Smart Phone mounts - Specific vs Universal

AndrewJames · Postby **AndrewJames** » Sat Aug 02, 2014 12:13 pm

Hi

I currently have a iphone 4s

this seems to be popular, but I would have to buy a new case from Quad lock -

http://www.quadlockcase.com/products/bike-kit-ip4

however I might prefer the case I have right now, or change to a Samsung or whatever in the future, so I was thinking a universal option might be better

Quadlock sell this
http://www.quadlockcase.com/products/u ... urn false;

that I could combine with the Mount only option
http://www.quadlockcase.com/products/qu ... -mount-pro

my concern is that universal adaptor has to glue onto to your existing case

"NOTE:THE UNIVERSAL ADAPTOR WILL ADHERE TO MOST FLAT/HARD NON-POROUS SURFACES. IT WILL NOT ADHERE TO CURVED SURFACES OR SILICON, TPU, RUBBER/RUBBERISED OR HEAVILY TEXTURED MATERIALS. "

they provide this warning, but does anyone here have experience in whether this mount works , I am worried my smartphone will delaminate from this mount, and I loose my phone.
Note I am not mountain biking but commuting slash easy limestone trails in city areas.

Beyond the quadlock brand, does anyone recommend other products?

I did see Topeak has a generic Water proof case that you can slide any phone into, but it heats up too much in direct sunlight it appears and you probably cant operate it very well through the bag.

thanks

Xplora · Postby **Xplora** » Sat Aug 02, 2014 2:07 pm

Andrew, I think you've cottoned on to why almost all riders have a Garmin on the handlebars, instead of their phone. At a time where your phone is worth 700-800-900 bucks new, and the apps just aren't solid enough compared to a Garmin GPS with ANT+ extras, most prefer to just put in the back of the jersey and get on with riding. Realistically you can't look at your phone anyways for more than a glance during a commute anyways.

isabella24 · Postby **isabella24** » Sat Aug 02, 2014 4:18 pm

Xplora wrote:Andrew, I think you've cottoned on to why almost all riders have a Garmin on the handlebars, instead of their phone. At a time where your phone is worth 700-800-900 bucks new, and the apps just aren't solid enough compared to a Garmin GPS with ANT+ extras, most prefer to just put in the back of the jersey and get on with riding. Realistically you can't look at your phone anyways for more than a glance during a commute anyways.

Well, I too have been looking into getting a Garmin, but seeing as the latest offering, the edge 1000 is worth between $600-$700, it is almost the same price as my iphone!! Plus my iphone is tax deductible, a Garmin is not, making my iphone even cheaper.

So why would I get a dedicated bike computer for a price that is not much different to a top of the line smartphone? My old iphone 5 (not 5s) can do Strava for around 4-5hrs before running out of battery. It can do navigation, calls, txts, internet etc.
A Garmin is not much cheaper, a 1000 is about the same size as an iphone and all it is is a GPS unit.

I'm with the OP here. Get a good smartphone mount.

Edit: I understand why an audax rider or someone doing 300kms a day would want a Garmin or similar - battery life. But surely 4-5 hrs is ok for a weekend warrior, commuter or similar. A tourer would most likely have a dyno hub with which to recharge a smartphone.

eeksll · Postby **eeksll** » Sat Aug 02, 2014 4:55 pm

You can get some industrial/strong strength glue to use with that universal quadlock adapter. Just buy a couple. If its removable later then I would never trust it with my 1k phone.

you would also have to make sure your current smartphone case holds your phone well.

Also worth thinking about why you want a phone on your handlebars. Is it really beneficial? will stuffing it in a pocket or saddle bag be sufficient? I use my smartphone for gps in conjunction with a standard (non-gps) bike computer. I have personally found this sufficient.

isabella24 · Postby **isabella24** » Sat Aug 02, 2014 7:21 pm

eeksll wrote: Also worth thinking about why you want a phone on your handlebars. Is it really beneficial? will stuffing it in a pocket or saddle bag be sufficient? I use my smartphone for gps in conjunction with a standard (non-gps) bike computer. I have personally found this sufficient.

To me, the benefit is mapping. There are so many times where I want to see a route, but can't cause my phone is in my pocket.

