Well, I recieved the Arkon SR85 in the mail yesterday, got it installed and have to say initial thoughts on it are good to excellent. I'll first start off with a description of what is included in the package. There is a gooseneck, an adapter to put into your cigarette lighter with a 12v plug in on it, and a mounting attachment for cell phones or PDA's.
When I opened up the package, I was a little worried seeing that it is a gooseneck style mount. I had tried one before and it failed completely on me. After installing this one, gooseneck style has won me over! As you can see below, this is the attachment that you install into the Cig lighter in your vehicle, then attach the gooseneck to it. I opted not to use this, as I already have two 12v's in front and the size of the whole setup is increased quite a bit more.
Installation was very simple. The gooseneck has the correct end for the Skyfi already to go so all you have to do is slip it right on. Then plug the other end into your cig lighter, bend the gooseneck and your all set. As you can see below, the final installation is fairly clean. It would be nice it have an open tube in the gooseneck for the wires, but using wire ties will do. The ability to aim my SkyFi how I want, and having it up higher compared to my old install is awesome.
I noticed that the Skyfi does bounce VERY MINIMALLY, and at first I thought it was the Gooseneck. I then noticed that it is the plastic holding my Cig Lighter that is weak and makes the unit shake over bumps. Please understand, when I say shake, I mean VERY VERY minimally. It has to be a fairly large bump to make it do it, and again, it doesn't seem to be the gooseneck doing it. The whole unit seems very tight, although getting the Skyfi out of it's cradle does take some practice. The gooseneck does bend when you take the skyfi out so using two hands is a must. With the other gooseneck that I tried, when I drove it would slowly start to tilt to one side or the other. With Arkon's, there is a tightening nut that increases the rubber ring that goes into the cig lighter. Once its tightened, its going NO WHERE!
Final thoughts, like I said, I had a sour taste in my mouth from previous gooseneck styles but this has comforted those. I am very particular about looks and clean installations in my vehicle (1999 Jeep Cherokee)and have no problems with this one at all. BTW, us jeep owners now that finding a place to mount anything inside can be very difficult, this fixed that for me! The unit is solid except for having to use two hands to take the Skyfi out of it's crib. All in all, will I keep using the unit? Yep. Would I buy this unit if I saw it in the store? No, and the reason is because of the bad experience I had with goosenecks before. Would I buy this unit if I had tried it and saw it in the store? Absolutely!
When I opened up the package, I was a little worried seeing that it is a gooseneck style mount. I had tried one before and it failed completely on me. After installing this one, gooseneck style has won me over! As you can see below, this is the attachment that you install into the Cig lighter in your vehicle, then attach the gooseneck to it. I opted not to use this, as I already have two 12v's in front and the size of the whole setup is increased quite a bit more.
Installation was very simple. The gooseneck has the correct end for the Skyfi already to go so all you have to do is slip it right on. Then plug the other end into your cig lighter, bend the gooseneck and your all set. As you can see below, the final installation is fairly clean. It would be nice it have an open tube in the gooseneck for the wires, but using wire ties will do. The ability to aim my SkyFi how I want, and having it up higher compared to my old install is awesome.
I noticed that the Skyfi does bounce VERY MINIMALLY, and at first I thought it was the Gooseneck. I then noticed that it is the plastic holding my Cig Lighter that is weak and makes the unit shake over bumps. Please understand, when I say shake, I mean VERY VERY minimally. It has to be a fairly large bump to make it do it, and again, it doesn't seem to be the gooseneck doing it. The whole unit seems very tight, although getting the Skyfi out of it's cradle does take some practice. The gooseneck does bend when you take the skyfi out so using two hands is a must. With the other gooseneck that I tried, when I drove it would slowly start to tilt to one side or the other. With Arkon's, there is a tightening nut that increases the rubber ring that goes into the cig lighter. Once its tightened, its going NO WHERE!
Final thoughts, like I said, I had a sour taste in my mouth from previous gooseneck styles but this has comforted those. I am very particular about looks and clean installations in my vehicle (1999 Jeep Cherokee)and have no problems with this one at all. BTW, us jeep owners now that finding a place to mount anything inside can be very difficult, this fixed that for me! The unit is solid except for having to use two hands to take the Skyfi out of it's crib. All in all, will I keep using the unit? Yep. Would I buy this unit if I saw it in the store? No, and the reason is because of the bad experience I had with goosenecks before. Would I buy this unit if I had tried it and saw it in the store? Absolutely!
