Pros: Small size, a variety of frequencies to choose from, LCD screen, power cord included
Cons: Poor quality sound due to interference problems, range is dramatically reduced. Battery life average.
The Bottom Line: Although this device has a large frequency database and good features, the sound quality is just too poor with a range too short for me to recommend.
The Belkin wireless transmitter is a small electronic device that allows you to be able to listen to sound (i.e Music) over an FM signal from a variety of devices. These include MP3 Players, Discmans, Palm Handhelds (or Pocket PC's) or anything that has the standard 3.5mm headphone jack.
How does such a device achieve this? Well, basically, like the title of the device says, it has a small, FM transmitter inside, and if your car radio etc...is set to that same station, it will play the music over that frequency. For example, if I set the frequency on the Belkin tuner to 90.5 and set a car radio, for example, within a 10ft range to that same frequency, the music will play over the radio. It works best when the station you choose has little or no noise coming from it.
The main reason I purchased this unit was because one of our family vehicles, an Oldsmobile 88 (which I use on an average basis) had a broken tape player. Now, in my own vehicle, I use a tape adapter to hook in my Sony CLIE to play my music. However, with our Oldsmobile, I couldn't do that. I thought this would be the best way to get simliar quality sound to the tape adapter. I was wrong.
LOOK AND FEEL
The Belkin FM transmitter is small in size, and is smooth with rounded corners. It is grey and dull silver in colour and features a green backlit LCD (liquid crystal display) screen, which I found to be a plus. Many other transmitters don't have a screen, so sometimes it would be difficult to find out what station you're on. It features four buttons, 2 on each side of the screen, and a power port at the bottom to plug into a car's 12 volt adapter (cigarette lighter). It also features a short cable with a 3.5mm plug to hook into your device. With the power cord attached, the amount of wires is annoying, and get in the way. "Wireless" indeed!
FEATURES
Although I wasn't satisfied with the quality, which I'll talk about in a minute, the features were good, and made the device easy to use. Unlike many other transmitters, you can select an abundance of frequencies from 88.1 to 107.9, so no matter where you are, in the city or country, you should be able to find a station that works. These frequencies are easily changed by the up and down buttons on right of the LCD screen. On the left side, there's the on/off button, which features a neat "auto" feature, meaning the device will automatically turn off when not in use, and turn on when you start to play music on your music player (the transmitter has to be plugged to the device of course) and also features a memory button to store up to 4 of your favourite frequencies. Like I mentioned, it comes a with a power cord to plug into your car when the two AAA batteries die on you. The battery life on this device is only average, lasting about 3 weeks under normal use.
QUALITY OF SOUND
Well...I liked the look, I liked the features, but I didn't like the quality. On the packaging it states within a 10ft range, you will get, clear, crisp sound. They must have conducted these tests in a clean room or something, because I can barely get a good sound from just 2 ft away from an FM antenna. This is unacceptable. I bought this for our Oldsmobile because of the broken tape player, but since the FM antenna is on the rear of the car, the transmitter range isn't long enough to reach it, resulting in poor signal. I find it doesnt matter which radio station I use, there is noise and distortion of sound. I listen to alot of score and instrumental music, and alot of the instruments are muffled, the sound is like some old cassette that has been played too much. The funny thing is, if I find a station that is reasonably quiet, I change the frequency on the Belkin Transmitter, it actually AMPLIFIES the quiet signal from some radio station on that frequency, resulting in me hearing crappy, distorted country music instead of John Williams' Jurassic Park!!! There is just too much interference from car functions and outside factors for the little transmitter to overcome. Even in my home, trying it on my clock radio, the sound was lackluster (even from a clock radio) Just two feet away from my pioneer reciever, it still sounds poor, with hiss and noise. Not that FM radio is perfect, but the quality from this is, in my opinion, far below most FM stations.
CONCLUSION
I was not impressed with this product. Although it had good features, and an ample frequency database, the sound quality was poor, and the range was not even half of what was posted on the package and manuals. Belkin, you need to take this product and increase the power of the transmitter for your next model or it will have the same problems.
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