Livio LVC02A Bluetooth Internet Radio Car Kit for iPhone and iPod Touch (Discontinued by Manufacturer)

***UPDATE 5/26/13I now own an iPhone 5 and it works flawlessly with it. Everything I said in my original review applies and all phone functions work great. My iPod Touch took about 10 seconds to connect, it seems like it takes 2 to 3 seconds for my iPhone to connect. Hands-free talking is great as it has a built-in mic for that specific purpose. Seems to get warm at the connection when I have the USB cable connected to it. The sound quality is excellent as before. I enjoy the Livioradio app that gives me streamed radio stations (most w/o commercials) while on the road. I don't need to pay for Sirius. I am so pleased with this product.iPhone 4S/5 users, Siri works great with this unit. I love how I can hands-free select my playlists ("Play playlist ____ ." Do a search for Siri advanced commands.) All this while my phone is still in my pocket.==================Bottom line: After trying 4 different FM transmitters, this one works and works well.SUMMARY: I'm using an iPod Touch 3G. Pairing was a cinch. It makes its Bluetooth connection in 10 seconds. Sound quality is great. I can charge my Touch from the USB port. My daughter can play her Shuffle through this using the miniplug cable.Now for details...I purchased this because I wanted Bluetooth. I did not want to have excess cables in my car. I didn't get other products with a remote, because I figured, what is the sense in that when the iPod IS the remote when connected wirelessly? And when combined with the iPhone app, Car Tunes, this combination just can't be beat. I also chose this because of its advertised RDS capability. That proved to be a disappointment, but more on that later.As with any FM transmitter, you will hear slight static. This might be audible on quiet songs, but I haven't noticed. Only when the track you are listening to is not very loud and you have to turn up the car stereo volume is when it becomes noticeable. Otherwise, the sound quality is superb.After I turn on my car, it consistently connects within 10 seconds. IOW, in about the time it takes to put on my seat belt and put the car in gear, it is ready to play. I love how I do not even need to take my Touch out of my pocket to play my music. Because of wireless Bluetooth, I just wait for it to connect, hit play, and off I go! You know when it is connected because the green and red phone lights stop flashing and stay lit and there is an audible beep through your car stereo.All the buttons on this unit is functional with my Touch: Previous, Next, Pause, Play. So I can use the controls on the unit or use the swiping gestures on my Touch using Car Tunes. (Or touch the appropriate controls using the iPhone native music app.)Since I do not have a cell phone (yes, I'm an anomaly), I cannot comment on the hands-free features of this unit.The flexible gooseneck enables me to position this nicely in my car.The RDS feature is a bust for me. What they fail to tell you is that the RDS feature is only for their streaming WiFi radio app. It looks like a nice app, radio stations available and lots of them if you pay for the upgrade. The app is accessible on a button on the unit. The info from the streaming radio station is broadcast to your RDS-enabled car stereo. I tested this feature out in my driveway and it works. However, since this is a Touch and not an iPhone, I obviously will not be using it on the road or anywhere for that matter. However, if you do own an iPhone ***I recommend this free app*** as it does give you streaming radio for free vs. SiriusXM. I was hoping that it would broadcast RDS info of my loaded tunes to my stereo.I will not deduct a start for the lack of RDS support because it looks like there is really no product on the market that will do that. I tried a Scosche product that did that (not Bluetooth), but the sound quality was really terrible. There are two Satechi Bluetooth products with RDS, but the cheaper one only does RDS if you use an SD card and the other one costs $75, more than I want to spend. And I can't tell from the description if it really will do RDS for my music app. RDS is really a disappointing technology.I'm not disappointed not having RDS, anyway, because the Car Tunes app does such a great job displaying the song title in large caps, the album cover and the artist. Better than RDS.I like the fact that I can charge my Touch using my Apple USB cable. I also like that any MP3 player can use this by using the optional 1/8" miniplug cable.My quest is finally over--I love this product and would recommend it to anyone with a Bluetooth Audio Streaming (A2DP) capable device.

First of all I needed a solution to stream voice clans and music in my girlfriends 2007 Nissan Pathfinder. It has the factory radio which did not offer a aux input. Unfortunately the choices for swapping out a radio that did have an aux input was very limited. We didn't want an after market head unit. Yet, a factory option isn't available with the SE trim level.So I started researching bluetooth fm transmitters. Like I expected. I found the good, bad, and ugly like with most products. I came across the above unit on Amazon. It had an overall rating of 4 stars out of 5. It was priced right at $49. So I made my choice and purchased two actually. One for myself to try out before giving my girl friend one as an Christmas gift.Here are my findings -Installed and set up the bluetooth transmitter this AM.First thoughts.Set up - 5 star.Quality - 5 starEase of use - 5 starSound quality a 3-4 star. It def is quieter. Not hugely. But I noticed it flattened the highs a bit. To be expected I guess. But with using the factory stereo, the differences aren't hugely negative.Setup is literally a breeze. Pair the unit to your phone. And you're done. Literally. Turn the volume all the up on the bluetooth unit and your phone. Then set the volume to your normal listening level in your vehicle. Find a dead station in your area and BOOM. You're done.The unit itself heats up pretty good. I guess that's normal with any electronic device sending and receiving signal.It's quick and doesn't take any thought to use. Which is nice. It eliminated a cable. Which cleaned up the dash and center console a bit.I'm Gonna hold strong with a solid 4 star overall that Amazon had. I may return it, due to the simple fact that, I really don't need it due to the fact that my Jeep does have an aux input. But it is cool. My girl friend will love it. She was talking about looking into an after market radio with an aux port over the weekend so this will work great and save me a radio install.

I was skeptical at first, mostly due to past experiences with older tech. This is nothing like that - the sound is surprisingly nice, and I have no issues connecting in the car. It's also fairly easy to switch syncing between my phone (IPhone 5) and my wife's phone (iPhone 4S). I have only used it once for talking, and it was okay. That might have more to do with the speaker setup in my car. I didn't buy this as a hands free speaking solution, I wanted a more convenient way to connect my music to my car stereo. The other plus is that it has a USB plug so you can charge your phone if you don't have an extra spot available.A few of things:1) I do not use the Livio app so my review has nothing to do with that. I use Pandora, the iPhone music app, Amazon cloud player, and the Downcast (podcasting app). The system works just fine. The hot keys on the device skip, fast-forward, etc. all without even downloading the app.2) The device has the ability to "auto scan," but I didn't find it to work that well. Instead, I use Radio Locator (via the web) to find vacant frequencies. If you're planning to travel, just do a search in advance.3) The footprint of the device is relatively small. The arm is flexible, so it works well in the front console of my car.