Belkin MagSafe Car Vent Mount Pro Review: A missed opportunity

Car mounts aren't normally very exciting, but Belkin's Car Vent Mount Pro with MagSafe (catchy name, I know) is rather unique. It's one of the very few car mounts to support Apple's new MagSafe protocol.

MagSafe is a new wireless charging ecosystem announced alongside the iPhone 12 family. Instead of popping your phone on a wireless charger, the wireless charger magnetically snaps to the back of your phone. Magnets in the back of an iPhone also create opportunities for clip on accessories, like the small leather wallets you can attach to the back of your iPhone, or in this case, the Car Vent Mount Pro.

Rather than having to squeeze your iPhone in between clamps, it magnetically sticks to the Car Vent Mount Pro. It's just that little bit less fiddly than a traditional car mount, and in some ways, a rather elegant solution. Of course, the magnetic design also has its trade-offs.

To start, the Car Vent Mount Pro can only be used with the iPhone 12 family. At this stage, no other device is compatible with it. If you decide to ditch your iPhone 12 for an Android phone down the line, the Car Vent Mount Pro will probably be useless.

And while the magnets do a very good job of keeping your iPhone in place when you're driving, trying to rotate your device from portrait to landscape (and vice versa) is a frustrating process. If I was attempting to do so with one hand, I found the iPhone would typically detach. This was especially a problem with the iPhone 12 Pro Max, given its size.

The iPhone 12 Pro Max's weight is also an issue - it's just a tad too heavy for the Car Vent Mount Pro. I had to keep the mount on my bottom vent to stop it from sliding out, and even then, it would slowly tilt downward on its ball joint. This wasn't really an issue on short trips, but nonetheless a tad frustrating. Given the Car Vent Mount Pro is literally only designed to work with four phones, you'd think Belkin could have avoided these issues.

At the least, the smaller iPhone 12 Pro fared much better due to its lighter nature.

However, my biggest qualm with the Car Vent Mount Pro is that it's a missed opportunity. Despite MagSafe being a wireless charging protocol, the Car Vent Mount Pro isn't a charger. Attaching your iPhone to it won't do anything but hold it in place. If you want to charge your iPhone at the same time, you need to bring your own cable and plug it in. Sure, that's a very first world problem, but the Car Vent Mount Pro is already a first world solution. 

At the very least, Belkin could have thrown in an extra Lightning cable in the box.

All in all, the Car vent Mount Pro with MagSafe feels like a half-finished product. It's just that little bit more convenient than using a traditional car mount, but you're paying for that privilege. Most car mounts set you less than $20, whereas Belkin's MagSafe solution will set you back $59.95. That's pretty steep for a car mount that only works with four phones and doesn't even make use of MagSafe's wireless charging potential.

Alex Choros

Managing Editor + Group Telco Editor | X | Instagram | Threads | LinkedIn

Alex Choros is the Managing Editor of WhistleOut Australia and an award-winning journalist. He's been writing about consumer technology for over a decade and is an expert on the Australian telco sector, to the point where he knows far too many phone and internet plans by heart. In addition to leading the WhistleOut editorial team, Alex is responsible for ruining the office Sonos with his troubled taste in music.

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