- Made for iPod: Transmits music and charges iPad & iPad 2, iPhone 4s & 4, 3Gs & 3G, iPod Nano G3, G4,G5,G6, iPod Touch I/II/III/IV gen, iPod Classic
- Transmits on all FM frequencies (87.6 MHz-107.9MHz) - Memorizes up to 4 FM frequencies
- Simple plug & play - Powers on & off automatically or with button - 2.5mm stereo input - 3.5mm cable included for use with other mp3 players
- Remote features: Album shift Up & Down - Fast Forward & Rewind - Repetition of defined Section- Shuffle - Bookmarking
- ID3-tag information via RDS: View iPod/iPhone song information on your compatible radio display.
From this, I think I know why the transmitter is so weak. Apparently, this unit originally did not comply with FCC regulations and probably was a very strong transmitter that could do the full FM frequency. At some point, apparently very recently, the FCC probably forced Satechi to remedy this and now it can no longer do 87.6-88.0 and no longer broadcast a signal powerful enough to be received from more than 6 yards out as the FCC requires.
If you look at reviews on Amazon, you'll notice the FM transmitters made by companies you've never heard of all get the high 5 star reviews while the ones made by big name brands (like Monster and Belkin) get absolutely trashed in the reviews. This is because ANY FM transmitter that actually complies with FCC regulations is garbage in a large city with heavy airwave saturation. The cheap chinese ones rarely comply with these regulations cause they constantly change brand names, anyways. The bigger players usually do play the by the rules and their products suffer as a result.
In this case, I suspect Satechi has recently been forced to start playing by the rules based on the transmitter I received. The weak signal and newly restricted (at least it appears to be a new change) frequency range are dead giveaways of this.
Sadly, that makes the unit hard to recommend. It's not Satechi's fault, but this transmitter just sucks in terms of signal strength (which means static *all* the time and an inability to broadcast "over" another signal if you can't find an empty frequency). Great design, but unless you live out in the middle of nowhere you probably won't be able to hear your music without static.I love my Satechi FM tuner with presets!! I had an older tuner that I hated because of the cord, limited and unchangeable FM stations, and incompatibility with the new iPhone and iPod Touch. I was ready to "iPod" my car for $300 because I had such a bad experience with my tuner but I decided to buy the Satechi gadget as a last ditch effort to save money.
I live in LA and have an iPhone 3G and first generation iPod Touch the Satechi works on both without any errors (and charges them both, too!!). Save yourself some trouble and do a search for the best "free" fm channel in your area. Then, make sure the tuner is flush against your phone or iPod. If its not flush, it'll pop out very easily (so yes, that means taking off the case for many of you). Once you are synced to the right channel, the sound is great! The only time I get static is if I go into a garage or if I'm travelling outside my station's zone (then I just switch channels).
To top it off, I just took a road trip from LA to SF. This tuner made my trip so much more enjoyable! I was able to hold a couple stations for hours and it only started getting static-y around Tracy but I think its just because the signals aren't strong here (happened with my last tuner but it sounded much much worse).
PS... be realistic... this is an FM tuner so you WILL get some static once in a while and the sound will NOT be CD-crystal-clear quality. But for the price, this gadget is amazing. Wireless, small, and just what I need to listen to podcasts in my car! Thanks, Satechi!!I am really impressed with this unit. It is so small and does a great job as FM transmitters go. The customer service was excellent. I honestly can't even believe how good it was. I bought a Satechi FM transmitter with a suction cup through Amazon and there was a problem with the adapter not fully snapping into the unit. I was too lazy to try to return it and since it worked pretty well anyway, I didn't bother making a complaint. After about a month and a half, I figured I would try a little more pressure to press the adapter into the unit. Bad idea! I broke it. I could still charge my iphone 3g, but I could only get FM if the iphone was upside down! I figured I would call Satechi just to see if I might be able to make a case for a replacement even though I was past the warranty period. I didn't need to make a case. Someone answered the phone immediately and I was offered to have a new suction cup mount sent or to try the new tiny FM transmitter I am reviewing now. No questions. No charges to my card. Nothing. And, I didn't even have to send back the suction cup transmitter first, which was great because I kind of got used to being able to charge my iphone in the car. The only issue is that the suction cup mount cost more and I am only getting store credit for the difference. I don't see myself needing anything else that this company makes.Great product and easy to use, although when using with Pandora on iPhone 3G, I often get the digital phone interference which can be quite loud over the stereo speakers. You can probably eliminate this by putting phone in Airplane mode, but then you can't use Pandora or receive calls or e-mails. Not sure how Satechi could prevent this, but it has been annoying enough for my wife to ask me to just turn it off or use iPod instead.
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I received this unit yesterday and it is being used with an iPhone 3GS in a 2001 Mercedes CLK 320 convertible, with no AUX input, hence the need for the FM transmitter. The unit worked well right out of the package. Despite what some other reviewers have written, the unit (and my car radio) could both be tuned to 87.9 MHz, and that's where I've been using it. It is important for all users to realize that the sound quality is going to be somewhat degraded because digital audio quality is lost since the music is getting to the radio via the FM transmitter, so the frequency range is standard FM quality (20-20KHz). Music sounds like it's coming from a radio station, and not a CD player. So it's good, but not crisp and sharp like from a CD or MP3 player.I have not played with all of the functions of the remote, and the range seems to be only a few inches. I will replace the battery in the remote to see if that helps; I haven't drilled into the user manual, but will do that over the weekend.
One negative, and this seems to come either from default settings or from the fact that I am not doing something right, but once you plug your iPhone into the dock, it automatically starts playing the first song in your stored songs listed in alphabetical order. So, I've been hearing a lot more of Elvis Costello ("Accidents Will Happen") than I'd like, as I have to fumble to get my songs where I want them to start. There is a bit of fumbling with the phone once it's plugged in to get to the track wanted, as it seems harder to get to album or song settings, but these are minor nits, and again, I haven't mastered this to the fullest.
Final verdict: this is the second FM transmitter device that I've purchased (the first, a Belkin unit, was crap and went back the next day) and I am quite happy with it. There are many FM stations on air here in the Bay Area, and it seems to hold its own set at 87.9. Additionally, there seems to be a filter in place that limits the hiss of the radio at this frequency, which makes the music a bit more clear. I am happy with it, and feel that $50 for the unit with remote plus shipping is a very fair value for the money.
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