Customer Reviews

Monster iCarPlay Wireless Plus FM Transmitter/Charger for iPod

5 star:		(143)
4 star:		(121)
3 star:		(71)
2 star:		(59)
1 star:		(84)

 

 

As someone else already noted, there are better methods of listening to your MP3 player in your car, such as through the tape transmitter. For those of us who don't have it, though, this is a sufficiently apt substitute.

First, whoever said that there are 8 presets must be thinking of some other device. You only have 3 presets here, but you define them yourself from the whole FM range, an you can always deviate from them. Hence, this thing has an advantage over, say, the iTrip because you can easily surf between three stations if the one you're listening to now starts getting static.

Second, I find it powerful enough in most situations. I live in Boston, and drive around it often enough. Downtown, most stations will give you a small amount of interference, and that is probably the best you will get. Drive around the suburbs, though, and you can easily find around 3 stations that will play almost as well as your CD player in terms of quality.

The secret to this is to set your iPod volume somewhere around the middle to upper two-thirds of its capacity. If you set it to the maximum, all bass lines will be completely distorted. Set it to the middle, though, and you'll have rather crisp audio, although you will have to compensate for the lost volume by turning up the car radio. Hardly anything to complain about, though.

My two complaints with this device are these:

First, the marked price is far too high. You can find a much cheaper device on eBay, or even in the Amazon marketplace. I paid around $20 for it, plus delivery.

Second, some types of music sound distorted even at medium volumes on a lot of the stations. I have in mind the Waltz of the Snowflakes from the Nutcracker when I write this. Beside it, just about every song I played sounded clean, although sometimes a given station would encounter pockets of interference.

Given that a more powerful transmitter would probably end up messing up the radio reception of neighboring cars, I'm prone to think that this is an inherent problem to all FM transmitters. I think this is one of the better ones, though, because of its preset options, its ability to scan the whole FM range, the fact that it doesn't drain your iPod's battery, and the fact that you can manipulate your iPod volume on it for better performance. The iTrip can't do three of these. You will, of course, have to sit down in your car and look for usable stations manually, .2 by .2, but ultimately, and if you have no other option available, I think you will find this device to do a good job. Just do yourself a favor, and find a cheaper source.

I have owned this iPod FM transmitter for about 11 months and have used it while driving thousands of miles through many FM radio markets. In urban areas this unit is not useable, because, despite the availability of the three FM presets, you can't find open FM frequencies in urban areas, and if you do, the unit's FM modulator is not strong enough to overcome adjacent channel interference from city FM radio powerhouses, and typical poor car stereo FM tuner performance (selectivity).

If you live in the country this unit's FM performance is just fine, unless of course you regularly travel to a nearby urban area.

Also, my unit "overdeviates"--the iPpod audio is distorted on loud passages when hooked up to my Dodge Durango with the factory stereo installed. When the FM transmitter is hooked to my Subaru's top-of-the-line McIntosh stereo, the audio is good.

I believe this product is overpriced, and should be sold with a caveat: Not useable in and around major cities.

It's only three stars now, because the Monster iCarPlay 200 wireless is a much better solution. It finds stations you could not find with the iCarPlay Plus, which I stopped using because it was just more hassle than fun to use driving in Los Angeles. Below is my original review of the iCarPlay Plus, before the "200" model came out:

*******

I have used the Griffin and Belkin FM transmitters, and the Monster is the only one that is useful for me driving around Los Angeles, where almost all of the available FM stations are in use. The Monster has a lot less static and locks onto the station a lot better than the other two. It is good to have the three pre-sets on teh Monster ... that are easy to set. I need the three pre-sets bacause as you drive, one station gets noisy (as you get closer to the transmitter of the real owner of that frequency) and you need to change to another. It is a hassle to change the station on the radio and also change the station on the Monster, but that is life with an FM transmitter. It is definitely an imperfect solution. (If you have a cassette tape player in your car, use the Sony cassette adapter instead. I never tried the Monster cassette adapter.) For people who drive shorter distances or who don't have as many FM station broadcasting nearby, the other brands might be ok.

I did a lot of online research before buying this transmitter. I had low expectations since it seemed like most of them have mediocre quality and problems of one kind or another especially in metro areas. I decided on this one since this best met the criteria I had set for the purchase:
1. Good Reviews
2. Price at $50
3. Easily protable from one car to another
4. Wanted the passenger to be able to control it in addition to the driver.

This product more than exceeded my expectations. The sound quality is awesome. I have never had any difficulty finding at least one station where there is no interference. Also, the protability and passenger use has really come in handy. It is great to let the passenger control the tunes.

I would highly recommend this product if your needs are similar to mine.

