This MagSafe phone holder survived my 850-mile road trip (and it's half price for Black Friday)

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

What's the deal?

The Syncwire MagSafe Car Phone Holder has had it's price tag slashed in half, and is now only $11.

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ZDNET's key takeaways

Syncwire MagSafe Car Phone Holder is available from Amazon for $22.The accessory is easy to fit and refit, strong enough to hold the heaviest iPhone, and won't smash the air vent.
It doesn't have built-in wireless charging, but for the price, I can't complain.

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I test and review a lot of gear, but sometimes, I find something by accident that ends up being a total game-changer. This is what happened to me the other day.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

Here's the story: I needed to drive a van on an 850-mile cross-country trip across the U.K. This trip had to be completed within 24 hours, and given the size of the vehicle and the tight schedule, I couldn't afford any mishaps. Unlike a modern car, this van didn't have Android Auto or Apple CarPlay, so my iPhone had to become my navigation tool.

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I needed a phone holder that would securely affix to the van, keep my iPhone within arm's reach, and hold it securely without damaging the dashboard. I usually have a lot of in-car phone mounts, but I had nothing suitable at the time. So, I grabbed a Syncwire MagSafe Car Phone Holder from Amazon, and I'm so glad I did.

A van is a great environment for testing car mounts; the dashboard is sparse, the whole vehicle rattles and shakes like it's going to fall apart, and the windshield is often too far away to use a suction cup holder -- you'd need a telescope to see the phone! The Syncwire phone holder ended up being perfect. 

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First off, the specially designed vent clamp has several features to hold your phone securely without ripping a vent off your vehicle's dashboard. On the end that connects the holder to your vent is a retractable polymer hook on an arm that can adjust its length from 8 to 30 mm (0.3 - 1.3 inches), and the tightening knob features an anti-overtightening mechanism that prevents you from cranking down on the clamp until something breaks.

Syncwire

The part that interfaces with the vents is also equipped with four raised silicone pads to ensure a secure and stable hold without scratching the vent blades. It's incredibly well-designed. But it doesn't end there. 

The section that magnetically attaches to your phone is also very sturdy. The powerful neodymium magnets in the holding ring were more than enough to hold my armor-encased iPhone 15 Pro Max on the roughest roads. The holder's open ring design didn't block airflow from the vent, so I could keep my phone cool in the van despite it being about 80°F outside with no air conditioning.

The pivot point between the vent clamp and the MagSafe ring features a 360-degree ball that allows the phone to be adjusted to the perfect viewing angle and locked down with a screw clamp. Even after 800+ miles, it didn't come loose.

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The clamp is constructed from heat-resistant plastic and aluminum alloy, making it strong and durable. It's rugged enough to withstand mistreatment -- which it needed to be because I managed to drop it onto a concrete floor and tread on it before even fitting it in the van! 

ZDNET's buying advice

I bought the Syncwire MagSafe Car Phone Holder as a cheap phone holder for the trip -- it's $22 -- and I had no intention of reviewing it, but it blew away all my expectations. Sure, it's a passive mount with no wireless charging, and it doesn't necessarily look as stylish and fancy as ones from Belkin and ESR, but sometimes, simple is better, and in this case, that's exactly what I got.