• TV
  • MOVIES
  • MUSIC
  • SHOWBIZ
  • SOAPS
  • GAMING
  • TECH
  • FORUMS
  • Follow
    • Follow
    • facebook
    • twitter
    • google+
    • instagram
    • youtube
Hearst Corporation
  • TV
  • MOVIES
  • MUSIC
  • SHOWBIZ
  • SOAPS
  • GAMING
  • TECH
  • FORUMS
Forums
  • Register
  • Login
  • Forums
  • Gadgets
  • Tablets and e-Readers
FM/MP3 Transmitter Thingies for your car.
richard cranium
12-01-2010
Has anyone found them to work successfully with good hi-fi ?

You know the things, they transmit your music from your I-Pod or portable MP3 player to your car FM Radio on a pre-set frequency.

Simples or so I thought.

I've bought two of them and both are useless.

At best, the volume is pathetic, and with the car radio AND the Mp3 player at full volume it still isn't loud enough to be useful.

At worst, my car radio doesn't pick the signal up at all.
player1
12-01-2010
I never did find a decent one...do a spot of googling, poor reviews abound....I now use a cable from my iPod connector into my "aux in" jack in the car, works great
Swansea Stu
12-01-2010
The problem is that in order to be legal they are pathetically weak. You either need an old one that was sold before they were made legal or an imported one.

I recently bought this one here
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.625

In work we can only pick up fm, so we hook a DAB radio up to this and then listen on our radios. When I tested it out it was great for 20 metres. Haven't tried further than that, but the reception on the radio at 20m sounded just as good as the nearer ones.

In contrast other "legal" ones we've tried are good for a metre or 2 at best. Sometimes a bit longer but they are very weak.

There are other types on that site, check the comments though. But it's cheap, free P+P and takes paypal so there's no need to register.
frasera
13-01-2010
basically almost all of them are bad jokes. i wonder how many are bought and simply end up rotting in a drawer, i'm pretty sure it happens to the vast majority of em once the owner realizes they gotta spend more for the real solutions.
PrinceGaz
13-01-2010
It is worth pointing out that the signal-strength of FM radio is almost irrelevant to how loud it sounds when it is listened to; what matters is the frequency-deviation of the FM signal that it is transmitting.

With a weak signal, you are like to get background hiss with whatever you are listening to but the station itself is likely to sound just as lound as with a very strong signal. If your in-car FM transmitter is resulting in low volume, then you probably need to increase the audio-level you are feeding into the transmitter as the FM signal is not being modulated sufficiently (rather like when the emergency services used frequencies in the 100MHz region and could be listened to on a standard FM radio, but always sounded quiet and needed the volume turned up quite high because they used a much smaller FM deviation).

Having said all of that, if your car audio equipment has an Aux In socket, always use it in preference to an FM modulator as it will provide far better results.
zapod
13-01-2010
Originally Posted by frasera:
“basically almost all of them are bad jokes. i wonder how many are bought and simply end up rotting in a drawer, i'm pretty sure it happens to the vast majority of em once the owner realizes they gotta spend more for the real solutions.”

This might come as a bit of a shock, so I do hope you're seated when you read this, but my FM transmitter is really very OK. In fact, I'd go as far as saying it is agreeably fine. The volume goes to 11 if need be and it charges the iPod to boot, so it's win-win.
clonmult
14-01-2010
Originally Posted by zapod:
“This might come as a bit of a shock, so I do hope you're seated when you read this, but my FM transmitter is really very OK. In fact, I'd go as far as saying it is agreeably fine. The volume goes to 11 if need be and it charges the iPod to boot, so it's win-win.”

Not a shock, everyones standards are different.

I've tried a few of them over the years, and have never found them really that good - okay maybe, but never that good. Compared to the sound quality when using an iPod connected via a proper dock with a decent head unit, its a night and day difference.
orchover
14-01-2010
I've just bought one off ebay. Wish i'd seen this thread first. It is without doubt the most useless piece of technology i've ever purchased. The FM signal was poor, although it did sound almost acceptable when driving around, as the car engine noise blocked out most of the crackly noises. However, as you drive around and your mobile phone logs onto various base stations, the phone interferes with the FM signal.

Anyway, it was only a few pounds so not worth the hassle of sending it back. I've left negative feedback and chucked it in the bin.
bowland37
14-01-2010
You won't go far wrong with one of these:

http://www.techfocus.co.uk/iTrip-FM-...ters/TFM01.htm

Crystal clear audio and typically up to 50 metre range. (although I've had several hundred metres out of it using a good quality receiver)
richard cranium
14-01-2010
It's a pity my car radio has no AUX socket.

The range is of no consequence as the transmitter will always only be a few inches from the car radio.

It's the spurious claims of the manufacture that annoy " crystal clear reception, Hi-Fi quality, no need for wires "

Pish tosh.

I won't be buying them cheapo wireless headphones either !!
bowland37
14-01-2010
Originally Posted by richard cranium:
“It's a pity my car radio has no AUX socket.

The range is of no consequence as the transmitter will always only be a few inches from the car radio.

It's the spurious claims of the manufacture that annoy " crystal clear reception, Hi-Fi quality, no need for wires "

Pish tosh.

I won't be buying them cheapo wireless headphones either !!”

A larger range indicates a stronger signal which is important to overcome any interference.

