Mount for HTC Desire

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Jezston

Über Member
Location
London
Looking for a device to mount my HTC Desire (it's a telephone) to my handlebars for the purposes of using its GPS, workout apps and perhaps also as a camera.

Seems the only devices out there are on ebay and unavailable anywhere else.

Two I've seen so far are:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Bike-Bicycle-...vr_id=&cguid=3e36a9f31280a0aad4b54345fe16aa6d
which looks like a general purpose mount, however not sure how it's size works out with the desire and if it'll block the camera should I wish to use it for that.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Bicycle-Bike-...es_Accessories_RL&hash=item19bd20cca5&afsrc=1
Appears to be very specific to the Desire, has a hole for the camera, but doesn't look as sturdy - obviously don't want a £300 phone flying off into oblivion!

So, anyone have any thoughts / recommendations?

So
 

chqshaitan

Guru
Location
Warringon
Hi Bud,

I was looking into the very same thing but ended up going with a handlebar case, with a transparent map section where i can put the phone, not quite as good as a dedicated handlebar mount, but i wouldnt want it going bounce so am happy with the compromise.

Also means i can leave the phone plugged into my external battery which is needed if you are doing anything longer than a few hours out and about
 
OP
OP
Jezston

Jezston

Über Member
Location
London
Is it worth it, given that the screen can be hard to see in sunlight?

Fair point, although I've put a shortcut on the home page that ramps up the brightness to max which mostly resolves that issue, also getting more keen on trying out videoing my rides with it.
 

Rob3rt

Man or Moose!
Location
Manchester
I have had a HTC desire since the day of release, and while you may think its a good idea to use it as a gps, 2 things ive noted, the screen is terrible to see in the sun, settings help a bit but not enough, the phone battery life sucks (so bad I thought my phone was faulty, however my transition from good normal phone to smartphone was the culprit, turns out HTC desire typicaly has a 35 hour battery life with minimal use - less with active use) and it will be dead within a couple of hours running gps.

In addition its a phone worth how much? About £400? and typical phone insurance will not cover sports use or handlebar mounting in most cases that im aware of. Do you wish to risk a piece of kit worth that much springing off and getting smashed to bits by a following car. The same could be said with a typical gps system, however these are designed for sports use and warranty will in many cases cover unexpected bracket or mounting mechanism failures.

Also trying to use it as a camera on the move, even riskier mounting situation here.


I wouldnt mount mine to my bike, ill tell you that much :angry: but this is just my opinion, its your phone :smile:
 

martint235

Dog on a bike
Location
Welling
I'm only poor so only have a HTC Hero but I don't think I'd ever consider mounting it to the handlebars of my bike!! Just think of the things that could happen: visit from the fairy leading to front wheel sliding into drain cover leading to front wheel disintegrating (a la dog in TdF a couple of years back) leading to handlebars hitting road with phone attached leading to heavy rider landing on phone and causing a tiny scratch on the screen :smile:

And if you're getting 35 hours out of an HTC, you're not turning it on!!! :angry::smile:;)
 
martint235 said:
I'm only poor so only have a HTC Hero but I don't think I'd ever consider mounting it to the handlebars of my bike!! Just think of the things that could happen: visit from the fairy leading to front wheel sliding into drain cover leading to front wheel disintegrating (a la dog in TdF a couple of years back) leading to handlebars hitting road with phone attached leading to heavy rider landing on phone and causing a tiny scratch on the screen :smile:

And if you're getting 35 hours out of an HTC, you're not turning it on!!! :angry::smile:;)

Perhaps none of us should ever leave our houses again ? just incase of what might happen !

Simon
 

martint235

Dog on a bike
Location
Welling
Muddyfox said:
Perhaps none of us should ever leave our houses again ? just incase of what might happen !

Simon

Sorry was trying to be funny. It just seems an expensive piece of kit to strap to a vulnerable part of a bike :angry:
 

Rob3rt

Man or Moose!
Location
Manchester
I'm all for it if your insurance will cover it. But why risk something which is barely fit for purpose in the 1st place if your insurance won't. It's a really expensive bit of kit.

Just my opinion, people can use their phone however they wish.
 

