Hands-on: Magnetic Car Mount

Before this I was using a plain car mount. Nothing wrong with it, except it blocks the air vent.

In summer that’s tolerable — the cold air blows on the device and cools it down. In winter it’s a problem: the phone is already warm, and blowing more hot air on it makes it completely useless.

So I started looking for a replacement, and one day on eBay I found this…

The idea is simple: a magnet plus a steel plate replaces the old cradle. I was skeptical at first — a magnet holding on with just a thin steel plate, can that really grip?

But the eBay reviews went on and on about how strong it was, so I picked one up to try.

The purchase comes with a bunch of steel plates in various sizes and thicknesses. According to the seller, the ideal is to slip the plate inside the back cover of the phone; if you use a case, just put it on the back of the phone — it’s not very noticeable, like this…

It looks thick, but it really isn’t. The tablet gets the large plate, the phone can use a small one.

As the first photo shows, the car mount comes in two sizes: a small one for phones and MP3 players, and a large one for tablets. In practice the tablet one is hard to use — it can hold, but… there’s really no point.

So in the end I only installed the small one. By the way, the magnetic ring also comes in a version with 3M adhesive on the back, meaning you can use it not just in the car but on a wall at home or anywhere else.

In testing it’s very convenient — just put the phone on and it sticks. Small phones, even large 5- or 6-inch ones, are no problem.

With a phone, because it’s magnetic, you can also choose the angle and orientation, which is even more convenient.

All in all, this thing is pretty good. The seller also has various accessories you can buy later. My only concern is whether the magnet affects the phone itself — but the phone only has a steel plate, and it isn’t attached to the magnet for long periods, so I figure it should be fine.