rmswins

The what: Skiva StrongMount M1 Universal Car Mount for Cell Phones
The where:
The why: Nice alternative if you don't have OEM navigation, are too cheap to buy a Garmin since you already have a smartphone and your girlfriend absconded with your Garmin, and you have the Torque app for your mobile phone and want real-time OBDII readings without a lengthy gauge installation.
The how: If you can buckle a seat belt and read a food menu, you can do this.

Let's start with the end photo of how it will look after the 15 second build and installation:
1) Yes, I'm numbering these for the review which will be located at the end.


The artsy brochure photo version:
2)


This is what your passenger will see, assuming they have the neck strength to move their head during WOT:
3)


Probably the only legitimate photo in my post that shows how the vent mount attaches and the mechanics of the mount:
4)


This was actually the very first picture I took trying to show what comes in the box. Since I'm aging every minute, I forgot that you want a smaller ISO number for less grain/noise. Thus, I present an ISO 1800 shot (Imagine my confusion when I reviewed this photo later. I actually had to reshoot all the pictures above.):
5)


Haha, yeah, I had already installed everything before realizing the ISO error. Here is the lazy reshoot, sans air vent mount and phone cradle. Remember kids, if you don't want your photos looking like an overplayed, clapped out VHS tape, lower that ISO!


Impressions so far
Fit - 7/10 - It fits, mostly. It's not moving once installed as it stabilizes itself with wide, rubberized bottom feet. See pic# 4). The only gripe I have is that the notch on the spring loaded tension block is too small and does not grip the thick Mustang vent fin. It is not an issue though as the metal hook firmly grips the back of the vent and the tension block just needs to provide.... wait for it.... tension. You can always Dremel a larger notch if you need the extra safety margin. As long as you aren't trying to rig a laptop into the mount, you'll be fine. Oh yeah, how do phones fit? Excellent. The side clamping arms extend out quite a bit and ratchet while closing, therefore you can fit almost any phone with almost any case. The only thing that isn't fitting on here is that briefcase sized cell phone they had back in the '80s. If you're still using one of those, please PM me via typewriter.

Finish - 6/10 - Felt a little flimsy at first, but once you tighten everything down it feels fairly sturdy.Other men won't grow neck-beards when they see this mount and small children will attempt and probably succeed in ripping this thing out. Then again, at least the colors blend nicely...

Utility - 9/10 - Maybe you think OEM navigation is just another fist the dealer is trying to ram up your.... or maybe you're too lazy to install real gauges. Ask yourself, how else are you going to text, drive, shift, shave, and eat a burrito AT THE SAME TIME? Also, for those of us that don't want any permanent installations in the cockpit, yet still want OBDII readouts, you can't beat a car phone mount. You can get an OBDII Bluetooth Adapter from Amazon for $23, the Torque app for $5, this mount for $19, and have almost infinite customization for gauge displays. I can't really assign a full 10 because that's reserved for a future review of a Whipple supercharger. Nothing else is as useful as the ability to burn rubber while doing 80.

Value - 11/10 - Have you priced out what a decent set of oil-filled race gauges cost? Yeah, I don't want to have my girl working the street corner to finance my hobby; there is no other cost-effective way to get data streaming directly into my eyeballs. The reason for the extra point is that this kit comes with three different mounting options. See pic# 5).

Durability - ? - I'll have this in a few days after I have more time to flail about in the driver's seat. I had one too many glasses of wine by the time I finished the installation; the car already tries to actively kill me every time I drive it (or maybe it's my right foot) so adding vino to the mix won't help.

wannabe

What does that do to the air flow? A/C in both my '10 and the '12 is barely adequate in the Texas heat... can't imagine blocking it on purpose.

BTR-75

On the flip side of this, if you use Nav for any amount of time on most phones your phone will get super hot so mounting it like this would provide for a way of cooling the phone.

rmswins

Had a chance to test it on the morning commute. Airflow is completely blocked when the phone is oriented in landscape mode. To remedy this you could mount the phone on the passenger side central vent or opt to use the other two mounting methods (dash or windshield). If you mount by windshield, it will place the phone further away from you.

Also found out that you can still fit almost any size car charger into the central vent socket.

@BTR-75
Very true.

TheReaper

My phone lives in the passenger seat or on the floor. It depends on how I'm driving as to where it is.

