Product Review: Roger Mobileo CD Slot Phone Mount

What is it?

We have tested quite a few car phone mounts over the last few months, including magnetic mounts as well as one for the rear passengers (click here to read). What we have here, though, is a little different. This new offering from Roger Motors is aptly called the Mobileo but unlike most phone mounts that stick to the windshield or an air vent, this device fits on the CD player slot. Here are our first impressions.

For your money, you get the main clip-able CD slot mount featuring a slider grip (including a quick release function) and a ball joint connector. The latter allows for plenty of free movement to angle the phone perfectly. Unboxing and installing the mount barely takes a minute – it’s just a matter of plugging in the whole thing to the CD slot and sliding the grip to hold the device firmly.

How does it work?

Like most nonmagnetic phone mounts, this one too relies on the slider grip to keep the phone steady. What’s different here, though, is that the head of the holder comes with a 360-degree rotating ball joint to align the phone left/right or up and down. The other good thing is that this mount comes with rubberised padding which helps in absorbing the jittery shocks as you drive along – we decided to put this feature to test by driving over some rutted and bumpy roads and found the padding to be effective to a certain degree. It did a decent job of eluding vibrations and kept the phone steady.

One of the biggest drawbacks of a magnetic phone mount is that it often blocks airflow because of its positioning. In this case, the phone is set almost a finger’s length away from the vent, which allows for the air to pass through comfortably. This mount also addresses the other drawback which often leads to the phone (mounted on the windscreen) heating up under sunlight. Because it’s held near the air vents, the phone inevitably remains cool even after continuous usage.

The ball joint design also lets you change the orientation of your phone in case you need to use it as a media/GPS device – turn the slider bracket 90 degrees in either direction and you are set.

Verdict

The Roger Mobileo CD slot mount is among the more user friendly phone mounts out there. Moreover, it’s a quality product, one that does what it says on the box. Sure, it may not be as versatile as a suction-based holder or as compact as a magnetic mount, but it does feel sturdy and grips the phone quite well. Also, with this application you wouldn’t be obstructing the frontal visibility or have loose cables over the dash. At Rs 2,050, it does come in at a premium, especially when up against magnetic mounts but with that said, we would recommend this CD slot mount even for a couple of grand.

If you are interested, you can order one via Amazon India (click here for the listing) or visit their official website.