Cup Holder Car Mounts
New cars often come with quite a few cup holders. Although they are nice when you're thirsty, most people do not need all the drink holders that their car comes with. If you have extra cup holders, you might want to put them to good use and mount a car accessory or two with it. You can buy cup holder car mounts that hold many different types of accessories. There are advantages and disadvantages to these mounts; if you have several different car accessories that you need to mount, you will want to plan the right mount for the right accessory.
Devices that Can Use Cup Holder Car Mounts
Cup holder car mounts are made for almost every car accessory. You can mount your GPS system, iPod, and cellular phone using your cup holder. You can even purchase a cup holder mount to hold your laptop computer, although it is probably not a good idea to actually use the computer while driving. Many Sirius and XM satellite radio receivers, and some handheld radio receivers, can be mounted on your car's cup holder.
Advantages to Cup Holder Car Mounts
There are many reasons why you would choose a cup holder car mount over another type of mount. These mounts are easy to use, and fit in almost all vehicles (a few vehicles have oversized cup holders that these won't work with). A cup holder mount is easily transferable to other vehicles, and can be stashed away, outside of the sight of would-be thieves. These mounts usually don't get in the way of airbags; in an accident, they won't be propelled towards you at high speed. They won't block the driver's view either. Accessories that are mounted with cup holder car mounts can be easy to reach while driving.
Disadvantages to Cup Holder Car Mounts
There are a few disadvantages to using cup holder car mounts. You might find that one of your accessories would be better suited for a cup holder mount than others. A GPS system needs to have a clear view of the sky to work; if the cup holder is in the wrong location, and you don't have an external antenna that you can move elsewhere, you may need to use a different kind of mount. The same is true for satellite radio. Cup holder mounts also use one of your drink holders; on vehicles that come with plenty of drink holders, this might not be a problem, but if your vehicle was not generous with drink holder locations, a cup holder mount may not be the best choice. Your accessories may block some of the car's climate control functions when using one of these mounts. Keep these factors in mind when choosing where to mount each accessory in your vehicle.