Half the riders in Hanoi navigate by phone, and the phone lives either in a pocket (requiring stops) or on a mount (requiring judgment). A mount that holds the phone is the easy part; a mount that holds the phone through Vietnamese potholes, rain and vibration is the actual question.
The vibration problem nobody mentions
Motorbike handlebars vibrate, and sustained vibration is bad for phone camera stabilisation hardware — the classic failure is a rattling camera after months on a cheap mount. Quality mounts dampen vibration; some riders add a small damper or mount on the mirror stalk instead. This is the quiet reason a “solid” cheap mount costs more than it seems.
Types, honestly compared
Claw-and-side-arm mounts grip the phone’s corners: best all-round hold for rough roads. Mag-style magnetic mounts are quickest one-handed but ask whether the magnet plus Hanoi potholes plus your case is a trustworthy combination — good ones are, weak ones launch phones. Silicone-band cradles are cheap and fine for smooth streets and marginal for the rest. Whatever the type, the test before trusting it: fit the phone, grab it, try to shake it off over a rough patch at walking pace, then check again after a rainy ride.
Weather and placement
Rain-season use means a mount with some weather shielding or a phone case that tolerates it; placement matters for glare and for keeping the screen readable at a glance — low, near the cluster, so eyes drop minimally. And the legality/safety line: glancing at navigation is not the same as interacting with it — set the route before moving, and re-route only when stopped; Vietnamese traffic police take a dim view of riding while handling a phone. What a rider carries on every ride (including the tools to fit a mount properly) is covered in what-to-carry-riding-motorbike-vietnam and motorbike-rider-toolkit-essentials.
The accessories around it
Two companions make a mounted phone useful: power on the move — covered in usb-chargers-motorbike-power — and, for riders who want the road recorded, the camera-side story in dashcams-motorbike-riding-vietnam. A mounted phone plus a power feed is the practical navigation rig for most expat and travelling riders here.
Mount it properly, power it properly, touch it only when stopped.