Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Status
The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.
Yeah, it takes time to be delivered, typical from Aliexpress
Anyway i highly recommend to only buy this support but not using included vent mount, its crap

This one has better vent mount, its hooked on the air vent blades and you can tighten until to find resistance through rotated wheel


Or that one as well

 
Little feedback here:
I started with one of first unofficial Magsafe car mount sold on Aliexpress/Ebay (be aware, some brands would sell this generic product as premium price, its barely around 20 bucks)

First Magsafe car mount


  • Rectangular credit card shape design (about same width as iPhone 12 Mini), back and side in aluminium, on the bottom side, there is a blue LED for charging
  • Crap vent mount, its shaky, unstable vent fixation, its constantly bent at the back
  • Strongest magnets there, it tried to shake support+iPhone on my bed, no matter of much power i would use, it holds like a glue
  • Despite of crappy vent mount, it holds my phone pretty well (note even with some bumpds, it doesnt move)
  • You can remove the entire ball mount and tweak it as Magsafe charger, thats what i ve done
View attachment 1728746View attachment 1728747

Anyone know where I can get one of these (the first one) shipped from the US, even at a premium? I can't bring myself to wait until April...
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
  • Like
Reactions: eekcat
DIY car mount

It looks clever!
If anyone has manual skill, he can make some universal and great car mount!
Metallic support is always nice to have instead of plastic!


 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
The knob for tightening can be benefit
But any air vent miss a lack of stability especially when you sightly move your holder (for landscape orientation turn)
You can try since this is sold by Amazon, you can return it in case of
From what i have experienced, with this kind of air vent, the best spot to fix in air vents: its the lowest air vent blade, because the dashboard can help for stabilizing the air vent mount
One of those vertical plastic plate will be leaned against the dashboard
If you put it right in the middle of air vent blades, this will be worse
Also read Amazon comments below, one of user claim its too heavy for an iPhone 12 Pro Max
Any heavy phone requires the most stabilized holder
 
  • Like
Reactions: vistokid
Picked up a Belkin Boost Charge Pro, so I finally got to mount my MagSafe charger in my car. Didn’t want a vent mount so Amazon’ed a flat base mount, removed the magnets as I wasn’t sure if it would be a problem with the existing magnets/coil on the charger/phone. But the MagSafe puck did stick nicely to it (using double sided tape now).

It’s quite low, so holds my mini in landscape. Just attached it and haven’t driven anywhere, but I think it will hold fine.

BDA8CC37-89D4-49E8-B567-2B75F17EC9F6.jpeg
 
Last edited:
The knob for tightening can be benefit
But any air vent miss a lack of stability especially when you sightly move your holder (for landscape orientation turn)
You can try since this is sold by Amazon, you can return it in case of
From what i have experienced, with this kind of air vent, the best spot to fix in air vents: its the lowest air vent blade, because the dashboard can help for stabilizing the air vent mount
One of those vertical plastic plate will be leaned against the dashboard
If you put it right in the middle of air vent blades, this will be worse
Also read Amazon comments below, one of user claim its too heavy for an iPhone 12 Pro Max
Any heavy phone requires the most stabilized holder
I got it today and have been using it with my 12 Pro Max. So far so good. I didn’t want a charging solution so this seems to fit. I actually did use the bofrom blade of the vent and it’s in there quite securely.
 
Last edited:
I got it today and have been using it with my 12 Pro Max. So far so good. I didn’t want a charging solution so this seems to fit. I actually did use the bofrom blade of the vent and it’s in there quite securely.
Good to know, can you take picture or make video?
Did you use any case with your iPhone Pro Max
Because naked iPhone has weaker magnets and leather case is too slippery et doesnt hold as much as the other cases (Zeera confirmed this and i ve seen some video showing leather case and magsafe)
Deal breaker for leather case if it was true (fortunately i have only a clear case)
 
Good to know, can you take picture or make video?
Did you use any case with your iPhone Pro Max
Because naked iPhone has weaker magnets and leather case is too slippery et doesnt hold as much as the other cases (Zeera confirmed this and i ve seen some video showing leather case and magsafe)
Deal breaker for leather case if it was true (fortunately i have only a clear case)
I use a Apple MagSafe leather case. Two days driving with it and so far so good.
 

Same model, those models are sold on Amazon but at higher price
I've got one of these today. The ball socket is separate from the mount.... Anyone know if I could get a window mount that I could attach this to instead of on an air vent?
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
Yes you can, make sure your ball mount of window mount is standard (about 17mm)
I also swapped ball mount and support from the other model which i ve ordered
As long as ball mount is standard, you dont have to worry about compatibility
The original air vent mount from this model sucks, i do not recommend it despite of it can do correctly the job
 
Last edited:

Same model, those models are sold on Amazon but at higher price
Just bought this on Amazon! Hopefully it’ll work for me..
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.

