I received the iPod FM Transmitter from Hannah over at Proporta and today had a chance to play around with it.
The iPod FM Transmitter is a compact, light and simple product to use. Using the iPod connector you click the FM transmitter into your iPod Nano (also supports iPod mini, Photo, 4 & 5GB pods and video iPod – but today tested with Nano) which is nice to have the direct connect because no extra cables or wires are needed to make your iPod work with a 3rd party radio.
Upon connection you get a confirmation the FM transmitter is sending a signal on FM frequency 88.8Mhz channel. This is the default setting, however, you have 9 memory channels to set the FM transmitter to.
The Proporta FM transmitter has three buttons. A memory button to select one of nine preset channels, a scroll up button and scroll down button to navigate through the radio frequencies. It’s simple. It’s easy.
Using the iPod FM transmitter I had mixed experience. Overall a good product – this is what I found:
Using the iPod FM transmitter without a power connection I had decent reception.
Using the iPod FM transmitter indoors gave much better reception to the radio than using the transmitter in the car. I can attribute the poor performance in the car due to many other electrical disturbances. The same results where found on different frequency settings. I did find the best reception was having the iPod close to the radio itself to boost signal strength over distance.
Using the iPod FM transmitter with a power connection did yield slightly better performance.
When the Proporta iPod FM transmitter is connected it’s best to set it and leave it. I found the connection between the two devices didn’t like being moved around and upon picking up and moving there would be static across the radio. This isn’t a big deal to me as I figure most users would set it and forget it. If you plan on walking around with your iPod forget the FM transmitter and use your headphones.
Bottom Line: For the $24 price tag it’s a good product for getting your tunes to a radio; however, we’d like to see some more signal strength to make the music clear in all situations.
