There are about a quadrillion different car docks for iPhones, ranging in price from a few dollars right up into triple digits. Brodit docks sit right at the high end, with a complete powered installation coming in at around $140-150.
Crazy money? Expensive for sure, but having owned one since the iPhone 4, I didn’t even consider anything else when I bought my iPhone 6 …
Brodit is a Swedish company specialising in mounting systems for attaching electronic equipment to vehicles. Rather confusingly, the company’s products are sold under different brand names in different countries, known as ProClip in the USA and ClicOn in Australia.
Brodit systems have two selling-points. First, quality. Once installed, a Brodit mount looks like a factory fitment, and is rock-solid. The look and feel is worlds apart from a cheap mount.
Second, flexibility. Brodit takes a two-part approach to mounting systems: the vehicle mount you attach to your car (which Brodit calls the ProClip), and the cradle which holds your device. By mixing-and-matching these, you can attach pretty much any device to any car, and put it right where you want it.
It also means that when you come to update your phone, you only have to replace the cradle that holds the device: the car mount remains in place. Conversely, if you change your car but keep your phone, you can simply replace the car mount. This is the dashboard mount for an SLK – a simple snap-fit.
It stands out when photographed from the footwell, but is near-invisible from both driver and passenger seats.
One word of warning: even with your exact device and exact make, model and year of car selected, you’ll still be offered a choice of multiple cradles, so care is required to select the one you want. More on this shortly.
As regular readers will know, I hate visible wires, which immediately ruled out an air-vent mount. I’m also happy with my Garmin GPS for navigation, so didn’t want another device in my windshield. I thus opted for a car attachment that put the dock down low, next to the gear-shift. That also allowed the wiring to slip immediately below the carpet in the passenger footwell (I’m in the UK, so we have right-hand drive cars).
Attaching the car mount to the car took all of 30 seconds, being a snap-fit. Attaching the original iPhone 4 cradle took 5-10 minutes, requiring four mounting-plate screws to be attached to the vehicle mount. Updating to the iPhone 6 cradle was much faster, involving just a single screw.
There was, though, one complication: while I don’t generally use iPhone cases, I made an exception this time around. I’m not a fan of any of the current iPhone colors, preferring plain black, so opted for Apple’s leather cover. This gave me an iPhone of the Proper Color, but added a little to the width of the device, meaning that it wouldn’t fit Brodit’s standard iPhone dock.
But again, the company’s flexibility pays dividends: they offer a version of the iPhone 6 mount with adjustable width, to accommodate slim cases. This one has two small screws you undo to pull out the sides to the required width for your case. Getting the width exactly right is slightly fiddly, taking a few minutes to get right, but does seem to allow for a decent range of case thicknesses.
Brodit also offers flexibility where power is concerned, with a choice of three models. The passive mount is a simple holder, with no power. Then there are two active mounts, one with a cigarette-lighter plug attached, the other with bare wires to wire-in to your car. For the iPhone 6, there are also two different versions of adjustable powered holders, with different ways of attaching the phone. One is secured at both top and bottom, the other just at the bottom. I opted for the latter.
The model with a bare-wire connection has one extra feature: unscrew the plastic box halfway down the cable to reveal a USB connector. Since I’d already added USB sockets to my car, I used this.
My previous phone cradle was felt-covered, as the phone sat flush against the rear of the cradle. With the iPhone 6 version, the phone slides into two smooth slots that hold it away from the rear of the cradle, so the felt is no more. With the width adjustment set correctly, the phone slides smoothly in and out of the cradle, dropping neatly onto the embedded Lightning connector.
With a Bluetooth connection to the car’s stereo, the result is something that both looks and acts like a factory-fitted phone dock. The car-mount is pretty much invisible, and the dock offers both tilt and swivel adjustment to position it just as you want it. It’s definitely not a cheap option, but in my view, it’s worth the price.
Use the Brodit website to identify the 6-digit part numbers you need for both phone cradle and car mount, then check Amazon for pricing.
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I’ve been using these since my Nokia 5800 (BC), and can’t recommend them enough. I’ve even put an iPad one in my Landrover. I’ve found the passive mounts are better for me as I have a 4s and a 5s and both phones fit in the same passive cradle.
Holy crap that is insane money for a car mount! I bought an iOtte for $12 for my 5s, and it held up perfectly under my heavy use. I just replaced it with the new model for my iPhone 6+ for $23, and gave the original to my sister to use with her iPhone 6.
