(To be clear, "waterproof" in the title means weatherproof... not 2 meters under water)
Interphone is a division of Cellular Line, the biggest cell phone accessories maker in Europe. Interphone products are designed for the motorcycle and power sport enthusiast and include waterproof Bluetooth motorcycle intercoms and accessories. Naturally if you are riding with a waterproof motorcycle headset there is a good chance that circumstances will arise where your audio source, a GPS or phone, may need to be exposed to the elements as well. So Interphone came up with their motorcycle GPS and iPhone holders with handle mounting kits.
The Interphone SM43 is designed for GPS and electronics with a 4.3" screen (also available is a SM35 for 3.5" screen devices). The holder / case is made up of thick but flexible plastic, a water resistant zipper and clear screen cover which is just thin enough that you can use an electrostatic touch screen through it (with effort and sometimes multiple attempts). It has a pass through port for the device power cord and a D-link for connecting the included tether to the handle bars. Three different thicknesses of spacers are also included to put behind the device and keep it tight against the clear protector window.
The Interphone iPhone 4 / 4S case with motorcycle mount is a hard plastic clam shell that splits the depth of the phone with a hinge at the top, rubber cushion and water sealing around the edges and a latching clamp on each side which hold pressure on the sealing surface. It has provisions for both of the iPhone cameras, a charging port and the headphone jack. Because the top hinge is outside the shell and the charging connector area is inside the case (it seals around the cable) the total length of the Interphone case extends the iPhone length by about an inch. For this reason you would not want to use the Interphone iPhone case as a normal every day case but the design allows for easy entry and removal of the phone when you do want to use the iPhone on your motorcycle.
All of the Interphone holders slide on to the motorcycle handle bar mounts and lock in with a plastic tab. Prying down the tab with one finger allows the holder to slide off the mount and quickly be removed while the mount stays on the bike. When you buy the device holders, you can choose either a round bar mount clamp or a non-round mounting system. Both are made entirely of plastic and are not particularly robust but do their job fine. The round handle bar clamp is quite simple. It includes 3 positions for different handle bar diameters from 3/4" up to 1 1/8". A simple thumb screw is used for tightening it on to the motorcycle handle bar. There is a ball and socket that allows the device connecting point to be swiveled 360 degrees and angled about 15 degrees in any direction. This 15 degree angle is NOT enough to allow it to be mounted to the riser part of the handle bars. It must be installed on the horizontal area of the handle bar. We would have preferred to have a more flexible or adjustable design but so long as you have a free horizontal area on your bars it will work great. The 2nd mounting option, for non-tubular motorcycle bars, is less elegant. It is essentially a giant ¾" wide zip tie that can be released and reused or re-adjusted. It does however have 2 ball / socket hinge points about 3" apart and allows for more mounting options than the simple tubular mounting hardware.
If you need a quick simple solution for mounting your GPS or iPhone on your motorcycle handle bars and are worried about the weather, the Interphone cell phone holders may fill your needs perfectly. If you are looking for a robust design that can handle adventure touring, light or heavy off road use consider the RAM Mount line up instead.
Jonathan Clark is owner of Spoiled Biker, a motorcycle intercom and accessories shop in New Bern North Carolina. Spoiled Biker carries theInterphone GPS and cellphone holders described above as well as the Interphone F5 Bluetooth motorcycle intercoms.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jonathan_D_Clark
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