This mini-laptop car windshield mount can be purchaded online from various retailers for under $15. If anyone buys it, please come back to tell us how you like it, etc.

Mounting position 1 (for UMPC, Tablet)



Mounting position 2 (for Netbook)

There is also a 10" version of this mount.

Looks like I will be doing some measuring this weekend on my Toyota Mr2 & Tacoma truck and see if my Dell mini 9 could use this mount and allow me to still see out the window.

If I do purchase I will take pictures.

I have been using one for a couple days with an 8.9" Acer Aspire One in a Nissan Sentra. It is kind of flimsy but it will serve the purpose as long as I don't get to rough with it and break it. One of the clips on the front covers up the earphone jack which is a problem since I don't get enough volume out of my speakers to hear the GPS directions when I am on the freeway. I am going to experiment with a bluetooth earphone.

My Aspire one (150A) has a width of 9.8" whereas this thing only goes to 9.4" wide. 8.9" only refers to the display width.
See if you can clarify. This one seems to be alright except for the width
Earlier netbooks are all ok I think

Daniel

I measured my Acer and it is about 9.5" wide. It seems to fit OK.

My Aspire One (8.9" screen) is exactly 9 ¾" wide.

...ken...

Wonder how hard it would be to turn it into a pedestal mount in my 02 Ford Taurus? Could do some cast iron pipe and fix that to the top of it. Hmm...

.

Ok, I bit. Ordered off Amazon.com for $14.95 with $4.99 Shipping. For less than $20 if it isn't so great I won't be real disappointed. Have been lied to before by more expensive purchases...

Will post a review and maybe some pics after I receive it.

You must be right then as I got the info from TigerDirect.ca. I did not measure that. Thanks for clarifying that.

Daniel

I am pondering that as well. Hey the cops may pull you over as the oversized netbook out front may look like a DVD player and most States/Provinces prohibit that. Ok it cannot be a DVD player after all. But still it is a real risk considering how conspicuous it is.

Price wise and usage wise , really a cool purchase and useful too



Daniel

Gene,

Is it possible to just drill a hole through the clip to allow access to your phone jack? If the hole is surrounded by enough plastic when finished, you aren't giving up any real structural integrity. Much like aircraft contruction techniques.

Mr 2

I have considered drilling the hole for the earphone plug. I doubt that it would compromise the integrity of the clip. There is foam rubber on the insides of the clips (in fact the whole frame is lined with foam) so the foam in the drill bit would get a little messy when the drill hits it. That is just an excuse because I know I could cut the foam out of the way. I just hate to retrofit things right after I buy them. I got the mount with the long arm. It has been working pretty well for me.

Received it yesterday in a padded envelope, have seen items packed better! After making sure all was ok with it I decided to try a test fit. Will fit the Acer Aspire one with the standard 3-cell battery fine but I have the 6-cell so the battery sits on top of the rear of the mount, not in it. Will post a pic when I get home from work, got in too late last night. Seems fine for what it is otherwise.

Hey sledgehampster,

Where did you get the 6-cell battery for your Aspire One? I don't get a lot of usage time on my 3-cell battery that came with it so I'm interested in one with more life.

...ken...

Mine came with the 6-cell battery, sorry.

I have the 6-cell battery. I just pull the mount back and over the battery. It hasn't broken yet.

How is the side motion (or better lack of) on the 10" pedestal.

I'm on the fence and trying to decide as whether to bite or not.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Well I ordered 1 each of the 5.5" and 10" units. I'll figure out some use for the extra unit after seeing which works best.

There is quite a bit of side to side motion on the 10" pedestal but it has not been intolerable. I had a shorter pedestal from a previous mount but it is too short to function in my vehicle without blocking the view through the windshield.

Got one a few days ago and here's my experience trying to mount my Acer Aspire One netbook in my CR-V.

Although the Aspire One is not listed as a device that will fit, it fits like a glove. You would swear the tray was made just for it.

I have a really shallow angle on the windshield on my 2007 CR-V so the bottom of the windshield seems like it's out by the front bumper somewhere. In order to connect the suction cup to the windshield so it's low enough to be out of my line of sight I have to put it way way out. The windshield is such an angle that I have to bend the extender at more than 60° upwards. All of that pulls the tray way up onto the dash. With the screen of the netbook open it's blocking too much of my line of sight.

I tried moving the whole thing way over towards the passenger side. That still doesn't quite work to clear my line of sight and it has a couple of additional problems. I have to turn my head quite a bit to see it. And it completely blocks the passenger's line of sight.

I need an extender that's another 10" longer so I could bend it down and get the tray down below the dash so the screen only sticks up a little above the dash level.

It would work really swell if it would stick to the dash. There is a perfect spot near the front of the dash that if I could stick the suction cup to it I could bend the extender up and over and down so that the tray is low enough to do the trick. But even on that very smooth part of the dash there is just enough texture that the suction cup won't grip.

The good news is that yesterday was really sunny and with iGuidance running the screen was quite readable if you view from the right angles. I'm sure Mobile PC would look as good. Regular software isn't as readable but the map screens on those two nav programs seem to be easier to see. The only really bad angles I found were those where you got lots of light reflections on that shiny screen.

...ken...

Ken, what material is the 10" extender made out of? Is it flexible, is it something you can bend to fit your needs?

