Kensington LiquidFM Plus for MP3 Players FM Transmitter

List Price: ~~$80.45~~
Discount Price: $26.24

Brand: Kensington
Binding: Electronics
Warranty: 2 years warranty

Features:

ClearFM technology delivers superior sound
QuickSeek technology finds the clearest station in seconds
USB Pass-through charges your MP3 player or any USB powered device (cable sold separately)
3.5-mm adapter for all MP3 players; 2.5-mm adapter for MP3 cell phones; Compatible with iPod Shuffle; Nano (Gen 1,2,3); iPod (Gen 1,2,3,4); iPod Classic
On/Off switch avoids car battery drain

Customer Reviews:

Is NOT compatible with iPods... [Posted on 2007-12-12]
Pros: Nice screen, Nice sound quality (the 2% of the time it works)

Cons: Doesn't work with iPod (charging, anyway, and says so on the box), Poor signal scanning, Poor signal lock on.

Scenario: 2007 Corvette, City of >100,000 pop., Few regional radio stations, Wanting something to work with my iPhone as a workaround.

Verdict: Failed miserably. Don't buy, even if you own a different MP3 player.

I've been doing the whole iPod/FM transmitter thing for years. Unfortunately, I've never owned a car with an Aux-in jack or a built-in iPod adaptor, and the cassettes never work for me in any of my cars (5 different cars and counting, mostly GM).

My current standby is the Kensington Digital FM Transmitter/Auto Charger for iPod® that's been very highly rated/evaluated for some time now. I have it connected to a 5G 80GB iPod and it works better than any other FM transmitter I've ever tried (that's about 8 different models, so far). It pumps out reasonably good sound quality (for an FM transmitter) with good power and minimal background hiss. My stereo never has a problem locking on to the signal unless I'm in Houston, Dallas, or some other large city with powerful radio interference. Here at home, that's not much of an issue on the daily commute. This has been true for 3 different cars I've used it in.

However, I have a new iPhone (and payed the Steve Jobs $200 tax-on-idiots by purchasing before the price drop), and it will not work with any iPod-style FM transmitter on the market. It automatically checks for a special chip in the transmitter signaling that it's "made for iPhone." Otherwise, it puts the phone into Airplane mode (shuts off the cell phone) or, alternatively, won't play music through the iPod connector, depending on whether you answer yes or no to the iPhone's prompt after plugging it in.

I thought that Kensington was coming out with an iPhone compatible one, but they have pulled all info about that one off of their website (several months ago, in fact), so I figured this would be a nice workaround. a) plug in the FM transmitter, using the narrow iPhone adaptor, into the headphone jack, b) plug the USB charge/sync cable into the built-in USB jack on the transmitter (it's part of the FM transmitter's cord), c) bypass the need for two devices (charger and FM transmitter) by using this one solution.

Here's what I discovered:

a) the FM transmitter plugged into the iPhone/iPod does in fact work fine
b) the USB charging does not work at all (doesn't even prompt "Airplane Mode?")
c) the USB charging cable doesn't work with my 5G iPod, either
d) you must use the skinny headphone plug adaptor to plug in the jack to the iPhone (and, thus, iPod Touch, too)

So, I thought, at least I'll have the ability to find the clearest FM chanel in the area, right? Maybe that'll be worth it when I do drive to Houston or Dallas and have to face radio frequency pandemonium. Boy was I wrong. The FM scanner that looks for the most empty/clear frequency is absolutely a joke. It put me on about 4 different stations, all of which had clearly discernible (though faint) radio signals on them. Plus, the 2-3 channels I know to be the clearest were never actually selected. The result? Loads and loads of bleed-through and static from other stations interfering with the signal from the FM transmitter to the point that you can't make out the song you're listening too. Probably the worst performing FM transmitter I've ever used.

So, I figured, I should try the frequencies I know to be the cleanest in this area. Well, it was marginally better, but I still got a lot of interference, and I got it on DEAD FM CHANNELS, not the ones that had any bleed through from neighboring frequencies, even. Audio was unlistenable, no matter what the source.

The only up side was that, when I was in a well isolated location with limited interference (in a multistory car park), the sound quality was good, but no better than my old Kensington, and the signal strength was still very weak.

I went back that night and looked at the box. I now notice a pre-printed, stuck-on piece of tape on the back that reads, and I quote, "USB pass-through charges MP3 players except iPod models." This was apparently stuck on after-the-fact b/c the box itself, underneath this sticker, says "USB pass-through charges MP3 player." It looks as if Kensington neglected to mention any of this in its promotional material and is also noticeably absent from the website description. I guess they realized this after they had already built the thing and had them boxed up and had to go back real quick and change the labeling to prevent false advertisement claims. This is a bit of information I would have liked to have known before I purchased it.

In conclusion, the device does not work with iPods to charge them, only to play the music through the headphone jacks. It does a horrible job detecting clear FM channels on which to broadcast. It has very poor wattage such that it will allow the slightest interference from random radio signals to almost completely prevent you from listening to your music. This last point is important because it not only affects iPod users, but also users of other MP3 players as well.

In short, this unit is a total disappointment and should be pulled from the market as other devices do the same job, only much better and for less money.

Not recommended [Posted on 2007-12-29]
I do not recommend this product as the sound quality is poor. It appears that the transmitter in the unit is too weak, so it hisses alot when trying to play through my in-dash car stereo, less than 1 foot away.

If you loop the cable around your car-mirror it may sound a little better, but that's not a safe practise. In all, this product should be pulled from the line of production and improved. I even emailed the manufacturer directly and they ignored me.

So much for Kensington products for me in the future, sorry.

Great product!!!!! [Posted on 2008-02-11]
Great product, works excellent. Charges and transmits at the same time, the seek function works great also. Very happy with it!!!

waste of money [Posted on 2008-07-04]
I bought it because my car does not have an auxiliary input and I can't change the radio because I would lose the car's warranty and this was the second fm transmitter I tested, first I tried a generic fm transmitter and it was as bad as this one

The sound quality is no good (worse than AM radio), the volume is too low, the button for finding a free station does not do a good job and it gets a lot of static.

To me the only cool feature is that it charges your MP3 player.

Fortunately a friend borrowed me a Monster RadioPlay 300 Universal Full Spectrum FM Transmitter (MBL-FM XMTR300) and I compared them one on one and the Monster 300 won by a lot, it has a great sound (for an FM Transmitter), the volume is great, it even overtakes on some local stations and it cost less.

Read the reviews on both products and take your decition.

The wrost transmitter [Posted on 2008-07-31]
I have owned over 7 transmitters. I give some of them to my family and friends. Those transmitters are all work well. But this time I got this kensington LiquidFM transmitter work like a defective product because its signal is too weak. The radio in my car only have the scan function. It never found out the signal of LiquidFM at any frequency. I try to adjust the mp3 volume to the highest. It just didn't work. I try to use another radio. I found it receives very weak signal. I know its signal is too weak compare to the other that I have owned transmitters. Honest suggestion, don't buy it.

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