Not that expensive in the UK (for a change) My iPhone 5s mount with the car clip was about £45 (70USD)
Yeah, it depends on which combination you go for. A passive air vent mount will be at one end of the scale, while I managed to go for the most expensive. :-)
You are right… the solution is a lot of money but in my view well worth it. No other solution is as convenient as this one. I have a holder with the power plug. No fussing with a lose power cable. Holder is rock solid. I have used the cheaper holders and this one is FAR superior as it should be for the price. But the iOtte works too. We are talking quality and convenience features. A cheap car and luxury car both will take you from A to B. But luxury is just nicer than the cheaper car. Same with this holder. I would pay the money again if I had to. It’s worth it.
Lol!!!
Please tell me since when you guys promote copycats?
I have this exact product long time ago for my iPhone.
The original company is: http://www.proclipusa.com
It comes with 2 parts. One made for your car model and the other for your cellphone with or without the case.
This is funny…
A quick search would’ve helped you here. Brodit partner with ProClip in Europe. They’re not copies – they’re the same products.
Ben Lovejoy is UK based and probably would’ve made sense for him to clarify that Brodit and ProClip are essentially one and the same.
I’ve now noted this in the review.
ProClip USA is the US distributor of Brodit products:
http://www.proclipusa.com/company/aboutus/aboutus.aspx
I too have been a customer of ProClipUSA.com and I am grateful for the forum poster who turned me on to them when looking for an iPhone 5s mount. However, I think you may need to do a bit more digging. The “ProClipUSA.com” website is the US store front for Brodit, which is based in Sweden.
If you read the “About Us” page on proclipusa.com you will see:
“The ProClip products are manufactured in Karlsborg, Sweden by Brodit AB, a company that was established in 1983 to provide communication device mounting solutions for vehicle interiors.
The ProClip product line was developed by Brodit’s President and CEO Ebbe Johansson, who first found a solution for mounting cell phones, two-way radios and meters in Swedish taxis without damaging the dashboard. His practical, convenient solution for dashboard mounts quickly spread to other industries and to other communication accessories.”
http://www.proclipusa.com/company/aboutus/aboutus.aspx
http://www.proclipusa.com/ is the US distributor of their mounts. They have a better website with more products offered than the Swedish Brodit site. They often have discount sales and coupon codes offering free shipping.
I couldn’t recommend these more to anyone looking for a professional looking dash mount. Just installed one for my iPhone 6, and it is awesome. Easy install and was just what I was looking for.
Quality! I’ve used others. But since finding the ProClip, my family and I have been using these exclusively.
This is what I use (ProClipUSA)! It is, without a doubt, the BEST mount that I have ever used! I will never buy anything else!
I’ve used these for about five years and can’t recommend them enough. Build quality is excellent and of the cars I’ve looked at the placement of the dock has usually been pretty good in relation to the other controls on the dash. Certainly for something I use daily I feel this is worth the price premium over something that sticks to the windshield, in particular to avoid having cables draping all over the place.
Note that along with being sold under the Brodit brand in Europe, they are also distributed under a ‘ClicOn’ brand in Australia – http://www.holdmyphone.com.au/. I haven’t necessarily found it cheaper to buy locally, but for those in AU that prefer to do so then you may see ClicOn as opposed to ProClip/Brodit.
Thanks for the info, Smigit.
Totally agreed these are the best custom mounts available. I used one with my iPhones and now Galaxy Notes. I use a fixed power install behind the dash so no wires all over the place. Just drop it into the holder above the vents near the steering wheel, charges the phone and keeps it rock solid in whatever position you want. No vibrations like other cheap mounts or obstructed views like windshield mounts. Perfect for GPS use. Expensive, but so worth it if you value these things.
I’ve found proclipusa is slightly cheaper to ship to Australia than the local holdmyphone which is a little disappointing but oh well.
It doesn’t really matter if it’s any good or if it the price is right since it’s just UGLY as hell!
Just to let you know that the iPhone 6 proclip for phones without cases does still have the felt! The slots are still there that hold it snuggly onto the lightning connector.
Thanks for the info, Simon.
They are definitely pushing the edge of design aesthetic on the ugly front!!! These Swedish are still doing DIY industrial design.
I’ve used their mounts for years. Well engineered. Pricey, but you get what you pay for.