The goal was to place the phone where you can easily see and reach it, without obstructing your view of the road, like this:
Here is the actual mount:
It is made of 14 ga steel, and powder coated in matte black. The mount is custom shaped to closely fit the curved dash surfaces. It attaches to the dash with pre-adhered pads of VHB tape, and also uses two push pins to fully lock the mount to the dash. With the push pins installed, the mount will hold up to most any kind of wheeling you have in mind!
The phone mount is designed to accept a wide variety of phone holders. The flat surface is ideal for magnetic type phone holders. If you want something more robust, you can use the predrilled holes on the mounting surface - either the center one, or the rectangular AMPS pattern. These allow you to easily attach Panavise, RAM, and similar phone holders.
You can buy just the mount and attach whatever phone holder you may choose. Or you can buy the mount with a variety of phone holders included, as shown in pictures below:
I absolutely love my Spiker phone mount. I made a mounting plate to adapt my Magnetic Mic holder which is a very strong magnet. Have had it more than a year and have never looked back. I have even installed one in a friend's rig!
Is the bolt pattern on the mount surface some sort of standard pattern similar to VESA for computer monitors? I'd like to use this with a swiveling magnetic mount but I can't seem to find something that bolts up to the pattern and I don't want a bunch of holes just unused and exposed.
EDIT: Just saw that it's an AMPS pattern. Reading comprehension for the win! Is there a swiveling magnetic mount that anyone has come across that bolts up to that?
Is the bolt pattern on the mount surface some sort of standard pattern similar to VESA for computer monitors? I'd like to use this with a swiveling magnetic mount but I can't seem to find something that bolts up to the pattern and I don't want a bunch of holes just unused and exposed.
EDIT: Just saw that it's an AMPS pattern. Reading comprehension for the win! Is there a swiveling magnetic mount that anyone has come across that bolts up to that?
This would work, there are probably other options:
So how does the mount attach to the dash exactly? Do you have the choice of adhesive tape or pins or does it require both?
There are VHB tape pads under the mounting surfaces, which is sufficient for many applications. But the push pins are used to provide additional strength and to truly lock the mount to the dash, which is useful especially for articulating phone holders.
So how does the mount attach to the dash exactly? Do you have the choice of adhesive tape or pins or does it require both?
It mounts with adhesive tape with the option to secure it further with push pins (included). I've had my mount on for about a year now and have not had any issues with the adhesive tape or felt the need to add the push pins. If you have a heavy phone or are using an iPad/tablet then the rivets would be a good idea. The push pins do require you to drill into the dash pad to install them. I would start with the adhesive tape and see if you need the push pins or not. Be sure to clean the surface thoroughly with an alcohol wipe and let dry before installing. The directions include a great tip about using masking tape to premark where the mount goes before you install it with the tape. Let the adhesive cure for 24 hours for best results too.
I went with the mount and magnet for my iPhone XR. I thought it might bother me where it sits but it's actually perfect. It even recognizes my face without me having to move my head or body.
I didn't use the plugs, just the tape. We recently had a week of ridiculous triple-digit heat, as high as 115 but it had zero effect on the mount.
Now I'm thinking I should have raised the hood for this pic. Lord knows, it's a piece of cake with those hood struts!
Well, Spiker Engineering, you just sold another one (I just paid for it). Years ago, I had run across the issue that this product solves, and I took the shade tree jerry-rigging route, and came up with something that works, but my mount has some issues (which the new product solves).
Side note: I am one of those rare folks who does not use a phone to navigate. I much prefer a traditional GPS for the road and for the woods (plus, Google and I are sworn enemies - Google is NOT my friend, for myriad reasons). It is extremely rare that I ever turn on the location on my phone (like only when I get lost and don't have my regular GPS with me).
This Spiker mount will work for my Garmin, and I can also make it work as just a phone holder, if I want. When I saw this thread this morning, I thought, "Wow - that is exactly what I was hoping to make, years ago. With this picture, I think I can make one myself out of Kydex (heat-formable black polymer, which is frequently used for gun holsters). Then I started figuring up angles and sketching templates, and realized that I would spend probably 8 hours screwing around, cursing and correcting mistakes, and maybe end up with something that works just as well. Or maybe not. For about $45 (shipped), I won't have to worry about a thing. And my wife will hear less cursing downstairs, and I will still have my Kydex scrap to use for other things.
My DIY mount partially obscures the clock and one of my vents, is notched around my hazard light switch, and looks tacky as hell. This Spiker mount solves those problems, and looks really nice. With the very nice and professional description of the item, along with the positive reviews in this thread, I am 100% confident that I will love this thing, when I start using it.
__________________ '99 SR5 V6 2WD named Jolene / In the T4R 200 Club
I have always wondered how I’m going to find something that will hold my phone. The ones I’ve tried have been a waste of money!! I’m going to look into this thank you so much!
I went with the mount and magnet for my iPhone XR. I thought it might bother me where it sits but it's actually perfect. It even recognizes my face without me having to move my head or body.
I didn't use the plugs, just the tape. We recently had a week of ridiculous triple-digit heat, as high as 115 but it had zero effect on the mount.
Now I'm thinking I should have raised the hood for this pic. Lord knows, it's a piece of cake with those hood struts!
Thanks for the feedback, and yes, you should have had the hood open, to show off the entire Spiker 4Runner product line in one photo!
As for the tape and push pins, I've seen some variability in results. Some folks never use the push pin and have no issues, others have had to add the push pins. The good thing is that the push pins are in an area that is almost unseen, and if you ever do get rid of the phone mount you can put a couple of small plugs to cover up the holes.
For the nerdy types, here's a short video clip from the tests I ran to find the best tape for the application - pretty amazing how much force it takes to break the bond!
I got mine mounted yesterday, but haven't used it yet. My T4R only gets driven once or twice a month now, at best, since it is no longer my daily driver.
I was very impressed with everything. Within an hour of me ordering it, I had received a tracking number. It surprisingly arrived in only 3-4 days, going from CA to GA.
The printed instructions inside the little box were GREAT, and explained in excellent detail exactly what you need to do for a structurally sound mount. Follow those instructions! Easy work, but you have to be very careful cleaning and then locating it on your dash. The instant that you begin to stick it on...it's not moving from where you located it.
Separately, I bought a 17mm ball mount for the pivoting Garmin mount which snaps into the back of my GPS's. That ball is on a post, mounted to a plate, which has holes that matched up perfectly with the holes in the face of the Spiker Mount.
Now, my dash vent and clock are no longer partially blocked by my GPS. This was a very worthwhile ~$45 spent!
Note to Spiker: If you happen to develop a mount like this that fits a 2012 Mazda 3, then I would buy one immediately. That would probably be a difficult design task, though.
__________________ '99 SR5 V6 2WD named Jolene / In the T4R 200 Club