The Bottom Line: Great quality, but I can't deal with the Hiss and loss of Radar detector power source.....
ashmason's Full Review: Dr. Bott (0142-IPCK) Case, Cable, Car Kit, Connect...
Intro
Alright, got my Ipod, loaded it up with tunes, now to take it in the car and listen to uninterrupted music, but how best to do it?
I am a neat freak; well ok maybe not totally, I am also lazy... ;) But now I have this cutting edge 10gig MP3/Hard Drive sitting in the palm of my hand, I did not want to go back to the cassette adapter to connect it to my car radio, it just seemed like a step backward, not to mention all the wires trailing everywhere. I also don't like loose items in my car as my lead foot has a tendency to have em flying around the interior in a gravity defying manner!
With this in mind I was most interested in the new breed of low powered wireless transmitters. There are several options out there and I read the reviews, some success, some not so good. Hmmm, then I cam across the Transpod, specifically made for the Ipod, cigarette lighter mounting, built in stand/charger. At $99 it had to be better than these $29 ones I thought. I looked for reviews and found two on Amazon. One good, one bad, they were also on sale for $69, so I decided to go for it.
Big Mistake!
Ok, first up I have to say it does work, it’s well built and nicely packaged….. but that’s about all I can say on the positive side.
Installation:
The mounting is nice and solid and slips into my lighter socket on my Isuzu Trooper easily, it comes with an extension stick and brings the Ipod to my fingertips with plenty of options to adjust it via little plastic wing nuts. So far so good I thought. Then the first problem became apparent, now where do I plug my Radar Detector??? Out with the double extension socked, back in with the Transpod, oh no, now it’s all wobbly. Ok, lets just work with the Transpod for now, though this is not good for me.
Slip the Ipod in to the unit, there is a little switch to line up the firewire connector (remember the 5g/10g &20g are all slightly different sizes) and in it goes, I can see it charging, great, now to tune it in.
On with the radio, radio antenna fully extended, find a blank station… the clear shhhhhhhhhhhhh of static, seems like a winner on 100.01, fiddle with the Ipod fine tuner, there we go music, whoa lost it… wow this fine tune wheel is soooo sensitive, finally managed to get a decent signal by lightly touching the wheel until it settled down. Listen carefully and I hear hissing. Ok try a better tune…. Nope, try a different station, nope still hissing.
The bottom line is, I can’t get a super clear signal, and this is not helped by the fact that every time I put my hand near the transpod, I get interference.
Now the car was in the driveway without the usual road noise so I wanted to give it one more change during my commute. Nope, the static is still loud enough to bug me and I had to adjust the fine tuning three times during my 20 mile commute.
The Final Straw
So thinking this may do as a backup for when I end up in a car without a cassette deck, I looked online for a cassette adapter, hey I guess there is something to be said for tried and true after all. You can imagine my disgust when I came across Transpod 2, gone is the transmitter; instead there is a cassette connector.
Aaaaarrrrghhhh….. well at least I didn’t pay full price.
Conclusion
In my opinion the transmitter option is only a backup and you would be better getting a cheaper one. I read a review of the IRock and someone had used an extension cable to put it close to his antenna with good results.
If your in car stereo does not have a cassette deck, then zip down to your local car stereo installer and have them fit an FM Modulator, it’s far more powerful than these portable units.
So what to do with this transpod? I think I may give it away, it just doesn’t work for me on too many levels. It’s clear to me now that I need something without the stick mounting as I can’t be without my Radar Detector. It doesn’t fit in my wife’s Jaguar X-Type as it interferes with the gear shift, so for me this is a lame duck.
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