Insten LCD Stereo Car FM Transmitter for MP3 Player iPod touch

I like this transmitter, and have had two do far. The first got stolen out of my car. The second I use now. Reception is usually pretty clear. I have my set station that works all the time. I like that it was be battery operated or powered through the car. I also sometimes bring it into the house and play it through my home stereo speakers, and it's great.I am taking away a star bc I REALLLLLLYYYY can't stand that it auto turns-off if it isn't transmitting music for like 30 seconds. Sometimes if I am listening to Pandora, which frequently freezes, or a cellular data switch causes it to delay play, I will have the volume up from the music, and Blam this thing will turn off, resulting in the originally staticy radio station frequency to come blaring out. It literally scares me to death every time. And considering how much most of us rely on cellular data-driven music streaming these days, this issue comes up a lot for me. If I am chilling in my car, and I pause a song, and look for a new one through browsing or whatever, the transmitter will turn off, again resulting in the blaring static. I am cool with the fact that it auto turns off obviously, but I wish it maybe didn't turn off so SOON. Like give me a second to get it figured out for god's sake.I also saw someone say that you can plug a usb into this and play off a usb drive... I have tried that and nothing happens. SO I'm not sure about that?Otherwise, I use it everyday. I bought a different one at first when my original got stolen, and I didn't like it as much. So I went back to this.

For years now I've spent 50$ at bestbuy buying FM transmitters, and I've always expected them to die out after about 6 months. The wiring becomes loose, and they stop working. Has happened for years. Yes, eventually I'll just suck it up and pay the 100$ to wire my car, but for now FM transmitters have been good enough. It's almost sad that I just expect the same exact problem to happen, no matter what brand I buy. In their defense, I use it daily while I drive on average 60-100 miles between work and errands, so it gets a lot of use and motion.I was weary for such a low price. But I figured, what's the harm?As far as sound, it was comparable to every higher priced item I have ever purchased from a store. Sound was nice, found one station with very little static. It just came in a box with no instructions, so I have no idea what half the buttons were for. Probably some neat little tricks I didn't know about, but it worked for what I used it for.Downfall, instead of lasting the average 6 months, this lasted two months before the wiring at the jack where it plugged into the actual device became loose. Looking back on it, when it first started coming loose I should of taped it to add support, that probably would of made it last longer. But I think I only paid 6$ or so for this device, maybe even less. So I was hardly out the 50$ I usually am.I almost bought a couple of them at the same time, just to have spares on hand. I think I will this time. Yes, I will be buying this product again, simply because it's so cheap I feel like I at least get what I pay for and can't complain when I've spent over 50$ on the same product in the past.

This FM transmitter definitely works as advertised. It seems to hold onto stations much better than ones I have used in the past and the sound is much cleaner.However, there are a few things that prevent a five star rating.1) It's bulky. It's tough to find a spot for it in the car to tuck it away. Also, when you do find a spot for it the buttons get pressed and the device turns off or the station will change mid-playback. It's annoying.2) The power adapter does not have a USB port, so if you are using an iPod or similar device that requires charging you will have to come up with an alternative power source, which means another cable running through your car (or wherever).3) While it does hold stations very well, when a local radio signal begins to overpower the device there is this awful, screechy, super high-pitched whine that slllloooowwwly creeps in to the sound until you realize your ears are bleeding. It's painfully horrid.4) No scan option to find a clear frequency. You have to find a clear station on the radio first then dial in the device.My gut wants to give this thing 3 stars but it doesn't quite deserve that. The strong, clear playback pushes it grudgingly to four stars.

My unit works fine, and is on-par with other cheap car stereo FM transmitters. There was usually always some slight static with occasional interference from other radio sources while using this transmitter; this has been my experience with FM transmitters so this was not distressing. Overall, the sound quality was adequate for my use. It can take a little time to find a good frequency that gets the least interference, so finding and setting this frequency is a vital step in making the transmitter useful. I could also improve the sound quality by physically moving the unit toward the radio receiver. In my car, I need to find a way to mount it in a certain position that gives the clearest audio.Quirks: It has some power issues. When I turn on or off my car with the unit plugged-in, the unit won't turn on for a while. I unplug it before I turn off my car and it works fine once I plug it in again with my car running.