Griffin iTrip AutoPilot 6191-TRPAUTOC – FM Transmitter & Auto Charger For iPod & iPhone with Controls And Smartscan
Posted by Notcot on Jul 7, 2010 in Portable Sound & Vision |
Product Description
iTrip broadcasts the music from your device to an open FM frequency on your car’s FM stereo so you can play your tunes through your car stereo’s speakers. Setup is as easy as pressing a button — Griffin-exclusive SmartScan technology finds the perfect frequency setting for you. And our new AutoPilot playback control puts a set of iPod play controls in easy reach. You can stash your iPod out of sight in the glovebox or under the seat and still control playback.
- AutoPilot controls iPod playback from your dash or console’s cigarette lighter with the touch of a finger.
- Industry-leading SmartScan does all the work — scans the radio dial for the three best frequencies then saves them automatically to 3 programmable presets for easy recall at the touch of a button.
- New SmartSound Plus technology delivers clear sound under real-world conditions.
- High-contrast display is easy to read.
- Three-stage light ring changes color to indicate the charging status of your iPod or iPhone.
I found this out after a long look at how I could best get my iphone to link into my Volvo S40 (New model but no AUX IN). After many hours searching and ringing the Apple store to see when it would be in I stumbled on Amazon. This is a brand new product.
The itrip is great but :
Make sure your cigarette lighter is clear as the knob is larger than a normal interface.
Prepared to spend some time finding the right station that has less interferance.
Bear in mind that the quality will not be as good as a direct Aux In, it is not bad once you get it working.
Its ideal solution for a Volvo, and a lot cheaper than an install, the RDS works great to display song names and integrates well, but takes a few seconds to work and up-date.
All in all well worth a buy…… well done griffin!
Rating: 4 / 5
It feels strange to award a product 5 stars for doing exactly what it claims to do…. but its such a rare occurrence!
I received the product next working day from Amazon and had it unpacked and in my car working, fully set-up, in less than 5 minutes. The smartscan WORKS and the sound quality is almost national radio standard in quality. The RDS text is a really useful feature (shame it appears in static lines rather than scrolling across the display, but that is down to the nanny state rather than the manufacturer).
The contol unit that sits in the power outlet glows in three stages to indicate how complete your iPod charge is and you can pause, skip, shuttle and play from this control without searching on the passenger seat for your iPod (in fact, you no longer really need to use your iPod controls for anything other than changing playlists or artists so you can happily store your iPod in the glove box, on the floor or under the dash)
In a world of disappointment this is a little ray of sunshine – well done Griffin!
Rating: 5 / 5
As a generally satisfied Griffin customer for many years (I imported one of the very first iTrips for the first gen iPod), I have waited in eager anticipation for this product, having no other means of playing my iPhone in my car.
I am therefore hugely disappointed to have to tell other potential customers that the performance of this latest iTrip could charitably be described as rubbish. All the new features are quickly rendered useless when you realize its ability to convey the sound of your iPod to your stereo is woeful. My original iTrip was orders of magnitude better at broadcasting a good, clear signal free of static and interference. This latest incarnation of the product can’t. I live in an area with plenty of free frequencies, so no blaming that old cop-out. It is the worst FM transmitter I have used, bar none. I had it repackaged and returned to Amazon within hours and am back to burning CDs in iTunes.
Sorry Griffin. Back to the drawing board. And sorry to everyone else who has waited nearly a year for this. You’re going to have to keep waiting, I’m afraid.
Rating: 1 / 5
Yes, I bought mine the other day and received it through the post today.
A little scepticle as to whether it would work properly or not after reading other’s feedback on this, and as this is my third FM Transmitter, and I think the Best in terms of Design, features and easy of use, not to mention the safety aspect of it while you are driving and wanting the next track by using the remote instead of waking the touch screen up and fumbling around for the next track area of the screen!
The other transmitters were a Kensington Universal FM Transmitter, it’s available off Amazon for £15, this was a rubbish signal, just could not get 5 seconds of good audio from it! but not too bad a design. Just had a 3.5mm jack on it, so your volume had to be right on your iPhone.
The other was a Teknica from Tesco, this has an excellent signal, but again, you are back to using the Touch Screen on the iPhone/iTouch while potentially driving! And setting the audio correctly as this also has a 3.5mm Jack connector.
So, down to the review and my comments on this beast!…
Upon unwrapping, Easy manual to read, and I set it up in minutes in my car choosing the best tracks on my 3G iPhone I have.
