Looking for a decent mobile phone car mount?

There are a lot of phone car mounts around ranging from mega-expensive device manufacturer specific mounts to cheap, rubbishy 3rd party crap that tend to fall down at precisely the wrong moment (e.g. with your device in it AND in such a way that it positions the screen perfectly to smash it!!).

I have to say I'm not a fan of manufacturer specific mounts or cradles, especially when they have an integral charging cable mount.  Manufacturers are not unknown to change their charging connectors (Apple take note!!!), rendering your mount useless.  In addition you may wish to change devices at some stage or indeed slot a friend's or travelling companion's phone in the mount. 

Prior to now however I've not really found the need to buy a phone mount for the car as I've never really been that bothered about using the phone hands free while driving (if I get a call or message I'll return it, or not, when I reach my destination) until that is I installed the WAZE, the excellent GPS style mapping app with turn by turn navigation which is IMMENSELY popular (and therefore more often than not up to date and accurate!)(see previous post here).

Without going through the countless different brands I looked at and discounted I'll just run through my requirements:

• Non manufacturer specific
• No built in charger (I prefer to use my own long 3rd party cable)
• Strong bond between the base of the unit and the surface to which it is attached
• One-handed insertion and removal of device
• Able to take a range of device sizes (up to 6" wide)
• Preferably tested in the extremes of heat experienced within cars in SE Asia
• Holds the phone in such a way that a charging cable can be connected
• Swivel head mount to tilt / twist device to landscape / portrait orientation

Sounds not too demanding maybe UNTIL you try to find one and one with a good reputation.  Enter the 'Dash Crab' universal mount from Korea.  Without repeating it all again I'll just say that this one ticks all the boxes in terms of the spec I needed and thus far has proved to be a VERY reliable and robust mount.  What's more it comes at the very reasonable price of just RM 89 from one of my favourite online sellers in Malaysia - Superbuy.  The Dash Crab can actually be found here.

I have to say I'm most impressed and completely satisfied with the Dash Crab thus far and will report back again after 6 months of use.  The only thing I will point out is that it will not adhere to the leatherette textured plastic type dash covers that you find in many small family saloons and hatch backs, it may do IF the texturing is VERY fine but on a Toyota Vios it won't leaving you to choose one of the smooth surfaces or even the windscreen.