| Value |  4 | | Performance | 4 | | Ease of Use |  4.5 | | Overall Satisfaction | 4 |
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5 of 5 Good FM Transmitter Monday, April 13, 2009
V from Camden, NJ
I had another FM transmitter before this one and I like this one waaay better. for starters, it's a charger too, which my other one was not. Second,it finds 3 stations for you so you don't have to stop your ipod to search for a new station if one doesn't work well. It's easy to use and it's great. It's not great when you're driving long distances or in rural areas because the stations change and you get static and have to re-search for stations, but it only takes a minute and then the tuner has 3 more stations for you. I reccommend this product.
But, if you have a tape deck in your car, the type of product that plays your ipod thru your tape deck is better. it's a clearer sound and it's uninterrupted. Was this review helpful?  
5 of 5 No fm transmitter is perfect Tuesday, March 24, 2009
rebbirich from salt lake city, ut
The iTrip transmitter works as advertised. It is a simple one-cord solution to listening to your ipod and charging at the same time. I do not move it between vehicles frequently so cannot address issues about the sturdiness of the cigarette lighter plug. The ipod connector took a bit of "breaking in" to get a secure connection but works fine now.
The auto-tune function works, but not as well as trial-and-error. My two strongest stations were not recognized by this feature, though it likely depends on your location when using the automated seek function. It would be nice if Griffin put dots or bumps on the three function buttons so you can identify each button without looking away from the road.
Regardless of brand, ALL (this is my 4th) fm transmitters suffer from a) a weak output signal (likely regulated by FCC), b) interference neighboring fm signals and c) spurious antenna effects from nearby power lines. There is, however, a simple fix and that is to use yourself as a passive antenna. If you hold or even sit on a section of the cord, the amount of interference decreases significantly. If you listen to audio books or any kind of speech, the "mono" function also makes a big difference.
NO fm transmitter sounds as good as a direct connection through an aux input or even a cassette adapter. The iTrip is no different. My previous units were very compact, either plugging directly into the ipod or with a short plug for the headphone jack. Ironically, the ability to use the power/connection as a passive antenna is the single biggest improvement to this family of devices. Was this review helpful?
1 of 5 great interface - poor design Monday, March 02, 2009
Rick from Alamosa, CO
Unit worked great for about 7 weeks. The power connector is flimsy and after moving from one vehicle to another one, came apart. Without power, the whole unit is worthless. Was this review helpful?
5 of 5 SmartScan makes this a great listening tool Monday, February 09, 2009
A Customer from Northern California
We have two vehicles which don't have the MP3 jacks in the radio and we bought this unit to use in those vehicles. While the sound from the FM reception is certainly not as clear as the straight-through plug-ins, the iTripAuto does a *more* than adequate job of enabling us to listen to our iPod, plus charge it. I wouldn't have bought an FM transmitter without the SmartScan technology, though. SmartScan makes it easy to listen without having to manually "find" an available channel--I need to be paying attention to driving, not finding a channel. The next model "up" of this unit has the additional feature of allowing you to select the next song from the face of the adapter--a nifty thing, but not worth the increase in cost for me... Was this review helpful?
5 of 5 Well designed accessory for my iPod Saturday, November 01, 2008
Alex Arevalo from Los Alamos, NM
I listen to audio books as well as music. My car is old enough that it doesn't have one of those convenient stereo jacks for an MP3 player. This little device is small and very easy to use. I am most impressed by the audio quality and stability of the FM signal. The user interface is a little awkward, at first, but it is easily mastered and it works beautifully. It is designed for the iPod and it cannot, therefore, be used with just any audio device. I especially like the feature that scans for available (i.e. empty) FM slots and it quickly finds three that can be used. I don't how many others can do this but it is one nice feature. I highly recommend this accessory to anyone that wants to listen in the car and has no other way to connect their iPod to the car's audio system. Was this review helpful?
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