On my quest to find a FM Transmitter, I bought a different itrip from Griffin, but it did not charge my ipod nano 4th Gen. So I called Grifin and they told me that in order to charge my ipod nano 4th Gen that it needs to be an itrip with Smart Scan technology. So i returned it and bought this one, and i'm very happy with it.
1. This unit charges our ipod nano 4th Gen no problem. The ring of light on the cigarette lighter plug lights up red when initially connected denoting power to FM transmitter, then amber once the ipod is connected (charging), and then it turns green when the ipod is fully charged.
2. I have a sealed radio in my car so therefore don't have an audio input unfortunatley (2005 Volvo s40 2.4i) and so FM Transmitters are a way of life for me. Your not going to get the perfect sound quality from these like you would with a direct input, so check to see if you got an aux input in your car first and then just buy a charger and a double male head phone wire. I have a Sirius Radio has an FM Transmitter so i'm use to dealing with changing frequencys every so often. I live in NJ and am in NYC and Long Island a lot. My car can tune to 87.9 which I use for the sirius radio almost everywhere, but sometimes while in NY I use 93.3 (pretty high on the frequency list, but for some reason it's clear).
3. Check to make sure your car can go into 87.9 range first, these channels are hardly ever used by radio stations, then switch this grifin itrip autoscan to international frequencies just press function, then press AND HOLD mode for roughly ten secons until a new menu appears. It'll give you US, EU, and JP choices above each of the three buttons on the itrip. I picked JP (for japan) which enables all the normal US frequencies plus the lower range, lower then my car can go, my car only goes to 87.3 or something. A funny thing is that when i tune my car and itrip to 87.9 i get static, but if i keep the itrip at 87.9 and tune my car to 87.8 it comes in perfectly clear. It doesn't do that in my wife's car, 87.9 is 87.9. Just set one of your car radio presets to that and your good to go!
4. I took someone else recomendation to adjust the ipods equalizer to "Acoustic" and that definetly sounds better.
5. Long story short, I like this product, I got it for a heck of a lot cheaper then any FM transmitter at the apple store. One downfall which people do mention is that it is a tad bit hard to read the display of the itrip when you got a glare, but you can set your own presets on the itrip. Autoscan function is stupid, but apparently this is the model that'll charge the ipod nano 4th gen. Scan the radio yourself for static/ or free channels and then tune the itrip to those. Griffin 4045-TRPAUTOS iTrip Auto FM Transmitter with SmartScan for iPod (0.5 Amps Rating)
I've bought many FM transmitters from Kensington to Monster to DLo. This one is by far one of the best ones I have used. Kensington worked well, but stopped working after about 3 months of using it. I had returned others because there was too much static. I like this one because it searches for the 3 clearest channels that you could use, a feature that many others FM transmitters do not have.
As soon as you plug this FM adapter into an iPhone 3G you get a message stating that it really is not and truly can never be an official iPhone product and if you would like to turn off every feature of your iPhone that makes it an iPhone (namely the phone) just click "yes" and your iPhone will go into the aircraft mode and pretend that instead of crawling around in South Florida traffic you are jetting off to Europe.
The first couple of times I got an abbreviated and less descriptive version of this message, conditioned as I am to doing everything Steve Jobs wants me to do if I am using any Apple product (and I have a lot), I said "yes, yes, turn off that phone feature."
This was a mistake you can avoid by careful attention to this review. Here is our little secret (and please don't tell Steve I told you). If you click "no", the iPhone works just fine. You will be able to receive incoming calls, incoming emails, and text messages from your kids who have fingers far nimbler than yours ever were at any age.
Your iPhone will even pause the music before the phone rings so you can pick up business calls and actually speak without Jimmy Buffett singing "why don't we get drunk and screw?" in the background. If like me you actually receive calls from people other than your significant other, this is a useful feature which in its own way promotes marital harmony.
Now that feature alone would be worth the price. But it also charges your iPhone 3G, something even Steve Jobs doesn't talk too much about. And it contains another feature called "SmartScan" (to differentiate it from competitors' "dUMBsCAN" versions I guess). This feature is one you can read all about on the Amazon website but not in the so-called owners manual which I cut in two trying to get the unit out of its protective packaging. Anyway this feature automatically scans your radio to find the three most ideal channels to play your iPhone over your car's radio. Well here is how smart the system is-it ignores the fact that automobiles do not stay in one location and that legal (and pirate) radio stations cover the dial. It is truly a lot easier just to find an open spot on the FM dial and set the transmitter accordingly, a feature I learned from the dUMBsCAN folks.
Now let's cut to the chase. Does it work? Will your collection of Club Med Silly Songs actually play over your car radio. The answer is "yes" at least until someone wants to call you. - Itrip - Griffin - Ipod Transmitter - Ipod Accessories'
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