Become a radio jokey with your Ipod and Belkin!
Today, I am going to talk about a very useful gadget. The discovery of this gizmo was out of necessity. I've a Fiat Linea emotions. The car came with a company fitted stereo
from Blaukpant. But it is not so great unlike the car
First, there are no pre amp out. Yes you read it right - no pre-amps. It simply means that I can't hook a woofer to it. The story does not end there. It doesn't have a USB socket nor an aux port to connect my Ipod to it. I tried my best, went pillar to stone, but there was nothing that could fix this Italian junk.
The only option left was FM. If my Ipod could radiate those sweet n cripsy FM waves, it would redeem me from those agonies. Belkin made me happy!
Belkin TuneFm is an amazing device. It can transmit music over the FM. It plugs straight into the Ipod. There is a console on top to select the frequencies in the FM band (88- 107 Mhz) There are 2 preset memories to store favourite frequencies. It draws power from the Ipod, but does not drain it significantly. I managed to run it for 7 hours on a single charge. If you drive that long, chances are, that you will drain faster than the ipod.
Performance it decent. Reception was fair when I kept it close to the set over the dashboard. It took some time before statics disappeared completely leaving only the "sound of music". There is an option to boost power in two steps before it turns into non stereo mode where it guzzles maximum power
It is intelligent too. When I stopped playing songs on the pod; It stopped radiating. No wonder it lasted so long. Range is also decent. I managed to latch it on my home theater from virtually every corner of the room. Now where ever I go, I carry my party DJ along with me
Price can be a put off specially as compared to bluetooth transmitter. It cost me a little over 40$. But looking back at my car, it worth every single penny to me. It also comes with a car charging kit for those long drives down to the country sides.
So check it out at the local computer store near you ASAP
