iTrip Mini Review
- Product:
- iTrip Mini (company site)
- What’s Good:
- Good idea, no wires, decent reception.
- What’s Bad:
- Limited open frequencies in city.
When I bought an iPod Mini last fall, I bundled it with an iTrip Mini so I could listen to my iPod on road trips in the car. Originally, I was having difficulties tuning it in based on the simple instructions provided with the device, but it turned out that I had a faulty device, which was quickly replaced by Griffin Technologies in a good example of effective customer service. Nice job guys. I had the chance to give the new iTrip an extended trial this past week and was pleasantly surprised by its reasonably clean signal and lack of draw on the battery.
One of my main concerns with the iTrip was the lack of open FM radio frequencies around Toronto. In case you haven't really heard of the iTrip before, it's a tiny device that plugs into the top of your iPod and broadcasts whatever you're playing over a very small area using a radio frequency. You can set the frequency to just about any FM band, but it requires a setting on a frequency that is almost pure static. If you're getting bleed-over from another station it will seriously reduce the quality of the broadcast. So, if you're living somewhere where the radio play is fairly thin it's no problem at all and you'll get a great signal. However, around Toronto there are a lot of stations and it's very difficult to find one to tune the iPod to. Luckily on the way back into town I discovered that 87.9 is free enough to get a very good broadcast all the way into the downtown area. If you live in a bigger city than Toronto, I'd check your radio to find an empty band before forking over the cash to get an iTrip. It'd be a handy service if someone mapped out empty stations around North America for iTrip users as a resource.
Tuning in the iTrip is fairly easy but not exactly intuitive. After installing their software on your computer, you sync a playlist to your iPod that contains a long list of FM frequencies. Then, you "play" the station until a light starts flashing, when you pause the "track" to set the frequency. I found when I first got the iTrip I accidently let it play through the "tracks" and didn't get the station I wanted. Anyway, once you get the hang of it, it's pretty simple.
The quality of the broadcast on the iTrip is pretty decent. If you're an audiophile, you'd probably rather installing a radio with an audio-in and plugging your iPod directly into your speakers. From a very unscientific review, I'd say the quality is somewhere just below a normal radio broadcast. Not super great, but very listenable.
The Griffin site has a FAQ section that says that the iTrip barely draws on the iPod's battery and they're right. I didn't notice any extra draw on the battery and had no issues on a 5 hour road trip.
As far as I know, the normal iTrip and the iTrip Mini are essentially the same device in a different form factor.
Update: as someone recently pointed out to me, Griffin offers free software that will give you a listing of free bands in your city. It's called iTrip Station Finder
Comments
Mandy - March 26, 2005 2:04 pm
The iTrip also works best when the volume of the iPod itself is set to the middle. If you have trouble tuning the station in, play with the volume of the iPod. It really makes a difference.
Dave - November 30, 2005 2:10 pm
I spent 17 days on vacation in France last month. I was planning to do a lot of driving, so I bought an iTrip right before I left. Anyway, now I'm back, and with many iTrip hours how under my belt, here's what I think.
First of all, if I were to take the trip over again, I'd for sure get a cigarette lighter adapter. My perception was that with the iTrip attatched, the iPod battery went prety quickly. I spent a lot of time worrying that it was going to go dead on me.
As far as the sound quality is concerned, it's not quite as good as a cable link would be, but considering what that it's a radio transmitter, I think it's pretty good. It does sound better, by the way, with the volume at about half or so.
Driving around France, I found that I frequently had to change radio stations, and I found that the controls could stand to be easier to use. Following the instructions, the iPod controls were easy enough to use, but on-board push-button controls would be much easier, especially for use while in motion.
Deirdre - August 28, 2008 6:16 am
I was just wondering if there is a "step by step" guide on how to start up using the iTrip with you ipod in the car. many thanks