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Reviews For: Lido Mount Cup Holder Mount for Kenwoods

Category: Specialized Amateur Communication Products

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Review Summary For : Lido Mount Cup Holder Mount for Kenwoods
Reviews: 2MSRP: 24.95
Description:
A short neck cup holder mount that has matching holes for
the Kenwood (TS-480 style) head mount.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.lidomounts.com/kenwood-ham-radio-mounts/LM-801-Kenwood.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0023.5
K7TXO Rating: 2018-04-03
Looks nice, works great Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had my Lido Mount Cup Holder setup for at least a few years now. It started out to provide a solid platform for a hand held and then a YAESU FTM-100DR control head in my JEEP JK Wrangler. Now it is serving as a mount for my TS-480 control head in my RAM ProMaster van and it does fine. Locking the base into the cup holder has always kept the hole thing planted. I was skeptical that I could use the TS-480 head on this because the '480 head has to be about the largest and heaviest head put on these mounts. Does it work?

Peachy! Diagonal corners of the plate on my Lido lined up with two holes on the Kenwood plate. The gooseneck is short and extremely stiff for the common control heads it supports. The giant in comparison, TS-480 head does well on this neck-mount. So far the worst bump the van has taken is the gosh darned speed bumps in a home improvement parking lot and one fairly good street pothole. Still good. Perhaps it will loosen and move some day but I've got many miles on this mount in a JEEP JK Wrangler and now it is getting duty in a RAM Van.

As for the length of the gooseneck it just has to be short for mobile vibration, potholes, aforementioned HD speed bumps, etc. Perhaps fortunate for my operating, the length happens to be fine.

Oddly I had more issues with jitter when I had mounted the TS-480 head on top of the dash in the JEEP. While it did not jitter too much, the exposure to intense sun made me decide it was better to place the head down lower in a cup holder setup. While the lower position in the JEEP and now in one of the cup holders in my RAM van is not ideal for line of site viewing, I do not operate HF while driving anyway. Just too dangerous for me. I operate HF when my wife is driving or if by myself, when the van is parked. VHF/UHF I have no problem since that is virtually all PTT action or a few controls I can adjust without even looking.

The various LIDO adapters and mounts I have all work well.
W1AST Rating: 2017-06-09
Looks nice, performs lousy Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The ad said it was for a Kenwood head mount and showed a picture with the mount. That's the exact mount that my TS-480 uses. So I ordered one and it said it was in stock. But it wasn't. I waited a month for it, wanting it to be installed before I left on a long trip. After many calls and emails with no response, I contacted PayPal and filed a complaint. THAT got action and the mount arrived late the day before I was to leave. Too late to use. I was still not happy. A friend had to do the same thing with her mount too.
The mount was supposed to line up with screw holes on the Kenwood remote head mount. But it doesn't. Neither does the expansion bracket. With some tinkering I got the expansion bracket mounted and the head sort of. But when driving, the motion of the vehicle causes the head to bend over or rotate or both. This is extremely, extremely annoying. There is no way to lock the mount so the head does not rotate. Tape so far does nothing. It might take some Loctite glue to lock it in place. But it should not be needed!
The way it mounts and stays in the cup holder works as long as the vehicle is not in motion. The constant motion of the vehicle causes the cup holder mounting to come loose. If you had a radio with a small head, this may work fine. But not for the 480 or similar sized heads.
Plus the goose neck potion should be longer. It's just too short.
I've tried calling and emailing a question, but just like the order delay, he doesn't answer no matter what. It's too bad because this could be the answer to many peoples mobile install issues. But instead turns into a waste of $40.
I highly suggest not dealing with Lido Mounts. Their customer service is lousy. The product is mis-advertised. It is inexpensive and there's not much at all in it's price range. It could be made so much better though.