I Pod and Fm transmitters

Submitted: Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 09:47
ThreadID: 32946 Views:2439 Replies:13 FollowUps:5
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I am going to buy an IPod for the big trip, as so many others have, and I would be grateful for any info about which FM transmitters fit conveniently and soundly into a GU cigarette socket. I am particularly inclined toward the Griffin RoadTrip but I haven't actually seen one and I am not sure of the "fit". Also, has anyone had much experience with those small, portable stand alone storage thingammees for storing digital photos? I have been thinking about a DigiMate 111. Any comments and ideas would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Stano.
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Reply By: PajeroTD - Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 10:03

Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 10:03
If you are keeping the car, consider buying a head unit such as a Clarion that lets you plug your iPod in directly (not through aux in) but through a proper interface that charges your iPod battery while you are driving, without taking up the 12v outlet, it also lets you select the songs on your iPod from your head unit, see the songs displayed on the head unit, and you will get much better sound quality than you will through an FM transmitter
AnswerID: 167335

Reply By: Member - Troll 81 (QLD) - Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 10:21

Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 10:21
Hi Stano

I have a ITRIP and I think they are great. I had a belkin before that and it didn't work at all but the itrip is great
AnswerID: 167336

Reply By: Member - Phil G (SA) - Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 11:16

Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 11:16
My daughter's Ipod with FM transmitter needs to be on the LHS of the 79series dashboard (close to the antenna) otherwise its all a bit scratchy.
AnswerID: 167339

Follow Up By: Member - Troll 81 (QLD) - Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 12:00

Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 12:00
Is it a Belkin or Itrip? I found the same when I had the Belkin but the Itrip can be anywhere. I had some mates in the back changing the songs while I was driving
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FollowupID: 422471

Follow Up By: Member - Phil G (SA) - Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 12:29

Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 12:29
Not sure as my daughters back in Melbourne, but its worth knowing that FM transmitters are not all the same.
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FollowupID: 422476

Reply By: Derek from Affordable Batteries & Radiators - Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 13:13

Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 13:13
I too tried a cheaper type. It had poor quality sound as well a hearing the hard drive spin when searching.

Best to Buy the ipod product.

AnswerID: 167346

Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Tuesday, Apr 18, 2006 at 11:31

Tuesday, Apr 18, 2006 at 11:31
Derek,
It sounds like the one I have. I bought what I thought was a good one (about $70-) and I think it's called an AuPro or something like that for ipod Shuffle. It has a long cable to/from the cigi plug and I've mounted it on the front of my aftermarket dashpod.......so it is not in direct line-of-sight of the aerial. I can hear the hard drive "searching" for the next song and it often sounds like a normal car radio that isn't quite tuned-in properly. The good part about it is that you can choose almost any frequency you like...in fact it can be tuned into every second frequency (eg: 100.1; 100.3; 100.5 etc and there are 3 user-programmable pre-sets.

I'm thinking about trying it out using a cassette (the one's with the cable and ear-phone-size plug, so that it is almost sort-of hard-wired. I'm guessing that because I will have the cassette in, that the radio will automatically disengage. Worth a try.

Cheers

Roachie
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Reply By: Scubaroo - Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 13:29

Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 13:29
Anyone tried the Kensington FM transmitter? It's had good reviews on some overseas sites, and will charge the iPod while driving. I've got a Nano and they have a very short battery life, so I need something that charges while driving.

They're about $100 which is much less (and easier to justify) than replacing the radio.
AnswerID: 167348

Reply By: toro - Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 14:48

Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 14:48
check
www.griffintechnology.com for all the ipod (itrip) accessoires
AnswerID: 167354

Follow Up By: stano - Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 14:58

Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 14:58
Thanks,Toro, I have had a look at that site. I can't get a clear idea of how the RoadTrip /i Pod would present as it sits in the cig. socket. Is it easy to manipulate the I Pod, does it stay settled over rough tracks? Is it better to have the I Trip or the Kensington where the only thing plugged into the cig. socket is the transmitter and the I Pod ( connected by the wire) can be rested elsewhere ready to be grabbed when needed? It just seems to me that it would be a good idea to have the I Pod sitting in the transmitter cradle being charged and in the one place ie not rattling around like a mobile phone. What do people think?
Stano.
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FollowupID: 422486

Reply By: TrevorDavid- Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 16:24

Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 16:24
Stano, does your GU have a cassette player? If so have you looked into a cassette adaptor for your IPod . Ours is a crest adaptor works a treat.

