Phone, GPS and Tablet Mounts for a Nissan Murano

2016 Nissan Murano InteriorI recently purchased a Nissan Murano.  Hooray for me.  You should not be surprised to know that one of the first things I wanted to do was mount my smartphone in my Murano.  Turns out it wasn’t as simple as it had been in other cars I have owned.  So here I am writing an article to help other Nissan Murano owners looking to mount a cell phone, tablet or GPS in their car.

The Nissan Murano is a great looking car on the exterior and interior.  It’s unlike anything I ever encountered.  Not an ounce of wood on the inside, it’s all leather and chrome.  The design lines bend in ways I haven’t seen before.  I feel like I’m sitting on a Disney ride.  That’s where the challenges come in.  Traditional mounts may not work that well on a Nissan Murano.  A photo of the interior of my Murano accompanies this article.

Nissan Murano Mount Analysis

The windshield is always a good location for mounting a phone or GPS and that remains the case with this vehicle.  A vent mount is a little tricky because of the vent location.

The Nissan Murano has a severely sloped windshield.  Most dash mounts aren’t going to work well because there isn’t enough clearance.  You can also forget about mounting a tablet here.  Simply not enough space.

If your Nissan Murano has a CD player, that’s a great location for a phone.

The last mounting location I considered was a seat bolt or floor mount.  Seat bolt mounts are traditionally excellent for tablets and phones.  Not here.  The seat bolt isn’t a traditional one that can easily be loosened for a mounting claw attachment.  You can use a floor mount but would have to drill some holes into the floor board.  It’s a new car so I’m not going to do that.  Negative on the seat bolt and floor mount.

The Best Mount Locations in a Nissan Murano

The next place I decided to check was the windshield.  I went to my go-to mount for this location which is the Arkon MegaGrip Suction Cup Windshield and Dash Mount.  This worked great.  It fits my Apple iPhone 6s Plus with a big thick Otterbox Defender case so it’s going to fit almost any phone.   The mount features a vacuum locked suction assembly attached to a pivoting arm.  The phone can swivel into any orientation.  The mount also comes with an adhesive disk that you can stick to the dash to turn the mount into a console mount (don’t do this until you read the next paragraph).  The suction assembly can adhere to the adhesive disk just like it would on a windshield.  I used these on the windshield of several other cars and they work great.

The middle air vents could be a good choice for mounting a phone so consider the Andobil Air Vent Mount.  This mount can be used to hold most phone models with or without a case.  The ball and socket design facilitates a 360 degree rotation.  The included cradle opens to accommodate phones up to 3.75 inches wide.  Point this slightly downwards to get the best view.

Apple iPhone owners can scope out the Andobil MagSafe Air Vent Mount which is the same mount but with a magnetic adapter that pairs perfectly.

The Andobil Air Vent Mount can also be used for a Garmin GPS too.  All Garmin vehicle GPS devices made over the past ten years include a custom cradle that has a 17mm socket on the back.  Remove the cradle from the Andobil mount and you have a 17mm ball.  Just snap the Garmin cradle onto the mount minus the cradle and your GPS can be mounted to the air vent.

On the custom side is the Karltys Compatible with Cell Phone Holder for Nissan Murano.  This fits a variety of years and models so double check for your year and trim level.  This mount fits in between the middle air vents.  An interesting mount.

Some Interesting Alternative Mount Locations in a Nissan Murano

Turns out the CD Player is a good spot for mounting a cell phone or tablet in a Nissan Murano.  For those that don’t have the navigation package, it’s a great place for a GPS. Consider the Apps2Car CD Slot Mount uses a knob on the bottom to secure the mount within the CD player. I prefer this mount to others in this category as it will permit a more custom and secure fitting.  You don’t want the mount to rattle around inside the player.  The cradle opens to almost 4 inches which is wide enough for most phones and many GPS devices.

Consider the Cup Holder Mount for Tablets and Phones.  This mount includes two different cradles and has an extended neck to make the mount a little higher than others.  One for a phone and another for a tablet.  The mount is adjustable and solidly made to easily handle the weight of your tablet.  You will see a lot of mounts on the market for tablets or cell phones.  This is the only car mounts that offers two different cradles, one for the phone, the other for the tablet.  The tablet cradle will hold devices up to 12.9 inches but we suggest limiting it to nothing larger than an iPad Mini.

Mount Summary

So there you have it.  A windshield mount will work fine.  A cup holder mount is good and so is the CD Player.  The vent can be used with the right mount.  The other typical locations are a challenge.