Xar

I've ordered this and will get it next week. Windshield mount isn't really an option for me as I have my radar there (or on the dash when I venture south into CA). I've also ordered a USB converter to use the USB slot behind the glove compartment - wondering how I"m going to wire it so it doesn't look to tacky... I can't use the 12v power by the dash as I do not have the radar hard wired (nor do I plan to, I don't want any permanent customizations yet). meh, for $20 I don't mind experimenting...

brewsky54

cant find the Torque App on my iPhone...more info please?

mopar?

How do I go about getting thesr real time OBDII readings?

Banjostang

Lots of issues with using that kind of holder for a smartphone.
Blocks the main vent.
Excessive heat and cold blown directly on the phone will cause damage.
Moisture from AC will also damage the phone.
Have to look away from the road to read the display.

Here's what I have used in my past 2 cars.

GPS dashmount base
Ramball adapters
iPhone belt holster





More pics of some of the speedo apps available are on this thread.

http://www.allfordmustangs.com/forum...ml#post2931217

rmswins

Haha, that's how it was for me and why I went this route. The first thing I noticed in the Mustang was how few pockets/spaces there were to hold miscellaneous items. I came from a 2008 Acura TL Type S and there were actually so many compartments that I would lose things for months at a time.

Exactly, the $20 price point hooked me.

Torque is only for Android. Unfortunately you have to spend more to have OBDII readout capabilities for your iPhone. A company named Kiwi makes a device called the PLX that is compatible with iPhone: [Link to Review]
The review covers the Android version but it is functionally the same for iPhone. This unit also has the fastest data refresh/bandwidth rates of any OBDII transmitter, but you pay dearly for that nice interface and iPhone friendly compatibility.

You only need three things; 1) An OBDII Adapter that uses either Bluetooth, USB, or WiFi transmission; 2) A smartphone "Receiver" that accepts any of the three transmissions; 3) The software for your smartphone to decode and display the data. From what I've found, you trade off speed (how "laggy" the data displays on your phone) on a positive and exponential scale with price.

I like the look of that app and you're right about all of the above. The sad part is that I should have thought about condensation since I used to build water cooled computers and even researched a peltier setup. The good part is that I don't use GPS or the Torque app on a daily basis. I wanted this setup for the rare occasions where I have absolutely no idea where I am going. Also, in my state cops have been known to stop people for windshield mounted items. This kit comes with a dashboard mount as well so people can choose that route if needed. I personally didn't want to place anything on the dashboard because it would require using double sided tape at best, or hard mounts at worst.

FromZto5

Banjo... Though that's a nice set up, you really need to try the invisicord set up for your escort, I did a thread on this once. Super clean, and super easy, 15 bucks, and voila. Moves up the detector by the windshield, and no more cords.

Forgot to add... Get the 9500is! GPS for cameras, and no false triggers

Banjostang

Both of those are on my ever-growing list of stuff buy.

FromZto5

Indeed...I just went for a 30 mile drive just now to get lunch and enjoy the fall leaves...I was admiring my power cordless setup

Next on my list to but, louder exhaust.

Xar

ok - I got the skiva mount. It's not a bad mount, and the way it hooks to the AC is pretty nice. It does come with a suction cup, and I have a base I could use for this on the dash that I got for my 9500 so I can swap it out (reason?) - the way this thing clips together makes the clip from the cell phone base to the ac vent adapter fall apart (am I doing something wrong?) there is no "lock" for them to click together, today, I was accelerating with a brisk pace, my cell phone fell off with the base snug to it.... it's sideways, so vibration will always make it fall... not the best setup (unless I'm doing something wrong, I'll look at it more tomorrow). I think with the condensation issues from the ac (not an issue now, but next summer, yes it will be) I'll look into using my bean bag base on the dash for the suction cup base supplied with this cell phone holder.

It's really good quality and the part connected to the vent does not fall off at all, it could be operator error, so don't take this as a final review, I'll snap pics when I feel I've done all I can do and post here, however..... why did my phone fall off today on my way home from work???? unless I missed a locking mechanism or my parts are defective.... this thing doesn't really stay snug using the ac mount.... more on this soon.

mtnbikefuel80

rmswins, what cf dash kit is that? and do you have any more pictures of it?