Product Description
The Griffin iTrip mini FM transmitter lets you play your iPod mini’s music wirelessly through any FM radio whether it be while traveling or at home through your stereo. The iTrip mini FM Transmitter was designed exclusively for the iPod mini. Its form factor matches perfectly all the curves and lines of the iPod mini. It gives you the best possible performance because you can choose any empty station from 87.7 to 107.9.Packaging: BoxAmazon.com Review
Amazon.com Review The iPod mini has helped revolutionize the way people store and listen to music, but it’s not particularly car-friendly. Unless your car stereo includes a cassette deck (increasingly rare) or an auxiliary input (more common among new… More >>
Griffin iTrip Mini FM Transmitter for iPod Mini
Tags: Griffin, iPod, iTrip, mini, Transmitter
The itrip mini does what it advertizes: fits the sleek lines of the mini ipod without adding much bulk at all, and transmits your tunes to a radio tuned to frequency (defaults to 87.9, but you can adjust that by installing the simple software provided with the itrip).
Living in LA, there are VERY limited options insofar as stations not in use. 87.9 is actually one of the few options. The sound quality was awful. I tried using this device in my car, in my room, in my home stereo – all with the same lousy results.
I should have listened to the advice of the salesperson at the Apple store and gotten the cassette device to play my ipod music on other sound systems.
Bottomline: it works, but sounds like music playing on a radio station that doesn’t quite come in clearly – static. Poor volume, and very poor sound quality.
Rating: 2 / 5
Looked at a couple of options for using the iPod in the car. Like the fact that there are no extra wires, just pop the iTrip on top of the mini and you’re good to go. Very handy for us with two cars; can use our iPods without carting wires/plugs/etc between cars. The iTrip just uses the iPod’s battery. Total run time seems about half – down to 3 or 4 hours.
Start up is amazingly easy, just unbox and attach to your mini, tune your radio to the default 87.9, and that’s it. There’s software included that interfaces through iTunes that lets you tune to different frequencies and also turn off the LED (to save power), but we haven’t needed it since the default frequency is empty.
Also make sure to keep the volume in the range that Belkin suggests; over 70-80 percent of your iPod’s volume and your tunes start to distort; so turn up the volume on your car stereo, not on your iPod. 80% is about the same loudness as typical radio broadcasts, so when you switch between your iPod and other stations, you won’t get blasted out.
Rating: 5 / 5
I really, really wanted to like this product. I read all the reviews before buying and thought I’d take my chances despite numerous complaints about static and interference in metropolitan areas. But my experience has been just the same.
I downloaded the frequency finder and tried every station recommended for the NYC area. Still, the sound quality was mediocre at best – no where NEAR the fidelity of a normal FM station.
Went out yesterday and bought an RCA “Y” adapter and now use that instead.
Rating: 2 / 5
I have a lot of “windshield time” and one of the main reasons I purchased an iPod was to use for books I download from Audible.com (I was tired of burning 10-20 CD’s per book), as well as giving me the capability to download music from iTunes. No, it doesn’t sound like my Infinity speakers at home, but (1) I didn’t expect it to, and (2) the sound quality is surprisingly very good for the most part with both books and music. There is only one city that I travel to/through where I get a little interference with the FM setting at 87.9, but 90% of the time it is not a problem. The Griffin iTrip Mini does a terrific job for a superb price and I highly recommend it.
Rating: 5 / 5
I use this to listen to Audible books while driving to and from work and it is amazing! I live in an area that gives me a good number of options for frequncy settings. If you download iTrip Station Finder from http://www.griffintechnology.com, you will note that some larger metropolitan areas will have very few frequencies available. But think about it: no FM transmitting device would address that issue. Try the cassette device instead. I also noticed that stations that were available on my stereo receiver were not available in my car. Perhaps my car antenna is more powerful.
Rating: 5 / 5