Another phone mount solution

After 8 years or so of ownership, I've finally found a solution I'm happy with for mounting a phone in the car. My main goals were to have the phone up in the line of sight, not do damage to the nice leather dash, and not look awful. I've got a Dension Gateway 500 that came with the car, and a CDR-23. For a long time I used a RAM windshield mount, but it was a pain always to take the phone out of the case and buy a new phone mount for each new device. Plus it would fall down and dent up the leather on the dash. And it looked pretty horrible. I also tried CD tray mounts, vent mounts, etc., and none really worked. All the ones that mounted the phone down low on the console were nonstarters as I wanted to use Waze and switch songs, etc. Here is an "artist's rendering" of the final product. The phone is right up in view and easy to safely access while driving. On the advice of another forum member, I picked up one of these Bovee bluetooth adapters that plugs into the 30-pin Dension. It works great, and allows me to switch tracks using the radio dials. But I still wanted the option to plug the phone in, and needed a way to power it over on the side of the windshield. I decided to run a dedicated power cord through the little switch blank located on the driver's side vent. I bought a used Boxter vent to get the part so as to not ruin my nice leather-coated one, but realized later I could have bought the part individually. Here is what it looks like all completed and tucked away This is right near the fuse box, so tapping in for power was easy. It's surpisingly difficult to find a hardware USB power supply. I first got this POS off of Amazon, which looked like it would be perfect, except once all setup the interference killed the radio reception. So, back to square one I instead tore into a quality Monoprice cigarette lighter adapter and converted it to hardwire. This part of the install is pretty hokey, but by this point I'd had the vent off 5 times and didn't want to play more mail-order roulette. All this stuff tucks back inside the vent. I also ran a 30-pin extension cable in case I wanted to directly connect up the phone to the Dension interface vs. relying on the bluetooth dongle. The other end I ran under the dash back to the cubby in the center console where the Dension cable site. It all stuffs in there, barely. I can just pop off the cap to switch which cable I want to use. For the window mount, just about any magnetic suction type mount will do. This one is really good. It has the soft suction material that stays put for about 6 months at a time on the textured dashboard of my Fiat, so attached to a window it's just about bulletproof. Best of all, here is the center console. No ugly phone mounting junk or cables running. The Dension Gateway is tucked underneath the cubby in the console, with a hole drilled in back of the cubby to run the cable through. I can toss the phone in here if I don't car to have it mounted.

Nice write up, the Bovee actually reaches from my frunk into the cabin so you can tuck it away without any connection issues. If you get a chance I wound't mind seeing how the Dension is mounted under there. I opted to install it in the frunk after verifying that the bluetooth worked perfectly from inside it. Considering moving it to under the console though.

Maybe I'm just old fashioned but what's the point of going through all that trouble to "mount" a phone? Also, do the CD holder delete, add another tray, throw your phone in it, and enjoy the drive.

Can be useful if you're following google maps

wow this bovee 1000 thing looks awesome...my ancient ipod touch finally died, rendering my dension pretty much useless. Can't wait to get the bovee. Doubt I'll bother with the phone mount though.

God I love those Ruf Pedals

The rennline works well for me, simple to install and out of the way.

Quotes source post: 14916025

Can recommend the bovee + dension to be the very best solution You pay more than the standard Bluetooth to 30pin units but its the only one that works!

For approx. $20 I glued a magnetic Scosche mount to my dash up high in the middle, put the super thin magnet inside my iPhone case. I get in, stick my phone on the magnetic mount and can use it for navigation, phone, etc... all via Bluetooth, no wires needed connecting to my Kenwood stereo.

For me, the power supply is important as I always use Waze to keep track of police & hazards, which drains the battery quickly.