FM transmitter opinions?

Menthis

Menthis

Menthis

Associate
Joined
24 Aug 2010
Posts
533
Location
Southend-On-Sea
Last edited:
I've got a cheapo one (think it was about £6) for whilst I'm borrowing a car that only has a tape deck, it's usable but that's about it.

I think you'd be far better off fitting a new head unit to the car, either using your iPod through a proper connection or I preferred using a 16Gb tiny usb stick which just stayed in the car.
 
Always found them unusable anywhere near civilisation, the first step to setting it up being "find a spare frequency".

Certainly around london there are none which will remain vacant for more than around 10mins when on the move.
 
Got an itrip auto, works fine for me, works fine in the centre of Newcastle often enough, and worked fine in the centre of Manchester and Birmingham as well.
 
I bought my GF a JVC head unit for her car for £40 (brand new from Halford). It has AUX and USB input, brilliant bit of kit for the price.
 
just got a griffin roadtrip
the idea of a charger/fm transmitter/dock for my phone was appealing especially as i use my phone as a sat nav on occasions.
i have no audio input on my car stereo and have no option or inclination to go for an aftermarket headunit.

i used to have an iTrip for my iPod photo a few years back and it worked well which is why i trusted the brand. but after spending a considerable amount of time sat in my car swearing at this new 'roadtrip' model, it is going back under DSR. i would avoid
 
I used to hate them, until I bought a decent one which is much better.

The frequency needs changing occasionally if you are travelling far, but it's fairly rare in my experience.

You can get ones that go in-line with your aerial, and I believe they disconnect the aerial while in use, so interference is much less of a problem.
 
I have a Griffin iTrip Auto SmartScan works fine 99% of the time, if the signal drops I usually just flick from 107.9 to 87.9.

There are other fm transmitters that broadcast right over the top of mine. sometimes the car thats transmitting is on the other side of a duel, would like to know what they are using.

In my experience if your car radio has good reception (ie you can pick up stations for other counties) they work quite well.
 
Last edited:
I used to use a Griffin iTrip. It worked fine out in the peak district or Cheshire, but go anywhere near central Manchester and it became awful due to the sheer volume of radio signals.

Gave up, bought an ipod head unit. Much better!
 
It works, barely, found an empty gap at 104.00 fm but finding the right location (for the transmitter in relation to the antenna) is a **** and sometimes high up on bridges and such you get a lot of static or a diff radio station overloading it.

It DOES come in very handy, works in any crapcar you sit in and handy for old radio's/hifi's at work.

I use a built-in one on my phone though.
 
Last edited:
I picked up a Jabra Crusier as I couldn't find a nice way of modifying my HU/Amp/Speakers whilst keeping the car looking decent.

It works extremely well and i have no problems with its frequency getting dominated by other FM sources in any big city (London, Birmingham, Manchester), when you do here a bit of interference you press and hold the tune down button and it scans all frequencies for the next signal with no interference, it always works fine.

I use it for my phone so I can use my phones MP3 player, Sat Nav and of course normal phone functions. It can attach up to two bluetooth devices at once as well and is compatible with phone phonebooks and all the other phone text things that get transmitted (i can't remember all the acronyms).

The only issue I have with it though is that it is Bluetooth (which is what I wanted), but Bluetooth trims the music so it never sounds as great as it does via a CD or MP3 player onnected via an Aux port. So sound quality isn't the best, but it is no where near bad... merely frustrating it is not perfect.

I did notice that FM transmitters work different in different cars though, mine is perfect in my car as well as in my brothers and a couple of my friends but in my dads and a couple other friends it tends to not be as clear (I think due to the way some cars are built, some sort of Faraday cage effect - possibly). So that is another thing to bear in mind.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom