Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I like the design of this product very much, but it suffers from a fatal flaw. The transmitter is weak. This is in direct conflict with what other reviews say. Also, the unit only broadcasts from 88.1-107.9 -- other websites and the back of the packaging claim its capable of 87.6 to 107.9.
From this, I think I know why the transmitter is so weak. Apparently, this unit originally did not comply with FCC regulations and probably was a very strong transmitter that could do the full FM frequency. At some point, apparently very recently, the FCC probably forced Satechi to remedy this and now it can no longer do 87.6-88.0 and no longer broadcast a signal powerful enough to be received from more than 6 yards out as the FCC requires.
If you look at reviews on Amazon, you'll notice the FM transmitters made by companies you've never heard of all get the high 5 star reviews while the ones made by big name brands (like Monster and Belkin) get absolutely trashed in the reviews. This is because ANY FM transmitter that actually complies with FCC regulations is garbage in a large city with heavy airwave saturation. The cheap chinese ones rarely comply with these regulations cause they constantly change brand names, anyways. The bigger players usually do play the by the rules and their products suffer as a result.
In this case, I suspect Satechi has recently been forced to start playing by the rules based on the transmitter I received. The weak signal and newly restricted (at least it appears to be a new change) frequency range are dead giveaways of this.
Sadly, that makes the unit hard to recommend. It's not Satechi's fault, but this transmitter just sucks in terms of signal strength (which means static *all* the time and an inability to broadcast "over" another signal if you can't find an empty frequency). Great design, but unless you live out in the middle of nowhere you probably won't be able to hear your music without static.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Soundfly-i Ultimate iPod / iPhone 4, 3G, 3Gs Auto-scan Fm Transmitter Charger with RDS & Remote Control
Soundfly-i digital FM transmitter/auto charger transmits your iPod/iPhone tunes through your car stereo while simultaneously charging its battery. Soundfly-i includes such features as an easy-to-read digital display, four programmable FM station presets, and a safety fuse that protects against power spikes. The AutoScan technology automatically seeks out and tunes in the clearest FM frequency available. Now you can find the best station to enjoy your tunes with one touch of a button. The unit also supports RDS (Radio Data System), so while listening to music, you can see the song and artist's name displayed on your compatible car stereo. Remote control features Power, Album shift Up & Down - Fast Forward & Rewind - Repetition of defined Section- Shuffle - Bookmarking. For iPhone users: Upon plugging the fm transmitter into select device dock connection, the device will ask to go into airplane mode. Do not choose airplane mode.
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