Customer Reviews

DLO TransDock 3.0 FM Transmitter for iPod (Black)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

A couple of years ago i got a DLO transmitter for christmas and it worked great and i never had any problems with it but recently my car got broken into so i had to buy a new one and since i had a great experience with DLO before i decided to buy this one and what a mistake that was. First off i live in a very rural area and i can still never find a station that i don't get static!!! most of the time it sounds like i am listening to an AM station or something. Even though always having static with my music is annoying the part that makes me the most mad is the stupid telescopic stand they have with this model. It never stays in one place! every time i turn a corner start to fall over and i will have to grab it and support it so it will stay upright, and the times i don't grab it my ipod is usually thrown from the dock. I have used this in a toyota and a hyundai and have had the same problem in both cars so its not just the outlet in my car. I am very disappointed with this product especially since it cost me over a hundred dollars when i bought it. I am just going to invest in a car stereo that lets you plug your ipod directly into it and i advise everyone else to do the same.

I can't imagine an easier product to use. You just:

1) Open the box and snap the three pieces together.

2) Plug the TransDock into your car's cigarette lighter.

3) Plug your iPod into the Transdock.

4) Press the center button on the TransDock. It will find the best (least interference) FM frequency and display it.

5) Tune your car radio to the indicated frequency.

Now whatever you play on your iPod will play on your FM radio. I'm not an audiophile, but the sound quality is very good and clear to my ears. In my rural area, this works great. I've also had no problems in a nearby mid sized city (300,000+) (and never had to change frequencies). I have heard that in major urban areas you may have problems finding a frequency without competing signals. I haven't yet taken this to a large city, so I don't know.

The construction and looks of this unit are very good. It is black and blends very well with the dashboard in both our Honda Civic and our Toyota Tacoma (both with black dashboards). In both cases it looks well integrated - much less kludgey looking than most aftermarket GPS units, for example.

It fits very snugly into the cigarette lighter - it never moves around while I drive over bumpy roads. The gooseneck can be bent a little if you need, but is very rigid and holds its shape. The neck is fairly short - so the bottom of the unit will be about 3 - 4 inches above the lighter socket.

You can't tell from the photo, but the gooseneck attaches near the top of the unit, not the bottom.

There are a couple of jacks in the bottom of the unit marked "AV OUT" and "AUX IN". I haven't had a reason to use them. They are completely out of view in the car since they are on the bottom side.

Other comments:

Since this unit is so easy to plug in and remove (and is so small), it would be very easy to take with you in a rental or friend's car.

My (possibly naive) assumption is that the AUX IN port will let you plug in a non iPod mp3 player.

I have a new 4th generation Ipod Nano. It wasn't clear when I bought the Transdock that it would work with the new Nano. No problems there.

The trans dock works very nice, with good signal. But the telescopic stand broke as soon as I tryed to form to my needs.

I have used DLO products exclusively since i bought my original Transpod for a few years now.

SERVICE

When they were DLO the customer service was far better than the customer service you get with calling Phillips people. I purchased the Transdock 3.0 from a retailer on amazon who sold it as Used - Like new condition. The product lasted literally 2 weeks before the actual transmitter part started to turn on and off. The funny thing was it still charged - it just wouldn't transmit the iPod. I called Customer service and they told me because it was a used product they can't do anything for me despite me showing them the receipt from a reputable retailer.

Intellitune

Ever since they switched to the intellitune technology the transmitters have just gone down hill. The intellitune NEVER gets a correct channel for me. On this specific product it actually gave me the choice of trying to override one of the biggest radio stations in my area. This transmitter has no way of getting past one of the heavy hitting FM stations. I am having to replace my product once every few months ... but the problem (or saving grace) is that the DLO products are the best transmitters around. Unfortunately the tech service, the workmanship, and general care is just crud!

This product does not improve on the static issues most FM transmitters have. I live in a rural area and was unable to get clear signals on any station the device recommended.

The flexible stand is a great concept, but it moved around too much while driving that it was distracting.

I was really hoping this product would be the solution to having too many wires in my car, but I unfortunately had to return it.

I previously owned the DLO Transdock 1. While it worked fine for podcasts and audiobooks, the sound quality for music was pretty weak. If too much was going on the sound clipped and got crunchy. It also did not put out a strong signal and my radio picked up other transmitters over mine. As long as I stayed out of the city it worked ok.

The DLO 3.0 fixes all of that. It seems more durable, is easier to use, sends a very strong signal and sounds great. Realize that FM transmitters will not sound as good as a direct connection but this one is strong. It is greatly improved over 1.0 as is definitely worth the money.

I received this as a gift. I use it with 2nd gen. iPod Touch and an iPod Classic. Traveled from VA to PA and only had to change stations 2-3 times. It works great! Very easy to use - take it out of the box, plug it into the car lighter, pop on iPod, hit the search station button, set your radio station to that channel & you're done!

There's a flexible heavy duty snake cord in the back which plugs into the car lighter so you can adjust the height, viewing angle, etc. Another bonus: it also charges your iPod.

I purchased this to listen to my ipod touch in the car. First, the description says the product is new. However, when the package arrived, it came in a zip lock bag without any instructions. Once I guessed and figured out which frequency it actally played on, the music came in with tons of static. No frequency is displayed on this transmitter. They must have copied and pasted a frequency number to display on the product info for the web. I wasn't able to fine tune it either. After I went to the DLO website and downloaded a pdf of how this transmitter was suppossed to work, I realized that the one I received didn't work properly at all. This definately was a defective item which I promptly returned for a refund today. I would not even bother looking at the product. It's a waste of time and effort.

I was leery about purchasing this product because of the bad reviews, however there were an equal number of good reviews so I figured I'd take my chances, especially with the unbeatable price. I should have trusted my gut - this product is awful. I had previously used a Transpod in my car, happily for a number of years, until I accidentally broke it while hastily yanking it out of the outlet and ripping the wire. I expected this new one to be just like my last, only newer. I don't know what happened with the technology between that one and this one, but it's now awful. The Intellitune ends up on stations for which there is already a strong signal. Even when I manually select a station, there is so much background fuzz that I cannot enjoy my music. I have tried numerous stations and none give me the clear signal I had with the old one. I am so disappointed with this product. The only good thing I can say is that it was very easy to put together and very easy to use - if only the sound quality were tolerable. Do not buy this product.

since the product was advertised as not new and the price difference was quite substantual I took a chance

and odered the used model. I was very happy, it came with manual and original box, it must have

been a display because it looks brand new to me