Griffin iTrip SE

For a while I’ve been looking for a neater, simpler way to connect my iPod Touch to my car’s stereo. Since my car stereo lacks an AUX input, I have to use an FM transmitter. I already own one of these and originally used it on my Tapwave Zodiac, then my Nokia N800/N810 and naturally continued with it on my iPod Touch.

Thing is, it’s a right load of crap. There’s a power cable of standard 2m in length which needs plugging in, and then there’s a curly audio lead that’s at least 4m long when fully stretched. And being curly it loves to wind itself around things causing frustration and much irritation.

I saw an iTrip in Halfords this evening while shopping for some wiper blades, and decided at 20 quid to buy it. This is the Griffin iTrip SE, and what follows relates to that particular model. The Internet seems of the opinion the older version was much better.

My god it’s a cheap piece of crap, it really is. It makes stuff from the Pound shop look good! For a start, the two buttons on the side have such little tactile feedback that you’ll end up pressing them too hard, causing the screen to distort and blank out. Then there’s the small irritation that it does not remember the last station you tuned it to!. So every time the thing turns on, you need to retune it back to the free station your radio has. This is a real pain in the backside and makes me wonder if people ever test stuff properly any more. It can broadcast in mono or stereo and will remember that setting, but not the frequency it transmits on.

This wouldn’t be such an issue if it didn’t choose a frequency at random every time it was turned on.

Oh, and it turns itself off if there’s no sound going into it for more than 30 seconds.

After much grumbling and deciding to return it to the shop I had a look on the Internet to see if there was a solution, or if my unit was faulty. I found out that if you discover the undocumented feature that allows the unit to transmit on US frequencies rather than “international” ones, it also then appears to start remembering the last frequency used.

You do this by holding down the two buttons for ten seconds, until “INTL” flashes on the display. Then choose “US” and work out how to exit the “setup” system. After that mine now seems to remember things.

Griffin iTrip SE closeup

It also contains a mini-USB port for charging the iPod. Why not just put a pass-through dock on the bottom instead? That’d be much better for everyone who owns a charger with a dock connector on it already.

I also bought an in-car iPod holder made by Belkin. It goes in a cup holder and has a little cradle for the iPod and a sucker to stop the iPod escaping. This works perfectly and will prevent my iPod from flying around the inside of my car now. It’s called the Belkin Tunedok Car Holder for iPod and is ridiculously cheap on Amazon!