As I’ve said time and time again, I’m in a car a lot. A good portion of the gadgets I buy are to make life easier on me while in my car. One of my constant sources of frustration is where to keep my phone while driving.
When cell phones first came out, you could keep it tucked away in your pocket because you never needed it while driving; however, when GPS and music streaming became integral parts of our smartphones, we began to need to keep them visible. Even then, before the advent of the phablet, you could toss your phone in a cup holder or a coin tray, but now they barely fit in there.
I’ve tried dash mounted cell phone holders, but they just block your view of the road. I’ve also tried a CD player mounted holder, but it ended up blocking my climate controls. Recently, I was giving the chance to try the Infernal Innovations magnetic air vent phone mount. Hopefully, it will end my smartphone mount woes.
In the box
- Air vent mount holder
- 2 round metal plates
- 1 large rectangle plate
Using the air vent phone mount is pretty simple. There are four prongs on the back of the holder that come together to form a cone shape. As you can see above, the prongs are spaced apart at two different widths to accommodate various vent sizes.
You simply push those prongs onto your vent and they hold the device in place.
The holder takes up very little space and didn’t obstruct airflow or any controls.
Once you attach the holder, you place one of the metal plates on your phone. This can be done several ways. You can stick the plate to the back of your phone, you can stick the plate inside your phone case, or – if your phone has a removable cover – you can place it inside your phone. Obviously, the less material between the plate and the magnet, the stronger the bond.
For my first attempt at using the air vent car mount holder, I attached the larger, rectangle plate to the inside of my phone’s case. The device worked perfectly. I think I could have thrown my phone at the holder and it would have stuck; although, I didn’t have the guts to try.
While driving around, the phone never shifted or slid out of place. Additionally, because my phone is equipped with Qi charging, I placed the magnet at the bottom of my phone hoping to avoid interference. As a result, the weight of my phone wasn’t evenly distributed; even so, the phone never budged while driving.
Even when the phone was mounted, it did not obstruct any of my radio or climate controls; although, airflow from the vent was obstructed.
When I returned home, I placed my phone on my Qi charger and let it charge overnight. The next day, I awoke to a fully charged, yet alarmingly hot LG G4.
One of the side effects of using Qi charging is the excess heat caused by magnetic induction. I don’t know exactly how the plate affects the Qi charging, but it caused my phone to be very hot (if someone knows the reason, please feel free to explain in the comments).
After that experiment, I decided to try the smaller, circular plate. This plate didn’t allow for as strong a bond as the other plate. It would immediately “stick” to the holder, but it didn’t feel as secure.
Like before, I placed the magnet near the bottom of my phone in an attempt to keep it free for Qi charing. This time, the uneven weight distribution clearly affected the bond. While my phone never fell off of the holder, it would shift its position if I took a turn fast or hit a bump.
Upon returning home, I placed the phone on my Qi charger and left it overnight. As with the larger magnet before, I woke up to a very hot smartphone. Clearly I was going to have to choose between wireless charging and using a magnetic mount.
Despite the fact wireless charging didn’t work, NFC signals worked perfectly. Additionally, different phones may see different success rates. I previously had a Nexus 6; I believe its Qi charging coil was located closer to one end of the phone, while my G4’s is near the center. If I had the Nexus 6 I could probably place the magnetic plate farther from the coil and avoid the issue altogether.
One last feature of the mount is its ability to be used as a desk stand by simply placing a credit card between the magnetic holder’s prongs. I feel the need to warn people, do not to use an actual credit card; you’ll just be asking to be a victim of theft. Instead, use one of those free, dime a dozen rewards cards that cashiers are always asking you to sign up for. If you get lucky, a dumb thief may steal the card, use it, and earn you some free rewards.
Okay, back on topic.
Despite the issues with the wireless charging, I really liked the holder and chose to keep using it and forgo wireless charging. While wireless charging is convenient, it doesn’t beat the convenience of having a safe, reliable, and easily accessible phone mount. At $12.99, I believe the Infernal Innovations magnetic air vent mount would be great a purchase.
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Infernal Innovations. Please visit their site for more information and Amazon to order one.
Product Information
| Price: | $12.99 |
| Manufacturer: | Infernal Innovations |
| Retailer: | Amazon |
| Requirements: |
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This holder from Amazon works well for my iPhone 6 plus and requires no magnet and seems to do everything the one you reviewed does.
Koomus Aero Air Vent Universal Smartphone Car Mount Holder for iPhone 6 6+ 5 5S 5C Samsung Galaxy S5 S4 S3 Note 4 3 – Retail Packaging – Black
by Koomus
What is that pink thing on the right air vent? Air freshener?
Yeah I had work done on my car and it had that metallic, oily smell in it.
Yeah, I’ve had that metallic, oily smell in my car as well. I wasn’t sure at first, but, now, having seen your car, I’m positive it wasn’t the cleaning materials I used. Thanks for narrowing it down for me. You ROCK!
Nice review but remember to clean your dashboard before taking hi-res pictures 😉
The Qi charger generates a magnetic field that make the steel plate hot, that’s how induction cooktops works
Hahaha Fred. I know it looks bad, but the dash actually has the little silver specks in it. It’s barely noticeable normally, but everytime I take a photo it stands out and makes it look super dusty. It’s annoying.
Yeah, as Fred said the Qi charger is basically making the steel plate into an induction cooker – alternating magnetic fields in metal generate electric current. In Qi charging, that current is then siphoned off into the battery. But if it doesn’t have anyplace to go, it has to dissipate somehow – and the default ‘dissipate extra energy’ is heat.
On an unrelated note – anyone have a suggestion for a car mount to take with you? (I drive a lot of short-term rentals for a job – and they don’t come with navigation.) Something I could carry easily and install/remove quickly. (Note that the most common type of car I’m in has the air vents directly behind the steering wheel, so this one wouldn’t work.)
The one problem with this kind of holders is that there’s no way of adjusting them. So unless your vents are placed at a perfect angle, you’ll end up with an awkwardly placed phone.
I’ve tried similar mounts and since in my car the vents are angled upwards, the phone ends facing towards the car’s ceiling and becomes useless as a navigation device or whatever.
I use a $4 plastic holder similar to this one (as in that it has 4 prongs that grab onto the vent slats) but rather than being magnetic is has an extendible arm that clamps the phone in. It works great on my iPhone 6. The 4 prongs are long enough so that I can angle the holder towards the driver for easy viewing. As I prefer to have my phone in the thinnest lightest case I could find (Spigen Airskin) I have my perfect setup in the car.