Invisible car mount binds your iPhone with science [Reviews]

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MagicMount Pro Vent
The MagicMount Pro is so convenient, you may not even miss that air.
Photo: Evan Killham/Cult of Mac

MagicMount Pro Vent

I’ve been looking for a new place to keep my phone while I was driving since I upgraded to the iPhone 6s and discovered that even though I’d slapped the slimmest of cases on it, it no longer fit into the cradle that sits in my car’s cup holder. And I don’t know if it’s the phone or the car that’s let me down here, but it’s become a bit of a problem if I want to keep the thing handy while I’m on the road.

The idea of sticking something permanently to my dashboard or phone has never appealed to me, and I also don’t like the idea of blocking part of my view with a suction-based phone mount. But luckily, the magnetic MagicMount Pro Vent exists, and that solves pretty much all of my problems. And if you’re super neurotic like me, you’ll probably want to check it out.

MagicMount’s Pro series builds upon the original line of magnetic device docks. The company that makes them, Scosche, claims that the new magnets are 30 percent stronger than the old ones but still don’t pose any risk to your devices. And that’s really important since we’re talking about something that’s going to be all up on your phone.

The MagicMount Pro Vent has two parts: the base that slots onto the slats in your dashboard and the plate that goes on your phone. The plate has some powerful and permanent adhesive on it if you want to just stick it on and forget about it, but luckily it’s really thin. That means that it was no problem for me to just stash it between my phone and case (I’m rocking the Apple-made leather case), and it grips to the base just fine.

This model is specifically for phones, so you may not want to try putting a bigger GPS or tablet up there. But if you’re looking for a way to mount a giant tablet onto your car’s dashboard, I really don’t know what to tell you other than that Scosche also makes something that will let you do that. So maybe don’t try that with the smaller magnets. You’ll probably just break something.

Because it’s magnetic, you can mount your phone at any angle you want. Switching between portrait and landscape orientations is as simple as just grabbing the device and rotating it, so you can quickly choose the most useful position. I’m also a pretty big fan of keeping my phone up higher so that it’s closer to where I’m looking, anyway. Obviously, we advocate safety here at Cult of Mac, and I’m here to tell you that this solution is way safer than that cup-holder thing.

The MagicMount Pro Vent is available for $29.99 online. The company provided Cult of Mac with a unit for this review.

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