Customer Reviews

MP3 / WMA FM Modulator

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Pros: Cheap, Good sound quality, Easy to use, works with any USB storage device.

Cons: Restarts from the first song...

I brought this gadget from Walmart after doing some research on the internet. The device is very easy to use.. Just plug into the Car charger, Add the USB device tune to an FM channel and start listerning to the music. The sound quality is not bad for the price.

But there is a problem I came to know only after I brought this product. Every time you start the car the player starts right from the first song..:( this is very very bad becuase if I have 100 songs and I just listern to 50 songs..I have to push the next button 50 times to hear the next song...

Anyway I know this is not going to be a long term MP3 device to my car...So I am happy with what I have right now.

I paid 28$ for this one in Walmart. You can get a 1 GB USB drive to 50$ from any online store...

I've owned one for about 3 months now and use it all the time, easy to use and works with my 2GB USB storage device.Lots of music.The sound quality is not bad for the price.But there is a problem, every time you start the car the player starts right from the first song( this is very very bad becuase if I have 200 and you have to push the next button 50, 100 or 150 times to hear the song you want) No common MP3 player functions like playlists, random/shuffle, song select. Just play from first to last with only a skip/back button as controls.

No high quality music as you would get from an MP3 player or from your car radio/CD player. But if you know that's what you get and this is what you are looking for (as I was) then this little device is definitely value for money.

This is an item that's not found in the MP3 player section of your mega-stores: it's usually found next to the air fresheners because no one knows what it is. You plug this into your cigarette lighter, plug your thumb drive into it and pick a frequency that's not being used by a local station. Press the play button and listen to your music, books on tape, etc. The more thumb drives you have, the more variety!

The good, the bad and the room for improvement:

Good: inexpensive, seven different frequencies, skip forward and back, plug your other CD/DVD/MP3 players into it's aux jack, has a replaceable fuse, and an undocumented feature: pressing and holding the forward or reverse button allows you to set the volume so it's equal to your radio.

Bad: Can't fast forward within a tune (or a broadcast you've taped), can't "shuffle"/randomize songs, some noise in our Ford Windstar (could be we need new wires under the hood, too), does get quite warm.

Improvements: better shielding, ability to fastforward/rewind within a selection, document the volume equalizing feature I found (see "Good:" above).

Good for the price, with thumb drive prices dropping every day, it's a worthwhile gadget to have or give as a birthday present to anyone who drives a lot.

Andrew Perkins,

www.scrimshaw.com

The modulator is not a sophisticated device. Plug it in, stick a USB key in or connect an external source, tune the radio and ... play music.

No common MP3 player functions like playlists, random/shuffle, song select. Just play from first to last with only a skip/back button as controls.

No high quality music as you would get from an MP3 player or from your car radio/CD player. The bass is flat and high tones non existing, a bit like a distant AM radio station.

But if you know that's what you get and this is what you are looking for (as I was) then this little device is definitely value for money.

The Current version of this device is VRFM8, which adds last song and last station recall, which fixes the complaints of some previous reviews about the unit starting over at the first song every time you start the car. Unfortunately, the unit I received plays with significant static on all 14 channels, and I tried it in 3 different vehicles with the same result. Not recommended unless you don't mind some low-level snap-crackle-pop with your music.

A good product design - a fm transmitter and a USB reader all in one package - no more dangling wires. I give the product a big thumbs on this. My Park Avenue receives the transmission fine when it's on a clear channel. The sound quality is good but it's not a CD player. My big complaint is that it won't play the full file of a large MP3 recording. It will play the first 13 minutes then skip the rest. I can't use it to play my books-on-tape stories. I've tried different sizes of flash memmory, 1 gig, 512 meg and 256 all with the same results. This unit ended up in the glove box.

Paid $25 at Costco when they had them. VR3 model. Mine resumes from the last song played, even if I take the unit out for the night. And though Sandisk says 128 is the maximum bitrate, mine plays anything up to 320. Sound is not pristine but good enough solution for the price. I'm using a Sandisk MicroCruzer 512mb stick I found on sale for $19.

All FM modulators are limited to 20-20khz bandwidth by the FCC.
read: no lows and no highs, weak bass , weak upper treble (like a symble crash).
it is also limited to 100 Milliwatt (class 15 device) and as such can be
easily drowned out by any station or super station.

finding a dead station is paramount. try 88.9 mhz ( my area its dead)
Most cars are very noisey, so don't expect quite passages from classical music to come thru.
If you have a Lexus or MB then an Ipod and high end direct feed to G.EQ and preamp. would satifiy you better.

Use simple file names and no folders on usb drive , no minuses, dashes ,or other wierd punctuation. A to Z and 0 to 9 .mp3
I do this and it works perfect and yes one day I found a FM transmitter
broardcasting Road alarts (DOT) along road side the overloaded my 88.9
channel for about a mile. Guess what DOT found a dead channel too.
Some times i get hiss to ,but trying all the channels , reduced this effect to a minimum.

In 1965 I had a FM tuner in a box that transmitted to an AM station.
No cars had FM radios yet. so I tuned AM to hear FM ( I was on the bleeding edge then...)
Surpise , it worked exactly like this unit (RF wise) and the same
idocyncracies.
But I love having 250 songs in my pocket , wow !

Dang good enough to drown out all road noise !
1965 , all over again.
Have MP3 Disc player on 3 cars now.

Only 128kb compression or lower can be decoded by this device at present. The primary complaint I've read by others is that there is no memory when the engine is shut down. My solution was to wire the lighter plug directly instead of the switched one provided and hit the stop (I call it pause) when you leave the vehicle. When you return press the stop/pause again and it continues from there. I think this is a very cool gadget and it can go to any vehicle in seconds. A well spent 30 bucks in my opinion!!

I previously purchased the Belkin Tune Cast II to play my zen nano plus in the car. I was extremely disappointed when I found that it would only work clearly if I held it clutched in the palm of my hand. I've also used a Griffin FM Transmitter for an old Ipod and, although it worked better than the Tune Cast, it also did not play without static. I purchased the VRFM7 tonight and was so impressed after only 5 minutes that I had to write a review in hopes others would find it useful. This Transmitter is crystal clear! If it continues to function as it does now I'm going to buy one for my other vehicle.