Customer Reviews

iDeck Integrated Car Cassette Adapter for iPod (Certified "Made for iPod")

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

I spent some time looking at all the options for mounting and playing an iPhone through my car speakers, as well as charging the iPhone. Nothing seemed to fit the bill perfectly. There are only a few options out there for mounts that charge and play music through your speakers--all of which are mounted awkwardly, directly to the cigarette lighter and down out of a safe area view to view the iPhone while driving. They all look flimsy and a little cheap.

Finally, after some searching I found this gem. I've never seen an iPhone mount that is literally mounted to a cassette adapter. It's mounted right in the middle of your radio, which is excellent as the iPhone is taking the place of the radio in the first place! It takes up less space than any other iPhone/iPod mount on the market. It really cleans up the clutter that most mounts create. It's easy to view without taking your eyes to far off the road. Tape adapter sound quality surpasses FM transmitters by a long shot. Sound quality is about a 9/10 (FM transmitters are about a 4/10). Really easy to mount and easy to view. It is a little bit wobbly where the mounting piece attaches to the cassette if you physically try to move it (which was a little bit annoying), but I corrected that very easily with a little bit of double-sided tape where the mount connects to the cassette to take up some of that extra space that allowed it to wobble. It was an easy fix to a problem that wasn't that major to begin with.

I had a little problem when I received the iDeck. The mounting bracket (there are 4 different ones included) I needed for the iPhone was missing from the package. I emailed Cyanics customer support to see if I could get this piece. They got back to me in just a few minutes with the tracking information on the piece I needed, telling me it was on its way. Cyanics customer support is second to none. I've emailed them a few times now and they have never taken more than 10 minutes to respond (imagine if every company was like that!).

The iDeck absolutely works with the iPhone, although the only way to use it as a handsfree unit (where you can hear the caller through the car speakers) is to use an extremely simple workaround that I discovered. The iDeck will charge the iPhone and play all the music, sounds, etc. through your car's speakers without any workaround. Cyanics told me I would not be able to use it as a handsfree calling device, though, because when you answer a call it switches to speakerphone and doesn't play the call through the car's speakers. You can get around this by connecting a 3.5mm cable from the iPhone's headphone jack into the jack on the iDeck labeled "AUX". It works very well. The person on the other end said I sounded loud and clear to them. If you have your car's volume turned up really loud, the caller will hear themselves echoing, but this shouldn't happen at normal volumes.

In conclusion, I'm really happy with this product. I'm extremely picky when it comes to this kind of stuff. I consider this the best iPhone car mount on the market. It's a shame it isn't advertised as an iPhone mount, because it works great.

Length:: 1:28 Mins

Apple iPod touch 32 GB (3rd Generation) NEWEST MODELApple iPod touch 8 GB (2nd Generation) OLD MODELApple iPod classic 120 GB Black (6th Generation) OLD MODELApple iPod nano 8 GB Black (4th Generation) OLD MODELApple iPod touch 8 GB (1st Generation) OLD MODEL

First off customer service is great, I asked a question and was answered immediately. Ordered from them on Wednesday and got it on Saturday. I have been searching for an Iphone 3G mount for the last year and just couldnt find the right one since they looked butt ugly or was in a very cheap looking mount. I was waiting for the TOMTOM holder but I will not pay $100 for a mount. This all in one solution product solves all my problems including way to connect my iphone to my car speakers, charger and mount and looks great in my car. When I first heard the sound of my iphone music I was truly impressed and didnt have to fiddle with those FM transmitters which people always had problems with. If you have a tape deck and need a Iphone mount, do not hesitate picking this up.

Be careful when you buy this product. It only works if your cassette deck has the opening for the cassette's widest part on the passenger side.

My car has the wider part of the opening on the driver's side -- so the iDeck didn't fit. There's no mechanism to fix or adjust this.

I can't say whether it works well otherwise.

This is a great product.I bought this because it was the only product with 5 star ratings, and was ipod approved. I was a bit apprehensive because I have tried other units like this with no success. I plugged this into my tape deck in my Ford Ranger and little or no sound even turned up high.I noticed that the tape deck said side 2 and decided to push the button for side 1 and was blasted out the car. This unit sounds great.Just make sure you are on side one on your tape deck.Sometimes when there is a long silence I noticed that the deck would switch to side 2, but all that is needed is to switch it back. The best thing about the ideck is that it works as promised.

EDIT November 2011: You may have read in other reviews that the iPod/iPhone when plugged into this adapter will show a message that says something like, "This accessory not optimized for use with this iPhone." All you had to do was clear the message and the iPod/iPhone would seem to work perfectly. Well, with the release of iOS 5, that message no longer appears when plugged into the iDeck. It just works!

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I had been looking for a means of playing my iPhone through the radio in my 1999 Jeep Cherokee. I tried an FM transmitter type of device, but there are NO vacant frequencies here in Miami. I returned it. Then I decided to get a cassette adapter (my old Jeep has a tape deck instead of a CD player) and searched Amazon for such a device. While there were many available options for a simple adapter with a wire from the cassette to the iPhone, there was only one choice if I wanted something that would charge and cradle AND play my iPhone's music: The iDeck is that option.

