Belkin Car Vent Mount review

Choosing a mount to hold your phone isn’t always an easy task, but anyone wanting a simple vent mount could do worse than check out the aptly named Belkin Car Vent Mount.

Some cars come with huge screens and their own navigation system, but few are all that great. Sometimes the humble phone and Google Maps is a better option, especially if you don’t want to buy a whole new car just to get CarPlay or Android Auto support. 

Belkin Car Vent Mount: Price and availability

Priced at $25, the Belkin Car Vent Mount isn’t expensive in the grand scheme of things, but it’s a relatively costly option considering it’s a pretty basic mount. You can order directly from Belkin,  or via Amazon and you’ll get everything you need in the box. Namely, the mount itself.

Belkin Car Vent Mount: Design and features

An air vent attachment is the only way this mount can be attached to a car, as the name suggests. No accessories are provided in the box because none are needed, so if you want a simple mount this might be the one for you.

Despite being a simple car mount, the Belkin Car Vent Mount does manage to have an interesting feature up its sleeve. Buyers will benefit from the grip’s party piece in the form of a cable management area around the back of the grip. 

Slots on either side are designed to have a cable threaded through them for two reasons. First, it gives you somewhere to wrap extra cabling if yours is too long. Secondly, it should mean your cable doesn’t fall on the floor when you aren’t using it. Tidy cabins for the win, as they say.

The mount itself can also rotate, making it easy to run your phone in portrait and landscape orientation depending on the app you’re using. Google Maps and other navigation apps benefit greatly, here.

Belkin Car Vent Mount: Setup

Attaching the mount to your car is a simple case of finding a spare air vent and sliding it on. The part of the mount that grips the air vent is solid enough not to move around while still being soft enough that you don’t need to worry about scratching anything. It also has horizontal and vertical slots — perfect for those with air vents with slats in both directions. You’ll benefit from extra stability thanks to that design.

The Belkin mount holds your phone with two telescoping grips, one on each side. They both move when you pull just one side and they’re covered in rubber to protect the side of your phone. Inserting your phone is as simple as pulling those grips open and sliding it in.

Belkin Car Vent Mount: Performance

The Belkin Car Vent Mount does what it says on the box, in that it attaches to a car vent and holds your phone in place. I found the cable management to be a welcome addition and it did indeed prevent the cable from falling between the seats, under the car mat, or anywhere else these things tend to end up. You might not need or use it, but it’s nice to have it there anyway.

In terms of holding a phone in its place, Belkin’s mount does exactly that. The grips are solid and there was no way my iPhone 12 Pro was going to fall out, even over the most aggressive of speed bumps. The same can be said for the mount itself — its grip of my oddly-shaped air vent was strong and there’s little more you can hope for from this kind of design.

My only slight concern might be for those with huge phones with heavy-duty cases on them. Belkin says the Galaxy Note 9 fits, but it doesn’t say it will do so with a case. The same goes for Apple’s latest devices, too. Something to keep in mind if you’re a fan of big phones and industrial cases.

One extra benefit of such a small design is the way the mount almost disappears when you aren’t using it. It’s also very easy to remove if you want to go that route, too.

Belkin Car Vent Mount: Verdict

Cable management aside, the Belkin Car Vent Mount is a well-put-together version of a pretty standard car mount. 

It doesn’t do anything truly great, but what it does, it does well. That isn’t something that can be taken for granted given the thousands of cheap mounts available on Amazon and other marketplaces.

I’d recommend this mount to anyone who wants just that — a mount for their phone. Anyone wanting more advanced features like wireless charging should look elsewhere.