Customer Reviews

DLO TransPod All-in-One Car Solution for iPod White

5 star:		(82)
4 star:		(49)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This is not my first attempt at finding an FM transmitter, but so far it's the best solution I've found.

My first try was with an iTrip and a Belkin car charger for my 4G iPod. I also needed a Belkin TuneDock to hold everything. Because the iTrip looked cool and was very portable I tended to overlook its very poor sound and frequent signal drift. The fact that you can not just tune the iTrip on the fly made this more and more of an issue. If you lost a station, you had to stop whatever was playing and go select another iTrip station by playing it on the iPod. Not convenient. Then the iTrip and charge both stopped working - so I started shopping.

Next, I tried a Soundfeeder. This has a manual tuning knob so at least I could tune around signal drift. But this was a hassle and it ran on AA batteries and the signal really degraded as the battery wore out. So, I went for the "All-in-one" solution...

The Transpod just works! I have had absolutely ZERO signal drift. This is on the same station and the same commute I did hundreds of times with the iTrip and Soundfeeder, and they faded or had dead spots a few times per trip. So, I am a big fan of the signal. The dock with its built in charging and tuning buttons is a very big plus. No used cupholders from the TuneDock and the adjustable arms allowed me to place the dock as out of the way as needed. I haven't had to tune to a new station (have I mentioned how great that is), but if I did, the buttons are right there. Now, I have had the iPod bump out of the dock and cause the sound in the left speakers to die before I pushed it back down, but I can live with that. Also, the adjustable arms are not exactly "sexy". It's a bit clunky, but I was after FUNCTION and I just wanted to stop having to adjust things while driving instead of listening. I don't have any issue with the quality of the material.

PROS: Signal strength; All-in-one transmitter, charger, holder minimizes hassle; ease of tuning; adjustable arm for positioning

CON: Not very attractive with all the arms snaking up your console. Not "ugly", just sort of "low-tech".

That CON was not enough for me to lower the 5-star ranking.

As far as pure quality goes, this FM transmitter is probably one of the better ones out there. The sound quality and signal are both really nice; not CD quality, mind you, but I'd feel comfortable saying it's at least as good as broadcast quality.

My gripe is really just over aesthetics. It's simply a really clunky unit. I lease my car and didn't like the idea of (physically) mounting the unit to the dashboard and it's a little too heavy to use double-sided tape. Not to mention that if I tried to mount it, the only spot I could put it placed it too far away to control.

That left me with using the cigarette lighter adapter. That seems to work pretty well, but it has a penchant for being top-heavy and spilling over when I take a hard turn. I also can't use that unit in my wife's car because it gets in the way of the shifter.

I know it's a drop-off in sound quality, but I really seem to prefer the versatility that the iTrip, TuneDock, and seperate power adapter give. If I had to do it again, that's the direction I would have taken.

Let's start with what I have; IPod Photo (40GB), Toyota Echo (2000) with the stock radio and speakers.

The cons of this item. One person mentioned that displeasure with the extension and I agree. In my echo, with the extension arm, it is unstable. The only other cons that I can mention is that when I shift to 5th gear, because of the location of my lighter, I have to watch my knuckles. The stick does not hit the transmitter, but my gorilla knuckles do. That is a flaw with the car, not the transmitter.

Now, for the pros. The instructions recommend the antenna being extended, I actually found that having it retracted was better. My radio will pick up the IPod over another radio station. I purposely tuned to a local station and set the transmitter to the same frequency and it locked on the IPod (Which is really great for here in Europe). I only had one, possible, drift, but that could have been the track. With this transmitter, I have taken all the CD's out of my car! I have my IPod and this. I do not need anything else!

Lastly, I am no expert on exact sound quality, but to me, it sounds as good as my CD player in the car. I definately would recommend this to anyone.

Follow Up: Even a better; a couple of days ago, some friends and I were washing our cars. For curiousity's sake, we tried to see if their radios would pick up the signal. They did, as far as 30 feet away. All of this was on a commercial station that we knew had a decent signal.

One of the guys had a Belkin transmitter (mind you, battery powered) tuned to the same station. It picked up the DLO over his Belkin. Just something else to think about...

I tried iTrip, PODFreq, and DLO Transpod. Transpod is the only one that works. I can barely find a empty freq in Los Angeles. Transpod is the only one that can play with no static, no noise, no interference. iTrip sounds good but not strong enough to play in the car, a lot of noise and static, so is PodFreq. TRANSPOD sounds a little flat but works without any annoying noises. MUST HAVE

First off I think that the performance of all of these FM Transmitter type of devices are very dependent on the type of vehicle you own. So your results may differ from mine.