When it arrived I noticed the packaging is very nice and the instructions are very good (although the manufacturer's engineering department really needs to come up with better names for the device's parts; Middle Part does not elicit feelings of confidence in the device's design). The trouble I had with the unit was when I tried to insert it into my radio. It simply refused to mount correctly. It would suck down partway into the cassette opening and then eject after a second or two. I tried for about 30 minutes to get it to work with no success.

I wrote an email to the manufacturer and to their credit, they replied within a few hours. They suggested I try bending the plastic that connects the Middle Part to the cassette part until it forms a greater angle and this should allow it to drop down further into the cassette opening on the radio. I tried this and it did adopt the bend without breaking (they said they would accept a return if I managed to break it while executing their fix), but it still would not load into the radio without ejecting.

While trying to get it to work, I took a long, close look inside the radio opening and saw the radio's cassette mechanism has "feed lips" that seemed to hang up on the iDeck's Middle Part, preventing it from loading correctly. I warned the manufacturer that I was going to take it upon myself to modify their product, then set to work with a Dremel tool and a sanding bit. I took off only a couple millimeters of material from the rear of the Middle Part, giving it a beveled appearance. It loaded perfectly on the second try after this modification and now the iDeck works perfectly. It still requires a few tries to get it into the radio, but I don't plan on removing it since I never listen to the radio and I don't mind having the iDeck always on the dash. I emailed photos of my mod to the manufacturer and they said they would forward them to their engineers for a possible fix in future versions of the device.

The unit comes with a few clips to accommodate different versions of iPod/iPhone, though the recommended clip for the iPhone will not work if you have your iPhone in a hard-shell case. At least, not without removing the case. In my case, I just decided to not use any clip (they're not required for the iDeck to work) and I put a small piece of Velcro on the dash and the back of the iPhone case to help keep the phone steady while I drive.

Speaking of keeping steady, you might want to turn off your iPod's "Shake to Shuffle" option in the settings--every time I drove over a rumble strip or speed bump I would hear a little series of notes and the music would switch to a different song. It took me a few days to figure it out, and turning off the shake feature fixed it.

I highly recommend this product, even though you may have to make a few changes to the current design to get it to work with your particular radio.

After I received my unit, I spent a couple of weeks wondering why the volume coming out of my car speakers was so low. I was having to crank up my car stereo's volume to a ridiculous level in order to hear the music well. of course, that created a tremendous amount of hiss coming out of my speakers. I couldn't tell if it was my iPod, the cassette deck, some random setting, or what. I played around a lot with the setup, and I was beginning to get pretty frustrated.

This morning, I discovered (entirely by accident) that by gently pulling on the unit, once it was inside the cassette deck, I was able to get a much louder signal. My guess is that the unit wasn't contacting the tape head very well and needed a little tweak.

Now, the sound is GREAT! My iPod Touch fits well with the provided adapter, and the charger works just fine. I just have to tweak the unit a bit each time I put it in the cassette deck.

I'm giving this 4 stars for the loose fit inside my cassette deck. This issue is probably unavoidable, given all the different types and makes of car cassette decks. Also, the unit is not all that sturdy - you will need to be gentle with it. Overall, though, I am pleased.

I bought this for a Infiniti G35, and it works well after some modifications. If you own an Infiniti with a tape deck, this unit will not go in as is. I had to cut the plastic that allows it to bend into the tape deck enough so that it would bend even more. I almost returned it because it didn't work, it kept spitting the ideck back out. After cutting the plastic off, and trying a few times pushing it in, it finally took it. Just a warning, it does take some fiddling or in my case, cutting pieces off to make it work correctly. All and all I'm very satisfied it works perfectly. I like that fact that there's only one wire hanging around the car for this unit to work. I'd say just work on allowing more flexibility for different cassette decks in the future.

The cassette part of the adapter is attached to a stiff ribbon connector. This prevents it from being fully inserted into either a Honda or Lexus cassette player. It is virtually useless. I am very disappointed.

The iDeck car adapter is a great product. The way that this cassette-to-iPod (or iPhone)adapter was designed appears to be compatible in many if not all cars. I had previously used those cheaper cassettes with the cord attached which you plug the iPod into, but, after a short period of time (maybe 2 months or so) they start to short out. The iDeck is much quieter. The one thing that I had to learn with the iDeck was how to put in and take out my iPod without forcing it. I leave the iDeck in my car permanently and simply remove the iPod. I do not have an iPhone so I cannot say how well this interface works with that, but other reviews here are favorable.

Before I bought the iDeck, I contacted the Cyanics customer service department by phone. They were absolutely fantastic. This is a small company in Southern California (Cypres, CA) which aims to please. They are right on the mark. They shipped the product to me within 24 hours (I'm in Los Angeles which is about 50 miles west of Cypress so it's fairly close.)

I highly recommend the iDeck and the company Cyanics. Their service is unsurpassed.