MountGuys Blog

Super Heavy Duty Fishfinder and Chartplotter Mounts

mountguys — Thu, 10 May 2012 18:00:12 +0000

Made a big investment in a new chartplotter or fishfinder? We recommend a metal mount with marine grade coating to prevent rusting. RAM has a great line for supporting heavy devices up to 15 pounds. All mounts come with a lifetime warranty from RAM. These mounts have pre-drilled holes to fit a variety of gimbal and swivel brackets from mainstream manufacturers like Garmin, Lowrance and Raymarine. Simply line up your bracket with the proper hole pattern and add some screws and nuts to fasten the bracket to the mount. Most have full tilt and swivel.

RAM RAM-109HSB Another Spin on the Horizontal Swing Arm

RAM RAM-109V Vertical Swing Arm Mount

RAM RAM-109HU Horizontal Swing Arm Mount

RAM RAM-D-111U-C 2.25″ Ball Surface Mount

Lowrance Elite Fishfinder Mounting Options

mountguys — Thu, 10 May 2012 17:48:43 +0000

The Lowrance Elite Series includes several versions of the lower cost Elite-4 as well as the more expensive and feature rich Elite-5. We have found that the plastic mount included with the units leaves a bit to be desired. Fortunately there are some nice new alternatives constructed of metal. The mounting adapter will take the place of the plastic part (called QRB-5 by Lowrance). They will fit the slot vacated by the QRB-5 and come coupled with various mounting systems at a very competitive cost. They are manufactured by our pals at RAM and come with a lifetime warranty. You will want to use the 1″ ball versions for the lighter Elite-4 and the 1.5″ ball for the Elite-5.

As usual we offer some pictures of your options.

A closer view of the adapter by itself.

The back of an Elite-5 with a RAM surface mount.

Vehicle Mounts for the Apple new iPad 3 Part II

mountguys — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 21:45:42 +0000

Well it’s been a month since the introduction of the new iPad. Avid readers of the MountGuys Blog will recall last month’s post with some universal solutions. We now have some custom versions. The iPad 2 and iPad 3 are very close in size, and fortunately a number of the custom mounts we carry for iPad 2 also fit the iPad 3. These are custom mounts, so most will not fit the iPad first generation or any other tablet. These are well made mounts, and leave all ports and buttons exposed.

Microphone Mount for new iPad 3

Short Arm Clamp for Apple new iPad 3

Car Floor Seat Bolt Apple new iPad 3 mount

Extra Long Suction Mount for new iPad 3

Centered Car headrest Mount for new iPad 3

Car Mount Options for the Samsung Galaxy Note

mountguys — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 20:53:12 +0000

The Samsung Galaxy Note is one big cell phone. It’s also a small tablet. We read that Samsung sold 5 million units in the past five months, so that warrants a post on the MountGuys Blog.

The challenge of this device from a pure mounting perspective is that it’s too large for most cell phone mounts, but too small of a tablet mount. It was off to the MountGuys Lab we went.

We were recently able to uncover a nice line from our buddies at Arkon that adds a set of extra long arms to their Slim Grip line and they fit the Samsung Galaxy Note quite nicely. This allows the cradle to expand to almost 6 inches and that’s big enough to fit your Samsung Galaxy Note.

As always, we present some pictures and links.

Samsung Galaxy Note No Glue Car Dash Mount

Samsung Galaxy Note Car Suction Cup Mount

Samsung Galaxy Note Car Cup Holder Mount

Seat Bolt Mount for Samsung Galaxy Note

Powered Lighter Mount for Samsung Galaxy Note

Using your iPad or any Tablet on a Treadmill

mountguys — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 19:30:27 +0000

The treadmill. Great for long runs or walks. But real boring.

Why not use your tablet on the treadmill? There are some great apps to use that will help facilitate your workout and let’s face facts, watching a movie or using an ereader while working out can be fun too.

We offer a few options in the pictures below.

Apple iPad mount on a stationary bike

Amazon Kindle on a treadmill

Apple iPad on a treadmill

RAM Remove-A-Pole Quick Disconnect Laptop Car Mount Base

mountguys — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 23:06:03 +0000

RAM makes great laptop mounts. The problem though, is they are big. So big that you need to choose between having a laptop mount or having a front seat passenger. That was until the Remove-A-Pole came along.

The Remove-A-Pole, RAM part RAM-VB-REM1 is made to go between the floor or seat attachment and the telescoping pole of the laptop mount. When ready to remove the laptop mount, it’s a simple matter of removing the pin at the base and pulling your laptop mount upwards. Easy. Now pick your favorite passenger and let him/her ride shotgun.

