Customer Reviews

GOgroove FlexSMART Advanced Car Mount System with NEW Signal Intensifying FM Transmitter and USB Charging Port for Apple iPhone 3 , 3gs , 4 , 4s / iPod Touch , Classic

5 star:		(178)
4 star:		(124)
3 star:		(58)
2 star:		(45)
1 star:		(57)

 

 

I spent a bunch of time reading reviews of various iPhone FM transmitters before buying this one. I've used it now for several weeks, so it seems only fair for me to pass on my views since I relied on these user reviews so much in selecting the product in the first place.

(1) The sound quality does seem better than other FM transmitters I've tried. I let it find a frequency and tuned the radio to it, and haven't had any interference, ghosting etc. I live in Washington DC and have found other FM transmitters just have too much interference to work effectively. So far, this gets full marks on sound quality, which is probably the most important issue to think about when buying one of these things. (If you haven't used FM transmitters before - understand one thing: the FCC limits the power output of these little transmitters to the point that they can be easily overwhelmed by interference, static, distant real radio stations, etc. - so finding one that actually works and puts out a strong enough signal to work effectively is really not easy. This one does manage it.)

(2) The mount does hold the phone securely and it is relatively easy to take the phone in and out of.

(3) The little dongle cord to plug the phone in is kind of klutzy. Basically, you have to plug the base of the phone into the dongle, then squeeze the arms that hold the phone together, every time you put the phone in the mount. It would be better to just drop the phone into the mount with a pre-set plug, then squeeze the arms together, but this is a fairly trivial issue. The other annoying thing about the dongle is that because it is loose, if you don't drop the phone in and connect it, it swings freely and knocks against other parts of the transmitter as you drive. You are basically compelled to hook up your phone every time.

(4) The plug going into the cigarette lighter holds the whole thing VERY securely. In fact, it holds so securely that I can't even get it out of the lighter plug. I think I would have to force it to pull it out, and I fear I'd break the whole thing if I pulled on it that hard. So, whether you intend it or not, this may be a permanent mount for you.

(5) I like how the screen can pivot on the phone and still hold securely. Depending on your car layout, this means you could use the mount for passengers to watch videos on the iPhone screen.

(6) The gooseneck seems sturdy enough. I am sure it will break eventually with hard use, but it should hold up for a reasonable period of time.

(7) If I had more problems finding a working station, it would annoy me that the frequency read-out on the thing is on the top of the mount instead of somewhere on the front, where I could easily read it. Since I haven't had any issues with the station it selected for me initially, I can't really ding the thing seriously for that.

Note: my car does have blue-tooth for the phone, so I haven't even tried the speakerphone thing. The only thing I can say about that is that it requires you to plug a little cable into the headphone jack AND plug in the dongle to make that work, which is a pretty inelegant solution. I'd think you'd be better off with a bluetooth headset vs this rather klutzy set-up, but look to other reviews if this is important to you.

Bottom Line: If your car doesn't have a tape deck and you don't want to spend $100s paying somebody to take your dashboard apart to give you an auxiliary input port in your car, this is a reasonable choice. It's not a perfect product, but it gets the job done. I don't regret buying it, even though it seems to be permanently stuck in my cigarette lighter. That is a measure of how much better it actually works than several of the other FM transmitters I've bought over the years.

I have the previous version of this product, and decided to try the new one.

It's a good FM transmitter when it comes to sound. The quality of the music is excellent compared to a lot of FM transmitters on the market. It's pretty easy to use, you just match the FM station on the Flexpod to the station on your car radio. It does what you expect it to do.

Some improvements from the old Flexpod are:
-New hands-free call microphone
-Rubberized DC barrel for better grip in the outlet
-Surge protection
-Black silicon rubber grips with wider wings to fit more iPhones and iPods with cases
-Fully rotating head so you can view it in landscape or vertical
-Better FM chipset

It performs well just like the old one, but with the added features the product has deinfitely taken a step up.

Hands-free can be tricky sometimes. Call quality is REALLY GOOD when you have a good station with little interference, and when you have 4 or 5 bars. If conditions aren't very good, the call quality can have some static. With the old version, sometimes people would have a hard time hearing my voice(due to interfence or something i'm not sure why...), but now there is a mini built-in microphone that picks up voice so that problem seems to be fixed with this new version.

I have friends that have Belkin and Griffin brands, but the FM signal doesn't seem to be as good... I like mine, and I think they paid something like $70.00 from costco for theirs.