Same model, those models are sold on Amazon but at higher price

Received this today (black version) - indeed the magnet is SUPER strong. It says mag-safe compatible, but does not actually produce the animation. Can't tell if it actually charges at 15W though. Also, the small orientation line doesn't appear to be an actual magnet, as it does nothing to keep the phone aligned. Weird that it includes a metal ring (for non-magsafe phones?) that has a line to align with a magnet, so who knows.

Still, this is easily the best-holding magnet I've seen so far.
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
Yeah, its super strong because its made in aluminium and bigger area surface to get more grip (front is made in sort of ABS its super smooth and it isnt slippery too)
The small vertical line isnt magnet, i have another model as i posted before, same thing
Its kinda odd for animation depending of devices/charger (cf. Magsafe Duo)
(this guys ordered same model and he gets animation)

To get the animation (at least, it works for me)
Get usb-c to usb-c and quick charge PD cig lighter or brick charger
It actually charges ~13-14.5w

Maybe you can do some experiments in order to trigger the animation:
Try and mix the possibilities with naked phone, official leather/silicone case, third party magsafe cases, stock/usb-c cable, non fast charger (Apple 5w), PD quick charger (Apple 20w)...
 
Last edited:
Yeah, its super strong because its made in aluminium and bigger area surface to get more grip (front is made in sort of ABS its super smooth and it isnt slippery too)
The small vertical line isnt magnet, i have another model as i posted before, same thing
Its kinda odd for animation depending of devices/charger (cf. Magsafe Duo)
(this guys ordered same model and he gets animation)

To get the animation (at least, it works for me)
Get usb-c to usb-c and quick charge PD cig lighter or brick charger
It actually charges ~13-14.5w

Maybe you can do some experiments in order to trigger the animation:
Try and mix the possibilities with naked phone, official leather/silicone case, third party magsafe cases, stock/usb-c cable, non fast charger (Apple 5w), PD quick charger (Apple 20w)...

So far, I've tried with an Apple 60W USB-C charger and an Anker USB-C charger, neither produces the animation. Both naked and with an official Apple leather MagSafe case. I did a quick charging test using an app while connected to the Apple charger and it came up with a whopping 2.54W. Maybe it's because it was too close to an 80% charge already, so it slowed down? I'll test again tomorrow using more chargers.

Edit: Just tried with an Apple USB-C 20W charger too, in case the laptop USB-C charger was overkill or missing some profile... 2.78W. It can't possibly be that bad, can it? Is there a consensus best charger-test app and protocol? I'm using "Charger Master"

Edit2: Tried another testing app. and got 3.7W. 1% in 179 seconds on my 12 pro max. If really is this bad, I'll have to send it back despite the awesome magnet.
 
Last edited:
So far, I've tried with an Apple 60W USB-C charger and an Anker USB-C charger, neither produces the animation. Both naked and with an official Apple leather MagSafe case. I did a quick charging test using an app while connected to the Apple charger and it came up with a whopping 2.54W. Maybe it's because it was too close to an 80% charge already, so it slowed down? I'll test again tomorrow using more chargers.

Edit: Just tried with an Apple USB-C 20W charger too, in case the laptop USB-C charger was overkill or missing some profile... 2.78W. It can't possibly be that bad, can it? Is there a consensus best charger-test app and protocol? I'm using "Charger Master"

Edit2: Tried another testing app. and got 3.7W. 1% in 179 seconds on my 12 pro max. If really is this bad, I'll have to send it back despite the awesome magnet.
I had very similar numbers with that unit.

From what I can tell from Apple's support page on MagSafe, any charger that can output 9v xxA meets their specifications. They say 9v / 2.22A, 9v / 2.65A and more support Magsafe. The way they worded it (to me) says anything 9v and 2.22A or higher is what MagSafe supports to get that 15W, but it also depends on how depleted the battery is.
 
  • Like
Reactions: eekcat
So far, I've tried with an Apple 60W USB-C charger and an Anker USB-C charger, neither produces the animation. Both naked and with an official Apple leather MagSafe case. I did a quick charging test using an app while connected to the Apple charger and it came up with a whopping 2.54W. Maybe it's because it was too close to an 80% charge already, so it slowed down? I'll test again tomorrow using more chargers.

Edit: Just tried with an Apple USB-C 20W charger too, in case the laptop USB-C charger was overkill or missing some profile... 2.78W. It can't possibly be that bad, can it? Is there a consensus best charger-test app and protocol? I'm using "Charger Master"

Edit2: Tried another testing app. and got 3.7W. 1% in 179 seconds on my 12 pro max. If really is this bad, I'll have to send it back despite the awesome magnet.
Where did you buy it?
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.