Customer Reviews

Kensington RDS FM Transmitter/Auto Charger for iPod (Black)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I also live in Northern California like another reviewer of this product. I live in the North Bay and work in Oakland, so there is high density traffic on the radio. However, I found a couple stations that worked ok, and one that works terrifically (93.1)!

This product was easy to set up in my Prius, the plug holds just fine, and yes, it does give you the band and song information on the car's built-in screen. I didn't expect that, so that was a nice surprise.

The reason why it's 95% satisfaction and not a 100% is that I'm not getting CD quality. There is some static, but it's that very minimal static that you got from a cassette tape that had been used for a year or so. You immediately forget about it, though, because the sound is really great anyhow, and you're so happy that you don't have to deal with crappy radio music and commercials. But I don't know, maybe there's a better station that I haven't found yet that eliminates the static completely.

One other thing - the volume control on my iPod nano does not work when it's plugged into the car. You have to manipulate the volume through the car stereo only. And the volume on the radio stations come out louder than your iPod music, so you'll have to adjust as you switch between the two.

Enjoy.

I read the other users' comments, and I didn't experience any of those other problems. In fact, I think the sound on this is better than most radio transmitters by a long shot. The only thing so far that worked better was a tape adapter (old skool, huh).

My problem was that the stainless steel part with the ipod dock fell off within a few days of purchase, then the back plastic part fell off too so now it's just a little green computer chip thingy. Still works though. I was on a road trip when I bought it and my local best buy here in New Orleans doesn't carry a replacement. So other than that, I think it's a darn good product. I love the presets on the charger part, I love the sleek modest design, and I love the on/off switch so it doesn't screw up my other plugged in things when I'm not using it. I also used it recently in Northern California and I found it works just fine. If only you can find a blank radio station...

This little FM transmitter works great for me. I love the RDS feature that puts the band and song name on my car stereo. I am terrible at remembering names like these. So that feature is perfect for me.

I like the on screen transmitter frequency control. I get great reception in my area. When going to bigger metro areas, I have to change channels and the three select buttons plus the ability to adjust with a simple click makes it easy to find a clear space.

The only problem is the lighter socket of my truck was a little shallow for the Kensington and it didn't want to hold a connection. I use a power splitter to be able to connect a phone charger and never have issues.

This is my first iPod transmitter and I have been super pleased with it.

I have the black ipod and from a color perspective, this one matches it very well. Functionally, it also works as expected. It is smaller than others on the market and it feels like it is only a car charger (that small). I'm not getting the RDS feed yet as my car stereo doesn't support it. However, I was able to find channels and the quality is great. For me, that was the hard part, figuring out how I can get my stereo not to skip channels.

If your stereo is like mine, I would suggest tuning your ipod first to transmit on the next increment, and only then seeking on your radio. This way, your radio will pick up every avaiable channel. Quality is different from one to the next. In th DC area, I found 104.5 to work great for me.

I tried the Kensington and it worked right out of the box! There was very minimal static. For an FM transmitter, the really strength is proven only when it can capture another active channel (called the Capture Effect with some background noise due to the other transmission) and this transmitter did that without any problems! Transmission frequency is very stable as well. You can hear the audio clip at certain high pitches... but this again is very typical of any modulation-demodulation scheme. I did not expect CD quality (it can never be cos this is analog!) but the audio qualiy is great

this is an excellent product. I have RDS on my radio and just love the fact that I can now see the songs playing on my iPod through the display on my radio. I've purchased 4 of these because the tip comes loose if you're not careful. I did get a replacement within 14 days of notifying the manufacture.

I wanted this product to work very badly. It has an elegant, simple design, and finally a transmitter that makes use of the radio's RDS function. It also is simple looking enough to discourage theft, since it appears to be a simple charger.

The bad is very bad. First, the sound quality was very bad in the northern California area. This is both in dense and thinly populated areas. There always seemed to be interference whenever there was a break in the music. Second, the plug kept popping out of the cigarette lighter. I've used other car adapters, and they always feel secure. This plug was poorly designed. I would be listening to great tunes when pop, I am interupted by loud, unpleasant static.

I gave this 2 stars as opposed to zero, because there is a chance that the plug will work in your car and a chance that there will not be static in your area. If that were the case, this adapter would be great. Otherwise, this product fails in the simple areas that would make this remotely useful.

I was looking for an FM transmitter that delivers sound that is clear and strong, and this unit meets that need.

Other reviewers of FM transmitters emphasized that you'll have trouble if you live in an area with lots of stations. Until purchasing this product, I never realized how full the airwaves were in my area. On my car radio, I found only two fairly open channels, and set up the device at the best (99.1). However, on my pickup's radio even this channel had a fairly strong station show up. But this Kensington unit is loud and clear with very little interference on all three of our vehicles.

I got the unit set up fairly quickly, but I must admit this was an accident. I don't really understand the controls on the charger/transmitter unit that plugs into the lighter socket. Basicly, I messed around with it and it ended up working, so I've left it alone. Kind of like my home ethernet - when it works it's an accident, then you spend the rest of your time "troubleshooting" to recreate that accident.

I must confess, I also find the controls on the ipod cryptic, rather than "elegant" as the Apple hype calls it. But their reductionist approach is justified on the ipod because of portability. I don't see the need for such "elegance" on the transmitter. If I could redo the purchase, I would get the Kensington unit with the screen (model 33199), which appears to have the same technology but with pushbuttons rather than a toggle on the base. (It also lacks RDS, which my vehicles don't have anyway.)

The physical quality is also somewhat questionable. After 1.5 weeks, the charger flew apart as I pulled it from the lighter socket. It went back together easily, with a fuse and metal tab inside, but I wonder how long before it breaks. I take the unit out each day, to avoid theft, and simply pulling the plug in and out 10 times or so caused the cap to uncrew. It is made of fairly cheap plastic, but similar products may be comparable.

Overall, a good purchase, but not a great one.

Didn't work in my BMW. Plugged it in and it fit, but it acted like there was no connection. Worked in my friend's Acura though. Too bad, only one with RDS. Guess I'll wait for another manufacturer to use RDS.

You could summarize my opinion of this device as follows: whoever designed this POS deserves to have the car adapter shoved up their rear ends.

A few highlights:
* iPod connector does not fit if your iPod is in ANY kind of skin, case, etc., because the plug is too wide.
* if the fancy-shmanzy display of the FM frequency in your iPod display does not work because you have the "wrong" model (as, apparently are both of my two different iPods), then you will NOT be able to adjust the frequency at all, not even blindly.
* the step-by-step instructions in the manual fail to mention that there is a power switch that needs to be turned "on" (okay, that's only a minor issue, but the lost time is really annoying).