Quadlock Phone Mount Clamp Pro
I had been using another brand of phone mount for years and it just wasn’t working out for me. Twice I had the phone slip out of its holder. One time I was able to catch it, the other time the only thing preventing its total loss was the charging cord. In each instance I was lucky for two reasons; one, that I didn’t lose the phone and two, that the distraction didn’t lead to a crash. I’d heard good things about Quadlock so I decided to give them a try. After ten months of use, here is what I have to say about it.
Product Selection
Quadlock offers a number of solutions for all kinds of vehicles, but to solve the issues I was experiencing as well as upgrading the look, I was solely interested in the Clamp Pro with the Vibration Dampener. This should be more secure, prevent damage to my phone, and look much better. Spoiler alert: I found out it checked all of those boxes. That said, I think there’s still some room for improvement.
Quality
Every part of this system is nicely manufactured. The majority of the assembly is sturdy, powder coated aluminum. The plastic parts have a nice textured satin finish that doesn’t detract from its appearance in the least. One small, but important detail that impressed me is that all the fasteners are also black. No unnecessary bling here. The phone case itself matches those finishes as well and it is impressively stiff. The felt lining inside is a nice touch and the fit to my iPhone 15 Pro was perfect.
Installation
You won't need much in the way of tools to install this unit. You’ll need a 13mm socket (kinda weird) and a ratchet, as well as a 5mm hex key, and ideally a torque wrench. One thing you won't need is thread locker. Quadlock did you a solid and included it on every fastener. Ideally As long as you’ve got an M8 bolt fastening your handlebar clamp, you’re good to go. The Clamp Pro comes with a very specific M8 bolt of its own and it should be long enough to fit most any application. It was certainly long enough for my Speed Twin. The bolt also comes with a couple of spacers. If the bolt is too long for your application, start adding these spacers until they are no longer bottoming out in the hole. The rest of the process is pretty straightforward, but if you run into any snags, you can refer to my video above.
Adjustment
One of the perks of this system is that you have a lot of options for position and orientation. With four fasteners holding down the bars, I had both fore/aft and left/right options. The arm which attaches to the bolt can be indexed to a great number of rotational options in the vertical axis. The arm itself is at an angle if you need further fore/aft or left/right positioning. Lastly, the platform your phone attaches to can be angled on the horizontal axis to get the screen angle just right. If you opt for the Vibration Dampener, this is simply placed between the arm and the mount.
Results
As easy as the installation was, actually using the Quadlock is an exercise in patience and precision. The four lugs on the mounting surface need to match the notches on the phone case exactly or it simply will not work. To make matters worse, you are doing this blind while sitting on the bike. You just can’t see if you’re lined up and there are no lead-ins or centering features to guide you—practically no feel to it at all. It’s a hit and miss experience that or more accurately stated; miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, hit. This is still true for me now, 10 months after first installing the Quadlock. Phone removal is fortunately far easier. Just a press on the tab and a quarter turn twist in either direction will free it.
I was a bit suspicious about the Vibration Dampener when I first felt it. I expected it to be much more firm than it is. In practice you can see the phone move about, but I suspect this is by design. Replacing the harsh, sudden impacts with more softer, more gradual movements is probably what’s required to maintain the precision internals of modern phones. You can’t argue with the results. While my old phone did its weird buzzing camera thing, my new phone which I have exclusively used with the Clamp Pro is in tip-top shape.
All in all, the Quadlock Phone Mount Clamp Pro solved my three major issues. If I could get used to locking the case to the mount it would be perfect.
