Because I’d be interested in one. If you know of any decent ones, post them up!
Eh, I’ve tried. You can hack them with a copper wire to broadcast way more powerfully than the FCC allows, but they still suck.
Google “FM transmitter hack.” Even then I could get it to come in clear, but low frequency stuff (bass) didn’t really make it.
So it doesn’t completely eliminate interference from other FM stations, or does it just keep the signal from randomly cutting out?
I have this one:
http://www.techawave.com/techawave/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=593908
Picked it up off a fellow NYSpeeder for $10. It’s worth about $10 IMO. It works ok, sound is decent but definitely not CD or line in quality. The ability to pick from different stations is a big plus because if it’s fighting against a local station the the quality gets much worse.
Hacking them makes the signal stronger so noise on the channel you’re trying to use would get drowned out better, but they still suck and the $40 you’ll spend on a transmitter would be better put towards a $100 dollar head unit with an aux input.
If you’re not picky with your music it would be fine, or if you want to listen to a book on tape (so that SQ doesn’t really matter) it would work really well.
So $40 would have been a huge disappointment then? Haha.
I’ve heard of 1 good transmitter out there, but I can’t remember the name of it or where I heard of it, so I’m hoping someone on here might know.
I wouldn’t go that far. Depends on how high you set your expectations. If you think it’s going to be CD quality, then yeah.
If you’re expecting just slightly worse than a perfectly clear FM station, then you’ll be happy with it.
Like Jay said, if you’re not real anal about sound quality then you may be perfectly happy. It depends on you more than the transmitter. Their power is limited by the FCC so I’d be surprised if there is one that’s way better than any other.
No, they all suck after the FCC cracked down on them. A few years ago most of them were marginally above the FCC regulations, now they all are well below just to make sure they conform to specs.
Dont bother unless you want to deal with nodding the to make them somewhat acceptable for some. Get a new head unit, or something to allow you to connect it to the stock radio.
I’ve always hated how aftermarket head units look for some reason. But I have heard of the aux input mod to the factory unit, so maybe I’ll look into that.
Why did the FCC crack down on them?
man even my shitty civic has a AUX input in the stocl headunit. if you dont like flashy units man just get a Alpine. or a IPOD idapter.
Honda > Subaru with that kind of stuff.
My company bought me this for my iPhone since traveling daily killed the battery of it. It charges, holds the phone (also has adapters for other ipods) up so you can access it and dont need to leave it on the seat and scans for an open frequency to use which was my biggest problem taking roadtrip is that 89.5 worked for my ipod here but by rochester i was going to find another station to use.
Also, hard buttons to advance and pause the song and if a call comes in, it rings over the speakers. If you have a stereo that can read the song ID from the stations over teh air, it will display what mp3 is playing too.
A little pricey but I love it. Since I use two cars during the week, I can invest in this and use my iphone in both vehicles and not have to wire in a aux port in both.
^^
The price isn’t too bad if the quality is really good.
I might just go with the Jazzy engineering Aux-in board…idk yet.
I don’t think I’m super anal about static-free sound, but I’ll be pissed if I spend more than $50 on something that’s going to be kinda lame. Want to sell me yours for $10? 
I bought a belkin one a couple weeks ago, works pretty decent, every so often there will be a little static or you might have to change the channel
Ya I paid for it becuase there is no place to put my iPhone in my car so the fact it stands in front of me on top of it without any thing stuck to my car is a big one and then the auto scan. Its not flawless but sure as hell beats clicking up and down on my old $20 POS one.
The FM receiver in my car is garbage, so the more I’m looking into these wireless transmitters, the more I’m realizing I just need to buy an Aux-in board jack.
Ha, no, but if you want to hear how mine sounds let me know.
Might as well just get a head unit that supports the iPod…those transmitters suck ass.