Regards

TrevorDavid
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AnswerID: 167369

Follow Up By: stano - Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 16:30

Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 16:30
TrevorDavid,
Yes it does and my daughter's I Pod works brilliantly using a cassestte adaptor we had left over after the demise of an old Discman. The thing is that our every day car only has a CD player and we would like to be able to use an an I Pod in this as well. I can certainly recommend the cassette adaptor and I read somewhere recently that there is a 'smart' cassette adaptor which, when used with an I Pod, allows you to direct the I Pod from the radio/player in the dash.
Stano.
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FollowupID: 422495

Reply By: Geoff M (Newcastle, NSW) - Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 18:19

Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 18:19
Hi stano,
I've bought a couple of FM transmitters off EBay and let me say I got what I paid for!
Take the advice of the guys who've bought the Belkins and the iTrip's. You don't need the hassles.

Geoff.
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AnswerID: 167389

Reply By: Tim HJ61 (WA) - Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 19:39

Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 19:39
Stano,

I bought a Griffin Road trip and used it on my trip through great central road, Mereenie loop road in July last year. Went fine and I thoroughly recommend it - however I have modified my ciggy lighter position.

I installed a couple of outlets in the centre console so the male piece from the Griffin went vertically into the female socket. This way the iPod sat up nicely with it's weight over the top of the plug. The supplied Griffin male plug was a snug fit, but I would be concerned with mounting it in a normal upright dash ciggy lighter. Don't know where the GU has it's socket.

Someone mentioned using the iPod from the back seat. This is one disadvantage of the Griffin Road Trip in that for the FM transmitter to work it needs to be connected to 12v power so can't be passed around the car. A way around this would be to make up your own power lead and plug it into the back of the Griffin Road Trip, perhaps using some of the Anderson Powerpoles available in the accesories section of Trader - shameless plug as I'm selling them!..

For me, I'd prefer the iPod mounted securely in one spot, not floating round the back with the drink cans, dirty socks and other glorious things we find at the end of the trip. Depends on what you want.

I also bought a Belking camera link for loading my photo's onto the iPod. First one was faulty, but the replacement has worked fine. Would I buy another? No. I'd buy bigger memory cards instead. The cards are getting cheaper and unless you take many hundreds of photos, a couple of 256mb cards would be a better investment IMHO.

All the best in your trip.

Tim
AnswerID: 167415

Reply By: Old Scalyback & denny - Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 19:45

Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 19:45
goodday stano
i run the 30gig ipod with a belkintransmitterbut i bought the transmitter that does the full FM range not just a couple of channels and run it on fm2 i have installed a double cigarette lighter unit on the back of the gu console and dont have any problems with the tightness of the fit
the only problem is around town it is very hard to get clear stations so if you were looking at getting a new radio then 1 with external plugs would be good

steve
AnswerID: 167418

Reply By: Member - Michael B (NSW) - Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 19:54

Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 19:54
Stano,
Added a Griffin to my ipod last year, plugged into the socket in the 80 and did
15000 ks on some serious rough roads in the Kimberleys last year, never missed a beat all trip. Interestingly enough will broadcast to other travellers within a couple
of ks as well. We were in convoy, lots of fun.
Mike B
AnswerID: 167420

Reply By: Willem - Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 21:20

Monday, Apr 17, 2006 at 21:20
I have an EasyMP3 player FM transmitter with 2.256Gig of flashcards.

Player $70 Flashcards 1Gig=$120 256=$50

Plays for 24hours

Have connected it to separate cig socket off aux battery.

Plays a treat on all types of road surfaces.
AnswerID: 167462

Reply By: TerraFirma - Tuesday, Apr 18, 2006 at 11:17

Tuesday, Apr 18, 2006 at 11:17
I have 2 Ipods now , both with Griffin FM transmitters. The original model worked the best. The new Ipod 60GB Video and the Griffin FM transmitter for this model don't seem to work as well, unless in Mono Mode..?? (Why bother..?). They work but the range doesn't seem to be as good. You have some options here as I know some people have cracked open the FM transmitter and modified the arial, I haven't bothered. The other option is pull your stereo out and see if you can run a line in..? In the end in my boat I bought a new front end with Ipod support because I simply love using the Ipod and wires are the only real way to go. There in lie your choices..

AnswerID: 167533

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