Rezillo

TwoSheds
Location
Suffolk
I've got one from here:

http://www.fommy.co.uk/view-full-page.asp?divid=HTC&model=HTC+Desire&cat=Vehicle+Mounts&skuno=88196

but I wouldn't trust the clip without a plastic tie in place round the top of the phone. I emailed Amzer about the top cradle clip being too insecure for bike use and they replied to say they were working on it. The bracket (just) fits 31.8 bars. It is fairly sturdy but I would still drill it and fit a short tether to the bars, like any other expensive handlebar gizmo.

I have to disagree with the post claiming 2 hours battery life with gps. I've used it in four to five hour walks using an app with locally stored OS maps and still had around 40% battery life left at the end. If you use Google Maps and leave the data connection running as well, then it will drop off a lot quicker but still more than two hours.

I've been using it over the last two weeks in direct sunshine in West Cornwall - one hand over the display has been enough to read a 25k OS map. I think it's brilliant.

John
 

Rob3rt

Man or Moose!
Location
Manchester
Rezillo said:
I've got one from here:

http://www.fommy.co.uk/view-full-page.asp?divid=HTC&model=HTC+Desire&cat=Vehicle+Mounts&skuno=88196

but I wouldn't trust the clip without a plastic tie in place round the top of the phone. I emailed Amzer about the top cradle clip being too insecure for bike use and they replied to say they were working on it. The bracket (just) fits 31.8 bars. It is fairly sturdy but I would still drill it and fit a short tether to the bars, like any other expensive handlebar gizmo.

I have to disagree with the post claiming 2 hours battery life with gps. I've used it in four to five hour walks using an app with locally stored OS maps and still had around 40% battery life left at the end. If you use Google Maps and leave the data connection running as well, then it will drop off a lot quicker but still more than two hours.

I've been using it over the last two weeks in direct sunshine in West Cornwall - one hand over the display has been enough to read a 25k OS map. I think it's brilliant.

John


One hand over the screen while riding a bike is a bit different to when walking. You shouldnt need to give your gps that much attention, if you are leaning over your gps you aren't looking at the road. I struggle to read my screen in the sun. On a bike it would be a dangerous unless you stop to look?

Yes will probly last longer than 2 hours, I said couple incorrectly, still pathetic vs a dedicated gps, about 20 hours on a garmin edge 500?


Each to their own though really.
 

Rezillo

TwoSheds
Location
Suffolk
Rob3rt said:
One hand over the screen while riding a bike is a bit different to when walking. You shouldnt need to give your gps that much attention, if you are leaning over your gps you aren't looking at the road. I struggle to read my screen in the sun. On a bike it would be a dangerous unless you stop to look?

I haven't found this to be a problem - the screen is big enough to check you're on route with one palm at 45 degrees without having to lean right over it, even when on the top bar as opposed to the drops. I do stop occasionally, though - 25k maps are great for giving detailed place info and I wouldn't advocate finding out from the unit what, say, a stone circle is called while actually riding past it :angry:

John
 

Rezillo

TwoSheds
Location
Suffolk
Muddyfox said:
I know mate :ohmy:

I have the HTC Touch 2 and would'nt dream of strapping it onto my handlebars

Simon

I can see where you're coming from - I think it depends, though, whether you want OS maps or not. As far as I can see, units that display these cost £250 or more before map costs and that's a valuable item to strap to handlebars as well. Not to mention that all the ones I looked at before buying a Desire had smaller and lower resolution screens. £150 more for a state of the art smartphone on top was a no-brainer for me.

The other factors that point to Garmin or similar would be battery life and waterproofing. However, my longest continuous ride ever was 7.5 hours and I'm usually a dry weather cyclist for trips out so not an issue for me. It would be for other riders, of course - just a case of working out your needs and options, really.

John
 
My touch 2 was free on my business contract because i did'nt like the Blackberry they were offering and it was the only one i liked the look of that did the e-mail thing .. i do use a Garmin Edge but not for the mapping, just as a cycling computer really and i'm still in favour of stopping and reading an old fashion proper map

Simon
 

Rezillo

TwoSheds
Location
Suffolk
Muddyfox said:
i'm still in favour of stopping and reading an old fashion proper map

Simon

Well, ultimately all these gadgets are expensive luxuries. A map holder on a bar bracket will do a good job for just a few quid. Having said, that, they are dead handy on walks at bits where you're not quite sure where the public footpath is.

I get a bit fed up in Norfolk, though - the radial nature of roads from Norwich, coupled with an apparent lack of awareness that the threat of invasion has gone and they can put all the minor road signs back, means that travelling east west with a paper map in some parts involves stopping every few minutes to check junctions.

John
 
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