Belkin TuneCast II FM Transmitter for MP3 Players (Black)

• Universal accessory for all digital audio players compatible with a 3.5-mm mini-jack
• Turns your FM stereo into an MP3 broadcaster
• Program up to four station presets; automatically turns on and off
• Operating range of up to 30 feet; transmits on FM channels 88.1 to 107.9 MHz
• Mobile power cord connects to car's cigarette lighter port for optional battery-free operation

After reading the reviews I was a bit trepidacious about this item. It seems like a lot of people have difficulty getting satisfactory performance, but I really wanted to be able to use my mp3 player in the car so I grabbed one with the expectation that it might be marginal. Sure enough, out of the box it had pretty poor FM reception in both of my cars. I moved it around in the car and tried various 'blank' stations, but the unit would dropout and could be static-y even when reception was relatively good. Moving it around in the car has a big impact on performance, so the problem is pretty clearly just low transmistter power competing with big city radio interference (I live in the bay area, which has a LOT of radio stations). As an engineer I'm generally OK with working around the limitations of a gadget but I found this product pretty trying in its virgin state.

So I decided to see what sort of 'enhancement' it would take to bring it up to snuff. My first approach was based on the observation that the physical size of the device was too small to get decent antenna performance at FM wavelengths. I guessed that the cable to the mp3 player might be functioning in part as an antenna, so maybe adding an extension cord would improve the transmission efficiency. So I got a 6 foot headphone extension cable (the smallest one at my local store) and used it between the player and the transmitter to stretch out the antenna length. That pretty much solved the problem for me. I spread out the new 'antenna' by tossing the transmitter in the back seat, put the player next to me in front and it works much better and I'm happy with it now. It works well in both cars and the quality is more than good enough for my audiobooks and pop music. I use rechargeable batteries in the unit to avoid having to plug it into the lighter socket, and I generally just disconnect the player and leave the transmitter in the car it turns itself off automatically 60 seconds after I disconnect the player.

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I had been looking for a good FM Tuner to use with my Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra. I had heard good reviews about this product so I picked it up. Now, I wasn't expecting crystal clear CD-quality sound, but I was expecting something listenable, which explains my dissatisfaction with this product.

The product is easy enough to use. You plug the Belkin into the headphone or line out jack of your player, then find a poor quality radio station, tune your Belkin to it, and hit play. The Belkin can run on 2 AAA batteries or off your car's cigarette lighter. My first problem with it, is that the cigarette lighter adapter would not fit securely into the Belkin. It fell out at the slightest touch, as the hole in the Belkin was just too big. I either had to tape it in their, or had to run off the batteries, which run down surprisingly quick.

My next problem, is with the general size of the device. The cord that connects the Belkin to your audio player is about 3 inches long, which means you have to keep it right next to the player. You can't attach it to your dashboard or anything like that. It made it very awkward to change the song or skip through something on the player because I had this tuner hanging down from it.

My final, and biggest problem with the player is the poor reception. I tried it with three different vehicles, and two different MP3 players. I tried every single radio station I could find. I tried every tip I found on the Internet to get good quality. I adjusted the volume on the player and in the car. I turned on the radio first, and then the player, and vice versa. I just couldn't get a decent sound from it. It would sound okay for a few seconds, and then static.

Something to note, is that the poorest quality station won't always give you the best sound. I sometimes found that I received the best sound from a station that I could somewhat get a broadcast from, even though the manual tells you to look for the weakest stations. The other problem is that if you're in your car, the signal strength of the radio stations change depending on where you are, so the sound quality is going to always vary. I also found that I could only get real good quality when I held the mp3 player and Belkin in my lap, and held onto it. As soon as I let go, I get a little bit of static. The range for this thing in a car is realistically about 2 feet.

One thing I did get a good reception with was with home stereos, where the quality was decent enough to use. But this was pretty pointless for me because I can simply plug in my mp3 player directly into the stereo anyway.

Bottom line, if you can live with sub par quality and don't mind the awkwardness of the Tuner, this is probably the best tuner you will find out there today. Unfortunately, that doesn't account for much until technology provides for better reception in the future.

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I picked the Belkin Tunecast II up a few weeks ago before driving cross country from Brooklyn to Wisconsin (about a 14 hour car ride). I had recently bought a Rio Karma mp3 player and wanted to use it on the journey. Having just got back from my trip, I couldn't be happier with how the Belkin performed. I was driving a 1994 Saturn SL2 with a Sony Xplod CD player and placed the Rio/Belkin devices on the passenger seat where they would be in easy reach if I had to change the radio frequency. Surprisingly, the Belkin was tuned to 88.3 without incident for my entire journey through New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin (including several major cities such as New York, Newark, Chicago and Milwaukee). I was expecting a lower sound quality filled with the occasional burst of static, but that was not the case. My entire car ride was static free and the music could only have sounded better if I had brought along my CD collection. Needless to say, I'm very happy with this purchase and recommend the Belkin Tunecast II to anyone considering an FM transmitter for similar purposes. A word of caution: as another reviewer pointed out, different cars may have different antennae/shielding issues so you should probably test this product in your car before buying if possible.

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This unit requires two things to work well.

(i) The unit's internal Rohm FM transmitter IC needs a good level of audio signal to drive the stereo encoder, otherwise you will hear a lot of channel noise in your radio speakers.

If your MP3 player does not play very loud in headphones then you will be disappointed. An iRiver 790 MP3 player is an example of a loud unit and the TuneCast 2 then produces a pretty good noise free stereo signal.

(ii)The only way to get a good hiss free signal in your car radio is to cut the internal wire coming out of the unit's internal ANT connection, and then extend it with 27" of external flexible wire. The signal is still well below FCC limits for unlicensed transmitters, and now will work well with car rear window antennas and also provide a good stereo signal through at least one house wall.

The digital Phase Lock Loop is rock steady and the ability to set to any frequency is absolutely essential in a busy metro area. The ability to remember any four frequencies is good for long commutes.

i've never written a review of any of the products i've bought from amazon before, but i felt pretty compelled to write one about this.

if you consider the price and utility tradeoffs for this transmitter, its of good value. of course you can't expect to get cd quality transmission from this, but it works pretty well for the most part. the only bad thing i've found so far is that even on stations where i get the clearest signals, there is some static in the background. this static is only audible when a song is at a quiet part or when there is no song playing so it isn't as bad as you may think. other than that, the sound quality actually kind of surprised me. btw, i live in los angeles where almost every station has some sort of signal, which is also why i am surprised that the product works as well as it does.

overall, i am pleased with my purchase and although i haven't tried any other fm transmitters out there, i would recommend others to buy this if you can't use a cassette adapter.