Tested: / Quad Lock Pro, Anti

The Quad Lock wireless charging head and a phone with a Quad Lock specific phone case. Photo: Quad Lock

The smartphone is changing the world and more and more everyday tasks require one. As a result, having a smartphone close at hand is becoming a necessity versus a "nice to have." Motorcycle riders are no exception, and they are often looking for secure ways of mounting their phones to their bikes.

There are many different types of solutions, including solid mounts, X-mounts, X-mounts with rubber bands, spring release claw-like mounts, etc. However, most of them are similar. They cradle and surround the phone with varying degrees of retention.

But one moto-specific mount uses a somewhat different system. Instead of surrounding the phone, it uses a low-profile locking mechanism that attaches to your phone's back—that system is called the Quad Lock and Quad Lock Pro.

Recently, Quad Lock offered to send me their new Quad Lock Pro mounting system, including their vibration damper and wireless charging head, to test. Better still, Quad Lock didn't place any restrictions on the testing methodology. As such, I agreed to test/review the setup.

I have come up with a couple of non-scientific but hopefully real-world tests that should give you an idea of how well the Quad Lock Pro holds your phone, the effect of the system's vibration damper, and charging. But first, let's talk about the Quad Lock Pro system and construction.

If you wonder what the difference is between the original Quad Lock and the Quad Lock Pro, the major difference is the unit's construction. The new Quad Lock PRO is made with black anodized CNC machined aluminum and comes assembled with a black lever and black stainless steel hardware. The original Quad Lock is made from glass-filled nylon and comes assembled with a blue lever and stainless steel hardware.

The Quad Lock Pro is available with two different types of mounting systems. One is the type that many of us are familiar with, and that's the good ole’ handlebar mount. Now, the Quad Lock Pro is also available in a fork stem mount.

That said, if you are going to use the vibration damper with the Quad Lock Pro, some plastic and rubber will be involved. The vibration absorbing system consists of two semi-free-floating layers of plastic with three rubber pegs between them. It's the rubber pegs that supposedly reduce the vibration of the phone.

A side view of the Quad Lock vibration damper (note the rubber grommets) below the Quad Lock wireless charging head. Photo: Mike Botan

If you are also using Quad Lock's "Weatherproof Wireless Charging Head," it is made largely of metal but has some plastic parts. Quad Lock claims that the unit is "IP 66 water resistant allowing you to ride through the elements." Quad Lock also says that the charging head offers fast charging with 5, 7.5, and 10-watt capability. You also get a USB-A to USB-C cable with the charging head.

To use the Quad Lock Pro system, you must use one of Quad Lock's phone cases unless you are willing to use their adhesive universal adapter. While the adapter is cheaper than the phone case, for an ADV type of application, the phone-specific Quad Lock cases are probably your best bet. They fit tightly and securely to your phone (as they should). You can get Quad Lock cases for many phones, including Galaxy, Pixel, iPhone, and Huawei.

Before I got one, I was concerned about the phone's built-in mounting point. I was worried that it would create an overly large bulge on the back of the case. Because, I often carry my phone in my pocket, I didn't want the mounting point poking me as I walked or make it more difficult to remove the phone from my pocket.

The Quad Lock phone case fits tightly and does not add substantially to the phone's thickness. Photo: Mike Botan

But when the case arrived, I found that the mounting point was nearly flush with the remainder of the case. It's perhaps 2 – 3mm higher than the outside of the case.

The attachment point on the back of he phone. Photo: Mike Botan

According to Quad Lock, the case is made "…with a tough polycarbonate core and impact absorbing TPU edge to edge outer shell…" The case is smooth, so it slides easily into and out of your pocket. However, it is so smooth that you have to be a bit careful while holding on to it.

For this test, I used the handlebar mount. Installation, including the vibration mount and the wireless charging head, is a breeze. It took me less than 10 minutes to mount the whole setup. Easy.

That said, the directions are not the clearest in the world. The Quad Lock system is modular, so you get separate pieces to build your system. In my instance, the phone case, handlebar mount, the vibration damper, and the wireless charging head all came in different boxes. You have to figure out what piece goes where before you mount the system to your bike. However, it is fairly easy to figure out how to put all the pieces together after a couple of minutes.

The Quad Lock wireless charging head and a phone with a Quad Lock specific phone case. Photo: Quad Lock

Your phone attaches to the Quad Lock Pro system using a special adapter with four tabs. The Quad Lock phone case has an indentation into which you insert the adapter with the four tabs. Once in place, you press down and twist the phone to the right. It clicks into place, and you are ready to ride. Attaching the phone with your gloves on is not a problem.

When I first started using the system, getting the phone onto the adapter was a bit fidgety. But once you get the hang of it, it is literally a two or three-second operation. You can later release the phone from the adapter and wireless charging mount by pushing down on the arm(s) underneath the phone. After that, removal is a piece of cake.

That's enough about the Quad Lock Pro's components. Let's get to the testing, shall we? There were a few things I wanted to test during this evaluation.

