FM transmitter for your iPod

[Chacal]

Since my car radio doesn't have an aux input, last year I bought this piece of crap from Belkin: http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=166893.

The FM transmission is incredibly bad, it is easily overpowered (forcing you to change channels frequently, great if you're driving), it has a short 6" cord that plugs into the iPod earphone port, it will suck out the iPod battery in no time, it uses batteries or a separate cigarette lighter adapter, it has a cumbersome LCD screen and 3-button interface for selecting a channel.

Today I bought this other one, also from Belkin (I took a chance):
http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=257270

This is the best thing since sliced bread. I have strong reception (according to reviews on Amazon.com this seems to vary on different car models), it plugs straight (and securely) into the cigarette lighter (it's all in one piece), no batteries, charges your iPod while playing, uses the iPod screen for frequency selection (impressive), has a firm yet flexible neck that lets you position it as you want, pauses the playback when you turn the engine off.

Looks like Belkin reads it's customer feedback.

[TiNM@N]

hey now, you're the second person who has one of those.. (my girlfriends brother being the first)... I have an older POS that alwasy leaves a fair about of static and annoyance that i rarely ever use it anymore... maybe this should be a birthday present to myself instead of that stripper combo?

[Chacal]

Nah go for the stripper.

[CodeRed68]

I bought this one for my fiance for christmas. She has the Nano but her car does not have a cassette deck (so the cassette adapter is not an option). It's the Griffin iTrip FM Transmitter and Charger. I liked that it charges the iPod during use. She says it works great. It took me a while to do side by side comparisons at the iLounge web site before going to the local Apple store to make the purchase.
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/ipod/review/griffin-technology-itrip-auto-fm-transmitter-and-charger-for-ipod-ipod/

[gowhitesox99]

I have the monster one, works pretty good unless I'm in Chicago.....

[Sabres]

pauses the playback when you turn the engine off.

oooooo now this is a great feature. mine doesn't have this and sometimes i forget to shut my ipod off.

[DocTrebor]

i was gonna get the same thing after i got my nano off ebay, fortunately i didnt bc i ended up with a japanese knockoff


i did get my money back tho!

[Chacal]

oooooo now this is a great feature. mine doesn't have this and sometimes i forget to shut my ipod off.

Actually, I should have said "when the power is turned off". If the power outlet in your car stays on when the engine is turned off, there's no way the adaptor can detect it.

[Porsche_997]

Chacal what do you drive anyway? Besides a Star Destroyer

[CreepingCharlie]

His sporty TIE X1 Fighter:D Its fuel efficient.

[King]

i had this:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7750178&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat108500050014&id=1140394452644

But then i ended up getting this:http://www.alpine-usa.com/US-en/products/product.php?model=CDA-9857

With the ipod cord which hooks right into the player and hides the ipod in my globe box. Its freakin sweet. My old factory head unit sucked balls, had no power so the FM transmitter worked but not well.

[CodeRed68]

i had this:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7750178&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat108500050014&id=1140394452644

But then i ended up getting this:http://www.alpine-usa.com/US-en/products/product.php?model=CDA-9857

With the ipod cord which hooks right into the player and hides the ipod in my globe box. Its freakin sweet. My old factory head unit sucked balls, had no power so the FM transmitter worked but not well.

that Alpine one looks great, King.. from the specs I read about the iPod usage. Good job!

As I mentioned above.. I bought my fiance the Griffin iTrip w/charger but for myself I use 2 options. I sometimes use the Monster Cassette adapter and sometimes use the iPod cord that directly feeds into my stock VW stereo through the back. The iPod sits in my glove compartment.
http://www.vwvortex.com/artman/publish/industry_news/printer_1709.shtml

the one above with the direct feed into the stereo obviously gives the best sound.. but the ipod unit itself is "locked" and you can only hear the songs throught the 6 buttons available for the optional 6 disc changer. The software in the cable is written that way. One of the buttons is your whole ipod library A-Z and the other 5 buttons are for playlists you create. So while it is not that user friendly it does serve a purpose. What I did is create one huge playlist of "best of" songs that has about 800 songs in it.. and i play that one on a shuffle mode that my stereo has built in.