HTC Rezound Car Dock (swivel style) - CraigsDocks
Let me start off by saying I don't do a lot of reviews, forgive me if I suck at this, but I was compelled to do this one because I purchased the ibolt car dock from Verizon and was very disappointed so I found an alternative and want to prevent others from making the same mistake I did, being that the ibolt/Verizon dock is all I have to compare it to I will be doing so throughout the review.
Most of this info can be gathered from the video below so skip to that if you don't want to read this.
When I received my dock I was surprised most by all the extras it comes with, you receive a very long USB charge cable(good for hidden permanent routing#, 2 wire routing clips, 3 zip ties, plenty of extra double sided tape, 2 alcohol wipes
,and a metal wire to help remove the hard mount if you want to move it, and an alen/hex key for tightening the 2 set screws in set up.
The dock itself is made of aluminum not plastic, and is an extremely simple design that once set up has only one moving part, anyone who works in any sort of mechanical field knows that this is a very good thing for durability.
The set up of the dock is more involved than just putting in the correct insert and going, but is not complicated at all. You have to set the depth of the cable block to match the depth of your phone with whatever case or extended battery set up you have, then the block is locked that position with double sided tape. The one draw back to this is that it is somewhat permanent and if you have different setups that change the thickness of your phone the position of the USB cable cannot easily be adjusted to match, you would have to remove the double sided tape, replace it, and reposition the block. I plan on using the same case/battery setup all the time so this is not an issue for me. You also set the depth of the microusb male plug itself so that it can reach the receiver in the phone, the plug may have to protrude more or less depending if your phone is naked or has a thick case, this is done with a simple set screw on the cable block. The other adjustment is the side stop which lines your phone up horizontally with the plug, this is also set with a simple set screw. Overall the set up of the dock itself took about 3 minutes.
Here is a video that shows the process of setting it up.
Mounting the dock. To mount the dock with the optional suction cup mount is self explanatory, I will say that the suction cup mount with this dock is a far better design than the ibolt, it seems much more sturdy and the range of articulation is much better. The dock does not come with this mount though it is extra, $9.99 I believe.
The dock does come with a hard mount block which is affixed to wherever you choose via double sided foam tape. Anyone worried about the tape not holding, DON'T. It is some sticky stuff, its not going anywhere. I used this mount and it is, like the dock, a very simple, sturdy design, no worries about it lasting.
Basically you figure out where you want it, stick it, tighten the dock to it and forget it. The one small draw back is that this mount does not articulate at all other than twisting from landscape to portrait. You will have to find a flat surface that is in a good place and at a good angle for viewing, I had several that would work fine and simply chose the one I liked best.
Looks. I think the dock looks great, it is very small and sleek, compared to other docks it looks like your phone is just floating free in space. When the phone is not in the dock its even more of a difference, there just isn't much to this thing so you don't even notice it there. Low profile would be the perfect term for it.
Clunky/bulky right? lol
If you have a Bluetooth set up it can look even cleaner, my wires are not set up totally yet.
I plan on routing the charging and audio cable completely hidden and even installing a hidden dedicated 12v outlet to power it.
Speaking of power. I used a generic 1A USB car charger. And as you can see from the picture below I was able to get a positive charge on the phone with the screen at full brightness 4g, gps, WiFi on, navigation running, transparent Pandora running w/ a live background, outputting through the headphones at max volume. The Ibolt without ridiculous modifications would be running at atleast -500mA in this set up.
In use The dock is very solid and sturdy, it does not bounce around on rough roads.
Mounting and unmounting the phone are done in a single fluid motion, it snaps right in and out without fail, I recall my ibolt needing a little wiggle every couple times to get it to sit on the plug. This is likely due to the one size fits all insert for a cased phone, not all cases are the same thickness, this dock adjusts to fit your phone in your specific case, both the depth to reach the plug and the depth of your phone are able to be set on the cable block so that the plug is in exactly the right place to accept your phone everytime.
Last but certainly not least, perhaps most importantly, it charges, cuz, uh yeah, its a dock, it should charge your phone. The dock does not take any power, your phone will charge the same in the dock as it does on just the charger.
Conclusion. Short and simple, if you don't plan on the thickness of your phone changing very often, and if you are not disgusted by the looks(which I don't get considering the alternative cheap plastic monstrosity), you should buy this dock, or wait for another one to become available because the ibolt/Verizon dock is junk.
