Car Tech & In-Car Accessories 🚗
In-Car Tech: Mounts, Chargers, Dash Cams & More (29)
Choosing In-Car Tech
Start with the job you want done — navigation, charging, recording or hands-free — then pick the accessory that fits your car and phone. The guidance below covers the choices that actually affect how well each one works day to day.
Magnetic mounts are quick to grab and release but need a metal plate on your phone or case. Clamp (cradle) mounts hold any phone securely, including heavier ones. For placement, vent mounts are tidy but can block airflow, dashboard/windscreen suction mounts give the best viewing angle — choose based on your car's layout and how you use GPS.
A modern car charger should support USB-C Power Delivery so it can fast-charge a phone, and ideally a higher-wattage port if you want to charge a tablet or laptop on a long trip. Dual-port models charge a phone and a passenger device at once. Match the wattage to your devices and use a cable rated for fast charging.
Resolution (clear, readable footage), a wide field of view, and good night/low-light performance are the essentials. Loop recording overwrites old footage automatically, and parking mode records while you're away. A rear camera adds protection from behind. On SA roads, clear footage is genuinely useful for insurance claims and disputes.
If your car lacks Bluetooth, a Bluetooth FM transmitter or a Bluetooth aux adapter adds wireless calling and music streaming cheaply. FM transmitters work in almost any car via the radio; aux/Bluetooth receivers give cleaner sound if you have an aux input. Both let you take hands-free calls and stream from your phone.
Wireless CarPlay/Android Auto adapters let a wired-only head unit connect to your phone without a cable, mirroring maps, music and messages on the car screen. Check that your car's infotainment system supports wired CarPlay or Android Auto first — the adapter makes it wireless, it doesn't add the feature where it's absent.