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Back in April 2016, I wrote about the perfect magnetic smartphone holder. And for a low price, that gizmo worked amazingly well for over a year. That is until the plastic clamps securing to car's vents got weak from holding up a 6" smartphone (Nexus 6P). By then, sharp turns caused the smartphone holder to fly off the vent with the smartphone still attached magnetically.
The one aspect that would improve the longevity of the smartphone holder is a mechanical way to not only tighten to the vents, but also the ability the clamp at the end do prevent the smartphone holder from ever flying off.
After some searching, I am across Magnetic Phone Car Mount, WizGear Universal Bite-lock Air vent Magnetic Phone Car Mount Holder, for Cell Phones with Swift-snap Technology by WizGear. It does everything right and I expect this mount to last forever.
- It has a single tooth at the end that when tightens prevents it from detaching from the vent blade.
- It tightens to vent blades with a built-in twist knob (or screwdriver) to prevent movement along the vent blade.
- It has a ball to swivel the magnetic face for comfortable driver viewing.
- It's magnetic, for easy smartphone attaching and removal.
The magic with this clamp isn't the fact that it can tighten to the vent blade, but instead that it has the single tooth at the end that makes it impossible for the smartphone mount to detach. However, because it does have teeth, this mount will require a sizeable gap between air vents blades to install. Setup is very easy and takes no more than a couple of minutes, but would obviously be more painful removing from car to car on a daily basis. I'd just recommend buying another one for your second or third car. I had no problems installing this smartphone mount on my Toyota Camry and RAV4.
It works on car air vents that a flat, wide, but not very deep. I can't imagine this air vents mounts of any type working in cars where the vents are circular. My vents are horizontal, but with the teeth, this should have no problem working on cars with vertically aligned vents.
The last feature I can see improving is strong magnetic holds. But much of that is limited to how close and strong a magnet you dare to put next to your electronics.