• Understanding Different Mounting Base Options
• Why the Mounting Base Matters in Different Work Environments
• Types of Mounting Bases Available
• Which Mounting Base is Right for Your Work Environment?
• How to Choose the Right Mounting Base
• Modular Mounting Systems Make Swapping Bases Easier
• Choose the Mounting Base That Fits the Environment

Understanding Different Mounting Base Options

When choosing a mounting base, consider where you'll use the device, the surface you'll attach it to, whether you need a permanent installation, and how much movement or vibration the mount needs to withstand.

For factory workstations, office desks, and other fixed work surfaces, a C-clamp can provide a secure attachment without drilling. A 4-hole AMPS drill base is better for a more permanent, rigid installation, while a weighted base is ideal for quickly moving your device and keeping it stable on a flat surface. Suction mounts are ideal for smooth surfaces like windshields and mirrors when you want a strong but temporary or repositionable installation.

The best mounting base isn't necessarily the strongest or most rigid option. It's the one that balances stability, flexibility, installation method, and durability for the working environment.

Why the Mounting Base Matters in Different Work Environments

The mounting base is the foundation of the mounting system. Get it wrong, and it can be an expensive lesson, as tablets, phones, or other devices can easily get damaged if the base cannot provide the stability and support the work environment requires. 

Even a good arm or device holder can perform poorly if the base it's attached to is unsuitable for the surface or environment. A weighted base works well on stable, flat surfaces such as desks and workbenches, but is less effective when exposed to the movement and vibration of a delivery truck.

Stability and Device Security

A suitable base helps keep smartphones, tablets, monitors, and other devices stable during everyday work use. The more vibration or movement a surface or environment has, the more critical the mounting base becomes.

Installation requirements

Some workplaces need to remove the entire mounting system at the end of the workday, while others need it to remain semi-permanently or permanently installed.

Accessibility and Positioning

The mounting base affects where the device can be positioned and whether it can be moved, adjusted, or relocated. For example, suction mounts are often used in delivery vehicles so they can be removed and installed in different vehicles. In contrast, drill base mounts suit factory environments and are fixed permanently to worktops.

Durability and Environmental Demands

Vehicle, outdoor use, manufacturing, and forklifts can all introduce vibration, unwanted movement, impact, dust, temperature changes, and repeated use into the mix. When choosing the mounting base type, consider all these factors.

Permanent vs Non-Permanent Mounting Bases

Before choosing a specific mounting base, consider whether it will be fixed or needs to be easily removed. When choosing a mounting base, consider how often you’ll move it, the surface you’ll attach it to, and how much stability the working environment requires.

A Quick Way to Choose

• Fixed workstation: Consider a C-clamp or drill base.
• Temporary/repositionable setup: Consider suction or a weighted base.
• Everyday vehicle use: Consider cup-holder or vent mounting.
• Permanent vehicle use: Drill base or floor or seat mounting.
• Heavy-duty vehicle or industrial use: Consider a purpose-built heavy-duty base.
• Forklift/material handling: Consider a dedicated forklift mounting solution.

Types of Mounting Bases Available

Selecting the right mounting base for the scenario and environment is essential for ensuring productivity and efficient workflows throughout the working day. Different mounting bases have different properties and are designed for specific surfaces and installation methods, depending on the required level of movement. This ensures you choose the right mount for fixed workstations, vehicles, or industrial environments.

C-Clamp Mounting Base

C-clamp mounting bases use an adjustable clamp to mount a tablet or phone mounting system to the edge of an office desk, coffee shop countertop, lab workbench, or similar surface without requiring permanent drilling. Ideal when you need a semi-permanent installation that you can relocate or reposition as needed, balancing stability with flexibility.

Some POS mounting systems can attach to the edge of a restaurant or shop countertop when you use a tablet as a point-of-sale system. When choosing a mounting system, consider surface thickness, since tables or worktops with no edge won't fit a C-clamp mounting base.

Drill Base Mounting Base

For ultra-stability, you can use a 4-hole AMPS drill base. These have four points of contact and can be permanently screwed or bolted to a flat surface, delivering maximum stability. It's especially useful in applications that want to keep movement or vibration to a minimum. Ideal for factory workstations, laboratory desks, vehicle dashboards and consoles, warehouse walls, and other locations where drilling is acceptable.

Drill bases provide a fully fixed mounting solution, so you should install them on an appropriate structural surface. Examples include the Slim-Grip® Tablet Holder with Drill Base Mount, which features a solid drill base for easy mounting to a flat surface. 

For tighter locations, choose a diamond-shaped 2-hole AMPS drill base to maintain stability while using less mounting space where a four-hole base won't fit.

Suction Mounting Base

Suction mounting bases are designed for smooth, non-porous surfaces such as windshields in cars, trucks, and planes. These are sturdy, often with powerful suction mounts attached using a one-lever design for secure mounting.

