Xoom Mount: Ram Mount Review.

AdobePhil · 02-01-2012, 12:10 PM

So, I picked up a 4G xoom for the purpose of running escort live on it. (It won't work until it's updated to Ice Cream Sandwich, but that's another issue). I still utilize it heavily to stream music from google music through my head unit via bluetooth. it's a great tool especially if you have a bluetooth ODB2 Dongle.

I've seen a few members mod their car to install tablets in the cubby hole, but I wasn't a fan of how it looked, so I decided to go for an alternate method. I have no space on my windshield due to the mounted Radar Detector and my Phone mount so I needed something else.

This is what I found:

Motorola XOOM Mounts

So I ordered one for the Z.

The assembly and the installation was extremely easy. All it does is bolt to the front passenger seat bolt. The hardest part for me wasn't recommended by the company, but I wanted to run my XOOM's Car Adapter through the plastic covering so I didn't have wires all over the place. It's a tight fit. Took me about 20 mins.

The result was a good looking mount that keeps my xoom out of the way with a power supply readily available.

There was an issue however... the mount would shake like a turrets victim dancing in an earth quake.

Fortunately I was able to mitigate this by wedging my DC Power Splitter between the passenger seat and the center console. You just have to bend the goose neck to where it rises between the seat and the console, and then wedge the power splitter (or whatever object you can find that's about this size) between the console and goose neck arm.

The power splitter worked great for me, as I'm able to use the buttons on Escort's Smart cord to report police on the social network. But whatever you use, should you decide to get this mount, it is necessary to do this in order to prevent the shaking.

I've had it on for about 2 months now and I'm pretty happy with it. Shaking is virtually non existent... and it's so convenient having a xoom mounted in the Z!

The only drawback is that you can't move the passenger seat. you can recline it, but you can't move it forwards or backwards. If that's not a big deal to you, I'd recommend the ram mount if you're looking for a good way to mount a tablet.

6MT · 02-01-2012, 01:37 PM

Nice job!

Jsolo · 02-01-2012, 02:14 PM

Wow. Can you post a few more pics of the interior from various angles. Also one where you mounted the goose neck to the floor/seat bolt.

ccdominic · 02-01-2012, 02:48 PM

that's alotta mounted items. that looks like a floppy disk reader lol.

AdobePhil · 02-01-2012, 03:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jsolo

Wow. Can you post a few more pics of the interior from various angles. Also one where you mounted the goose neck to the floor/seat bolt.

sure.

Here you go

AdobePhil · 02-01-2012, 03:36 PM

Once escort releases a direct wire version of their Live! cord, I should be able to get rid of all the cord clutter, and mount the 9500ix radar detector under the rear view mirror with a blend mount... hiding the wires like god intended.

They only have the cigarette lighter version out right now though... so it's my only choice if I want to use the Live! system.

Jsolo · 02-01-2012, 03:43 PM

That's insane!. I bet a program like waze or googlemaps with traffic would be awesome.

AdobePhil · 02-01-2012, 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jsolo

That's insane!. I bet a program like waze or googlemaps with traffic would be awesome.

yea, I use it for navigation all the time with google maps. the good thing about having android... is that you can tell your phone or tablet to connect the phone or media features via bluetooth. So I have my phone routing all phone calls to my head unit, and the tablet routing all media sounds. even if I'm playing music or navigating with the tablet, the head unit cuts it off as soon as a phone call comes through the phone. The setup is beast. I just can't wait until I get ICS on the tablet so I can run Escort Live.

whoLEEoh · 02-01-2012, 08:19 PM

would it work with an ipad?

AdobePhil · 02-01-2012, 11:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whoLEEoh

would it work with an ipad?

Yes

Gungrave · 02-02-2012, 02:45 PM

So I have a dumb question. Do you have either the 3G model or are you tethering from your phone/MiFi on it? That's the only way I can see it working within the car. Or is there a way to essentially run everything on your Xoom from your phone?

AdobePhil · 02-02-2012, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gungrave

So I have a dumb question. Do you have either the 3G model or are you tethering from your phone/MiFi on it? That's the only way I can see it working within the car. Or is there a way to essentially run everything on your Xoom from your phone?

I have a 4G model; however, if you have the wifi model, you can tether to your rooted 3G or 4G mobile phone. As long as your Head unit supports bluetooth, you can split up the bluetooth connection regardless of whether your tablet is using a 3G/4G connection or wifi teathering.

I don't know of a way to control your tablet from your phone; however, my head unit controls both the phone calls on my Droid 2 (address book / voice dial / hang up / answering) as well as the media functions utilizing google music on my tablet (so when I press skip / pause / play / etc... it sends the command to the tablet)

I do have logmein ignition on my tablet though, so I can control my home computer from wherever I am, as well as accessing files from my home computer due to the fact that I set up an FTP and use ES File Explorer on my tablet to access them.

Gungrave · 02-02-2012, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdobePhil

I have a 4G model; however, if you have the wifi model, you can tether to your rooted 3G or 4G mobile phone. As long as your Head unit supports bluetooth, you can split up the bluetooth connection regardless of whether your tablet is using a 3G/4G connection or wifi teathering.