Xplora · Postby **Xplora** » Sat Aug 02, 2014 7:45 pm

If you're looking at the Edge 1000, isabella, then you've got the rude shock to your bank balance that you deserve

Garmin 800 is 250 bucks used right now. That's reasonable if you MUST have the features it gives you - for me it records my SRM data so it's not really that pricey

but my old Bryton wasn't quite as reliable. I have a photo of the Bryton freezing at 270kms into a 350km ride. When do you think I'll do another one of those rides...

For me, 4-5 hours isn't really acceptable battery life because you just don't know if you will need the phone for some other purpose, and if you are going to get stuck at all. But that's me. I've flipped over a car at speed, my phone didn't get used that time anyway. I've heard that reception gets to be hard once you put your jersey phone in a strong case

Uh oh.

lobstermash · Postby **lobstermash** » Sat Aug 02, 2014 9:07 pm

I used to be in the smart phone tribe, but got sick of the hassle with mounts (plastic doesn't last long in Canberra winters), hopeless GPS (but most phones are better - mine takes forever to lock on) and an unreliable app that kept crashing on longer rides (and occasionally on my commute...).

Closing my eyes and hitting 'buy now' on a proper bike computer (I got a Garmin 510) has been a revelation. The out in front mount has little plastic, it locks on virtually instantly, hasn't crashed on any rides (yet, but I haven't heard of many freezing mid-ride to date) and I've started using the HRM to maximise the amount of time I want to spend on the bike. Now if they fix the buggy Bluetooth connection, it'll be almost perfect... Almost forgot, it's safe in the rain too.

Robinho · Postby **Robinho** » Sun Aug 03, 2014 2:35 pm

I have a MacGyver mount for my HTC, run endomondo and strava at the same time, never have any issues with GPS or crashes. Endonmondo syncs to my Bluetooth HR monitor and my Bluetooth headphones, which gives me a rundown every 1km of all the useful info, and on demand with one press of a button in my ear. I don't need to look at the phone at any point, the only reason I have it mounted is for ease of starting and stopping the apps andvtge beginning and end of my ride.

RideLikeTheWind · Postby **RideLikeTheWind** » Sun Aug 03, 2014 8:03 pm

I have the Quadlock, which I use with my 5S, Strava and Topeak Bluetooth HRM and S/C sensor. I use this daily, on my commute to Sydney (1hr 15 min / 46km).
In terms of the phone: I find I still get 10 hours of battery after this usage, even with medium daily usage. I am neutral about the fact that the screen is blacked during riding - It is both good, and bad. Good because I focus on riding. Bad because I can't see any metrics whilst riding without unlocking the phone (or leaving the screen on, which ruins battery life). Strava is ok for metrics - I am sure there is better (MapMyRide, for example), but I get most of what I need from Strava - the rest I can really live without.

The Topeak stuff is ok - not great but not bad.

The Quadlock is amazing, TBH. It never feels loose and is constantly taking the hit of whatever I ride over. I am VERY gentle on my bike regarding bumps tho - I am not exactly a lightweight on a Tarmac with Fulcrum 3's - I weight 95kg on a good day, but I do tend to hop over bumps gently and am careful of the road generally. The quad lock also has a rain cover (which I wouldn't trust with my $900 phone, but if it's sprinkling it should be ok!).

Given all this - I would probably move back to a Garmin 800 or something similar, given the 'money not an option' thing - I have found that the integration is not quite there, if your a have a bit of OCD, like me.

Anyway - just my thoughts.

Jet01 · Postby **Jet01** » Sun Aug 03, 2014 8:15 pm

I've been using a topeak waterproof dry bag for iPhone 4s. $30 +$8.95 for a second mount for my other bike. Great for holding the phone for strava use. Screen til works through the plastic, can start and stop strava with gloves on the go.
Good cheap option.

slaw · Postby **slaw** » Mon Aug 04, 2014 11:22 am

I have a topeak dry bag too for my 4s. Paid $17 I think, so not a big outlay. It rattles a bit, but seems secure. Should have got a second mount as the plastic allen key bolt has rounded out a bit with me swapping it between roadie and mtb. Used it on the Alpine classic, topping up the phone with an external battery at each checkpoint stop.

But now I have a Magellan 500 with a couple of mounts. Cost me $200 from a Garmin user who won it at a race. Has maps, is waterproof, more stable on the bars and connects to the phone via bluetooth so I can leave phone in back pocket and see calls or texts come in if I don't hear them - not that I care about that while riding.