Upon plugging it into the iPhone 3G with 2.2.1 OS on it, the iPhone said that this is not designed for this device, and asked me if I would like to put the phone into flight mode, I just selected NO, and got on with using the FM Transmitter.
After that, each time I plug it into my iPhone, it does NOT come up with this message, so maybe the phone remembers that it CAN use it!?!?!?
The smartscan feature is not worth anything, it chose a popular radio stations frequency as one of the presets, you’re best using your own clear frequencies and setting it up amnually.
The FM Transmitter signal does seem to get overriden by other radio stations, so chose a frequency well away from other known used freq’s.
I noticed that adjusting the volume on the iPhone does not make any difference to the loudness coming thru your car radio, so this must be preset as you are using the dock connector on the iPhone, which is what you have to use anyway!
But the volume is fine, I’ve no worries about that, it will play beyond the loudness I like, and that’s pretty loud!!! hee hee
Also, for speed of exiting your vehicle, just pull the plug on the iPhone and it automatically pauses your song.
My phone was fully charge when using it this morning, so did not see the Amber light which is shown for ‘charging’, only the RED ‘unplugged from device’ and GREEN ‘fully charged’ on the Transmitter, so will keep my eyes on that little amber light for it to appear.
The controls, well, very easy to use! Have a nice feel to them, although, the plastic does feel a little cheap, but that wouldn’t put me off buying it again.
You can also configure the display of the unit to use for Play/Pause and Fastforward(keeping finger on next button) and Next track.
Good, firm dock connector, feels very secure.
IMPORTANT!…..
I have noticed that some people’s feedback mentioned that they are getting poor signals from this FM Transmitter, well YES and NO!
I have found that if you have hold of your iPhone (in this instance), the signal is very poor and you get a loss of audio, BUT!!!…
If you put your iPhone on the seat or in the glove box, the signal is great! Infact, it appears that this unit uses the iPhone to project the FM Transmition to your car radio!
I got a better signal when I put the iPhone in the Car phone holder that sticks to the windscreen! This doesn’t bother me….Besides, do YOU hold your iPhone while driving??!! Hmmm?!?!?!
Last to mention is the extra sound feature on the unit called Smart Sound, this gives a brighter sound, more surround I think, when switched on.
RDS…. Not seen any text on my screen so far! Will see if it appears one day, or in my work’s car.
Oh, forgot to mention, my car is a Seat Leon, with a Sony radio MP3/CD Player that I fitted.
All-in-All, A fantastic peice of kit! I’m glad I did my research before buying this as I could have bought something else!
Rating: 5 / 5
Ever since February or March when Griffin first announced this version of the iTrip, I have waited with baited breath because it sounded like the ideal solution to iPhone and iPod touch users wishing to use such devices in their cars.
It performs several functions, all very well. It’s a charger which is ideal for the iPhone 3G especially if you’re running a bluetooth headset alongside it. It’s an FM transmitter which is the only way forward if your car’s stereo is hard to change to one with a line-out connection. Last but not least, it’s also a remote control which allows iPhone and iPod touch users to control their music without having to use a touch interface, which could prove hazardous whilst driving.
The charger is fantastic and provides several coloured rings of light indicating charge status so the device really doesn’t need to have it’s screen on at all.
The FM transmitter features the company’s Smartscan solution which scans the local airwaves for 3 frequencies which are clean and free and will automatically assign it to 3 presets. You can also manually tune on the go and then assign these to any of the three presets. This works well in practice and the first preset it scanned for me is the one I now use permanently. There is one niggle with the hardware in that it does not remember the last frequency you tuned to, automatically or manually. It will be saved in presets and you will have to enable the preset every time the iTrip loses power or is unplugged. If it remembered the last station, it would be absolutely perfect! It also features stereo and mono modes, both of which produce different quality of transmission.
The Autopilot feature is a godsend for me. With traditional iPods, you could simply switch tracks using the familiar click wheel but with touch screen interfaces, this is less than ideal. The buttons themselves are tactile and produce a nice click, though the plastic does feel a little flimsy. It is ideal for playlists and albums where you have a favourite track or simply to replay a track that you’d like to hear again. Pausing is also possible and ideal for those moments where passengers are yelling at you to slow down or when a call comes through.
As a fellow reviewer mentioned, it is surprising to find a product that does exactly what it promises and does it well. Also, as a fellow reviewer commented on, the charging stalk is a little bulkier than normal so approach with caution. It isn’t much wider than your normal charger for say, a TomTom but it’s still significant enough that it may not fit into some more compact lighter sockets. Definitely worth the price and also 50% cheaper on Amazon than what the Apple store or Apple online charge!
Rating: 5 / 5