Customer Reviews

Belkin Auto Charger for iPod (White)

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

Before I got this adapter, I was just using a cassette adapter and an FM transmitter in the car. In both cases the iPod was struggling to provide enough power output to provide clean undistorted sound, and still having to crank the volume control up all the way on both the car stereo and the iPod.

This product solves that problem, and charges your iPod to boot. It uses the new line out capabilities through the docking connector. You then plug your adapter into a mini-plug jack located on the power adapter. Adjust the aplifier volume on the adapter as well. The built in amplifier provides enough power now so I don't have to crank the volume on the car stereo, making the sound to be fuller, richer, more accurate and eliminating all the hiss & noise caused by having to turn up the car stereo all the way.

The only things that might need to consider is the mini-plug output for the amplifier and volume controls are on the side of the cigarette plug. While this wasn't a problem for me, people with resessed power plugs in their cars might have difficulty with it if your cassette adapter/fm transmitter doesn't have a angled plug (I have a MB that has a power adapter in a recessed ashtray and it's challenging to use that plug because of space requirements, but does work after some adjustment). Belkin should have put these on opposite sides of the device, but should only be a minor inconvience. I don't envision anyone having to adjust the output volume very often, after you set it for the first time.

I highly reccomend this product to anyone wanting to listen to their iPod in the car.

This thing is great! This is basically a "dock" for the car. It powers and charges the ipod, while providing an audio jack to hook up to your car stereo without having to plug into the headphone jack of the ipod. Now to clear up a point from other reviews. A few reviewers were giving this product LOW rating, not because of problems with the adapter, but because of their own faulty hook up. Ever notice the hiss you get from playing a tape? Well guess what, if you hook up anything through a tape adapter, yeah, you're gonna get that same hiss. Did you notice that FM doesn't sound as clear as a cd? Well same thing applies here. It's gonna sound like FM if you use an FM transmitter. The noise is coming from the tape and fm adapters, NOT the Belkin adapter. If you have a line input in your deck, or buy an adapter to add a line in to the back of you deck, you'll get PERFECT sound. It's as clear as any cd i have (depending on the compression of the mp3). I simply spliced into my cd changer's audio (since i no longer use the cd changer because of my ipod), and now I get crystal clear sound from my ipod thanks to the Belkin Adapter. I was actually suprised at the clarity after reading some of these reviews, but I assumed it was because of the way they had it hooked up. I used to use the headphone jack before, but I had to turn it up almost all the way. With the belkin, I can now adjust the audio so that it's the same level as my radio. Once you have it set the same, you really don't need to adjust the adapter's volume ever again. It's nice and loud now! Hopefully you can hook yours up the same, without noisy adapters.

I just bought a new 2006 Civic and like all new Hondas, it has a line input on the stereo. I have been using this Auto Kit for 2 months and I love it. It makes my 1 hour commute somthing I look forward to. When you hook up the ipod with the large connector on the bottom with the Auto Kit, the sound is so much more clear and free of distortion over using the headphone out. I have been a professional audio engineer for 25 years, so I know good sound. The review I read helped me choose, so I hope this will help someone else.

If you get hum/whine/buzz, you need to add a Ground Loop Isolator, also called a Grounding Block. Some audio products include such circuitry internally, the Belkin evidently does not (shame on them). You can find one at any Radio Shack or local car audio/electronics shop.

The product isn't defective, but it was skimpily engineered to be sure. Anytime you connect an audio input device to a car's power system, you need to add this filtering to keep the car's power system from feeding back onto the audio signal...

This device provides great audio. It does a much better job than an FM transmitter.

I use this kit with a SONY cassette adapter, for my 4th Gen. iPod, and it works great. A few comments on this kit:

* I get a full charge on my fully-drained iPod battery in about 1 hour.
* If you plan on using a cassette adapter, then connect it to the cassette adapter plug on the kit, rather than directly on your iPod. It is a convenient way of shortening cables, and routing less cables to your iPod.
* I experienced distorted music play-back when I set the kit's volume control on a high setting. I found that it's best to keep the kit volume control at a medium (or less) setting, with an iPod medium-high (or less) volume setting, and use the car's stereo for over-all volume control.

I was kind of miffed at what I perceived as "price fixing" on the part of Apple accessory makers when I bought this, since I thought it was just a power adapter. But it's a lot more -- you have the audio plug in the adapter right there, so you can plug just one thing into the iPod for instant music. The sound volume on the adapter is nice too, and the knob isn't cheap, it feels comperable to the iPod. Finally, when you stop your car, the adapter pauses your iPod's music for you. It's da bomb!

Despite bemlar's assertions that all "hissing" is due to the user's faulty hookup or use of tape adapters and FM transmitters, many people have experienced a high-pitched hissing through their speakers with any audio accessory that uses the cigarette lighter adapter. This is not due to the user's faulty hookup, but due to poor factory electrical systems in the vehicle. It is usually more noticeable while driving (accelerating) and not so much when idling.

