Review by Mike Barrett

Have you ever used a windscreen suction mount and watched all your expensive equipment hit the deck as the sucker parted company with the glass?

I know I have! In fact on one occasion my GPS sleeve came apart with the force of the impact, not to mention the potential danger of all the cables and devices getting tangled in the car controls.

This review looks at a new windscreen sucker mount, which is claimed can hold up 22 pounds ( that is about 10 kilos if you are metric).

The review was carried out using the Interpda QMT001 windscreen mount for the iPaq 36/38/39/5400 range of PDAs. This mount was supplied by HandNav Technology, and retails at £31.99 each.

Construction and features of the windscreen mount

The mount is made of two parts, the sucker and flexible arm, and the PDA holder.

The sucker and flexible arm are made in Germany. The arm is 6 1/2 inches long or about 16cm, the flex is quite stiff so should retain it's shape under most circumstances. The sucker is 2 3/4 inches or 7cm in diameter which is significantly larger than most suckers. The arm terminates in a generic four pronged male connector which allows different holders to be connected to the arm. For those of you who have seen the Seidio Multimedia mounts this is identical.

The holder will look very familiar to anyone who has a Brodit holder. Although there are no identification markings on the holder it is identical to my other 5450 Brodit holders. The holder is connected to a matching four pronged female connector. It is not clear if the holder is glued, or fixed using double sided tape. The one thing that is certain is that an inquiring mind and a screwdriver were unable to part them so you can rest assured that they are not going to come apart in use.

The final part of the mount is a special mounting plate. This is a plastic plate which can be mounted just about anywhere in the car where you have a flat surface. The plate provides a surface for the sucker to attach to.

How do they fare in use?

I was dubious about the claimed abilities of the mount to hold 22lbs so I put it to an endurance test. OK I didn't put 22lbs on the mount, but I did have 4lbs (2Kg) suspended for seven days on my office window.

As you can see from the pictures the mount was quite capable of holding the weight, these pictures were taken at the end of the week and show clearly that the arm did not droop or succumb to the weight.

During the testing we had all sorts of weather from 37 Centigrade in full sun to overcast and wet, at about 10 degrees. The mount did not fail at any point of this test.

After the week I had to start using it in my cars. Removing it was a job, as it had really got stuck on the window. Fortunately there is a small tab in the side of the sucker which allows the vacuum to be broken.

All in all I would say that it passed the durability test with flying colours.

Chrysler Voyager and Ford Probe mount installation

As with all mount reviews it is difficult to make universal statements about the suitability of the mount for all cars. I can only comment on the cars I have tested in.

In these tests I used 3 cars, a Chrysler Voyager, a Ford Probe and a Ford Escort.

This is a view of the mount on the Voyager. Due to the distance between the windscreen and the edge of the dashboard it was not possible to place it to the centre without using the mounting plate. I was able to mount it to the side quite well.   In this case I felt that the mount would be suitable for occasional use, but I would look for another more permanent solution if I was using this car all the time.
This is the driver's viewpoint in the Ford Probe.   Here the windscreen is somewhat closer to the front of the dash and the PDA can be placed in a position where there is no obstruction to the driver's view.
This picture shows the mount from outside the car.
This is a close up of the mount you will notice that despite being a 36/38/39/5400 mount the 2210 fits quite nicely.   The other issue which can be seen from this shot is the length of the power connector. This has the standard spade adapter mated to the normal power supply. this results in a connector that is rigid for about 2.5 inches.   As the arm was not able to rest on the dashboard there was a certain amount of vibration transmitted through the arm whilst driving. This did not prevent the unit from operating well though sometimes it was a bit difficult to read the screen.

Where can I get one from?
These clips are available in the UK from HandNav Technology Ltd Tel: 020 8443 4337 web www.handnav.co.uk

Conclusion
The InterPDA is the best suction mount that I have tested so far. It is difficult to make a sweeping statement like that when it has been tested in only 3 cars, but I have full confidence that it will work well in most cars.

The claims off the durability and strength of the mount seem to be upheld. It certainly did not give any indication that it would fail, indeed it was often a little difficult removing it.

References

UK Retailers

http://www.handnav.co.uk

Pocket GPS Contributor

Mike Barrett

Pocket GPS Contributor Website

http://www.1st-annuities.co.uk

Rating

Construction

Installation

Useability

Robustness

Overall Rating 87.5%

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