Before we moved back home to Charleston, SC, we made frequent trips back and forth from Columbia to visit our families in Charleston. This required creativity with a baby in the car.
Liam has never been a good car rider. He rarely sleeps in the car (weird) and when he was an infant, he would just scream (so fun). Since discovering the power of technology, our car rides turned from something out of our worst nightmare to peaceful joy rides. Thank you Baby Einsteins!
My geek and handsome husband designed and 3D printed a unique holder for my iPad mini for Liam’s viewing purposes in the car. It hangs on a bungee cord between the seats for optimal toddler viewing. When My Universal Mount emailed me about trying their product, I was excited to compare their product to my husband’s design.
Okay, let’s talk.
The My Universal Mount (MUM) is sturdy and designed for rear seat passengers. The nice thing is that it fits pretty much all devices with it’s spring-loaded clamps. The spring-loaded clamps makes it insanely easy to place a device or remove a device from the MUM. So far I’ve tried it with my iPad Mini and iPhone 5, as seen below:
It’s a two part mount, one portion clamps onto the headrest and the other one clicks into the first part. This makes it easy to remove the device while you’re either getting in or out of the car or removing the device while your car is parked. The MUM comes in either black or tan to match the interior of your car, or in this case, to match the device.
While the overall usefulness is great, I still have a few issues with the MUM. First, is the inability to angle the devices from left to right. It is primarily for viewing from the seat directly behind the MUM. Our toddler sits in the middle seat, so he has to view from an angle. However, I’m sure it would be perfectly fine for passengers in a larger car, like a mini-van. Secondly, the MUM has a minimum size for which to hold devices. Unfortunately, the iPhone doesn’t fit horizontally, which is optimal for viewing movies. For now, we’ll have to stick with the pre-loaded movies on the iPad Mini. Finally, since the MUM sits directly behind the seat, it doesn’t work well sedans and carseats. As you can see in the photo below:
When we’re on the road, Liam is able to completely kick and push on the MUM and the device that is in it. This wouldn’t be an issue in a larger car or with a child that doesn’t require a carseat. However, in our little sedan, it is sometimes a challenge to distract him from kicking it. And forget about putting the carseat right behind the MUM. He wouldn’t have any leg room at all.
Overall, I think the MUM is a good product and definitely well-built. It’ll last you longer than your electronic device will last you. It’s easily moveable to another car or even another seat. The main detractor of the MUM is the retail price. I quickly researched built-in tv headrests and they go as low as $80. With that said, if I had a larger vehicle, I would consider purchasing one of these units.
You can purchase the MUM on their website for $139.95.
