[2wheel]

The ProClip Auto Cradle for the 8900 arrived today. Below is a quick review.

Price - $34.99 for the model shown below (There are other options)
Construction – Excellent
Design – Simple. Also excellent
Installation – Easy. You just need a mounting surface. I have a leather covered custom base for my ’07 VW Touareg. (Made by KudaUSA.com) Since I had a cradle mount already installed on the base, fortunately, the hole pattern on the ProClip base was identical. Bonus! Otherwise, I would have had to drill small pilot holes and use the self-tapping screws that came with the ProClip cradle.

ProClip sells all sorts of bases. Check out their website for the solution that best suits your car.

Note: IMHO, vent mount systems don’t make much sense to me. You both obscure the vent in question and also cause the phone to heat up. (During the winter of course) No electronic device I’m aware of enjoys high heat. I can’t imagine the 8900 being any different. So, I would suggest investigating the Kuda mounts as they are designed for your interior. Or take a look at the wide range of sheet metal solutions at ProClip. Some simply slip into gaps between in the instrument panel or console and the upholstered dash or console.

Issues – If you have a skin installed, you will have to spread the cradle just a tiny bit to prevent damaging the skin. I have the Invisible Shield on my 8900 and the added thickness as well as the friction made it impossible to slide into the cradle. About 2 minutes with a heat gun, and I was able to spread the cradle just enough to get the phone in without damaging the skin. It fits nicely now. Due to the thick plastic. (ABS I believe) it will be very difficult to spread the cradle without using a heat gun. A hair dryer won’t generate enough heat. Another option would be to remove the side sections of the skin. You’re call.

General thoughts – I like this cradle a lot. Were it not for the Invisible Shield, the installation would have taken me less than 5 minutes. It may take you up to 20 minutes to install if you have to drill holes or install a base. But still, super easy.

There is a clearance hole in the side to plug in the charger. Nice. So many cradles exclude this simple feature.

The cradle angle has a generous range of adjust ability and the tension on the pivot can be adjusted via a screw in the center. I pretty much locked mine down as I can’t envision ever needing to pivot the phone.

Excellent product. Highly recommended.


Images of my install. (The phone appears to be at an odd angle, but it is facing me perfectly.)

[OstrichSak]

I was real close to ordering one of these but a couple things made me decide to. That first is the fact that I have a full skin and what you mentioned was one of my concerns. The primary factor though was the fact that the charge port has a hole and it needs to be open on top. I spend all day in my car and on my phone and it's constantly in and out of the cradle while plugged in. With this holder I would have to unplug and plug in the charger each time I took it out and put it back in for emails and text messages. I thought about buying it and taking a Dremel to that top portion but wasn't sure how much it would affect the stability of that side with only a small portion near the bottom anchoring it to the base. Looks like a great holder though if those aren't concerns for you. I went with a Panavise mount and a universal Grip-It and while it looks a little more bulky it works fantastically and I know that if I get another phone down the road I won't have to buy another mount. Best part is the Panavise was $15 or so and the Grip-It was about the same price so I'm into my whole setup for about the same as the ProClip mount. I will post a write-up on my setup with pics when I get more time since you and I were both looking for a mounting solution and we both went with different options. It's good that there are a couple options finally for this phone. Thanks for the write-up!

[2wheel]

OS,

Gotcha on the removing the phone. Not much of an issue for me, but I can certainly see where it would be for others.

IMHO, cutting the top section of the charger access hole with a Dremel tool would not negatively affect the cradle. Probably a feature they should have included though.

Cheers.

[OstrichSak]

Why didn't you order up a Panavise bracket? Puts it at about the same position and would have saved from drilling holes into your nice dash.

[webchetan]

Oh the horror. Though I like the idea of cradle for my 8900 in car, I would never compromise on my dashboard. Why drill holes??? What the heck, I don't find it that importance then my car...I better just keep the device in a simple cup holder and works like a charm for me.

[2wheel]

Well, if you read the review, I did not drill holes in my dash. The base that the cradle is mounted to is made specifically for my car by Kuda. It's designed to match the interior in shape and coloring of the upholstery. It's made from fiberglass with a leather covering and is meant to be drilled into.

Also per the review above, ProClip makes a variety of mounts that are drill-less. Some clip over the air vents (See my opinion on this in the review) or some simply slip between the console and upholstered surroundings. Takes about 2 seconds to install and there is absolutely no damage to your interior.

IMHO, the Kuda products are nicer as they blend perfectly with the interior. Hence you guys thinking that I drilled into the stock dash.

[webchetan]

Ah kewl, that sounds better now

[TheBigNewt]

Does Kuda also make a cradle that will work for the 8900? I assume you use it with BT in your VW Toureg right?

[2wheel]

Originally Posted by TheBigNewt

Does Kuda also make a cradle that will work for the 8900? I assume you use it with BT in your VW Toureg right?

Kuda does not make cradles for phones. (Hence the ProClip cradle review) They only make car-specific appendages that you can mount a cradle to. Their product is tops. Most people think mine is part of the dash. I’ve seen their mount for the Audi A4 and that looks great as well.

I use a Blue Ant V1 headset. No integrated BT in the car. I've tried them, but never found one that cancels out enough noise for me to carry on a meaningful conversation with a client.

I spend a lot of time in the car and need to be able to talk for extended periods of time.

[YMark]

$35 for some piece of plastic to hold your phone? I don't get it.

[2wheel]

Originally Posted by YMark

$35 for some piece of plastic to hold your phone? I don't get it.

Well, then don't. Get it that is.

[$tockmarket]

I'm late coming in on this thread, but I just wanted to say kudos to 2wheel for the informative thread, right down to the Blueant headset.

[takeshi]

Thanks for mentioning the Kuda bases. I don't like their offerings for either of my cars but it is good to see some other options out there. Panavise (mentioned above) makes some great vehicle mounts as well though they're plain metal brackets and not really designed to blend with the dash like Kuda's.

ProClip also has vehicle mounts but I'm not particularly fond of them. Their device mounts are generally well-made IMO. I've used their mounts for the 8800, 8310, Verizon Voyager and the iPod Touch 2G and would recommend all of them (especially with tilt/swivel bases).

Originally Posted by YMark

$35 for some piece of plastic to hold your phone? I don't get it.

...and I don't get threadcrapping. Why click on a thread regarding a device mount and reply if you're not interested? At least add to the discussion by offering some alternatives or something. If every person replied with "I don't get it" for threads that they didn't get these forums would have a totally unusable signal-to-noise ratio.