CEA Innovations aren’t exactly given out like candy these days, which makes near any product that receives one of the prestigious awards worthy of your attention. At the same time though, you don’t always need to reinvent the wheel to take home this hardware. You could just be like Breffo and make a product like the Spiderpodium, a iDevice mount small enough to fit pretty much anywhere. We recently got our hands on one of these puppies and took it for a spin, walking away rather impressed with the versatility of Breffo’s creation.
If you’ve at all glanced at Breffo’s website, you will almost assuredly be underwhelmed by the Spiderpodium at first blush and for good reason: for a CEA award winner this gadget is remarkably underwhelming. Consisting only of a center large enough to hold an iPod and a set of eight legs, it seems like you wouldn’t trust the Spiderpodium holding up a piece of paper much less your beloved iPod. Don’t trust these initial impressions though, because there’s far more to this mount than meets the eye.
The secret to the Spiderpodium lies in its eight legs. On the outside they have everything you want: a firm rubberized shell that prevents slipping and also lends Breffo’s gadget a substantial feeling and plenty of durability. What really sets this apart is the way the legs articulate. Rather than putting joints at specific points along the legs, each of the eight is flexible along the entire length. This allows for your to adapt the Spiderpodium to near any situation including mounting your iPhone on a sloped surface to just hanging it around your camera around a pole for a makeshift tripod.
Although very impressive, there are a couple of downsides to the Spiderpodium and its design. For one, the legs feel like they’re a little bit on the short side. Given that this was a device designed for use with iPods and iPhones it’s a little bit surprising that you’ll struggle wrapping it around one of Apple’s smaller devices; it’ll get the job done eventually, but an extra ½ inch certainly would’ve helped tremendously.
The other problem with the Spiderpodium is just how darn stiff it is. I’m sure this adds to the durability of the final product, but it sure does make for a frustrating experience when the legs don’t want to fully wrap around your device. Much like the length it isn’t a back breaking problem, but having to struggle to get a firm grip on your device can be a touch irritating.
These problems are small in comparison to the benefits that the Spiderpodium provides. It’s a useful gadget which can be adapted to near any small device and can be used to solve a number of different challenges. No it isn’t perfect, but it is a pretty darned good piece of technology which is small enough to fit into pretty much any carrying case. If you’re in the market for a portable dock then you certainly can’t go wrong with Breffo’s offering.