RAM Remove-A-Pole

Vehicle Mounts for your New Apple iPad 3 Part I

mountguys — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 22:58:12 +0000

New iPad. iPad 3. We’re not sure what to call it. We don’t have one yet, and you probably don’t either. What we do know is that the size is very close to the Apple iPad 2. The width and length is the same, but the thickness is very slightly smaller and it weighs a little less. We think that the custom cradles we carry for the iPad 2 will work, but we aren’t going to suggest them until we can test it with a real iPad 3 (new iPad, whatever).

We have already received inquiries into the mounts so figured it was time for a blog post.

We do have some excellent spring loaded cradle mounts that we know will fit the device well, with and without a case. We will write another post in a few weeks when we can get our hands on a real live device and test it out.

We present a few of the mounting kits we know will fit well below.

Handlebar Mount for new Apple iPad 3

Short C-Clamp Mount for Apple iPad 3

Telescoping Suction Mount for new Apple iPad 3

Clamp Mount for Apple iPad 3

Headrest Mount for new iPad

Seat Bolt Mount for Apple iPad 3

Finally a Good Desk Mount for your Cool Stuff

mountguys — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:39:51 +0000

Using your iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab or any tablet in your home for entertainment purposes just got easier. Holding your iPad while watching a movie in bed is almost impossible. Finally, a solution is available which eliminates the “hold your tablet on your chest and don’t fall asleep” syndrome.

Armed with articulating joints at the base and tip, a clamp for attaching to any flat surface like a table, counter or nightstand and a swivel feature, these metal mounts are extremely well made and will provide lots of enjoyment. Add a remote to your tablet and you basically have a TV at your bedside or desk side!

Universal Tablet Clamp Mount Fits Tablets to 12" Diagonal

Apple iPad 2 Clamp Mount

Clamp Mount with Samsung Galaxy Tab

Desk Clamp Mount with Apple iPhone

Arkon’s New No Glue Removable Dash Mount Line

mountguys — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:18:40 +0000

Finally a mount that can be attached to your dash and easily removed without leaving any residue has arrived from our buddies at Arkon. As long as you have a clean flat surface, these will adhere, and it works on testured surfaces too. The mounting base features a removable “sticky” adhesive that provides a strong mounting connection, yet is removable and reusable without leaving any sticky residue. Though the suction pad feels sticky to the touch, it will leave no residue when removed. If the base loses suction over time due to an accumulation of dust or dirt, lightly wash the base with liquid soap to recharge the suction power (go figure, dish detergent recharges the mount).

Arkon groups a variety of cradles with these mounts and they can be used to hold stuff as small as an iPod Touch and as large as an iPad.

Removable Car Dash Mount for Tablets and iPads

Removable Dash Mount for TomTom Via GPS

Removable Dash Mount for Sirius XM Radio

Removable Dash Mount for Garmin Nuvi GPS

Removable Dash Mount for Apple iPhone

Removable Dash Mount for SmartPhones

Mounts for Vertical Vents

mountguys — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:34:58 +0000

We must get a few questions weekly asking about mounts that will fit on vertical vents. Most cars have vent slots that go across versus up and down and 99% of all vent mounts are made primarily for horizontal vents.

Finally, a solution is available for vertical vents from a company called Tetrax. Based in Italy, they have developed a mount that combines a very small vice with a magnetic attachment for your smartphone, GPS or anything that weighs less than 300 grams (10.5 ounces). For information on these unique magnetic mounts, see our blog post written in late 2011.

So Tetrax has two kinds of mounts. Some attach to your dash, others attach to the vent. Since this post is titled “Mounts for Vertical Vents”, we’re going to take a bit more about the vent mounts. These mounts are attached to your vent using a small vice with rubber grips. They tighten and loosen using a small dial built into the mount. Extremely easy to attach and detach. We have found that the profile is so small that they aren’t even noticed when you remove your device, so we leave ours in the car after we remove our device. But the neat part is that if you travel, it’s very easy to take with you. Just don’t leave it in the rental!

The Tetrax XWAY and GEO lines are the vent mounts. The XWAY is a heavier duty mount and recommended for GPS units and SmartPhones. The GEO is best for SmartPhones and devices weighing 150 grams (5.25 ounces) or less. The GEO works great with our iPhone 4 in a Tetrax XCASE. We offer some picture below.

Tetrax Geo - See the Vice?

Tetrax XWAY with a TomTom

Tetrax XWAY

Tetrax Geo with an iPhone in a case

Tetrax Geo