Ex-monster

As mentioned a while ago, I got an FM transmitter for the iPod so that I could listen to it in the car. The one I got, the Monster iCarPlay had received good reviews. However, I returned it to the store today and exchanged it for the Griffin iTrip Auto. This has had similar reviews, and was $10 cheaper.

The reason(s)?

The Monster was pretty decent, and had three frequency presets. On the surface of it this would seem like a good idea. In theory you could figure out three frequencies that were usable in your local area, set them into the Monster and then set them into you car stereo presets. Then as you drive around you would just flip between them as necessary.

On the drive to Mammoth though we had a bugger of a time even finding frequencies on which there was no radio station. The process of setting one of the Monster presets to a frequency was a bit of a fiddle, too much of a fiddle. Even then there seemed to always be noise in the background, especially when we listened to some spoken-word podcasts. After a couple of hours we gave up.

The Griffin has no pre-sets; it just remembers the last frequency used. My thinking is that this is simpler, and simpler is better. It also has two transmitting modes - mono and stereo. The mono signal is clearer, and ideally suited to spoken-word podcasts. The Griffin is also a bit more subtle in its design.

I had a play with the Griffin after getting home earlier on. The stereo quality is about the same as that for the Monster, but it's easier to change the transmitting frequency. Flicking between mono and stereo is a bit of a fiddle, but presumably something you will do less often.

I will be keeping the receipt though, just in case I decide to go back to the store again...