Review Samsung S3 Bicycle Mount

If you’re anything like me, you like cycling and you like your smartphone. Why – cycling gets you places in a fun/enjoyable way, and under your own power. Smartphones have Google Maps on them which helps if you get lost.

I have wanted a phone mount for my bike for a while; but I’ve been deliberating over a phone for quite a few months now, my iPhone 3GS was cramping my style something awful and the network coverage of a certain provider left a lot to be desired – but that’s another story, for a different day. Long story short – I’ve been holding off on getting a phone mount as I didn’t know which phone I was going to have.

So when I needed to use the bike to get to new places – the resulting journey was a rather cumbersome affair of cycling for about 500 feet, pulling over to get the phone out again – checking where I needed to go next and memorising as much of the route as possible, putting the phone back in the pocket and the glove back on, and then having to do the same again 500 feet down the road or after half a dozen turnings or so (memory of a goldfish?). Repeating this ad nauseaum did lead me to my destination – but I was no happy bunny.

I’ve been telling Andreas at London Cyclist about my amusing map-related shenanigans as well as letting slip that I have gone off iPhones and got myself a shiny new S3. He put two and two together, took pity on me, and sent me a Tigra Samsung S3 bike mount from the London Cyclist shop for a review.

Mobile Phone Mount Pricing

One of the other things that has been putting me off getting a bicycle mount was that I didn’t know which to choose. If you take a cursory view of the phone mounts on offer on (for the sake of argument) amazon, or eBay – there is an array, with prices varying from £5 to £50, with very mixed reviews. I had no idea which would be good enough to protect a £500-£1000 phone as well as offer best value for money.  Certainly the last thing you want is to find out the hard way that the £5 mounts out there are not waterproof or shockproof…

Examining the packaging of the Tigra S3 mount, I am informed that it is water resistant to a certain European standard (I forget the name) – which is confidence inspiring. There is also not a hint of chinglish on the packaging – and I presume some of the fiver jobbies out there will fall into this category (i.e. Chinese company, no way to trace who they are, no customer service, etc). Tigra appears to be a reputable brand for phone mounts, with a developing reputation.Some might just splash out and get the most expensive one out there, at the end of the day, your phone is worth £500 or more and what’s another £50 to ensure that it is safe? That’s all well and good, but I like to find an appropriate point between the two extremes, and buy something of quality that will do the job well, whilst not paying for the most expensive item out there (in this case a phone mount). There definitely is a point (as with all retail items) where more money doesn’t mean a better item, and you’re paying for a brand/someone’s R&D costs/whatever.

Tigra Mount Packaging

Upon opening the packaging; I saw a well presented mount, with a handlebar bracket not dissimilar to the cateye light mounting brackets, i.e. fits a vast array of sizes – not just a certain diameter handlebar. This came in very handy as my handlebar varies in diameter along its length, and the bracket design means I can place the bracket anywhere I choose – I’d just need to tighten the strap as much as necessary using a cog mechanism on the inside – which rides in the grooves of the strap. Tigra even included the allen key which is necessary to tighten the bracket.

The mount in use

Now, I couldn’t be more impressed with this mount!

The phone case certainly feels like it will hold the water out – the phone is cradled in a layer of rubber on the inside of the plastic mount, presenting a double layer to water as well as keeping the phone secure inside the case.

Locking the phone into the case borders on the slightly difficult, this in my mind serves to confirm that a very tight seal has been formed to keep the water out. I haven’t ridden with the mount in the rain, but I have no doubt that it is waterproof. Update: I rode with the phone on my handlebars last night as well as this morning – the mount is most certainly waterproof. 🙂

Regarding the shock proof properties of the mount/case – this I have tested! I have dropped the phone whilst on the go. I was silly enough not to secure the bottom screw (on the bracket) to the phone case. It would have taken me about 10 seconds to do, and I knew I had to do it, but I forgot and my phone fell on the road as I was swivelling it round to look at the map in landscape.  The phone was completely undamaged, and in fact I got the feeling that the outer case would break before harm would come to the actual phone.

Final Verdict

What is the final verdict of my ramblings then?!

I say, get one. You won’t regret it – I haven’t. I believe that this phone mount, priced at £35, is brilliant value for money, and avoids the minefield that comes with picking a reasonably priced phone mount that will protect your expensive smartphone from water and the occasional drop to the ground.

Now – I only need to work out how to get the screen on my S3 to stay on for longer than 10 minutes during use without having to touch it. The very obvious solution is to “just touch the screen every once in a while” but this can be frustrating if you’re riding with gloves in winter. I do believe that gloves with conductive fingertips exist, but I haven’t yet found the need to stop every 10 minutes to wake your phone up again frustrating enough to warrant the extra purchase.