Satechi Bluetooth Hands-free Car Stereo Fm Transmitter for iPhone 4s, 4, 3Gs, 3, iPod Touch 4G, BlackBerry, HTC EVO, DROID, Samsung Galaxy S and Bluetooth Stereo A2DP supported Devices

by Satechi

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 3 x 1.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B000NVYVRO
• Item model number: BH04B
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (220 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #85 in Electronics > Portable Audio & Video > MP3 Players & Accessories > MP3 Player Accessories > FM Transmitters
• Date first available at Amazon.com: November 16, 2007

Product Description

The Bluetooth Hands Free Fm Transmitter provides a live full duplex communication solution. It uses Bluetooth technology through FM transmission to your FM car radio. This unit allows you to speak to callers through a built-in DSP microphone (it turns your car stereo into a Giant Bluetooth Headset). All of this is accomplished hassle free without the use of external wires, or expensive custom installation. The device is pairable with any phone equipped with Bluetooth hands-free and stereo A2DP function. Bluetooth A2DP technology enables wireless transmission of music from your iPhone 3Gs and 3G (OS 3.0 Software Update required). With the Bluetooth Hands-free Fm Transmitter you are ready to listen to your favorite tunes without any wire connection!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

84 of 84 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Generally works, but cannot use a night, July 18, 2009

By 

Scott "Scott" (Northwest Washington) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Satechi Bluetooth Hands-free Car Stereo Fm Transmitter for iPhone 4s, 4, 3Gs, 3, iPod Touch 4G, BlackBerry, HTC EVO, DROID, Samsung Galaxy S and Bluetooth Stereo A2DP supported Devices (Electronics)

I bought this to connect my Iphone 3GS to my Toyota 4Runner stock radio. The phone connects via bluetooth and will stream music to the radio as promised. Incoming calls ring through the speakers, and pressing the button on the Satechi mutes the music and answers the call.

I can talk hands free using the built-in microphone, then return to music when the call ends. People at the other end of the call say it sounds like I'm in a "tin box," but that they can understand me. The volume level of phone calls is different from the volume level of music, thus you have to turn up the volume for phone calls, then turn it down again for the music.

The FM transmission is is not perfect, but it works. There is occassional static/interference from power lines, other cars with their own FM transmitters, or signal bleed from local FM stations. This isn't unique to the Satechi, as I have seen the same comments about similar devices from other manufacturers. It is just the compromise you make for a "wireless" solution that works with your existing radio.

I would give this product 3 or 4 stars, except for one thing: The display FLASHES CONSTANTLY when playing music, and it is BRIGHT! This makes it very distracting when driving at night.

Overall the unit works as advertised, and if you only drive during the day I could recommend it. But the bright flashing display makes it unusable at night. If you want a unit you can use at night, I recommend looking at other products.

*** UPDATE 7-20-2009 ***
As mentioned in other reviews, Satechi technical support is very responsive. They proactively contacted me about the flashing light and are trying to work out a solution. I'll update this review again with the results.

*** UPDATE 7-22-2009 ***
After discussing the problem, Satechi recommended their "Soundfly BT" model instead. It is similar to the BT04, with some added features, but most importantly does NOT have a bright flashing display. They graciously offered an exchange, which is in process now. SATECHI SUPPORT GETS 5 STARS, they have really gone out of their way to contact me, work out the issue, and find a way to make me a satisfied customer. I will post a review of the Soundfly BT unit when the exchange is complete.

54 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Met all my expectations.., July 3, 2009

By 

Ben Lardon (San Diego, CA 92123) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Satechi Bluetooth Hands-free Car Stereo Fm Transmitter for iPhone 4s, 4, 3Gs, 3, iPod Touch 4G, BlackBerry, HTC EVO, DROID, Samsung Galaxy S and Bluetooth Stereo A2DP supported Devices (Electronics)

After a extensive research, I decided to buy the Satechi Bluetooth FM Transmitter, mainly to reduce cables in my car and play audio via Bluetooth and FM. The unit also had a USB Power Supply, a useful feature that would supply juice to my iPhone 3Gs.

Setup was fairly easy.
Once you plug the device into the cigarette lighter, it automatically searches for a Bluetooth device. On my iPhone, it showed "Carkit". I entered the passcode (this is the only time I used the manual) and the connection was made. First thing I tried was playing music. I was impressed with the sound quality, like a good fm station. With excitement, I instantly called my wife. She said she could hear me clearly, like calling from my office landline.

However, her voice sounded very low even I turned the volume all the way up on my stereo. When I was losing all my hopes, I found out I can turn on the volume of Bluetooth sound via the volume buttons on the left hand side of the iPhone. I called my wife again and turned iPhone's volume all the way up, and voila! I could hear her nice and crisp now. Last thing I tried was charging my iPhone via the USB supply. Voila, again! :) It was charging my iPhone. This device met all my expectations.

One issue I realized after using the unit is that if you get a call and answer from your iPhone, the call goes to your iPhone instead of the Bluetooth device. However, if you answer the call using the answer button on the Bluetooth device, you get the call from Bluetooth. This bothered me a little bit. I made a research on the net and found that this is an issue that happened after the 3.0 update, nothing related to Satechi Bluetooth device.

Overall, I am very satisfied with my purchase. Satechi Bluetooth FM Transmitter is a solid device with a reasonable price tag. I strongly recommend it to iPhone 3Gs owners.

Pros

- Make calls and listen to music wirelessly
- Good Fm reception
- Charges the iPhone 3Gs
- Didn't need it yet, but "aux in" can be used to plug other iPods

Cons

- Forward/skip Play/Pause buttons could be handy, but iPhone 3.0 software doesn't support them, yet anyways.
- I agree with another comment, external microphone would be nice.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great product, outstanding service, February 22, 2008

By 

Tom Z (San Diego) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Satechi Bluetooth Hands-free Car Stereo Fm Transmitter for iPhone 4s, 4, 3Gs, 3, iPod Touch 4G, BlackBerry, HTC EVO, DROID, Samsung Galaxy S and Bluetooth Stereo A2DP supported Devices (Electronics)

I am upgrading my rating and review of this product. I am so impressed by Satechi's customer service that they actually emailed me and phoned me to discuss and/or correct my concerns that I initially had with this product. This may be one of the best customer service experiences I've ever encountered- with phenominal follow up.

OK- enough about the service, let me tell you about the device:

I did A LOT of research before buying this product. I am using it with a Nokia N95 so that I can stream mp3 music, internet radio, Winamp mobile,GPS Navigation commands and telephone calls through my car stereo. Ok all of those things are part of the phone, not the satechi, but it does speak to the versatility of having a cool accessory like this to make the phone even more fun.

After comparing dozens of reviews, I picked up this one and a Venturi mini (which does essentially the same thing) because both had promising customer reviews. After using both units, I can confidently tell you that the sound quality of the Satechi unit FAR EXCEEDS the quality of the Venturi product. Think of the Satechi as "good FM quality sound" and the Venturi as "mediocre 8-track quality sound".

I am not happy with the way the screen strobes between blue and green while the device is in use. The good people at Satechi contacted me and offerend me a solution for testing the new version when it comes out that hopefully resolves this annoyance. Until then I just tilt it down and cover up the screen with something.