HTC Rezound Car Dock (swivel style) - CraigsDocks
Let me start off by saying I don't do a lot of reviews, forgive me if I suck at this, but I was compelled to do this one because I purchased the ibolt car dock from Verizon and was very disappointed so I found an alternative and want to prevent others from making the same mistake I did, being that the ibolt/Verizon dock is all I have to compare it to I will be doing so throughout the review.
Most of this info can be gathered from the video below so skip to that if you don't want to read this.
When I received my dock I was surprised most by all the extras it comes with, you receive a very long USB charge cable(good for hidden permanent routing#, 2 wire routing clips, 3 zip ties, plenty of extra double sided tape, 2 alcohol wipes
,and a metal wire to help remove the hard mount if you want to move it, and an alen/hex key for tightening the 2 set screws in set up.
The dock itself is made of aluminum not plastic, and is an extremely simple design that once set up has only one moving part, anyone who works in any sort of mechanical field knows that this is a very good thing for durability.
The set up of the dock is more involved than just putting in the correct insert and going, but is not complicated at all. You have to set the depth of the cable block to match the depth of your phone with whatever case or extended battery set up you have, then the block is locked that position with double sided tape. The one draw back to this is that it is somewhat permanent and if you have different setups that change the thickness of your phone the position of the USB cable cannot easily be adjusted to match, you would have to remove the double sided tape, replace it, and reposition the block. I plan on using the same case/battery setup all the time so this is not an issue for me. You also set the depth of the microusb male plug itself so that it can reach the receiver in the phone, the plug may have to protrude more or less depending if your phone is naked or has a thick case, this is done with a simple set screw on the cable block. The other adjustment is the side stop which lines your phone up horizontally with the plug, this is also set with a simple set screw. Overall the set up of the dock itself took about 3 minutes.
Here is a video that shows the process of setting it up.
Mounting the dock. To mount the dock with the optional suction cup mount is self explanatory, I will say that the suction cup mount with this dock is a far better design than the ibolt, it seems much more sturdy and the range of articulation is much better. The dock does not come with this mount though it is extra, $9.99 I believe.
The dock does come with a hard mount block which is affixed to wherever you choose via double sided foam tape. Anyone worried about the tape not holding, DON'T. It is some sticky stuff, its not going anywhere. I used this mount and it is, like the dock, a very simple, sturdy design, no worries about it lasting.
Basically you figure out where you want it, stick it, tighten the dock to it and forget it. The one small draw back is that this mount does not articulate at all other than twisting from landscape to portrait. You will have to find a flat surface that is in a good place and at a good angle for viewing, I had several that would work fine and simply chose the one I liked best.
Looks. I think the dock looks great, it is very small and sleek, compared to other docks it looks like your phone is just floating free in space. When the phone is not in the dock its even more of a difference, there just isn't much to this thing so you don't even notice it there. Low profile would be the perfect term for it.
Clunky/bulky right? lol
If you have a Bluetooth set up it can look even cleaner, my wires are not set up totally yet.
I plan on routing the charging and audio cable completely hidden and even installing a hidden dedicated 12v outlet to power it.
Speaking of power. I used a generic 1A USB car charger. And as you can see from the picture below I was able to get a positive charge on the phone with the screen at full brightness 4g, gps, WiFi on, navigation running, transparent Pandora running w/ a live background, outputting through the headphones at max volume. The Ibolt without ridiculous modifications would be running at atleast -500mA in this set up.
In use The dock is very solid and sturdy, it does not bounce around on rough roads.
Mounting and unmounting the phone are done in a single fluid motion, it snaps right in and out without fail, I recall my ibolt needing a little wiggle every couple times to get it to sit on the plug. This is likely due to the one size fits all insert for a cased phone, not all cases are the same thickness, this dock adjusts to fit your phone in your specific case, both the depth to reach the plug and the depth of your phone are able to be set on the cable block so that the plug is in exactly the right place to accept your phone everytime.
Last but certainly not least, perhaps most importantly, it charges, cuz, uh yeah, its a dock, it should charge your phone. The dock does not take any power, your phone will charge the same in the dock as it does on just the charger.
Conclusion. Short and simple, if you don't plan on the thickness of your phone changing very often, and if you are not disgusted by the looks(which I don't get considering the alternative cheap plastic monstrosity), you should buy this dock, or wait for another one to become available because the ibolt/Verizon dock is junk.
HTC Rezound Car Dock (swivel style) - CraigsDocks