I absolutely LOVE my monster I have used it for my iPod Classic and my 1st gen iPhone. Works great! Charges and plays like its say but... DOES NOT WORK on new apple products.. I've tried the new nano, iPhone 3G and iPhone 3G S... do not buy this if you have one of the newer products. It will still play through your stereo but it WILL NOT charge. Hope this was helpful!

I have a friend that swears by this product and I consider him to be quite the A/V maven. I asked him about the negative reviews for this product and he blew them off. I ordered the Monster iCarPlay Plus and have been tickled with its performance. There are two things to consider before you purchase this product.

If you live in a very large city (I'm talking as big as one of the top 10 cities in the U.S.) you may have trouble finding a clear frequency. That seems to jive with what some negative reviews are saying (like New York City and San Francisco). I live in the 15th largest city in the U.S. and I have no problems.

If you travel a lot you may have to fiddle a bit along the way to maintain a clear signal. On long trips you may come across frequencies that are being used by local radio stations. When this happens you will have to switch the channel you're on and try a different frequency. It's no problem really but something you need to be aware of.

For me, and keeping those two points in mind, this product workes fabulously! I highly recommend it.

I SO wanted to love this thing. I have an iPod that I am seldom without, and my car isn't iPod compatible. I bought a Monster Wireless FM Transmitter/Charger so I could listen to my music on the way to my class reunion. Unfortunately, the thing just didn't work for me.

There are 8 preset stations (low on the dial) and if all of them are in use, you're out of luck. I don't live in a huge city (maybe 60,000 with farmland all around), but only two of these stations were available. Although I was able to tune in to my iPod, it wasn't crystal clear. In fact, it wasn't even plastic clear. The static sometimes overrode the music, which drove me nuts. This is like a fax machine - the original may be spotless, but the fax will be a little fuzzy.

If you have a cassette player in your car, there are adapters that go through the cassette player and are much better. If your car isn't iPod compatible and you don't have a cassette player, you're better off just burning a bunch of CD's.

I have two of these. One for my truck and one for my van. My wife and I both really enjoy this device, as it works extremely well for us. There is a slight bit of static no matter what station I choose to transmit on, but neither my wife nor myself can hear it once the music (or video or whatever) starts to play. It's a very convenient device, especially since the stereo in my truck doesn't have a tape player (CD and Radio only) so a tape cassette adapter wouldn't work for me. The three programmable buttons make it easy to switch to different frequencies should the one we're using suddenly become "unavailable".

Of course, you have to realize that this is a low-power transmitter. It's not going to produce the same quality signal you'll get from your local 100-watt radio station. It's designed strictly to be used as a local transmitter with a range of only about a dozen feet (if that). So don't expect crystal clear, static-free operation. Like I said, once the music starts, that static can't be heard. And even what's there, truly, isn't that bad at all.

If I had to give any down sides to this, it's the cost. Truly, it doesn't seem like it's an $80.00 device. Why Monster can produce the generic version of this product that will hook into any player at half the cost but charge $80.00 for this one is beyond me. This is specifically built for the iPod. I guess that's why they feel they can double the price.

This is my second FM transmitter and works much better than the Belkin that I ended up returning because it simply wasn't working.

It plugs firmly into my cigarette lighter and stays there, unlike the Belkin (I drive a 2001 BMW 325ci). It is easy to use with the preset FM stations. It works right out of the box, you'll be ready to go within seconds. The sound is crisp, with some static interference, which can be expected in a big city. Unmounting my car's antenna helps a little but doesn't completely cure the interference. I have a factory BMW Business radio which picks up FM signals pretty much without an antenna.
There is nothing to mount the iPod so you'll either have to set it in your cup holder or purchase a case separately.

I wouldn't spend more than $45 on any FM transmitter as there will always be minor interference in urban areas. I won't be getting rid of my CD changer just yet.

This was a cool gift idea, and it works...sort of as advertised. I would give it 5 stars, but...here are the limitations...it is noisy on two of three fixed frequencies that it transmits on. I had the impression, for some reason that one could manually fine tune these frequency choices -- that is not so. When you turn on or off the car, with the unit plugged in, and the stereo on, it makes a very loud series of noises that are less than musical. The sound quality is good, not great. Background noise and a very limited bandwidth seem to render its clarity well below the listening experience of the IPOD headphones. Also, the volume level seems to be a good bit below that of the radio, so if you switch from the IPOD back to standard FM, that will be a blast! Finally, the digital frequency display on the power adaptor is faint to the point of being nearly useless. It does have high quality construction, and the cigarette lighter/accessory power adaptor is especially well made, with a nice red light showing when there is power. The cables and connectors are also of excellent quality, and despite the negatives, it has been a delight to be able to transport my favorite road music into my Volvo while doing the field service drives that can be pretty long and boring, and where radio signals just plain fizzle out. It's not audiophile, but it does a decent job and I would still recommend it as a gift or for anyone who wants to hear their IPOD over their car stereo with minimal fuss.