The flexpod is sold as an iPhone accessory, but it is so so so much more. I bought an iPhone and ordered the flexpod, and after a few weeks I traded in the iPhone and got an Android phone. Thinking that I would either return or gift the product on arrival right before a long road trip, I decided to unbox it and take it along considering a lot of my team has iPhones. Our rental car became the envy of the convoy on the way to our regatta. Here's why.

1. Since the Flexpod attaches to the 3.5mm headphone jack, it is not limited to just iPhones.
2. Quality was incredibly clear. We had people with official i-whatevers (can't use brand name) and they weren't nearly as good. No static, even when passing stations that overlapped the FM band.
3. The adjustable holder held everything from an iPhone to a Sansa CLIP+ (very very small) and included padding to make the fit.
4. USB on the side. Meaning anyone with a usb charging cable could play AND charge their device.
5. It is very sturdy and holds everything very well whether in landscape or upright position.

With 15 hours of driving, 4 different drivers and 6 people total we used the Flexpod with
An iPhone 3G and 3GS, A motorola Backflip, A Nexus One, Zune HD, Ipod, and a Sansa CLIP+.

We did have some strange moments where an iPhone wouldn't charge while playing music, and then it would. Minor, and only happened once.
Everything charged except my Backflip, which seemed to get not quite enough juice to keep it from death when it was below 15% charge. It did keep it at 15% for over an hour of playback, so it seemed to be getting juice from USB.

Short story is I'll be recommending this product AND the company for as long as this device keeps doing what it's doing. I'm still waiting to see what happens in a stress test, but it's certainly over done itself in my book. I'll be keeping it.

I really wanted this one to be better than the 1st generation of this item; The 1st Generation of these came out in 2008,
and had a small annoying beep, mediocre FM transmission, and electrical whine noise from cars ignition system
But it was a really cool piece of toy technology that allowed you to cheaply put a hands free iPhone kit in your car, and everything worked!.

I owned the 1st generation type for nearly 18 months, used it daily, 2-3 hours per day, 6-7 days a week.
I became an expert in using it, finding all the optimal available open white noise FM channels in my area.
I went so far as to carry a list of all the available empty FM stations in my areas that I could transmit to/use..
So I eagerly bought this new 2nd Generation one when it claimed a better FM transmitter chip, etc.
I have now used this 2nd generation model for many months, with extremely heavy usage.
My honest opinion, based on my expert knowledge and months of heavy usage? : HYPE.

This exact 2nd generation model does have the following improvements, though:
No beep, better rubber gasket in the cig lighter insert, an all black color on the rubbery parts, smoother landscape mode, and the small 3.5mm double male adapter is about 1" longer.
THAT's it !!

The claimed improved FM chipset quality doesn't shine (I am a muscologist, with well trained ears), and does not sound better than the previous versions, nor better than the numerous clones (including the famous Canadian originals);
And the annoying "whine" that corresponds to ignition noise from your spark plug wires is still there, unchanged. I wish a future manufacturer will spend an additional 25¢ on future design and filter that out. It's definitely still there, just like the 1st gen.

BUT, take it for what it is: An interesting device in the $30-$40 range (DON'T believe the $89-$99 fake retail list price: noone has ever paid that much for this exact design), that pretty much does exactly what it claims:
An all-in-one hands free iPhone car kit for a couple of Jacksons$, that truly does give you a hands free iPhone with iPod integration via your car stereos speakers;
AND I love using my iPhone GPS Navigon app, and hearing the turn-by-turn voice seamlessly integrate with my playlists and phone calls, etc.

So, it is a clever toy, not high quality, but almost worth the price charged, but no more.
It's a toy, low-medium quality, but it does work satisfactorily, and does exactly what it claims, with the quality of a $20 Chinese audio accessory.

After researching/comparing many similar iPod/iPhone vehicle mounts across the Internet (and there are MANY), I finally just took a leap, and chose this model. I'd have to say, I'm overall very satisfied.

I was looking for a product that allowed me to mount my iPhone in my vehicle, so I could efficiently (and safely) use a GPS application, operate a music application (again, safely), and place/receive handsfree calls (you guessed it, safely).

PHYSICAL CONSIDERATIONS

The quality of the mount seems to be very sturdy. Not the best I've ever seen, but certainly adequate for most conditions/uses. I've seen some pictures of this model with the little iPhone data connector jacket tearing after a couple months of use. I assume this "can" happen with enough abuse, but a little bit of TLC goes a long way, as well. I've been plugging/unplugging for about 3 months now, and I haven't experienced any issues.

The gooseneck that connects the mount to the 12V power outlet is of good quality. I'm a little reticent to constantly move it all around, torquing it to death; but my girlfriend likes to do so when she rides with me, and so far, I've always been able to return it to the position that I like. It doesn't seem to lose firmness over time/use.

