Typically car mounts for phones and GPS units come in three flavors: windshield suction cup, dashboard anti-slide pad, and air vent mounts. With all of these options for something seemingly mundane, none of them work as well as they should.
Windshield suction cup mounts come standard with many GPS units, but on many cars, this positions the unit at an awkward distance. In some states, it's even illegal to put mounts on the windshield. Sun also has an effect on the suction ability – I'm frequently picking my GPS unit off of the floor while speeding down the highway on a hot day.
Anti-slide pads for dashboards work if you have an appropriately flat dash at a reasonable distance away, but even then, it doesn't handle the pressure as well as other mounts when trying to input information into the device.
Air vent mounts block a whole vent from hitting the passengers, and many vehicles have flimsy vent dividers.
Mountek has attacked these issues head on with the nGroove Universal CD Slot Mount. This expandable mount slides less than a half inch into any CD slot and stays positioned firmly. Once in place, the nGroove has a positionable head, and takes push button pressure solidly. The slots on the end are big enough that I can slide my phone charger in too.
I opted for this mount based on a recommendation from a friend who has had one for a few years. When I looked it up on Amazon it had over 800 reviews with a 4.5 star average. Good enough for me!
My immediate reaction was, “Will it hurt the CD player?” It doesn't, and I haven't found a mention of it being an issue in all of the Amazon reviews. It doesn't even effect CD player functionality.
The plastic blade that slides into the CD player is split. When the nut is tightened, part of the blade is pushed up, created a snug, solid fit.
The nGroove requires no glue, suction cups, or clips but the best part is its versatility One mount for all your car devices, whether you use your phone as a music source or GPS, or if you have a dedicated GPS unit, the nGroove expands and tightens to hug the device securely in place. It can also be placed both ways vertically, accommodating cars that have buttons or gauges above or below the mount that need to be accessible.
The Mountek nGroove is a smart solution to an everyday problem, pick one up on Amazon for $25.