Gordonhooker · Postby **Gordonhooker** » Mon Aug 04, 2014 2:52 pm

I found the best way to deal with your smart phone when out riding is to either leave the stupid thing at home or put it on silent and leave it in your backpack or jersey rear pocket and ignore it until you get home.

m@ · Postby m@ » Mon Aug 04, 2014 3:58 pm

One advantage of the Quadlock option is that you can also use it as a camera mount with the 'generic' mount - works well on bars and seatpost. I use the phone mount mainly on the SS for for turn-by-turn navigation around the city

WarbyD · Postby **WarbyD** » Mon Aug 04, 2014 4:44 pm

eeksll wrote:You can get some industrial/strong strength glue to use with that universal quadlock adapter. Just buy a couple. If its removable later then I would never trust it with my 1k phone.

you would also have to make sure your current smartphone case holds your phone well.

Also worth thinking about why you want a phone on your handlebars. Is it really beneficial? will stuffing it in a pocket or saddle bag be sufficient? I use my smartphone for gps in conjunction with a standard (non-gps) bike computer. I have personally found this sufficient.

The universal mount isn't removable - I have it attached to a case for my Sony Xperia Z1 and it is absolutely rock solid - I regularly use it mountain biking and am absolutely certain that it isn't going anywhere

koshari · Postby **koshari** » Mon Aug 04, 2014 6:09 pm

I looked into bar mounting but most of the time you cant read the screen anywsy due to sunlight/glare. Pluss the screen needs waking up continuously. I put my phone in a saddle bag.

I occasionally will use a mount I modified to take a bluetooth speaker for rides on my flatbar.

Jet01 · Postby **Jet01** » Mon Aug 04, 2014 8:09 pm

koshari wrote:I looked into bar mounting but most of the time you cant read the screen anywsy due to sunlight/glare. Pluss the screen needs waking up continuously. I put my phone in a saddle bag.

I occasionally will use a mount I modified to take a bluetooth speaker for rides on my flatbar.

Just go into the settings of your iPhone and eat auto lock to never.

limbot · Postby **limbot** » Mon Aug 04, 2014 9:59 pm

The 3M double sided tape Quadlock uses is VERY strong when attached to a nice flat non-slick surface. I've got it attached to the back of a $50 LG Optimus Net Android phone that I use as my bicycle computer (that runs Strava and bicycomp (https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... .kukino.ac" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) . It's a dedicated GPS/MP3 player for me and I've pretty much deleted every other standard app on it that relates to telephony etc. I made sure I thoroughly cleaned the back with isopropyl alcohol before sticking the lock onto it.

The thing is it's strong but doing a bit of a trail ride the phone seperated from the battery cover back and I lost the phone, all I had left was the lock and the battery cover

Luckily going back it was close to the end of the ride and someone had found it and stuffed it on top of a post for me.

In the end however ( and keep in mind I'm no racer by any definition) I've decided that having it on the stem just distracts me, so I just now use my standard phone in my pocket running Strava to log my rides

AndrewJames · Postby **AndrewJames** » Wed Aug 06, 2014 3:45 pm

Hi limbot, I wonder if using a two pack adhesive, the result would be even better than the supplied Quadlock 3M tape?

It sounds like when your phone came off, it wasn't due to the Quadlock universal mount separating from what it was stuck to, but something else?

WarbyD · Postby **WarbyD** » Wed Aug 06, 2014 4:23 pm

Trust me - the supplied 3M stuff isn't going to come off unless you specifically want it to

MattyK · Postby **MattyK** » Wed Aug 06, 2014 4:28 pm

There is more to the Quad Lock case than just the mount. It is a very durable case, my iPhone 5 has survived numerous clumsy drops thanks to it. I would have no qualms about getting the specific case for your phone, not the universal mount.

limbot · Postby **limbot** » Wed Aug 06, 2014 5:23 pm

AndrewJames wrote:Hi limbot, I wonder if using a two pack adhesive, the result would be even better than the supplied Quadlock 3M tape?

It sounds like when your phone came off, it wasn't due to the Quadlock universal mount separating from what it was stuck to, but something else?

Just use the 3m supplied. You'd have to scrape the 3m off the holder which would be a crap job. The 3m will hold.

Yeah the phone separated from the back battery cover

For the generic Android Mount there's no case you stick directly to the phone or in this case the back battery cover.

I had the lock connected to the battery cover and no phone or innards (about 1km back up the track )