Customer Reviews

Scosche passPORT Charging Adapter for iPod & iPhone (Black)

5 star:		(147)
4 star:		(71)
3 star:		(31)
2 star:		(31)
1 star:		(54)

 

 

Well, I don't know exactly why the passPORT won't work for the 1-star reviewer, BUT IT WORKED FOR ME! I got a Panasonic CQ-C7303U radio 2 years ago and then the iPod adapter for it over 1 year ago. At that time, I had the 5th gen iPod video, then after that crapped out on me, I got the 3rd gen. nano (8GB). Then I upgraded to the 4th gen. nano almost as soon as it came out, so I could have double the memory (16GB).

Well, once I got the 4th gen. nano and plugged it into my radio, everything worked (it played/controlled through the radio), but I would get this message at the bottom of the nano's screen saying: "Charging is not supported for this accessory". (Or something like that.) And indeed the nano lost battery power much faster than it would listening to music through the headphones. (It makes since that more juice would be sucked up listening to music through the docking port.) Since I mostly listen to my nano in my truck (Panasonic radio), I depended on the radio to keep it charged up instead of having to plug it into my computer whenever the battery gets low. After doing some reasearch on why this was, I found out that for all the newest ipods (4th gen. nano, 2nd gen. Touch & iPhone 3G) Apple changed the way they charge that only allows 5 volt sources (USB, Apple AC adapters, etc.) and no 12 volt sources (firewire and most 3rd party accessories).

To make a long story short (too late!), I found a link to the passPORT, ordered one and plugged it in. I plugged in my nano on top of it and the message at the bottom of it now just reads: "Accessory is plugged in". (Or something like that) After looking real close, the charge icons appear in the battery symbol (showing charging or charged) and when I unplug it, the battery is fully charged or charged fuller than it was before. It kinda sucks to have to pay $30 to get back a feature that shouldn't have been taken away in the first place, but I guess that's the price of progress?

Well...OK, despite the title, I guess I did have more to say than IT WORKS!


**UPDATE**: Just bought a 64GB Ipod Touch (3rd Gen.) and the passPORT works just fine with it too!

When Apple introduced its latest batch of music players, it quietly removed the last remnant of FireWire compatibility it had been keeping in to maintain compatibility with older accessories: 12V charging support.
Unfortunately, this means the new devices cannot charge on older "compatible" docks, and even on recent ones because some manufacturers have been ignoring Apple's warnings and have persisted on shipping 12V devices even after being told support for this voltage was likely to disappear from new models of iPods.

Luckily, Scosche was able to come up with an inexpensive pass-through adapter which lowers the voltage and supplies 5V to the right pin, essentially restoring the charging capability of your old device with your new iPod.

There is not much to be said about the device itself: you plug it between the dock and the iPod, and it works.

I have been using mine for several weeks with my iPod touch 2G with three devices it couldn't charge on before: a car adapter and a couple of third party chargers. I was particularly thrilled to see I wouldn't have to take apart the dashboard on my car to update the car adapter, at several times the cost of the Scosche adapter.

Pros: inexpensive and just works.

Cons: the added length may prevent your iPod from fitting into some docks or holders.

Simply put, it works in some situations and not in others. If you're looking for an in-car solution for your Iphone 3G, you need to pay attention to how your Iphone works with your in-car solution right now. If you get the "nag screen" about putting it in airplane mode, and it won't charge, but you can get sound out of it through your car stereo, this will work for you. If you can't get it to charge or you can't get sound out of it, this unit WILL NOT WORK. Scosche is not being very upfront about the capabilities of the PassPort so you need to take it from buyers like me who ended up having to resort to buying new headunits (Pioneer DEH-4000UB, if you're curious) that definitely WILL charge and get audio from the Iphone 3G. So this gets 2 stars - it will work in certain situations, but not in all, and it gets marked off for shoddy, misleading marketing from Scosche.

Unlike a few that are having problems getting this to work with their charger I am fortunate enough to say that it works fine with my Alpine deck.

However "working" is only half the battle. This thing is HUGE. For what it does, which is flip a few leads, it is ridiculously big. So much so that it is almost unusable. I use it for my iPhone 3G and let me tell you, imagine something almost the size of a Zippo lighter plugged into your cord and your phone and you sort of get the idea. Now imagine that plug only friction locks into your phone ala the iPhone USB cable. Friction lock may work fine for the tiny little USB cable, but for this big ugly black box it is precariously attached to the phone AT BEST.

It is constantly coming unplugged and when it's not coming completely undone it seperates just enough to confuse my Alpine CD player. Trying to use the iPhone for maps when driving becomes a joke, I end up just unplugging the thing if I have to look at the phone for any reason. If you don't have a bluetooth headset for hands free holding this thing up to your ear to talk is an almost 100% garuntee that it will become detached.

I'm mad... I'm mad that Apple decided to change the port configuration for absolutely no good reason, I'm mad that I have to buy a 3rd party accessory to work with my "iPod/iPhone compatible" device, and I'm mad that this is the only thing available to fix this absurd problem.

F- to Apple for making their latest devices incompatible with existing products, F- to Scosche for making this barely usable unwieldy adapter, F- to me for buying it.

I purchased this product because my 2009 Infiniti M35 has an iPod feature that integrates with the audio system, but it does not work with second generation iPod Touches. (It plays, but does not charge the iPod.) When I bought this, it worked perfectly, both charging and playing through the Infiniti audio system. However, as one of the other reviewers mentioned, when the car was turned off and then turned back on, there was no sound coming through the audio system from the iPod, even though it was playing. I contacted Schosche by email; they responded immediately with experienced personnel. It turns out you need to update the iPod firmware; after that it works perfectly. (The charging adapter doesn't lock into the iPod, which might be a problem for a phone like an iPhone that is being held and moved around, but the iPod stays in the console, so that doesn't matter.)

the Scosche does as advertised, but design of the end that attaches to the iPod Touch or iPhone is flawed.

First of all, you must remove any cover on your iPod, otherwise the Scosche won't make a solid connection.

Second, the Scosche, even after you do remove the protective cover you might have for your iPod, still does not firmly grip the iPod port. The tiny clips are not extended out far enough to firmly grasp the iPod and remain connected.

The Scosche is a good idea with a bad design.

But recently, i have encountered a new problem with this Scosche. A high-pitched noise is emitted from my car's sound system when the Scosche is connected to my Touch.

This product is now bogus. Stay away from it!

I ordered one of these for my 08' Infiniti G35 to work with my iPhone. The charging, control functions works well as advertised. However, the sound pass-through quality is very poor in my case. It adds a constant humming/high pitched noise to the music. At first I thought it was just a loose connection, however after trying several times to reposition/unplug/plug back in, the noise just doesn't go away. Finally I decide to return it.

The title pretty much says it all.
Bought it, tried it, didn't work.
Returning it.

The Scoche pass through convertor does not work with my Merecedes 2009 E 350 factory installed media convertor. I spoke with a tech support representative and Scoche admits it does not work with Mercedes. Griffin just came out with a similar device has anyone had success with it?

Before I bought the Scosche charging adapter, I could only play my Ipod Nano 4G with the Infiniti supplied adapter cable. Screen displayed the message, charging not supported for this device. Now with the Scosche charging adapter I don't have to be concerned about how much charge is left on the Ipod... just plug it all in and it's good to go... Ipod battery charges up fine plus I don't have to remove the neoprene Ipod case. Highly recommended!