Setup:

The set up for this device is as simple as you would imagine. After inserting the vent clip into the socket of the Bolt you just need to find a suitable vent to clip this to. Once you find your spot you press the tab on the clip, position the clip over a vane and release. Then plug the 12V adapter in and run the included USB cable from the orange port to the USB C port on the bottom of the Bolt.



Performance:

I have been using this charger for a couple of weeks now, and I have to say I am thoroughly impressed with the automated side arms. The sensor on the top is very responsive and makes opening the jaws very easy. Likewise the IR sensor on the front works perfectly to close these arms when you put your device in position. But it should be noted to check your positioning carefully. When I first mounted the device I was getting some weird behavior. It turned out that the side arms were pressing on the side buttons. But simply adjusting the lower device support allowed me to eliminate this issue. The only problem I did have and it only happened once, is that I waved over the top to open the mount and the phone dropped out completely. Luckily I was able to catch it, but the lack of foam on the bottom support makes them a bit slippery. As mentioned previously, this is an easy fix with foam tape. It can also be eliminated by ensuring the mount it tipped back at the top and your device is flat against the mount. But overall I was very happy with the ease to which you enter and exit the vehicle with this new mount.

But I did run into a few other issues with the mount. While the vent clip jaws seem very strong I had a tough time getting the device to stay connected. Looking closer at the vanes on my vehicles vent, they do appear to be somewhat tapered. I think this taper slowly pushes the clip off, but this is going to be a vehicle dependent thing. Also, while they describe this mount as being able to rotate between portrait and landscape I was not able to do this for two reasons. First was the USB C port location. Since it is located on the bottom of the device, when you rotate the mount the cable needs a lot of slack to move to the new position. In my case I like to keep exposed wires to a minimum, and the service loop needed for this was an eyesore. I would have preferred this port be on the back so the cable is not seen at all and the service loop could be shorter. But if you are not going to route your cable through the dash this is a non-issue for you. But what will be an issue is the socket joint. The distance from the clip mount to the plane your phone mounts is 52 mm. When you install a large mobile device that far out you have quite a bit of cantilevered load so you need to make the ball tight. But making it tight means rotation is either not possible or it loosens this connection and the unit flops. I also found rotating the device caused the vent clip to get loose but this could be due to that taper I mentioned previously. But this isn’t a deal breaker for me; I will just keep the phone in portrait mode and occasionally check the clip.



Ultimately though, most people will be buying the Bolt for the Qi wireless charging. For this part of the testing I was using an LG G7 ThinQ which supports Qi charging. When I first tried to charge the device nothing happened. I knew there were a limitations on case thickness and no metal between the coils, but this case was a thin TPU case with no known metal. I ended up measuring this case and it is only 2.1 mm. I didn’t think this was particularly thick so I was a bit disappointed. But to test things further I tried another case, this one was much thicker (4.3 mm) but clear so I was sure there was no metal. This time the phone started charging. So even though the thin case isn’t magnetic it must have some other metal backing that is blocking the coil. Keep this in mind if you have issues with your case installed. Even though I was able to charge through the thicker case I decided to do all tests without a case installed to represent best case scenarios.

Without the case, as soon as the mobile device is placed into the mount you see the charging indicator come on. I found that typically this charger could charge an unused device from around 50% to 100% in about 110 min vs 65 min with the LG OEM charger. The OEM charger is also a Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 device but it has no losses through the coil and is rated for 18W, so it is expected to be faster. If you just take the wattage ratings of each device; 10W and 18W, you would expect to see the OEM charger be 1.8 times faster. Comparing the charge times we see the OEM charger is only 1.7 times faster than the Bolt, so I am confident this device is able to push the claimed 10W. But what I find most important is that the device can have GPS running with screen on at 75% brightness and stream Pandora over BT and still continue to increase its charge. This is super important for those long road trips. Several times in the past we have had devices die that were plugged in just because the draw was greater than the rate of charging. Not the case with this device.