[dknightd]

I taking the family on a vacation, we'll be using a rental car at the other end.
Of course we'd like to take some tunes with us. Don't know what the rental car will have, but it is a pretty safe bet it will have an FM radio. So my thinking
is we buy a FM transmitter for my daughters iPod and "force" her to let us load
some of our music on it as well. She has a 20GB 6month old iPod (I guess it is a 4G). If I hadn't spent all this money on airfare and rental cars I might consider getting a bigger iPod for myself. Maybe in the future...

I know this is not really headfi related, but it is portable sound related so I was hoping you guys would help me out.

We need a decent FM transmitter. Is the Griffin iTrip OK? Does it sound OK?
If we have it the car is reception good on the car radio? Are there better ones I should look at?
A car charger might also be handy. I think I'd like to keep charging and FM broudcast seperate, but maybe an all in one car kit would be a better solution. Suggestions?

 

[dwchin]

I have the Griffin iTrip and it works fairly well. The sound quality is what you would expect from FM radio. I haven't tried other transmitters, but from what I've read, the iTrip is one of the best.

You probably should be aware though that FM transmitters, no matter which one you get, may have trouble in cities and other areas where it's difficult to find an open FM frequency. The iTrip has a wide variety of "stations" you can load onto the iTrip, so you can search through them and find one that works, but I don't think you can guarantee that where you're going will have open stations or good reception with any transmitter.

On a side note, battery time with the iTrip is decent. You could probably go a good few hours with her iPod in between charges. I also have a Griffin PowerPod car charger, but I don't use it much.

 

[blessingx]

Be aware that some autos have an special (sometimes called "metallic") anti-UV coating the gets in the way of the transmitter to the outside antenna. I have an iTrip that works great with my car and not at all in my friends. With a rental car it's hard to predict what you'll end up with.

 

[fr4c]

just keep the iTrip near the antenna, and you should be fine.

edit: read post below

 

[blessingx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fr4c just keep the iTrip near the stereo, and you should be fine.

How? The signal needs to hit the (any) conducting antenna. Pointing it at the radio faceplate still won't cut it in at least a 2003 Mazda Protege stock radio and there are lots of other reports on the net. Are you saying there will be enough metal somewhere in the radio itself to pick up the iTrips relatively weak signal?

 

[fr4c]

Quote:

Originally Posted by blessingx How? The signal needs to hit the (any) conducting antenna. Pointing it at the radio faceplate still won't cut it in at least a 2003 Mazda Protege stock radio and there are lots of other reports on the net. Are you saying there will be enough metal somewhere in the radio itself to pick up the iTrips relatively weak signal?

oops you caught my mistake. i meant the antenna, not the stereo. i place my iPod/iTrip on a cellphone grip mat and just place it on the dash as close to the antenna as possible. it works really well this way.

 

[bigshot]

The best sounding and strongest connecting FM transmitter is the PodFreq. I had to carefully align my iTrip with the antenna and put up with its constant hiss too, but once I got my PodFreq, I never used it again. You can change the channel of the PodFreq while you're driving too... try that with an iTrip and you'll find yourself wrapped around a telephone pole!

See ya
Steve

 

[dknightd]

Thanks for the feedback.
I think I might try the newertechnologies roadtrip+ combined charger and fm broadcast. It only does one station (89.7 which is apparently not used in 99% on the country) but from what little I've been able to find about it it does that frequency well, and is pretty cheap. I've still got a couple of weeks to decide, so welcome other thoughts.

 

[yyoo]

I find iTrip annoying because of the need to have its "stations" clutter up your iPod's playlist. You might want to look into the AirPlay ($39.95 suggested retail) from XtremeMac. It's small like the iTrip, but it doesn't require you to install anything on your iPod to tune stations.

By the way, often you'll get your best reception by retracting your car's antenna. That way only the strongest, closest signal (your iPod's) will reach your radio.

 

[pank2002]

The kensington FM Digital Transmitter/Auto Charger looks pretty nice.