Griffin iTrip Auto FM Transmitter and Auto Charger for iPod (Black)
by Griffin Technologies
|
List Price: Our Price: $44.31 You Save: $25.68 (37%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Network Media Player See more product details |
|---|
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Griffin iTrip Auto FM Transmitter and Auto Charger for iPod (Black)
Customer Review: Works great, can be tough in big cities
Summary: 4 Stars
First off, let me say I love this thing. I use it for my iPod when I commute 45 minutes each way to work every day. It takes my mind off traffic and keeps me sane. It is very easy to work and the pre-sets allow you to "remember" several un-used radio stations in case you are traveling longer distances.
That said, it can be difficult in big cities to find a good station to use (I live in Portland, OR). But it just takes some trail and error. If you find a station that seems to be okay while parked in your drive way, you may encounter static just down the road (as you have probably started picking up an actual radio station). In the manual it says your best bet is to find a channel with nothing but static and at least one staticy station on either side of the dial. But in a big city, where you have dozens and dozens of stations ALL OVER the dial, this can be quite difficult (and perhaps impossible).
I spent the first couple of days trying different stations until I found one (that although a station came in quite clear one channel over - say I was on 94.3 and the real station was on 94.1) it has worked flawlessly for over my entire 25 mile commute.
So take home message, GREAT device, but may take some time and trails-and-error to use it to its full potential.
Customer Review: Good enough for me
Summary: 4 Stars
I've been using this product for 3 months and overall I'm satisfied with this.
To get the best sound out of this, you need to find a completely 'vacant' frequency. That requires a little bit of patience, especially if you live in a big city. It is not about the power of the transmitter, but the interference from other sources of radio signal. I live in Portland Oregon and the magic number for me was 95.1. (Don't come near my car if you are in Portland :)
Good thing about this is it recharges the battery of your iPod while you are listening to the music in your car. I use this every day on 20-minute drive to work and I don't have to recharge my iPod at home at all. I don't know if keeping the battery always full can cause the battery life shorter. Only time will tell.
I had one minor trouble though: discoloration of the LCD panel. Not the LCD itself, but the clear panel covering the LCD turned rainbow-like color. The LCD is still readable and you will not look at the LCD once you got the right frequency, so it doesn't bother me very much.
So if you are not patient enough to find the right freqency, worried about the battery life or you don't like rainbow-colored LCD panel, this product is not for you. Otherwise, you will be happy with this.
Customer Review: Not Bad
Summary: 4 Stars
The good thing about this product is that it charges AND transmits your ipod, while being very compact and flexible. It does not have large plastic items that are prone to breaking and to take up space. I've had mine for a while now and left it in the burning sun during the summer and it still works fine.
You can preset up to four radio frequencies, and once you get that done (it took about 10-15 minutes of playing around with my radio, manually scanning and finding unused frequencies in the chicagoland area), it is a breeze to change radio stations. I found it easy to preset your FM2 or FM3 1-4 selections to the 1-4 selections on your transmitter; if you live in a metropolitan area you will need to change stations when driving different places.
Because this is a radio transmitter, do not expect great sound quality at all. Probably something along the lines of a good radio station (think the most popular FM station that broadcasts off the tallest building, and maybe a little softer volume than that). That's if you can get a good frequency, otherwise you will have some interference.
In conclusion, get this if you want to easily play your ipod in your car without a ton of extra things, and you aren't very picky about sound quality for a reasonable price.
Customer Review: Best quality and value for your buck.
Summary: 4 Stars
I did a lot of research before buying this FM Transmitter. I didn't want to spend a lot of money but I wanted something that would work well. After several weeks, I finally settled on this one and I couldn't be happier. For $38, this way outperforms my friend's more expensive model. I get much less static than she does and the music comes through very clear. I highly recommend this product. There are a couple drawbacks that haven't bothered me but I could see how they could annoy others. First, the transmitter is very quiet so the car radio needs to be turned up pretty high to get the volume I am used to. (Another customer says this produces static: If you play with the volume on the actual iPOD and balance it out with the radio volume, you can get rid of the static sound completely.) The other problem is that the chord is extremely LONG and kind of gets in the way if you don't drape it down the side of your center console.
Also, for those of you who may be wary about not having a dock to set it in, I would recommend that you do what I do. I bought a little cell phone holder from Target for $5 and hooked it onto my air conditioner vent and set my iPOD in that. I think it's even better than the dock because it doesn't get in the way of my air conditioner/stereo controls.
Customer Review: Awesome for the price
Summary: 5 Stars
I haven't tried any other transmitters to know if the super expensive ones are any better. This one works well.
It has a super large range of frequencies you can use. I'm in Orlando, so there isn't really any frequency that is 100% static 3 freqencies in a row - which is recommended for the transmission to be static free in use.
Therefore, depending on what part of town I'm in, there is sometimes a bit of static that is audible if the volume is up high enough.
I just used it for a 12 hour road trip. In the rural areas of I-95, the sound was perfect - no static, so I'm assuming if you live in an area where there aren't tons of radio stations, this will work perfectly.
I also am using the factory sound system in my car, so I'm not sure if quality is diminished with this product if you have a super beefed up audio system. For me, it sounds as well as the radio stations do in my car.
It also works great charging my iPod. I forgot that it did that as well, for my short around town trips - but on the road trip, it was awesome to have.
I'm super happy with it and am glad I bought it. I think it's a perfect alternative to satellite radio (unless you like the talk shows, but then there's always podcasts!).