Griffin iTrip AutoPilot FM Transmitter for iPhone & iPod Mini-Review

Griffin iTrip AutoPilot I bought a... Belkin iPod TuneBase FM ...to use to listen to podcasts while driving just about three years ago. It has worked reasonably well over that time with my iPod 30GB. However, it has had a problem syncing up with the iPod and then transmitting sound to the car's FM radio for a couple of months now. It seems to take much longer to do so than before and sometimes refuses to work at all. Moreover, I wanted to use other devices like my iPhone 3G or 5th generation iPod nano in the car. But, I do not have cradle adapters for those devices to use with the Belkin. I bought another newer Belkin product last month to replace it. But, if you read... Thumbs Down for Belkin TuneBase FM with Hands-Free for iPhone/iPod This newer TuneBase has a silly engineering design that requires you to plug in both the iPod connector on the bottom as well as a headphone jack wire. And, it then requires a bit of wiggling of the dock adjust to fit everything in. The biggest problem, however, it is that it did not work with my iPhone 3G or any of the various iPods I have. So, it was quickly returned for a refund. A few weeks ago, I bought the... Griffin iTrip AutoPilot ...for about $70 from the local Best Buy. Naturally (given my luck), Griffen put it on sale for $50 shortly after that purchase. Unlike the Belkin TuneBase, Griffen's product just requires a plug to the iPod or iPhone's dock connector. And, unlike the Belkin, it worked with everything I plugged into it. The one odd thing that struck me is that it didn't come with any documentation and I was too lazy to go look for it on Griffin's website. So, I have no idea how its various features work (I couldn't find a manual on Griffin's website when I looked for it earlier today). However,its basic functions work fine. It works with the open FM frequency I've been using for the past 3 years. It seems to sync up with the radio reasonably quickly after plugging in my iPod. Its play/pause control works fine. The reverse/forward track feature only works with songs. It does not work with podcasts if you happen to have multiple podcasts from the same creator (Science Friday for example). The circular light indicator is very handy. It turns green when a connected device if fully charged. Otherwise, it is red. The text it sends to an RDS radio is nearly useless since it sends long text in pieces that generally is not completely displayed before my radio switches back to its normal text display. But, I didn't expect to use this feature much. So, this is not a major issue. I wish its cable to the iPod/iPhone could be swiveled to stay out of the way though. I have to wrap it around the left to keep it out of the way (the iPod is in a phone holder in front of the cup holder holes). It is working fine overall though. And, I'm planning to keep using it.

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Griffin iTrip AutoPilot FM Transmitter for iPhone & iPod Mini-Review

Todd Ogasawara

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Todd Ogasawara