Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simple, easy to use, works out of the box..., December 11, 2006
Amazon doesn't have this product, but other online stores have it, and you can get it from the manufacturer. Look around. I paid $69.99 + Shipping for the iTrip from the manufacturer, and it works great.
First off, Griffin has always spent time on their product's outward appearance. How long will you stare longingly at it before you get to actually try it out? Can it be a truly great product if the outside looks like one of those old "Electronic Science Kits" or something? Glossy, smooth exterior almost perfectly matches the Sansa. (The Sansa is more rounded than the iTrip.) How many buttons do you need for something like this? Answer: 3. An up, down, and select button is all you need, and the iTrip's uncluttered front display is perfect for the job.
Operation of the device is nearly plug and play. I have a couple reasons for the "nearly" qualifier:
1. You NEED to make sure you've got the latest firmware from Sandisk for your Sansa. The original firmware was not designed to work with the "Made for Sansa" devices, and won't work without updating. Download the updater from Sandisk before trying out the iTrip Auto. You WILL need your synch cable in order to do this. Once you've got all that together, the actual update is a snap. When I bought the iTrip, I immediately upgraded my firmware, as I knew that I wouldn't be able to do so at work when I got the device. Easy to do, and the iTrip won't work without the new firmware.
2. The iTrip is excellent in that it will operate on any frequency of the FM band. However, I anticipate that this will cause problems with users who accidentally change the band and can't get it back easily. The nice thing is that you have to press the Select button when you find the frequency you want to use in order to change it. So it's pretty easy to set and forget it. I recommend finding your frequency before going on a drive. Better to mess with the distracting electronic device while sitting still.
That being said, the device will work for most people out of the box. I forget what frequency it worked, but it was in the high 80's, which is rarely used for actual broadcast. The thing is backlit, which makes changing stations in the middle of the night a snap. It runs off the car's 12v system, and even charges the Sansa's battery...all without any problems whatsoever.
To answer the guy's complaints about the delay in Griffin getting the technology out the door, he is dead wrong. It's not just a matter of putting a Sansa connector on an iPod iTrip. The simplest thing is getting the sync cable end to work with the internal software of the iTrip. The hard part is working with the Sansa firmware to get it to work. The Griffin device has to be completely compliant with whatever standards Sandisk has, and I guarantee that a major part of the delay was the Sansa firmware itself. If Sansa could avoid releasing firmware updates, they would. However, I would venture to say that the reason they had to release firmware was because the original firmware was impossible to work with, etc. If I had to point the finger at anyone for the delay in devices, I would point to Sandisk for either not providing the firmware specs to the manufacturers in a timely fashion, or else creating a firmware that was originally impossible to work with. It's not just Griffin who was slow...Macally only just got their device out before Griffin, and DLO still doesn't have anything out there for the Sansa.
This device is excellent, and anyone who can lay hold of one, you will not be disappointed.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good idea, but noisy, May 16, 2007
This is a neat product, and easy to use. Too bad the quality of the FM transmission isn't that good. I picked a quiet FM frequency, but once the iTrip is turned on--even when the Sansa is paused--there's a whole new level of noise above that of my chosen frequency. When loud music is playing, you really don't notice it, but in quieter passages it's annoying. Also the volume level is quite a bit lower than real radio stations. So when I switch the to iTrip, I have to crank up the volume; and when I switch the other way, I'm apt to be blasted! One other quirk is the iTrip manages to transmit these odd little clicks and buzzes associated with the Sansa switching to the next song in a random shuffle--sounds I do not hear when listening directly on earphones.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Seamless and clear FM transmission for my Sansa e260!, January 2, 2007
After spending WAY too much time laboring over which FM transmitter
to get for my new Sansa e260, I eventually sided with the Griffin
iTrip for Sansa, and have no regrets! This little wonder works perfectly
with my Sansa mp3 player... little to no noise... usually NONE. Also,
great bass response. Everything sounds just as clear as it can with
mpeg-3 compression on an FM receiver. The fact that it also charges
my player while I'm driving and listening makes it that much better.
Two thumbs up, 5 stars, and one happy camper. :)
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