Peak Design Phone Mount System Review: A Look Ahead to Summer

December 19, 2020

Peak Design reached out to me to take an early look at their upcoming motorcycle phone mounting system. Rather than limit itself to being a motorcycle phone mount company, they decided to be the way to attach my phone to my life. I use my phone at my desk, in my car, on my motorcycle, in the garage, on my bicycle, and I stick it in my back pocket. They have come up with a way to keep my phone safe, handy, and convenient, no matter what I am doing or where I am doing it.

Many riders keep their phones in their pockets or saddlebags. If that is where you want to keep it, out of sight and out of mind as you think your own thoughts and listen to the sounds of the road, then you don’t need an original design phone mount. I use my phone on the motorcycle for navigation, communication, entertainment, and peace of mind.

However, I also ride with a GPS, a Dash Cam, a satellite com, and a drink holder. All my devices are mounted via a competitive mounting system that Peak Design is looking to unseat eventually. The pre-production samples are precision-made of black anodized aluminum and built to last a lifetime—which the warranty states. They look really cool, too.

If you seek the latest in phone attachment technology, check out what Peak Design has to offer—the aptly named Mobile, on Kickstarter. Mobile is Peak Design’s 10th successful crowd-funded product. It has been designing and delivering everyday use type products for many years. Note that the full Mobile ecosystem will be shipping Summer 2021 and consists of cases for iPhone 11, iPhone 12, and Samsung Galaxy 20, plus universal connectors, mounts, chargers, and accessories.

The mounting system’s foundation is a very thin zirconia-ceramic mounting square with strategically placed magnets embedded in a proprietary phone cover. If you don’t have an iPhone 11, 12, or Galaxy 20, you can attach a universal attachable adapter to any flat phone cover, or the phone itself. I found that a Galaxy J3V that I had in a drawer fit the universal case.

The Mobile phone case and all the different situational mounts Peak Design has made connect and hold the same way. The magnets always guide the phone case and mount together. Double, spring-loaded pinch tabs lock the phone to the mount under the ceramic square.

All the mounts are truly one-handed to secure. The release is one-handed also—you reach around the phone with a single finger to push in the spring-loaded pinch tab on either side of the mount. Although I don’t recommend it in real life, with practice, I was able to toss my phone at the mount from as far away as four inches and have it click solidly into place. I could see Tom Cruise doing that in a getaway scene in the next Mission Impossible movie.

My 2007 Yamaha Royal Star Venture doesn’t have a handlebar that accommodates the Mobile handlebar mount or the stem mount. The reason the Mobile Bar Mount doesn’t work on my particular handlebar is that the Mobile Bar Mount design requires it to be mounted in front of you because it only adjusts at two points. The horizontal portions of my handlebar are packed too tightly under the dash of my fairing. The exposed pullback sections of my bar are almost perpendicular to the horizontal portion. If the mount had a third swivel joint, it would allow the phone to face me. The Stem Nut Mount slides and locks into the hole where my bike has a steering stem cap nut, so no go there, either.

To mount the pre-production unit, I enlisted a friend with an Aprilia with a stem nut hole, as well as an old Yamaha dual sport with a horizontal handlebar, so off I went to trade some bike time for a six-pack of his favorite brew.

I was intrigued by the design of the stem nut mount. It slides into the stem nut hole and uses an expander to hold itself in place securely. Using the stem nut mount, my phone is directly in front of me with a couple of inches of height and angle adjustment. In that position, the phone is tucked safely away from any flying rocks or bugs.

Riding with the phone attached low and out of my field of view is not what I am accustomed to, though it didn’t take long to get used to taking quick glances as needed. While it isn’t safe to take my eyes off the road, if I need to, I was taught to take a specific forward road clearance look and then look down and take the stinging wasp off my knee. Using a Bluetooth headset with GPS turn-by-turn instructions and voice control for Siri and Hey Google will help keep your eyes on the road where they belong anyway.

On 7/8″ to 1.25″ diameter handlebars that are approximately horizontal, the Peak Design motorcycle bar mount unit angles very well. The large selection of rubber shims that come in the box makes it possible to create a snug and slip-free grip. Once mounted, the three-inch arm can be secured in any one of 24 notch positions in a full circle. But with only three inches of height adjustment, unless you have some tall risers, your phone might not be in your field of view. You may have to divert your eyes to glance at your phone. Just like the Stem Mount, you can position the phone in portrait or landscape orientation.

The Mobile mount system by Peak Design is a whole family of phone attachment products. The unique design is not transportable or adaptable to competitive phone attachment systems. Peak Design has priced each piece of the system competitively, and you can buy as few or as many different attach mechanisms as you need. They are great looking, minimalist in design, elegant in appearance, and secure enough to attach your $1000 phone. This is a sneak peek of things to come from Peak Design. If you can wait till summer, you will be rewarded with a very cool looking phone mount.

Peak Design Mobile System Prices