Yes, Marvin, the extender is flexible. It's fairly thick and stiff, just as you would want, not floppy like a noodle. But it can be bent to pretty much any shape you need.

I have no idea what the material is. It's certainly plenty strong.

...ken...

I hope to give my review in reference to it and Dell mini 9 netbook.
It fits like a glove with the lid close, however with the lid open, the edge of the lid is sitting on the narrow ledge at the point the suction mount attaches to the tray mount. This in my opinion is too stressful for my liking on the lid and hinges of the netbook. I thus have been making modifications.....pictures to follow as soon as I can.

Ken,
I could most likely help you out with that extender.

Ken,
I have the same problem that you do with a high degree of rake in my windshield. Can you tell me if the extender tube itself is 10" long or does that lengthy include the mounting base?

Thanks,

It is 10" when stretched out staight from the suction cup to the slide in part that attaches to the netbook holder.

Terry

Attached Images

Neck Length.jpg (192.5 KB)

What Terry said. It's actually 9.75" from the face of the suction cup to the spot where it comes into contact with the mount. The extender tube itself is about 7.25".

With a heavily raked windshield you have to bend the far end of the extender tube upwards to get the suction cup into contact with the windshield so you lose a good 3" or more before it really starts to head back towards you.

...ken...

Thanks for the information. That's too bad. I suppose I'll continue using the Nuvi in my car and the laptop in my truck then.

My review.

This is the beginning of what will be at least a two part, possibly more, modification. This is to fit my MR2 Spyder and my Tacoma pickup. Both Toyotas.

My MR2 has a very long shallow angle windshield, whereas the Tacoma is well....pickup like. I.e. steeper. Dashes vary as well.

This mount is coupled with a Dell Mini 9 Netbook running Garmin Mobile PC w/ x20 USB receiver.

Units (2) received and out of the box....correction padded bag. One with 5.5" mount and one with 10" flex shaft mount. 10" needed for the MR2 and both work on the Tacoma. On the Tacoma, due to the windshield angle the netbook ends up in about the same place. More correctly I can't get the netbook any more forward with one or the other due to the difference in articulation, i.e. flex shaft (10") verses a knuckle joint (5.5") equals same ending point.

When my mini is open the cover (edge) of the mini sits on the top edge of the tray mount. This does two things. One it raises the mini by about 2" and it puts a load on the mini's lid, which I'm not comfortable with. In addition the reverse tricycle design gives me a very short dashboard contact. This in turns allows the whole assembly to shift side to side.

I saw two options or approaches I could do. The very simplest was to just cut a flat plate to simulate the wide and a little longer depth of the mini's bottom. This would sit on that little ledge and the mini would sit on the "new" base. The second option was to cut and extend the back connector area. This would allow the mini to sit lower in the tray. Neither in the simplest forms solve the base or contact area.

I opted to do a grander version of option #1. See pictures in my album. I also opted to provide a clearance hole for a speaker jack as well as added a velcro strap hold down in the rear of the unit.

The unit is almost off my dash. It sits on the "new" padded back wall I created. It is stable, with little bounce. Not shown was a center leg going from the tray bottom (at the umpc mount point) angled back to my dash. This sat on a little ledge. With this, the unit is solid like as rock! Well, also not shown at this time. I added side walls. This gives me a little corner section at the back wall (coming toward the front) and that little extra dash contact really gives me a rock solid setup. Little leg gone! Not needed!

Conclusion:

When I first looked at this I was disappointed....not surprised mind you, just disappointed. Mainly because of the lid edge thing. The most important part was the suction cup and mount connection details. They are fine.

The raw materials were the right price for me to improve on and create a mount that I am happy (actually very happy) with.

I have plans to work on getting the netbook down in front of the dash/es. In doing so, I will be making some extention modifications. There may be a couple of people who may be able to benefit from this action.

I can't imagine that flimsy thing supporting a notebook as your car bounces down the road. I don't think they put enough thought into it. I'll save my $20.00 for something more promising.

I'm very much interested in seeing that. In the current setup it seems the mini-laptop is sitting a bit too high for my liking.

Thanks for sharing the review!

I'll also be very interested. It's plenty solid enough to handle a netbook (bikerjoe, a laptop won't fit into it anyway.).

...ken...

8.9" is the diagonal measurement of the LCD.

What about this version? 7" - 13"

I found some more detailed info and pictures.

I cannot find a U.S. / Canadian reseller.

Universal Netbook Car Ki 7-13" Review By Netbookitalia

mr2,

Did you complete the modifications to your liking? Like Marvin, I'm very interested in seeing "the rest of the story", as Paul Harvey would say.

I just ordered two of the mounts; one for the car and one for the truck for my T91MT. In Tablet mode my screen will sit about where your keyboard is.

I do have one option still kicking around in my head to replace the small overhead console in the Eldorado with the T91 screen flipping down beside the rearview. If that ever happens I will document it in another thread.

And thanks for the writeup and pix.

Ted

Hi Ted,

In another thread, Bredo from the Denmark has tried the overhead console thing and ran into a showstopper. When you mount it like that and flip the screen down, the screen is upside down. He can't find any way on his device to get Windows to display upside down, e.g. flip everything 180° to display it.

...ken...