Filed under: Accessories, iPod Family, iPhone
Griffin iTrip AutoPilot FM transmitter for iPhone
The iTrip AutoPilot from Griffin is one of the first FM transmitter/chargers compatible with the iPhone. It features Griffin's SmartScan to automatically find and save three FM stations with the least interference and supports RDS allowing compatible radios to display track information on the head unit. The control dongle includes a display showing the frequency it's broadcasting, as well as three buttons that allow you to control playback. Personally I've never been a fan of FM transmitters, but at the very least this one looks slick!
The iTrip AutoPilot will sell for $99.99 and is listed as "Coming Soon." In addition to the iPhone it is compatible with all iPods with a dock connector.
[via iPhone Alley]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Gus Jenkins said 10:11AM on 5-23-2008
Wasn't this "Coming Soon" since before the iPhone was released lat year?
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moo083 said 10:55AM on 5-23-2008
Well, yeah, but now that the SDK is coming out, they can actually have software on the phone that will allow you to control the transmitter. So I bet this will not come out until iPhone 2.0.
Chris said 10:41AM on 5-23-2008
DAMN! I saw this post and though SWEET! FINALLY RELEASED! UGH! I have been watching the website for months on this product, waiting for the "Coming Soon" to change. IIRC it was announced at MacWorld with a suspected release of February. Here we are in almost June and no word and no release. Whats the deal?
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Adam said 2:52PM on 5-23-2008
Seriously. This was just cruel and unusual. I'm in strong need of a new FM transmitter and I've been putting it off waiting on this one for quite some time. I got all excited, and then I got all depressed. Now I'm just dysphoric.
inferno10 said 11:24AM on 5-23-2008
I have been using a DLO Transdock Micro FM transmitter with my iPhone for over 6 months now. Not sure what this newer iPhone-compatible offers over it, apart from SmartScan and RDS. Insulation from cell RF perhaps?
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TEG said 12:39PM on 5-23-2008
The regular iTrip Auto works fine with the iPhone. The only reason they list it as not being compatible, is because of the iPhone software, which pops up a "Not Designed for the iPhone" message when you connect it. This is total crap. The only problem is the GSM noise, and if this new iTrip retains the Firewire Power (for 3G iPods), and can reduce or eliminate the GSM noise, it would be worth it, other wise, just use a regular iTrip Auto.
TEG
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Gene Cowan said 4:17PM on 5-23-2008
Hmm. I've been using this product with my iPhone for nearly 6 months now. What's with the "coming soon?"
I assume it's the same as the one for iPods; mine doesn't pop up a "Airplane Mode" message and it works just fine with the iPhone.
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THJ said 4:49PM on 5-23-2008
I purchased one of these (the ipod version, not the new iphone version) from BB in December, it was completely useless in Washington DC. On my trip home from Tenleytown to Capital hill, I scanned about a dozen times. Each time it came up with different stations, and each time there was another station (weakly) in the background. It never picked up 88.9 (or whatever the default is for other FM transmitters), and my music sounded like I was listening to AM radio broadcast from philadelphia.
It might be great for more rural areas, but I'd rate it 1/10 from my experience.
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Ed said 7:57PM on 5-23-2008
I have the Belkin TuneCast Auto (the newest one), it's also compatible with the iPhone, blocks out ALL GSM noise, its bloody brilliant, no RDS but it's also much cheaper than the Griffin counterpart.
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goat said 11:59PM on 5-23-2008
Key point not made in the post: does not work well at all in even a medium-sized urban area... as mentioned in comment above... very poor "auto select" of weakest station, crappy sound quality, expensive. I tested it back-to-back with its current Belkin competitor and could not believe how much worse the iTrip was. I wanted to like the iTrip because it is a better looking product than the Belkin from an industrial design perspective. But what price vanity? Too high, in this case. I returned it to Best Buy a few days later and will skip the FM transmitter entirely for an AUX IN connector fitted by the dealer.
Gil said 2:12AM on 5-24-2008
I bought mine in Toronto in February for about CAD$70 to use with my iPod Touch. It's the previous model.
It works as well as any FM transmitter I've used, and the scan feature makes for a big improvement over the old iTrip models.
The OLED screen is nice, although I'm expecting it to become less clear as it picks up scratches from regular use.
As for the new one mentioned in this post, playback controls would be nice, but it wouldn't make it worth another 20 bucks (to me anyway)
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caperberry said 10:17AM on 5-28-2008
why can't they expand the spectrum on these...and let you dial in to 87.9 or something below 88.1? That might allow those of us in crowded radio markets to use an fm transmitter. The one I have for XM (hardwired in the car) "broadcasts" over 87.9, or 3...but I've yet to see this in any portable unit.
I live in DC also---drive a 2001 volvo with a surround sound system, it's quirky enough that it won't play burned cds and there is obviously no ipod input...but if I replace the head unit I lose the surround, thanks to the proprietary system. So that means I've got use a cassette adapter to listen to the Ipod. It sounds better than the FM transmitter, but still...
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