I don't know of a way to control your tablet from your phone; however, my head unit controls both the phone calls on my Droid 2 (address book / voice dial / hang up / answering) as well as the media functions utilizing google music on my tablet (so when I press skip / pause / play / etc... it sends the command to the tablet)

I do have logmein ignition on my tablet though, so I can control my home computer from wherever I am, as well as accessing files from my home computer due to the fact that I set up an FTP and use ES File Explorer on my tablet to access them.

I'm assuming you have Verizon? Don't they charge extra for tethering and/or hotspot on your phone?

AdobePhil · 02-02-2012, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gungrave

I'm assuming you have Verizon? Don't they charge extra for tethering and/or hotspot on your phone?

I have verizon, yes, but if you root your phone and download a 3rd party tethering app, it's free.

MattP725 · 02-02-2012, 05:30 PM

They make this same mount for iPhones... I was planning on getting it eventually.

02-01-2012, 12:10 PM	#1 (permalink)
AdobePhil Base Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Palm Harbor FL Posts: 211 Drives: 2010 370z Sport Trim Rep Power: 14	Xoom Mount: Ram Mount Review. So, I picked up a 4G xoom for the purpose of running escort live on it. (It won't work until it's updated to Ice Cream Sandwich, but that's another issue). I still utilize it heavily to stream music from google music through my head unit via bluetooth. it's a great tool especially if you have a bluetooth ODB2 Dongle. I've seen a few members mod their car to install tablets in the cubby hole, but I wasn't a fan of how it looked, so I decided to go for an alternate method. I have no space on my windshield due to the mounted Radar Detector and my Phone mount so I needed something else. This is what I found: Motorola XOOM Mounts So I ordered one for the Z. The assembly and the installation was extremely easy. All it does is bolt to the front passenger seat bolt. The hardest part for me wasn't recommended by the company, but I wanted to run my XOOM's Car Adapter through the plastic covering so I didn't have wires all over the place. It's a tight fit. Took me about 20 mins. The result was a good looking mount that keeps my xoom out of the way with a power supply readily available. There was an issue however... the mount would shake like a turrets victim dancing in an earth quake. Fortunately I was able to mitigate this by wedging my DC Power Splitter between the passenger seat and the center console. You just have to bend the goose neck to where it rises between the seat and the console, and then wedge the power splitter (or whatever object you can find that's about this size) between the console and goose neck arm. The power splitter worked great for me, as I'm able to use the buttons on Escort's Smart cord to report police on the social network. But whatever you use, should you decide to get this mount, it is necessary to do this in order to prevent the shaking. I've had it on for about 2 months now and I'm pretty happy with it. Shaking is virtually non existent... and it's so convenient having a xoom mounted in the Z! The only drawback is that you can't move the passenger seat. you can recline it, but you can't move it forwards or backwards. If that's not a big deal to you, I'd recommend the ram mount if you're looking for a good way to mount a tablet. Last edited by AdobePhil; 02-01-2012 at 12:16 PM.

02-01-2012, 01:37 PM	#2 (permalink)
6MT A True Z Fanatic Join Date: May 2009 Location: ITU Zone 2 Posts: 22,459 Drives: Reliant Robin Rep Power: 1789	Nice job! __________________ Andrew 2009 370Z Sport/Touring 6MT sold 2013 Honda Civic Si coupe D/D

02-01-2012, 08:19 PM	#9 (permalink)
whoLEEoh Premium Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Miami,FL Posts: 647 Drives: 2010 370z NISMO Rep Power: 15	would it work with an ipad? __________________ 2013 Boss 302

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02-01-2012, 02:14 PM	#3 (permalink)
Jsolo Track Member Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: chicago Posts: 783 Drives: '12 G37 6MT Rep Power: 14	Wow. Can you post a few more pics of the interior from various angles. Also one where you mounted the goose neck to the floor/seat bolt.

02-01-2012, 02:48 PM	#4 (permalink)
ccdominic Track Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Corpus Christi, TX Posts: 615 Drives: Built LS1/T56 RX7 FD Rep Power: 14	that's alotta mounted items. that looks like a floppy disk reader lol.

02-01-2012, 03:36 PM	#6 (permalink)
AdobePhil Base Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Palm Harbor FL Posts: 211 Drives: 2010 370z Sport Trim Rep Power: 14	Once escort releases a direct wire version of their Live! cord, I should be able to get rid of all the cord clutter, and mount the 9500ix radar detector under the rear view mirror with a blend mount... hiding the wires like god intended. They only have the cigarette lighter version out right now though... so it's my only choice if I want to use the Live! system.

02-01-2012, 03:43 PM	#7 (permalink)
Jsolo Track Member Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: chicago Posts: 783 Drives: '12 G37 6MT Rep Power: 14	That's insane!. I bet a program like waze or googlemaps with traffic would be awesome.

02-02-2012, 02:45 PM	#11 (permalink)
Gungrave Base Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Brandon, FL Posts: 130 Drives: 2010 370Z Rep Power: 1163	So I have a dumb question. Do you have either the 3G model or are you tethering from your phone/MiFi on it? That's the only way I can see it working within the car. Or is there a way to essentially run everything on your Xoom from your phone?

02-02-2012, 05:30 PM	#15 (permalink)
MattP725 A True Z Fanatic Join Date: May 2011 Location: Toms River, NJ Posts: 1,904 Drives: 2010 40th Rep Power: 16	They make this same mount for iPhones... I was planning on getting it eventually.