When it comes to car mounts, smaller is usually better. Especially with some cars. Some use magnets, while others use arms to keep your phone in place. With smartphones coming in all sorts of sizes these days, getting a universal car mount is definitely a good idea. And Scosche may have the right car mount for you. Their new MagicMount Pro series of car mounts debuted just a few weeks ago, and we have all three of them here to check out. There are three models, two of which attach to your dashboard – in different ways – and the third attaches to your heat vent. Which some people aren’t too excited about because of the fear that the heat could damage your device, but that is not true. It won’t damage your device, and it won’t keep the heat from entering the vehicle. Both of which are good things.
Starting with the MagicMount Pro Vent, this is a small mount that clamps to the vent in your car. It uses powerful earth magnets to attach to your smartphone. On your smartphone, you attach a magnet with adhesive on one side. It does come off pretty easily without damaging your phone, and it does work from within a case. So if you want to throw on a case onto your phone, the magnet will still work. Best of all, it hides it so you won’t see it every day. Also a very cool feature of this car mount. It’s pretty easy to install, simply slide the mount onto the vent in the car and you’re good to go.
Next up is the MagicMount Pro Dash. This is a smaller dash-style car mount. It uses adhesive to stick to your dashboard, instead of a suction cup. The adhesive is pretty strong, but it can still be removed without much effort. Like the Vent style car mount talked about already, this also uses earth magnets to keep your device in place. If the magnet is already affixed to the back of your smartphone, all you need to do is slap it on the mount and you’re good to go. It’s a great mount to put on your dashboard if you like the minimal look, but don’t want to affix your smartphone to your vent. Which is understandable. The MagicMount Pro Dash also has a 360-degree swivel mount, something that the Vent version does not.
Thirdly, we have the MagicMount Pro Window/Dash. Now this one uses a suction cup and is a bit taller than the other two we’ve talked about. Using a pretty strong suction cup, it attaches to your dashboard or it can attach to the windows in your car. The suction cup is nice and strong and will not disengage unless it’s not on a flat surface. Like the other two MagicMount car mounts here, this one does also use powerful earth magnets to attach to your smartphone and keep it in place. Like the Dash version, this also uses a 360-degree swivel mount which will get you the best angle at which to put your smartphone on the dashboard or window.
All three of these come with two different sized magnets. There is a larger one and a smaller one which can be used on different smartphones. We used the larger one on the Nexus 6P during the review phase to see how well it would work, and it stayed attached to the mount pretty successfully. If you have a larger phone like the Nexus 6, Samsung Galaxy Note 5 or even the Huawei Mate 8, we’d recommend using the larger magnet. While smaller phones can use the smaller magnet. We’ve been using these mounts for a few weeks now and really liked how well they worked in the car. Some mounts will fall off because the suction isn’t as good as it should be, but that’s not an issue with the MagicMount Pro mounts here.
I’d have to say that my favorite of these three is the vent style MagicMount Pro. Simply because of the way my car is set up and it puts my smartphone right where I’d want it to be. It’s not in the way of seeing where I’m driving, but it’s also right where my hands would be on the steering wheel. To make the whole changing songs, getting GPS set up, type things much easier while in the car. All three of these come with two different interchangeable MagicPlates. So the trim around the magnet on the mount can either be in silver or black. It’s all up to you. They are pretty simple to switch, and I like the black better as it blends in with the magnet a bit more than the silver does.
These mounts, as you’d expect, do work with any smartphone or tablet. Considering that all these do is mount your device in the car, and nothing more, it’s not a big surprise. If you have the room, you could mount a tablet like the Nexus 7 2013 in the car and have your own GPS on board. Which would actually work pretty well and be cheaper than buying a new head unit from Pioneer, or Kenwood.
The build quality of these mounts from Scosche are top notch as well. When you pick them up, they scream quality. Which is nice considering you’re attaching your $500+ smartphone to that mount in the car, and hoping it doesn’t fall off and get damaged. Not only do they feel like they are high-quality car mounts, they also look like they are. While they aren’t made of aluminum, they also aren’t made of cheap glossy plastic. The three car mounts are made of a sort-of matte material, which looks great in the car. Especially if the interior of your car is black.
In terms of pricing, the MagicMount Pro Vent is available for $29.99, the MagicMount Pro Dash is $29.99 and the MagicMount Pro Dash/Window is $39.99. Not bad prices, when you think about it, for a car mount these days. We’ve seen plenty others with a price tag north of $50. You can buy the MagicMount Pro series exclusively from Scosche’s website right now. They aren’t yet available elsewhere, although that should change fairly soon.
Buy from Scosche