Designed for delivery drivers for delivery instructions and GPS, and even commercial pilots, who can attach their smartphone or tablet to the cockpit windshield for navigation, weather apps, and flight data. Mounting systems such as the SkyHold™ Windshield Dual Suction Tablet Mount feature a pair of suction mounts for extra stability when in flight.

Other Car and Truck Mounting Bases: Cup Holder and Vent Mounts

If suction mounts aren't suitable, or you need additional mounting for an extra device, other car and truck mounting bases are available. Cup holder and vent mounting systems are easily installable mounting bases designed for fleet vehicles and service trucks. 

Seat and floor mounting bases are rigid and fixed, suitable for more permanent mounting solutions, and offer a strong, reliable alternative when the dash, console, and windshield aren't suitable or convenient.

Weighted Mount Base

Weighted mounting bases use a flat, weighted, usually metal base for applications where the device needs to be easily moved around. Digital training labs, food vans, reception desks in hotels, and anywhere that features a flat surface and needs to be moved instantly, has limited space, or needs to be installed without drilling can benefit from this type of mounting solution.

Although vibration-free, weighted mount bases aren't suitable for environments that need fixed, rigid mounts, such as fleet vehicles, busy warehouse environments, and construction sites where machinery and equipment can create constant movement, vibration, and impact.

Heavy-Duty Forklift and XMS™ Bases for Industrial Environments

Forklifts and industrial environments sometimes need specialist mounting bases. Forklifts and material handling vehicles especially. ARKON Mounts offers front guard and overhead guard mounting bases designed to mount devices to parts of the forklift. 

Specialist forklift mounting systems are designed to keep devices usable and within forklift operators' eyeline, while keeping them stable and secure in the demanding environments forklifts operate in.

XMS™ mounting bases from ARKON Mounts are a series of heavy-duty, industrial-grade components engineered for busy working conditions where strength, longevity, and security are paramount. Mounting bases, such as the XMS™ Heavy-Duty Metal Ball to AMPS Mounting Plate and XMS™ Forklift Guard Rail Mount – 1.5”/38mm Ball, are specifically designed for use in these types of demanding conditions.

They use materials such as industrial-grade metal across their ball-end AMPS mounts and shafts, making them more hard-wearing and better suited to the constant movement, vibration and heavy use associated with industrial and material-handling applications.

Which Mounting Base is Right for Your Work Environment?

Choose the right mounting base based on how you’ll use and install the device and the level of stability you need. C-clamp and weighted bases work well on office desks, workbenches, and shared workspaces, while suction, cup-holder, and vent mounts offer flexible options for vehicles.

Drill bases suit permanent installations, and heavy-duty XMS™ bases are designed for demanding industrial, forklift, and material-handling applications where strength, stability, and durability are essential.

How to Choose the Right Mounting Base

• Start with the mounting surface: Is the surface flat, curved, smooth, or textured, and can it be drilled? Is there an existing mounting point?
• Think about vibration and movement: A quiet office desk and a forklift are completely different environments, so consider how much movement and vibration the mounting base is likely to experience.
• Check the device and total load: Consider what other components you're attaching to the mount. Is it a smartphone or tablet? Or something heavier, like a monitor? Are the arms or shafts metal or reinforced composite? Are you attaching more than one device holder to the mounting base?
• Consider installation and maintenance: Does the company need a quick installation, a removable solution, or a permanent mounting point?

Modular Mounting Systems Make Swapping Bases Easier

ARKON Mounts mounting systems are made up of a modular ecosystem. This lets businesses scale on a budget, with components such as holder types, shafts and arms, and mounting bases that can be easily replaced and upgraded without replacing the entire mounting system. Modular mounting systems can also make it easier for businesses to scale their mounting infrastructure as requirements change.

This can make it easier to standardise mounting setups across multiple locations while reducing the need to replace components as technology and workflows evolve.

For example, a fleet of delivery vehicles may use tablet mounting systems with suction bases, and because thefts have risen in the area, they may want to upgrade to a more permanent solution, such as drill bases. Without changing the tablet holder or arm, you can quickly swap the suction base for a drill base to create a more fixed mounting solution.

Choose the Mounting Base That Fits the Environment

The best mounting base depends on the environment, not simply the device being mounted. A C-clamp can make sense for a flexible store countertop setup, while a drill base is better suited for a permanent installation in an environment where vibrations and movement occur frequently. Vehicle users such as delivery drivers have options such as cup-holder, vent, and suction mounts, while forklift operators require a stronger, more robust solution.

ARKON Mounts has a mounting base for every environment and a range of solutions to help businesses create stable, secure and flexible mounting setups. From everyday vehicle and workstation mounting to heavy-duty forklift applications, ARKON offers mounting solutions designed around the environment you work in.

Ready to upgrade your mounting bases? Discover ARKON Mounts' range of mounting base solutions and find the right option for your business.