I've tried the Sound Feeder, iTrip and recently the Transpod in my 2002 Altima.

What I like about the Transpod:
Nice mounting system. It makes the iPod very easy to see. I thought the iPod was pretty secure and didn't bounce around too much and I live in pot hole ridden upstate NY. It charges the iPod. It's simple to change stations and has a strong FM signal.

What I didn't like:
Low Volume, very poor stereo separation (if any), poor dynamic range, iPod pre-amp is by passed, significantly loud whining noise even when iPod wasn't plugged in, can't use iPod with DLO Jam Jacket or iSkin, expensive.

The noise was too much for me no matter where I positioned the unit so I returned it.

The iTrip has much better sound quality, lower FM noise and costs a ton less. The biggest problem I have with the iTrip is that it is somewhat of a process to change stations.

The Transpod was something I wanted to like but just couldn't do it. If they improved the FM transmitter it would be a great device.

I was concerned about opening this (a gift) after my previous experience with the itrip. But after reading the other reviews I decided to give it a try. It works great! The sound is pretty good and I do not lose the signal. It is the solution that I had hoped the itrip would be. I highly recommend this product.

This is my third attempt to find an FM transmitter to use with my iPod in my car. I started with the Griffin iTrip; the struggle to coordinate stations was a nightmare, especially while driving. I tried a Belkin transmitter next, and it was okay, but it used AAA batteries, and burned through them in no time flat. The weaker the batteries, of course, the weaker the signal. The sound quality could best have been described as "fair." I bought my Volvo two years too early to take advantage of a direct connection, and without a cassette player, I needed an FM transmitter.

Finally, an FM transmitter that works, really works. The TransPod has made me very, very happy. I live in a fairly crowded radio market (Phoenix metro area), and get clear sound for the entire 30 miles of my commute. The sound is very clear; there is no static, and I love the fact that the volume control on my mini does not affect the sound volume. I can leave the volume at a perfect volume for my headphones, so when I get out of the car, I can plug in the headphones and be on my way. The arm is not perfect, but I managed to arrange it for convenience. If you're looking for a transmitter, I recommend this one for sound quality and ease of use.

I've been struggling to find a better solution to playing my Ipod in my car; I use a cassette adapter in my current car, but any car I have in the future - as well as the current cars of friends or rental cars - is unlikely to have a cassette player.

The Transpod allows you to play your Ipod through the radio; you just tune your car radio to an empty spot on the dial, tune the Transpod to the same frequency, and voila great sound. It also serves as a handy way to power up the unit and to secures it to the dashboard it so the driver can see it easily. No more fishing around for the thing on the floor.

The Transpod is a HUGE improvement over other radio-controlled solutions, for two reasons: 1) you can turn it to ANY empty spot on the FM radio dial (not just a few as in some competitive models), and 2) you can move from empty spot to empty spot as you travel - if you drive into an area with interference you just move to a new spot on the dial with a simple push to a button on the side of the unit.

My previous attempt at a radio-controlled device, a Belkin, was an utter disaster in comparison - it could only use 4 frequencies and had a nasty habit of squealing with feedback, and not only in busy urban areas either - once I got interference on my Belkin in rural Scotland. And the Belkin did not power up nor secure the Ipod to the dash.

Now I've got access to all my Ipod contents in any car I drive....used it on a recent vacation with a rental car and in five seconds we were driving down the road singing. No feedback, great sound, clear as a bell. I can't recommend this highly enough!

Great idea, not so great execution. If you've read the other reviews here you should already have a pretty good idea what's wrong with this product. But I need to add one more serious flaw: it's not stereo. Sure, it lights the little "stereo" light in your car's FM radio- but it sounds like all left channel / right channel separation is lost in the audio- even with a good, strong, clear signal on an unused FM frequency. Now of course I can't be certain whether this is a design omission, or if my unit is simply defective. To me , it doesn't matter; it's unacceptable in either case.

I have tried the cassette adapters and the old and new style iTrip.
The iTrips work fine until you run into areas were everythign bleeds over and plays havoc with your listening.

The DLO product is awesome, it has a nice strong transmission and will out broadcast most weak to medium strength stations.

The price has dropped a bit and it is quite a bargain now.

I have one for each car....

Love it.