Kensington LiquidFM Plus for MP3 Players - FM Transmitter - K33408US - Superior Sound!

Nice product....once I found an open FM Frequency (which was easy with one or two attempts by the "Quickseek" button). I have a Sansa and a Zune, and it worked with both. I love the fact that it has a USB pass-through, so I can charge my MP3 players as well as my Blackberry. You can charge anything that has a USB cable. I got it on special at buy.com, so I'm very happy with the value.
 
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Do not waste your time or money! Did not matter what radio station it chose, it did not work. Unfortunatly, I opened it about 3 weeks after recieving it, so it was too late to send it back! The point of the story: I am out $56.94 and have a piece of junk to show for it.
 
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The charging feature did not work with a sansa mp3 player and it frequently encountered interference and the channel had to change. Perhaps that's not the fault of the product but is due to a crowded FM spectrum in NJ, but the end result is that it was a constant problem and made this product undesirable.
 
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Pros: Nice screen, Nice sound quality (the 2% of the time it works) Cons: Doesn't work with iPod (charging, anyway, and says so on the box), Poor signal scanning, Poor signal lock on. Scenario: 2007 Corvette, City of >100,000 pop., Few regional radio stations interfering, Wanting something to work with my iPhone as a workaround. Verdict: Failed miserably. I've been doing the whole iPod/FM transmitter thing for years. Unfortunately, I've never owned a car with an Aux-in jack or a built-in iPod adaptor, and the cassettes never work for me in any of my cars (5 different cars and counting, mostly GM). My current standby is the Kensington Digital FM Transmitter/Auto Charger for iPod that's been very highly rated/evaluated for some time now. I have it connected to a 5G 80GB iPod and it works better than any other FM transmitter I've ever tried (that's about 8 different models, so far). It pumps out reasonably good sound quality (for an FM transmitter) with good power and minimal background hiss. My stereo never has a problem locking on to the signal unless I'm in Houston, Dallas, or some other large city with powerful radio interference. Here at home, that's not much of an issue on the daily commute. This has been true for 3 different cars I've used it in. However, I have a new iPhone (and payed the Steve Jobs $200 tax-on-idiots by purchasing before the price drop), and it will not work with any iPod-style FM transmitter on the market. It automatically checks for a special chip in the transmitter signaling that it's "made for iPhone." Otherwise, it puts the phone into Airplane mode (shuts off the cell phone) or, alternatively, won't play music through the iPod connector, depending on whether you answer yes or no to the iPhone's prompt after plugging it in. I thought that Kensington was coming out with an iPhone compatible one, but they have pulled all info about that one off of their website (several months ago, in fact), so I figured this would be a nice workaround. a) plug in the FM transmitter, using the narrow iPhone adaptor, into the headphone jack, b) plug the USB charge/sync cable into the built-in USB jack on the transmitter (it's part of the FM transmitter's cord), c) bypass the need for two devices (charger and FM transmitter) by using this one solution. Here's what I discovered: a) the FM transmitter plugged into the iPhone/iPod does in fact work fine b) the USB charging does not work at all (doesn't even prompt "Airplane Mode?") c) the USB charging cable doesn't work with my 5G iPod, either d) you must use the skinny headphone plug adaptor to plug in the jack to the iPhone (and, thus, iPod Touch, too) So, I thought, at least I'll have the ability to find the clearest FM chanel in the area, right? Maybe that'll be worth it when I do drive to Houston or Dallas and have to face radio frequency pandemonium. Boy was I wrong. The FM scanner that looks for the most empty/clear frequency is absolutely a joke. It put me on about 4 different stations, all of which had clearly discernible (though faint) radio signals on them. Plus, the 2-3 channels I know to be the clearest were never actually selected. The result? Loads and loads of bleed-through and static from other stations interfering with the signal from the FM transmitter to the point that you can't make out the song you're listening too. Probably the worst performing FM transmitter I've ever used. So, I figured, I should try the frequencies I know to be the cleanest in this area. Well, it was marginally better, but I still got a lot of interference, and I got it on DEAD FM CHANNELS, not the ones that had any bleed through from neighboring frequencies, even. Audio was unlistenable, no matter what the source. The only up side was that, when I was in a well isolated location with limited interference (in a multistory car park), the sound quality was good, but no better than my old Kensington, and the signal strength was still very weak. I went back that night and looked at the box. I now notice a pre-printed, stuck-on piece of tape on the back that reads, and I quote, "USB pass-through charges MP3 players except iPod models." This was apparently stuck on after-the-fact b/c the box itself, underneath this sticker, says "USB pass-through charges MP3 player." It looks as if Kensington neglected to mention any of this in its promotional material and is also noticeably absent from the website description. I guess they realized this after they had already built the thing and had them boxed up and had to go back real quick and change the labeling to prevent false advertisement claims. This is a bit of information I would have liked to have known before I purchased it. In conclusion, the device does not work with iPods to charge them, only to play the music through the headphone jacks. It does a horrible job detecting clear FM channels on which to broadcast. It has very poor wattage such that it will allow the slightest interference from random radio signals to almost completely prevent you from listening to your music. This last point is important because it not only affects iPod users, but also users of other MP3 players as well. In short, this unit is a total disappointment and should be pulled from the market as other devices do the same job, only much better and for less money.
 
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