Taotronics Universal Cradle Clamp

The Taotronics Universal Cradle Clamp is an affordable phone mount that works well for rides at a more relaxed pace, but it sits quite high off the handlebar and vibrates a lot if the terrain is anything other than smooth.

• Pros: Holds the phone securely, easy to fit
• Cons: Sits quite high off the bar, quite shaky

The whole cradle seems well made, with a plastic main body and metal used within the clamp closure system. It fastens to the bar with a fairly rudimentary clamp, with a QR-style cam action screw to tighten it. You get silicone rubber inserts to sit within the clamp, designed to prevent wobbles as well as to protect your bar. It'll fit bars from 18-40mm diameter.

The phone mount attaches to the clamp and consists of a platform with a silicone grip area on it, two arms either side of the platform, and a rubber strap that hooks around each corner of the phone.

It's designed to accommodate a variety of phone sizes, from 5cm to 10cm (from an iPhone 4S to an iPhone 6S Plus); you simply push in the arms manually to keep the phone in place, with the rubber straps placed over each corner to keep everything secure. In practice this setup kept my phone within the holder nicely and throughout the review it never looked like it would fall out.

To release it there is a button on the side which opens the arms and lets you remove the phone.

Although the clamping system works pretty well, I noticed quite a bit of movement when riding on high pressure, narrow tyres over bumpy ground. The phone holder sits quite high off the bar – roughly 6cm – and this seems to exaggerate every slight wobble.

I should stress that throughout the review period at no point did my phone go flying from the mount, it was held securely, but at the same time I didn't feel particularly comfortable having it shaken about on long or bumpy rides. On my relatively short and smooth commuting routes it was perfectly adequate.

> Find more road.cc reviews of phone mounts here

The Cradle Clamp also has the ability to rotate 360 degrees, so you can have your phone sitting portrait or landscape, which is useful when using it for navigation.

Value-wise the Cradle Clamp is pretty good – an RRP of £10.99 (currently on offer at £7.99 on Amazon) puts it at the lower end of the scale when it comes to phone mounts. The similar style Oso Velo X Cyclomount Bike Mount Holder that Jez tested back in 2015 was twice the price at £19.99 (now £17.49), and others we've tested on road.cc are more expensive.

Overall I have slightly mixed feelings about the Cradle Clamp. It held my phone in place well throughout the review period, and on smoother, slower rides it did its job perfectly. However, the height it sits off the bar meant that when my ride took in slightly rougher roads or faster sections my phone got shaken around more than I was comfortable with. That said, for those looking for a simple-to-use mount for slower, smoother rides this is a good low price option.

Verdict

Decent phone mount for slower, smoother rides, but lots of movement when the going gets rough