To accomplish this, I decided to use the Quad Lock Pro handlebar mount on the right side of the handlebar. To the Quad Lock Pro's left, I mounted another manufacturer's spring-loaded claw-type holder using a RAM ball mount. Then, I mounted a GPS above the two phones using a RAM ball mount and a one-inch arm. That arm was then connected to the crossbar Yamaha specifically makes for mounting devices. I note that the crossbar is well known for not being the steadiest mounting point, And the GPS is the heaviest of all three devices. Accordingly, the GPS movement results may be somewhat skewed. But I wanted to have at least two different mounting devices to measure the Quad Lock Pro against.

I used three mounting points for this test. 1.A Quad Lock Pro with wireless head using the handlebar mount (bottom right) 2. A claw mount attached to a RAM ball (bottom left), 3. A factory GPS mount using a RAM mount attached to a device cross bar (top). Photo: Mike Botan

I would then video the devices as I rode on paved and on sandy, wash boarded roads and record the movements of each device.

The first test consisted of riding on relatively smooth pavement with a few bumps and washboards. My speed was between 50 and 55 mph. As you will see in the video, all of the devices were fairly steady, but the GPS moved the most, followed by the Quad Lock Pro and, finally, the claw mount.

There are one or two bigger bumps in the video, and you will notice that the claw device didn't move at all, while the other two did, particularly the GPS. When the Quad Lock Pro mounted phone moved somewhat, at first, I thought that was an indicator that the Quad Lock Pro mount might not be as good as the claw mount. But as I thought about it, the vibration damper is made to move to absorb some of the vibrations instead of transmitting them directly to the device. As such, vibration absorption is traded off for the phone's movement I’m not an engineer, but it makes sense that some movement of the mount transfers some of that vibration to the damper and not the phone.

In the case of the claw mount, the phone was mounted so securely that it likely received a higher level of vibration than the Quad Lock Pro. For phones that use optical image stabilization, high-frequency vibration can damage the phone's camera. For example, Apple's website says:

"Exposing your iPhone to high amplitude vibrations within certain frequency ranges, specifically those generated by high-power motorcycle engines, can degrade the performance of the camera system."

So if the Quad Lock Pro's vibration damper is actually absorbing or at least reducing the vibration experienced by your phone, that's likely a good thing. I also note that once the bump had passed, the phone quickly returned to stationary, with the display being readable.

Hopefully, this bit of testing would give us an idea of what a traveling ADV rider might see and experience when using the three different mounts. I chose a few local dirt roads that are often washboarded and covered in sand.

For this test, I also mounted a camera at the bottom of the bike. The idea is to let you see what the front wheel was experiencing when the devices were subjected to uneven surfaces.

Not surprisingly, this test showed all the devices moving about. Once again, the GPS moved the most, the Quad Lock next, followed by the claw mount. Again, I was forced to question whether the movement of the Quad Lock Pro mounted phone was a good thing or a bad thing.

During some of the washboard riding, the display moved substantially. Even the claw-mounted phone moved somewhat. But if high-frequency vibration is bad for your phone, I wondered whether the Quad Lock Pro's movement was helping to maintain my phone's camera life.

Ultimately, the Quad Lock's vibration mount allowed the phone to move and damped out some of the impacts the phone was experiencing, and it stayed secure in its mount. I was never concerned that the phone it was holding would depart the bike, and that's perhaps the biggest concern.

Unfortunately, the weather during the testing period was Florida sunny all the time. As such, I could not test how the wireless charger performs in the rain. However, the phone always charged to 100% even when multiple apps were running, including Google Maps.

I never tested the charger from 0 percent phone charge, but it took less than an hour to charge my Samsung S10+ from 65 to 100 percent.

Pricing is quite variable depending on the options you choose. The Quad Lock Pro mount is priced at $49.95. A Galaxy S10+ phone case is currently $29.95. The vibration damper will set you back $19.95, and the wireless charging head costs $74.95. All up, that means the system used in this test retails for $173.95. That's not an insubstantial price. If you don't purchase the wireless charging head, you are at about $100 all up.

My testing did not use anything close to scientific methods. All I could do was observe what happened to the phone when in the Quad Lock Pro mount and compare it against the other two. When all was said and done, the Quad Lock Pro moved more than the claw mount but less than the GPS mount.

There's still the question of whether that movement is beneficial for the phone compared to being held rigidly in place, such as in the case of the claw device. I suspect it's better for the phone since at least some high-frequency vibes were likely damped out. But I don't have any scientific measurements to say one way or another with certainty.

However you decide to build your Quad Lock Pro mount, you will get a system that securely holds your phone and makes it easy to attach and detach it. It will also keep your phone charged at 100%. Finally, the vibration damper may reduce some of the high-frequency vibration your phone may experience. With some phones costing over $1,000, having a vibration damper seems like fairly cheap insurance to help extend your phone's camera life.

When all is said and done, I liked the Quad Lock Pro mounting system. It's easy to install. It makes it easy to attach and remove your phone from the mount. The phone is held securely, kept fully charged, and hopefully subjected to less damaging vibration. And, the device remained readable for all but the biggest bumps. For me, that makes the Quad Lock Pro a worthwhile investment for riders who are looking for secure phone mounting on pavement and rough road work.