Like bemlar, I also have a direct line from my car's factory CD changer connector to my iPod, and can get crystal clear playback until plugging in the chargers from various accessories. The screeching is there through the speakers as long as the adapter is plugged in, even if the music is turned down or the iPod disconnected. Incidentally, this also used to happen with my old CD/MP3 player that I had wired up the same way. Apparently in some vehicles, the cigarette lighter's electrical is too closely associated with the audio system, and this inevitably happens when powering and playing at the same time.

I have owned the DLO Transpod and the SiK imp for my iPod. They both created this high frequency makes-your-dog-wince hissing only when plugged in to charge. Both worked very nicely and sounded great as long as I was not charging the iPod. The DLO Transpod even worked well in FM transmitter mode, but with the direct line I had no real use for that. What I have wanted is a permanent setup that requires me only to "pop" the iPod into a dock when I get in the car and go. The DLO was the closest, but the hiss and inelagance of it's tinker-toy appearance finally made mt try something else. I have also owned an iTrip which worked OK, but of course provided no way to charge the iPod.

The Belkin Auto Kit for iPod is the only one of the 3 powered adapters that does not create the "hiss" when charging, so finally I have a solution that works as I want. In combination with the Belkin TuneDok for iPod cup-holder mount, I can pop my iPod in and out of a secure, visible, and usable place, charging and playing beautifully without any annoying feedback/hissing. It seems the cigarette plug on the Belkin unit must be better shielded, and maybe it has something to do with the input control on the unit itself. I'm no electrical engineer, but clearly Belkin has done something that DLO and SiK have not for vehicles like my '98 New Beetle with this lighter-radio problem.

Keep in mind that for this unit, its strength is also its weakness. Probably precisely because of whatever it is electrically that makes the Belkin work without creating the "hiss," it does not function using its own line-out at all unless it is charging. When I was using the DLO Transpod or the imp, I resorted to never plugging in the charger, just using the iPod's batteries on the road, in order to avoid the hiss. When the iPod's battery got low, I'd just listen to the radio. The Belkin needs to be plugged in to work. This is not an issue for me really, since now that I have no hissing I have no reason to not plug it in. But for people who are making long trips and/or swapping out their cell phones or other accessories with their cigarette lighters, realize that the music will come to a crashing halt if you are using this unit's line-in to play your iPod. Of course when you unplug it you can simultaneously plug your (FM transmitter, tape adapter, line-in) into the iPod's headphone jack, but the idea of devices like this is to minimize cord swapping, right?

In summary, from a person who has owned an iTrip, a DLO Transpod, and a SiK imp, the Belkin Auto Kit + Belkin TuneDok combo is the closest thing you will get to a pop-in pop-out "dock" for your car that makes the iPod usable and sound great without the speaker-cigarette lighter interference hissing many have experienced. I just wish Belkin would combine the two into a cup-holder shaped powered dock with line out. Isn't that obvious?

First let me say I've hooked up other MP3 players and a Pocket PC to my car stereo before while also having them plugged into the cigarette lighter for charging. In all cases I had a terrible hissing noise while charging. Thus I expected the same with the Belkin and iPod.

To my delight it works perfectly!! I plug in the Belkin charger and run a patch line from it to the audio-in on my car stereo and I get perfect sound with no hiss (while also charging the iPod)!

This product works as advertised. One thing to be aware of is that Belkin tells you to turn the volume down on your stereo and iPod and use the volume control on the Belkin device. I found the sound quality to be considerably better when I did the opposite and turned the volume down on the iPod and Belkin and just used my car stereo volume control.

I recently purchased the Auto Kit so I could get line-out quality sound from my iPod and port it directly to the aux-input of my car stereo. At first blush it seems like a great product, however in practice it is sorely lacking. The amped line out on the Auto Kit picks ups the electrical interference from the alternator and other electrical systems producing a very annoying hum to outright buzz while driving.

I investigated the problem and determined that the Belkin Auto kit lacks an appropriate filter to mute the interference. I found that if I plugged the RCA cable into the headphone jack and left the power adapter connected, I still got the whine. If I removed the power adapter, the whine, buzz and humming were gone. Had I known this was going to be an issue, I would have saved myself the $40 and just set things up to plug into the headphone jack.

Belkin obviously thought that people would be using their product with their FM transmitter or cassette adapter which are noisy in their own right and thus the interference introduced through the Auto kit wouldn't be a problem.

I would not put any money into this particular Belkin product and find another way to get line-out quality sound.

You can trust this product. I bought it based on the fact that the mini stereo audio out is located next to the dash and not at the bottom of you iPod. I can tolerate a wire running to my iPod because I want it to be able to charge but I don't want cables running everywhere. As long as you set it up properly it will sound great. If you use a tape adapter or FM modulator you may get hiss, I don't know because I bought this so I could you the auxilary port on my Alpine receiver to avoid all that, and it sounds amazing. My newer CD's I rip at 320 so the bass and highs really come through, there is no way you could tell the difference between a CD and the iPOD. My older stuff like the Beatles get ripped at 192 so I save the space and it still sounds great. If you get any hiss its from something else beside this.