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Power in car dock

M

Memitim

Newbie
Greets. I use the Motorola car dock currently and while it works great (using DockNothingness to prevent car mode from coming on, anyhow ;)), I'd like something that I can keep connected to the car charger all the time and just drop the Droid into. I have a charger plugged in and have the cable run up behind my dash to come out right behind the dock so I can just reach up and plug it in, but I'd rather not even have to do that. This way, between that and Bluetooth support in my head unit I can just drop the Droid in the dock and drive.

So I'm thinking a couple of things. Does anyone know of a car mount that works this way by default? If not, can anyone with the multimedia docking station tell me how tightly the Droid sits in that? I might just buy one and try to mount that in the car instead, but obviously it defeats the purpose if the Droid is going to go flying on every bump. :) Thanks!
 
I have the Seidio car dock...as well as innocase surface, desktop cradle, and belt holster.

They are pretty good products but I have some complaints. For one, the car dock is pretty massive. You definitely need to be smart when placing it so you don't create a giant blind spot (especially when you are making turns). Additionally, because of its massiveness, it could easily be mistaken for an actual GPS unit in the dark. Someone might just decide to bust out your window and have a look.

It is a bit of a tight fit and can take some getting used to.

You can't use the cord/charger to just charge your phone, you HAVE to put it in the dock in order to charge it.

Overall, its a great product. I figured I would list the negatives as the positives are easier to find.

(Also, this is the only dock to my knowledge that allows you to use any kind of a case with it, albeit u have to use the seidio case if you want to...)
 
Bit steep in the price department, but it does look like pretty much what I was looking for. The bulk isn't an issue in my current car (Neon) as it has a huge area in front of the dash where the dock wouldn't be blocking anything, but I'm probably going to be trading in soon so that might be an issue. I think I might wait until I get the new car, but I will revisit this one. Thanks folks!
 
I use the Motorola car dock with a Kensington USB adapter ($10 on Amazon) with a two meter microUSB cable (less than $5 on Amazon) in the car... yeah, you have to snake the cable around and plug it in after snapping the phone into the dock, but I rarely drive with the phone docked, so it's only a minor inconvenience on the rare occasion that I roll with the phone docked.
 
For my car dock, I purchased a right angle adapter for my power cable. The adapter came with a little loop string attached to it, which I just tied to the dock itself. I keep my cord plugged into the adapter and it just hangs off the dock. You still have to manually plug it in, but the cord is always conveniently beside the dock. (example at bottom)

It also seems to be just the right length if I wanted to superglue the female side of the adapter to the dock itself, that the power plug is where it needs to be when the phone is in the dock. Again, you still have to manually plug it in, but it's already right at the port.

The adapter is kind of a ripoff ($5 + $5 shipping), but I think it's a better fit in the car than the straight plug that makes the cable stick out a good bit.

Motorola OEM Micro-USB Right Angle Charger Adapter Cable - Fommy.com


As for a drop in mount, the only option I believe is the Seidio one, which is rather pricey. I have seen people modify the home dock to use in their vehicles, but I don't know how much I would trust that. I use my home dock every night, but it sits on my nightstand. It sure doesn't feel secure enough to handle any decent bumps in my vehicle.
 

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Actually, I think I did get mine there as well, took a bit to find it. The link I posted just happened to be the first site that popped up I had visited. I didn't even buy it primarily for the car dock, I just found it annoying trying to handle the phone at all when plugged in, and wanted the cord to lay beside the phone. Why they put the port on the side and not the bottom makes no sense to me, it's so inconvenient. The droid is the first phone I've owned that doesn't have it on the bottom.

But anyway, the adapter works great for me with the dock, especially with the tie off. It's situated in a way that I don't have to use 2 hands to get the phone docked and try to find where the cord is laying while driving. The only issue is it does put a little added stress to the port when you have the dock in landscape mode, in that situation the straight plug works a little better since you don't have the added weight of the extra adapter plug pulling down on it.
 
Shadowtech said:
As for a drop in mount, the only option I believe is the Seidio one, which is rather pricey.
Click to expand...
Nope. As I said, ProClip has one as well. I have one hardwired (no messing with or unsightly wires) in each of my vehicles. One mounted securely via a Panavise bracket. The other uses a bracket designed for that vehicle as well, just not from Panavise.

Any of these options is going to be pricey. If you want to save a few bucks then look into a generic device holder -- though that isn't what the OP was asking for.
 
The mount I use is a generic, but where most generics use a clamp system that "grabs" the phone and tend to hit buttons on the sides or block power/headphone jacks, this one is just a shelf it sits on.

1
Special car mount holder iphone 3gs galaxy s pda/phone - eBay (item 180526244117 end time Jun-30-10 17:10:38 PDT)

The mount has a sticky "gel" backing that does an amazing job of holding the phone in place. (It was actually strong enough that I had to keep one of the two plastic sheets covering it in place, or it would pop off the battery cover, though with a little time and airborne dust, that's stopped.) The suction cup mounting method ALSO has the same super sticky gel rubber material, and amazingly, will create an air tight seal on the textured dashboard of an '08 Prius as well as mildly curved surfaces. It's remained solidly mounted in my car for three months so far.

There are a pair of cable guides on the back to hold the (not included) generic car outlet power adapter and another (headphone maybe? I use A2DP personally) cord on the back. They do a great job by looping it up through one and down into the other, ready to be plugged into the top or side, depending on phone orientation.

Big bonus: It's ten bucks shipped, or thereabouts.
Big downside: shipping from China, Korea, etc. generally takes about 2-4 weeks. I got mine in 16 days from the Wednesday I ordered it, from the same seller I linked above.

Fake edit: This does not have a magnetic back to trip Car Dock mode, which is a plus for me, but I know some prefer it. Easily fixable with a cheap hobby store magnet, as the back is not immensely thick, if you do like the shortcuts the Car Dock provide.
 
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