Fuel for Thought

How To Manage All The Gizmos

One day several years ago I was sitting in a state trooper’s car waiting for him to take care of paperwork, and I noticed that he had a very sturdy mount for his computer. My gut had told me that there were better ones than the homemade-looking ones I had seen in magazines and here was one. The cast-in name plate said RAM. Trooper sent me on my way wishing me a good day, and I said, “Likewise. (RAM, RAM, got to remember RAM…).” It turns out RAM computer mounts are a lot like collecting Legos. There is an endless combination of parts, and they are addictive.

The portal to the RAM Mounts universe is through their website. The product line is deep. If they can think of a solution they make it. The nice thing about all the RAM designs is that they fit without having to modify the vehicle or device. From hours of exploring and ordering from the website I’ve developed a method for making selections. First I start with the website’s wizard. Enter the vehicle and the electronic device being mounted, and the wizard sorts through the vast inventory to select the compatible components either as packages or individual parts. The wizard is really good at finding the parts for a basic set up. I create a wishlist with the parts I think I want from the wizard’s results. Then I dig deeper through browsing and the search function which sometimes turns up more obscure parts. Some of the obscure parts I’ve found outside of the wizard are mounts that attach to the rear-view mirror windshield stud, swivel bases made for printers that fit the Qualcomm unit, mounts designed for other gadgets that also fit my application… As I come across new ideas I save them to the wishlist. With an overloaded wishlist, I then compare prices and combinations, and weed out the excess. I’ve only ordered directly from RAM, but others will take their wishlist and compare prices at other sites, like Amazon or EBay. Other sites can have substantial savings but not the range of choices.

One gotcha to look out for is the swivel option on the swing arm ball clamp. The standard swing arm has a clamp that secures the ball adapter that connects to many devices. It would seem that clamping to a ball would give a full range of adjustments, but it doesn’t. It’s like comparing an elbow to a shoulder joint. The standard swing arm moves like the elbow joint, and the swing arm with swivel has the fully articulated movement of a shoulder joint. When ordering package deals, it’s easy to overlook the swivel. I’ll post a better photo comparison in part 2.

In part 2, I’ll cover an adapter I made along with a couple other details.

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