Anyway, that one I linked to will work fine. I guarantee it. Do a search on this forum for Linex transmitter and you'll see everyone else agrees with me.
PrinceGaz
14-01-2010
It may be worth mentioning that most FM car radios have an antenna located outside the car, and whilst they will still pick up some signal transmitted from inside the car near to the radio anyway, the best place for the transmitter would actually be nearer to the antenna (so long as it does not overload the radio's circuitry). I know that isn't normally practical, but range with these FM transmitters depends on several factors, and a very high quality FM transmitter could be capable of sounding as good as listening to Radio 3 in your car a mile or so from a major transmission mast.

If (and only if) you car audio does not have an Aux In socket, they can be a viable alternative. Range/signal strength is less important than quality though-- very cheap units, no matter how powerful, are likely to sound rather poor.
super-saint
22-01-2010
Originally Posted by bowland37:
“A larger range indicates a stronger signal which is important to overcome any interference.

Anyway, that one I linked to will work fine. I guarantee it. Do a search on this forum for Linex transmitter and you'll see everyone else agrees with me.”

Can only find 2 results & one is this thread
tardis_cub
23-01-2010
try a gear4 blu fm transmitter. It goes in the cigarette lighter socket and connects to your phone via bluetooth, just tune into a an empty channel and match it to the device and away you go! If someone phones while you are driving the audio cuts out and you can hear them through your car speakers. Your voice is picked up by a mic on the device and when the call is ended, your song picks up form where it left off. You dont have to touch a thing. Brilliant piece of kit
iangrad
23-01-2010
Get a parrot phone kit installed and then you can bluetooth your ipod or phone mp3 content directly to the car . It also has a built in SD card reader that I load up with hundreds if tracks .
http://www.parrot.com/uk/products/hands-free-car-kits
Ian
imagegrill
27-01-2010
I brought one years ago from eBay. It was rubbish, and was binned.
I know have an N97 which has a built in FM transmitter. This is better but not great. I often find myself in a hire car for work and it is better than having to listen to local radio and I always forget to bring a ton of CD's with me!
However, I find it varies from car to car. Clearly the quality of reception within the car has an influence too (as mentioned above). To be honest I wish all car radios with the correct Bluetooth profiles. Would be much easier!!
RobAnt
27-01-2010
So disappointed with those things, I got a new car instead.

Now my car has bluetooth, and will receive music from my mobile phone okay, but it's a pain to set up, and definitely not something you can do while driving.

Fortunately it also has an aux in so I connect my mp3 player to that instead. Works a dream, but I do have to set up a playlist if I want to go on a long drive, or set it to randomly play anything, before I set off, because I can only control the volume of the MP3 from the steering wheel.

Oh, just thought, I wonder if I can use the USB cigarette lighter cable to charge the MP3 player.
bigstunnerdude
28-01-2010
I got one of these in November:

http://www.play.com/Electronics/Elec...&ob=Price&fb=0

Its been absolutely brilliant since then. Use it with my Mobile and Sony Walkman. Love the fact its Bluetooth. Haven't tried USb or a Memory Card in it but imagine they'd work just as well as the rest of it.
PrinceGaz
28-01-2010
Originally Posted by RobAnt:
“So disappointed with those things, I got a new car instead.”

That sounds a bit extreme as a reason for buying a new car

Quote:
“Now my car has bluetooth, and will receive music from my mobile phone okay, but it's a pain to set up, and definitely not something you can do while driving.”

All you should be doing whilst driving, is driving, not faffing about with music equipment, your phone or anything else.

Quote:
“Fortunately it also has an aux in so I connect my mp3 player to that instead. Works a dream, but I do have to set up a playlist if I want to go on a long drive, or set it to randomly play anything, before I set off, because I can only control the volume of the MP3 from the steering wheel.”

That's okay, provided all you do is adjust the volume from the steering wheel which I guess is an acceptable level of distraction from actually driving a car (compared with say looking down to change tracks or something).

Quote:
“Oh, just thought, I wonder if I can use the USB cigarette lighter cable to charge the MP3 player.”

Quite probably if it supports USB charging. Please try to avoid doing so whilst driving though
dontpannic
28-01-2010
Originally Posted by iangrad:
“Get a parrot phone kit installed and then you can bluetooth your ipod or phone mp3 content directly to the car . It also has a built in SD card reader that I load up with hundreds if tracks .
http://www.parrot.com/uk/products/hands-free-car-kits
Ian”

Echo this. I've tried so many different FM transmitters and the quality is absolutely awful - way too much interference even at low volumes.

I now have a Parrot MKi9000 and its an absolutely fantastic bit of it!
Sniffle774
28-01-2010
For what it worth I found I get a better signal on my incar FM trasmitter (its a Belkin) if I unscrew my car ariel.
TheBigM
28-01-2010
Please ensure that you have it set to a frequency as far away from actual radio stations as possible. Maximise the audio output from the mp3 player to the transmitter. Finally, play around with the location of the transmitter within the car. I find it tends to work best at the back of the centre console.
bowland37
28-01-2010
Originally Posted by TheBigM:
“Please ensure that you have it set to a frequency as far away from actual radio stations as possible. Maximise the audio output from the mp3 player to the transmitter. Finally, play around with the location of the transmitter within the car. I find it tends to work best at the back of the centre console.”

Or just buy a decent transmitter that's about 10 times better than the crappy Belkin things mentioned on this thread:

http://www.techfocus.co.uk/iTrip-FM-...ters/TFM01.htm
VIEW DESKTOP SITE TOP

JOIN US HERE

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Hearst Corporation

Hearst Corporation

DIGITAL SPY, PART OF THE HEARST UK ENTERTAINMENT NETWORK

© 2015 Hearst Magazines UK is the trading name of the National Magazine Company Ltd, 72 Broadwick Street, London, W1F 9EP. Registered in England 112955. All rights reserved.

  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Complaints
  • Site Map