had with generic mounts and at basically the same price (about $20) and looks like it’s more adjustable than the mount in this article. I’ve basically gotten one for every car in my immediate family
I love my mountek that fits in the CD slot. I hate window mounts.