3M Command products to mount devices

23Jan11

 

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Originally uploaded by Nick Skitch

With the new cellphone laws in our state, I had to come up with a solution for mounting my cellphone in my car and was underwhelmed by the products on the market, so I decided to use a low-tech solution.

In 2008 Washington made it illegal to text while driving. While I don’t text while I’m driving, I do occasionally pick up the cell phone to change the song on Pandora. From a cops point of view, he would see me pick up my cell phone and hit some buttons to change the song playing in my car and mistake that for me testing on my cell phone. Sirens, flashing lights, a ticket and a court date. No thanks!
To minimize this risk, I decided I needed to mount my phone somewhere close to the dash board so I could quickly interact with it and get my hands back on the wheel.

Unfortunately, most of the solutions out there are crap. Like this example of what’s available, I think it’s just too bulky, cheaply made, and expensive for what you get. Furthermore, it just advertises to thieves that you have the goods they are looking for. Most of the options either hook into your heat vent and block airflow or they use a suction cup to stick to the windshield, which doesn’t work too well in a Honda Element with it’s hard to reach windshield.

My solution was to use the awesome products put out by 3M with their line of Command adhesive strips. The Element has a great place to mount right by the gear shift, so I literally just keep my right hand on the shifter and can just move my finger to control the music.

I’ve been using this as a solution trouble free for over a year now, so I thought it was time to share. It’s velcro, but not like the traditional stuff that wears out overtime and can poke through your pants pocket and becomes uncomfortable. On the downside, it’s not all that pretty and it can collect a little bit of lint from your pocket over the course of months. If I had to do it again, I’d either get the hard to find black strips or use Krylon paint for plastics.

In the picture, you can see I used another 3M Command product to secure the cord for power/AUX at the bottom. This also works great because you can easily find the cord in the dark so getting in and out of the car and setting up the device takes only seconds. I did use the Krylon paint mentioned above to paint these from their hidious tan color to the black you see in the picture.

This $6 dollar setup works better than any expensive and bulky universal mount I found out on the market, and if it keeps the cops from noticing me, I’m happy.

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