Deskinacar and Accessories Review

Deskinacar and Accessories Review

Lee from Deskinacar.com had gone through a lot to get his products to me for review.  Anyone setting up an e-commerce site knows the  headaches involved, but Lee also had to deal with Mother Nature’s wrath: Lee’s fulfillment center was struck by a tornado, its roof was torn off, and Lee lost a third of his inventory.  Sometimes it makes you want to give up if you’re the one suffering from this type of adversity; thankfully, Lee hung in there and I can bring this review of Deskinacar to you.

Lee actually sent me much more than the desk in a car; he literally sent what I would like to dub the office in a car. First I will start with the Deskinacar, which is a folding plastic desk made to strap into a car’s passenger seat. It has an anti-slip surface to set your laptop upon, and your laptop will not move when it’s sitting here.

To install the Deskinacar into your passenger seat, you fold it out and slide each side’s lock into place. Then you flip the flap down and run the strap around your car seat to secure the set. When strapping it in, you have to make sure you keep the flap down, as the flap makes the Deskinacar a level surface. Now you’re ready to open your laptop up and handle e-mail and work from your car…as long as you’re parked! There is a prominent sticker on the flap that kindly reminds you not to compute while driving; you might think that would be obvious, but I have seen stranger things when traveling our freeways.

Deskinacar and Accessories Review

Unlocked and unfolded

Deskinacar and Accessories Review

Locked and ready for installation.

Deskinacar and Accessories Review

Deskinacar installed in my Van

If that was all the Deskinacar could do, it would be a worthwhile purchase for some road warriors, but there’s so much more to it.

You can also remove it from your car and use it as a lapdesk, like I am doing here in this picture:

Deskinacar and Accessories Review

In this mode, it insulates your lap from the heat of your fire-breathing laptops; your lap will stay cool when your using the Deskinacar. The only minus when using this mode is that there’s no padding on the Deskinacar’s backside. This isn’t an issue when you have pants on, but with shorts it might leave temporary imprints on your legs. To avoid this, or the discomfort associated with it, I just stuck a pillow under it, and it worked just fine.

Next up is my favorite mode of the Deskinacar. Fold it like you’re going to put it away, except keeping the flap flipped out; you now have a nice way to elevate your laptop keyboard and keep the screen at eye level. This is probably the way I most use my Deskinacar.

Deskinacar and Accessories Review

Deskinacar and Accessories Review

The Deskinacar is available from deskinacar.com for $77.97 plus shipping.

What I liked: Very flexible. So many modes of use makes it useful for more than the road warriors that Lee has targeted. I love mine and it’s become a permanent fixture in my cube.

What needs improvement: It needs some padding on the back for lap mode. Other than that, it’s perfect for many different uses.

Next up in the office in car is the High Road Swing Away XL Driver Organizer. This organizer is made to hang on the back of a car seat, but I have it hanging from one of my van’s glove compartments.

Deskinacar and Accessories Review

The organizer has many pockets in varying sizes, as well as two bottle holders for up to 20 oz drinks. The bottle holders have adjustable straps so you can adjust the pockets for differently sized bottles.

The Organizer is a handy accessory if you’re a road warrior, or if you have kids and want to keep things like snacks and wet wipes ready when traveling.

The High Road Swing Away XL Driver Organizer is available at deskinacar.com for $14.95 plus shipping.

What I liked: Like the Deskinacar, it is very flexible.

What needs improvement: Nothing

Next up is a place to put that empty pop can or bottle; you can put it in the High Road Pop Up Litterbag.

Deskinacar and Accessories Review

Deskinacar and Accessories Review

This pop up litter bag has a water proof lining so that if there is a little bit of coffee left in your cup, it’s not going to spill all over your car. The litter bag folds flat when not in use, and it can be wiped clean between uses. This bag is perfect for little slips of paper and one or two cups, but is too small for much beyond this. You will want to empty it when you get home. For family trips, it’s useless; but for daily commutes and the occasional mobile office stint it’s fine.

The High Road Pop Up Litterbag is available at deskinacar.com for $9.95.

What I liked: Portable and easy to clean out.

What needs improvement: Could use a larger version for families.

What good would a Deskinacar be without power for your laptop? Also from Deskinacar is the Aims Slimline 120 Power Inverter. This inverter plugs into a standard cigarette lighter port in most American cars, and it provides 120 v AC which is sufficient to power a laptop. It’s also equipped with a USB port to charge any device that can charge from a USB power bus. Your laptop and your iPod can be recharged on the go and at the same time with this device.

Deskinacar and Accessories Review

The Aims Slimline 120 Power Inverter is available on Deskinacar.com for $19.95 plus shipping.

What I liked: Smaller than my old inverter. The USB port also came in very handy for charging my batteries on any USB device.

What needs improvement: Nothing

Lastly, what good is a mobile office without air in your tires? Now you hypermilers can use the High Road Digital Tire Gage to make sure your tires are correctly inflated.

Deskinacar and Accessories Review

With this tool, you will be able to make sure your tires stay at the correct pressures before hitting the road,

The High Road Digital Tire Gage is available at Deskinacar.com for $10.95 plus shipping.

What I liked: Functions as advertised and is accurate.

What needs improvement: Nothing.

Finally, Lee also included some eGrips. EGrips are stickers that are you apply on the back of your cell phone or PDA so it won’t slide off of your dash. I have used these in the past to keep my old GPS from sliding out of the window. These things are handy and work just fine if you don’t mind gumming up your devices.

Deskinacar and Accessories Review

The eGrips are available for $9.95 plus shipping from Deskinacar.com.

What I liked: Helped things stay put in a moving vehicle and also makes it less likely to slip from your hand.

What I didn’t care for: Gums up your cellphone or iPod.

I want to commend Lee for his perserverance during Deskinacar’s launch. I think that it is a great accessory and he has a great site which may make being a road warrior more comfortable and more functional.  You may find that the Deskinacar and the other offered accessories are well worth their cost, especially if you are a diehard road warrior.

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About the Author

Joel McLaughlin
Joel is a consultant in the IT field and is located in Columbus, OH. While he loves Linux and tends to use it more than anything else, he will stoop to running closed source if it is the best tool for the job. His techno passions are Linux, Android, netbooks, GPS, podcasting and Amateur Radio.

4 Comments on "Deskinacar and Accessories Review"

  1. Awesome – those items are pretty competitively priced too. As someone who has tried to use his laptop on the passenger car seat – I can testify to how helpful it is to have a more permanent (and flat) spot for your laptop.

    I’ve used eGrips quite a bit and the concept is great – but you are right on with gumming up your device. On ever device that I used the grips started to peel away — which left a slight mess. This usually happened about 2 to 3 months into using the eGrips.

    Nice pictures Joel.

  2. markntravis | July 7, 2008 at 8:57 pm |

    How does you EeePC work plugged into the inverter? I read on eeeuser.com that the trackpad went wonky when using an inverter.

    Thanks

  3. Joel McLaughlin | July 7, 2008 at 9:16 pm |

    AC inverter works wonderfully with the Eee. In fact, if you need to, you could likely stick it in the Proporta Gadget bag with the Eee as well… 😉

  4. Randy Inman | July 8, 2008 at 12:20 am |

    I have been using my Deskinacar for several weeks now. I have traveled over 15,000 miles and several States doing Insurance hail claims. The Deskinacar allows me to keep my tools such as measuring tapes and digital camaras spread out and easy to find when I need them.Even while working my way through heavy traffic and rough roads, the items do not slide down into my floorboard. I frequintly need to access my laptop while traveling from one appointment to the next, and the Deskinacar makes a good solid surface for this task as well. Good Product

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