I drive a 2009 Camry (the 12V power outlets exist down-low on the center console), so I knew that the gooseneck on the mount probably wasn't going to be long enough to place the unit in my direct line-of-sight while driving. I was right; the gooseneck is about 4-5 inches in length. But surprisingly, the location isn't terribly inconvenient, or unsafe, as long as common-sense is applied (i.e., do any major changes at stoplights). But, if the power outlets on your vehicle are located higher-up, then your experience will be better.

The mount is fairly unobtrusive to the iPhone, enabling me to get very-adequate GPS reception, while driving. Of course, other factors come into play here, too, such as the quality of your GPS application, but the mount itself does not seem to be an inhibitor.

TECHNICAL/OPERATIONAL CONSIDERATIONS

When you plug your iPhone/iPod into the connector, it immediately begins to charge. And, it seems to charge at a rate about equal to (well, maybe a "little" less than) a standard iPhone AC adapter at home.

The biggest surprise that I received when I began to use the unit is this: when you connect the iPhone to the connector, not only does it begin to charge the iPhone, it also ports ALL iPhone sound through the device's FM transmitter. This can be convenient, if you don't mind always leaving your car's radio tuned to the FM transmitter's frequency. But, if you want to listen to local stations on your car's radio, charge your iPhone, AND be able to hear the iPhone (perhaps, for the occasional GPS direction), no such luck. ***Correction on this paragraph: After writing this review, I discovered that if you hold down the "auto tune" button on the unit, it turns off the FM transmitter function, so it WILL charge an iPod/iPhone without simultaneously porting all sound to your radio, allowing your iPhone to output all sound. That's what I get for not reading the User Manual.***

The quality of the FM transmitter is very good. Even though I live in a highly metropolitan area, I've always been able to find a frequency that isn't being used, allowing for near-CD-quality transmission of the iPhone's material.

CONCLUSION

As I said, overall, I'm very pleased with the device. There is really only one thing that I wish could be changed: the option for a longer gooseneck (so the device could reach the driver's line-of-sight in various cars).

After shopping around for a long time for a transmitter....i settled on this one because of reviews. The sound quality is excellent, not one ounce of static. the setup was extremely easy. the transmitter also acts as a charger also which saves space and time. I have the Iphone 3GS and have no issues with this unit. I paid $30 for this unit and it has since gone up in price. the arm is easily positioned in any layout.

I bought this item after reading many reviews on it and others. I wanted an am/fm transmitter that would charge my iphone and hold it. It seemed prefect. I got it, and it worked pretty good for a few weeks. Then I noticed the casing that holds it into my cigarette lighter started to fall apart. Now I still use it (mostly because I paid so much for it), but I have to constantly push it back into the cigarette lighter. Not only that, but the hinges that are suppose to hold the phone up don't work. I'm constantly putting the phone back to where i want it, it falls out of the holding and then hangs by the charging wire. It spins upside down, sideways, the adjustable arm isn't very useful, it doesn't stay in the position you put it in. I'm disappointed that I spent about $50 on it to use it for maybe a month reliably, now it's just more irritating than useful and I usually just listen to the radio. Regarding sound quality, it's ok... when it stays in the lighter.

I received my Flexpod and set it up within minutes to use with my iPhone 3GS. The sound quality is much better then my last FM transmitter and I love the mount design. The only downfall is that I use an Otter Box case with my phone and the connection that goes into the phone is slightly too big to be able to fit into the opening in the Otter Box. This means that I have to take my iPhone out of the case each time I want to use it with the FlexPod. With the Otter Box this gets annoying but not annoying enough for me to not use the FlexPod or get another case that may have a little extra wiggle room.

I researched FM transmitters and saw that this one was rated highly and had many great reviews. It was a little more expensive but with all the positive reviews I knew I was getting a quality product. When I received the transmitter I set it up immediately - which literally took about 10 seconds.

The sound quality is awesome - the flexibility and manueverability of the arm and holder are great, and the best thing to me is that my ipod is charging the entire time i'm listening to it. This is a great product - look no further...

This actually started out as a great product and I was going to post a stellar review until it died on me. It worked fine for 2 weeks of short drives, really well, in fact. Then I'm all excited because I'm going on a long road trip and I can catch up on some podcasts. I thought wrong. It started to short out and screech annoyingly through my speakers. I thought it was a fluke. No. I opened it up and the wires inside were frayed. I had to completely redo it myself. Now it works great. The only thing is I use it with an iPhone and every once in a while you'll get that familiar "phone near a speaker" noise. Only happens to me when I'm passing through rural areas, but I would suggest you simply put it into airplane mode.
Good product,
but buyer beware.