Panavise PortaGrip Phone Holder

Screen Shot 2014-01-19 at 9.29.39 AMThis is a very solidly built smartphone car mount that largely delivers on its premise. However, it has a few shortcomings that may make it less than optimal mount for some users.

One of this mount’s biggest shortcomings is that it doesn’t stick to the dashboard easily. In some of the promotional pictures for this mount it seems like it can be mounted on the dashboard, but a closer look reveals that the mount is either attached to a smooth side surface or a specialty mat. I’ve been using a weighted dashboard mount for my other GPS unit for a while, and I was able to mount it that way. However, PortaGrip is way too heavy and bulky to stay in place and flips over too easily.

Sticking the PortaGrip to the windshield is another story. The suction cup is strong and powerful enough to keep the mount stuck there for days, in all sorts of temperature and weather conditions. It’s not quite as sticky as some other suction cups that I’ve tested, but it certainly gets the job done.

PortaGrip is very sturdy, but it’s also one of the bulkiest windshield mounts that I’ve come across. It doesn’t actually obstruct your view that much more than the more slander mounts, but its presence is definitely noticeable. This mount is more at home in a large pickup truck than it is in, say, Honda Civic.

The good thing about PortaGrip being this bulky is that it provides you with many adjustment options and degrees of freedom. This is a very flexible mount that can be adjusted to fit almost any need or viewing angle. I’ve tested it with iPhone 4S, iPhone 5S, and Samsung Galaxy S3, and it worked as advertised with all of them. Each one of those phones was securely fastened to the mount for duration of the testing.

As long as you understand and don’t mind its limitations, this is a good mount that will keep you happy with your smartphone navigation.

 

Bojan Tunguz

Bojan Tunguz was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which he and his family fled during the civil war for the neighboring Croatia. Over the past two decades he has studied, lived and worked in the United States. He is a theoretical physicist with degrees from Stanford and University of Illinois. Tunguz has taught physics at several prominent liberal arts colleges and has been writing about physics, science and technology for more than a decade. He also has a wide spectrum of interests, and reads and writes about current events, society, culture, religion and politics. Over the years he has reviewed many of the books that he has read, and posted his reviews on various online outlets. In 2011 he had become a top 10 reviewer on Amazon.com, where he continues to be very active. Aside from reading and writing, Tunguz enjoys traveling, digital photography, hiking, and fitness. He resides with his wife in Indiana. You can follow my review updates on the following pages as well: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tunguzreview Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tunguzreviews Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/104312842297641697463/posts

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