Hands On With The Quad Lock System

There are literally thousands of different protective phone cases, car mounts, mike mounts and arm-bands for today’s smartphones. But there are relatively few systems that let you use the same case across different scenarios. Instead of having to extract your phone from its case when you use an arm-band or want to clip your phone to your bike, why can’t you simply clip the case to whatever mount you need? That’s what Australian-designed Quad Lock does. It’s system that lets you use one case with several different mounts.

I first came along Quad Lock at last year’s Melbourne marathon at the race expo. I was looking for an arm-band that fitted my new iPhone 7 Plus and it was one fo the few options at the time.

Chris Peters designed the Quad Lock and used kickStarter to fund the first round of products. The problem he was trying to solve was securely mounting his phone to the handlebars of his bike. There are lots of apps that remove the need for a cycling computer. Now, more than six years later Peters has sold Quad Lock cases and mounts to over 4,000 cities in over 100 countries.

The Quad Lock case has a circular moulding on the back with four, small rectangular sections cut out from the circle. These allow the case to be attacked to a mounting system.

Connecting the case to the mount is a matter of placing the case over the mount, lining up the four rectangular sections and twisting.

As well as the review case and arm-band Quad Lock provided to me, I have since purchased two bike mounts – one that attaches to the handlebars and another that attaches to the stem. All three are easy to use and I’ve never been in fear of my phone meeting with a gravitational incident.

Unlike the Bodyguardz Trainr Pro I recently looked at, it’s easy to removed the phone from the Quad Lock mount if you want to take a call or snap a quick selfie while on a run or ride. However, the Quad Lock case on my iPhone is a bit bulkier and does add some thickness as the mounting system protrudes slightly from the back.

As well as cases for a wide variety of iPhones and Samsung handsets, Quad Lock makes a Universal Adaptor that can be stuck to the back of any other phone case. And there are car and motorcycle mounts as well.

Pricing and decision time

As a reviewer, a lot of items ass by my desk and I’m fortunate that some get to stay. So, while the Quad Lock case and arm-band were left with me, I have spent my new money on the two bike mounts. I’m tempted to get the car mount as well but I don’t really have a good spot for it and I refuse to attach my phone to my windscreen.

Prices start at $34.95 for the bike mounts. The arm-band will set you back $49.95. and cases are from $34.95. There are various bundles as well and, if you’re prepared to hand over your email address, there’s a 10% discount for first time buyers which will offset the delivery costs.

If you’re planning on getting an iPhone 8, there’s a pre-order page so you can be ready to run, ride or drive with your new iPhone.