Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good iPhone AUX mount, April 1, 2009
My Griffin TuneFlex AUX with SmartClick replaces a Kensington Liquid AUX Deluxe unit, which my wife accidentally broke while driving my car. I think this sort of accident is much less likely with the Griffin.
The big disadvantage of the Kensington (and the cause of its ultimate demise) were the adjustable arms that clamped on the iPod/iPhone; while it allowed adapting to any model, the clamp and release mechanism were "temperamental". The ratchet mechanism was hard to adjust "just right", and if too tight would rattle loudly as the car moved. It needed to be re-adjusted frequently, as it worked loose gradually. The Griffin in contrast comes with a whole array of plastic "heads" designed to perfectly fit and support various models with no slack or vibration. The heads are unlabeled; you just need to try your iPod or iPhone in each one that vaguely looks like it might fit until you get the right one. If you switch often between various models you'd want to carry the appropriate adapters, and need to switch them out... and the next new model probably won't be covered. (Luckily, I rarely use anything but my iPhone 3G in the car, and it turns out that my daughter's 3rd gen iPod nano can fit the iPhone sleeve. This may however be an issue if, for example, I upgrade to a "next gen iPhone" when such a thing is released, but we'll have to wait and see.)
Like the Kensington, the Griffin has a wireless remote that can velcro onto the steering wheel. I thought this was silly on the Kensington, but found that it quickly became a necessity. The convenience of being able to play, pause, and skip tracks without moving my eyes or taking a hand off the wheel is great. The reliability of the Kensington remote was "inconsistent", however. The Griffin seems to work consistently, but has a very "firm" touch and doesn't always respond when buttons are pressed casually. I do like the button to manually activate the backlight, when it's gone out. The Griffin remote is detachable from a magnetic base, which I find pointless: I see no need to remove it, and several times it's been knocked off accidentally and I need to search for it on the floor.
The flexible neck is stiff and stable, but reasonably easily adjustable; it's longer than the Kensington's neck, and that makes the iPhone more visible and accessible. The AUX cable has jacks on both ends so it can be replaced (unlike the Kensington's). It's much longer than the Kensington's, which might be an advantage or disadvantage depending on your car. (Way more cord than I really need.)
Some glitch in the Kensington occasionally caused my iPhone 3G to complain that the charger wasn't compatible. It still played through the AUX, and charged, but the remote was apparently disabled. Sometimes removing and re-inserting would resolve the problem, and sometimes it wouldn't. I haven't (at least yet) seen that issue with the Griffin, which is a "plus".
Advantages: long stiff neck, easy to adjust; custom fit "heads" for iPod/iPhone models; wireless remote
Disadvantages: custom fit "heads" may mean carrying more than one, and might be a problem for new models down the road; heads aren't labeled so it can be tedious to find the right one; remote is too easily detachable
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good enough for me., March 25, 2009
Well, the other reviewer here brings up some good points, but I think this charger is good enough given the other dross out there. I struggled doing lots of research online, and couldn't find one charger/mount for the 3G that had positive (or even not all negative!) reviews. Finally saw this one got decent reviews from CNet and went with it.
GOOD
-Looks sharp if you have black/dark interior.
-Mount doesn't move at all for me. Bounces a little, no big deal.
-Nice speaker wire. Holds the shape you move it to and stays out of the way.
-Remote actually works quite well & is very handy (no pun intended). I was surprised.
BAD
-Good luck figuring out how to velcro that remote to the steering wheel. Took me 15 minutes! (Disclosure: I can be a bit of an idiot.)
-The Aux out from the charger is rubbish. I can't even get it to play sound. You need to run the wire from the line out on the iPhone, which is fine with me.
-None of the docks will fit your 3G if you have a protective case. I have a super slim case and I have to pop mine off when I get in the car. Not a big deal for my type of cover, but could be a hassle for some people.
-Once or twice got the This Device Does Not Work with iPhone message, but not a deal-breaker.
End of the day, it doesn't seem like there are any perfect car mounts/chargers out there. But I will vouch for this one being good enough. The price is a little steep, but you get what you pay for, and this is a durable product that I don't think will break on me any time soon.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Poor Performer, March 2, 2009
I purchased this item because the charger had an aux output built into the docking unit. In theory, it's a good setup with less of a wire mess.
Unfortunately, this just doesn't cut it.
a) The dock is top heavy once you've docked your iPhone/iPod. This causes the charger to shift in the cigarette lighter.
b) The aux-output from the charger is very WEAK. This was the dealbreaker for me and the reason why I returned this item. The audio is very quiet and tinny compared to all other input sources in my car (CD, radio). Sure, I could fine tune some settings and crank the volume all the way up in order to listen at a decent volume level. But, if I were to switch it over to the radio or a CD, the volume would be deafening. Not good.
c) This device forced a hard reboot of my iPhone after only one use. For some reason, the screen was at the dimmest setting and would not return to full brightness. I'm guessing it was an issue of my iPhone dislodging from the dock connector due to the weak connection and instability.
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