The next feature up for praise is the convenience factor provided by the Vicseed Car Phone Mount. This accessory boasts a long arm design that’s suitably robust enough for even larger smartphones but it’s also telescopic, which can extend from 4.84-inches right up to 9.05-inches. That’s decent, although vibration and bumps can tend to make the longer reach option a little less desirable if you’re of a nervous disposition. While phone holders work well when mounted in, on or around the dashboard area, another route you can take is to go for the windshield-friendly accessory instead. In the case of the Exshow Car Mount holder you get a great solution that works with most smartphone models. Read our full Celestron NexYZ review Tele Vue FoneMate Smart Phone Eyepiece Adapter Tele Vue FoneMate Smart Phone Eyepiece Adapter

Like many other models, this one works via a clamp system that can be adjusted to hold your phone in place, with the lens centred over the eyepiece. Telescopes with smartphone adapters includedThere’s every chance you’ve been in at least one minicab where part of the windscreen is covered by a wall of phones. That’s not an example to follow.

Once you've got it set up, all you need to do is make sure you get a good capture of your chosen target! Image of a quasar (circled) 3c 273 (two billion Ly) using a Stargate 500, 26mm eyepiece, NexYZ and iPhone 7 What to look for in a smartphone telescope adapter Once it’s there, it’s going to stay there, no matter how bumpy the road gets – something that can’t always be said of some of the clamp-style holders. There’s also no maximum phone size to worry about – it will handle devices of up to 650g – and the joint means it works at a decent range of angles. As long as you’re happy with the metal plate on your phone or in its case, this is the best windscreen mount to go for. While phone holders might appear to be a little humdrum, some of these accessories are even handier. The iOttie Easy One Touch Wireless 2, for example, not only allows you to keep your smartphone safe and secure, it’ll also recharge it wirelessly. Again, top marks go to iOttie for designing a unit that’s very nicely made and there are variations so you can choose between dashboard or windshield mounting, cup holder and vent editions too. Turn the directional knobs to align your phone so that its camera lens is centred on the eyepiece, and you're ready to go. We were able to capture a range of targets including the Moon and deep-sky objects using the NightCap app, and we were very impressed.They’ve even got one that’ll attach to a CD slot if you’ve still got such a thing in your vehicle. While it’s certainly possible to marry the iOttie Easy One Touch Wireless 2 accessory to old school hardware there’s nothing out of date about the wireless capability of this accessory. On top of that, this is another great little design, with a magnetic cord organizer that helps avoid a tangle of cables in the car. We used the NexYZ with a Stargate 500 GoTo Dobsonian, an Equinox 80 ED refractor and our 100mm spotting scope. Certain phone mounts have clips or arms that hold the phone securely: you simply slide the device into place when you get into the car and remove it when you leave. The Altair Astro self-centering smartphone adaptor is fairly easy to set up and use and it works well. Many of us are bound to have tried it at some point. There you are, refractor pointed at the Moon, gazing in wonder as the terminator emphasises the glorious structures of lunar craters and mountains.

It positions the phone at the correct distance from your eyepieceand the right lateral position, enabling you to adjust the exposure and focus to get your image looking good.Some telescope kits even come with their own smartphone adapter, so if you're entirely new to astronomy and think you might want to capture what you see, these are a good option. For more advice, read our guides to the best smartphone astrophotography gadgets and how to photograph the night sky with your smartphone. It's offered at a reasonable price and comes with a good, sturdy tripod, 20mm and 10mm Kellner eyepieces and a 90° erect image diagonal (meaning the telescope is suitable for terrestrial observations).

The telescopic arm on the one we tried was fab too, with an additional pivot capability that delivers plenty of scope for viewing your phone screen no matter where you’ve got it mounted. Similarly, the version with a suction cup works particularly well, which is always reassuring if you’re the owner of a highly prized and rather large smartphone. Its arm is reasonably sturdy too while still being easily retracted at the tap of a button, the idea being that all adjustments take mere seconds. The phone holder uses a suction cup which should be fairly reliable but we do worry about any sudden temperature changes slowly having an effect. On the plus side, there's no need to worry about any residue when using it. Also, it works either by attaching it to the air vent, dashboard, or windshield.

The best in-car phone holders you can buy in 2023

Examples include making and receiving calls and using navigation apps (GPS), among other things. Suction or vent mount: Which should you get? The other great thing about this model is that it’s able to cope with all manner of larger phones, which is no bad thing given so many models are pretty beefy. It can, for example, handle the largest iPhone model with ease, but the Kenu Airframe Pro is able to hold a raft of other models and seems compatible with pretty much every relevant handset around today. Kenu does have other variations on the theme though, so if you’ve got a smaller phone there are buying options on that front too.