RAM MOUNTS
QUICK GRIP PHONE MOUNT WITH RAM TWISTLOCK SUCTION-CUP BASE
$67.99; rammount.com
HOW IT WORKS
For decades, RAM Mounts has been in the business of creating rigid mobile mounts for laptops, phones, marine electronics and more for military and law enforcement, including water patrols and wildlife officials. RAM’s most popular devices use a rubber-coated ball and clamp-on socket built into an arm. One ball is cast with a screw-down base; in this case, it bolts to a suction-cup base. The other end has a ball with a receiver for various mounting attachments. It’s a modular system, but the arrangement works like a double-jointed knee or elbow, with 180-degree hemispherical articulation on each ball joint.
Some assembly is required on the phone mount. Namely, side pegs must be bolted in with supplied bolts and nuts to keep the phone vertically centered in the cradle.
TIPS FOR SUCCESS:
Assemble the phone cradle first and fit it to the arm before placing the suction cup. That will enable optimal positioning on the first trial. For the small side braces, work with the bolts and nuts over a towel that will catch them when you drop them—you definitely will.
TRIALS: The twist-lock base was still firmly attached to the window 24 hours later, and prying it off without releasing the suction with the twist mount would likely break the glass.
The mount could be fitted with a longer arm.
SUMMARY: The doubleball-and-socket arrangement enables a perfect horizontal or vertical camera angle no matter how the base is mounted. It is by far the easiest to adjust to a perfect camera position.