I’ve had the iTrip LCD for a couple of weeks now, and I am very frustrated with it. I’ve used the regular iTrip for a couple of years, and it perfomed about as well as can be expected from an FM transmitter.
However, when I recently broke it, (the connector somehow bent and detached, causing some wires to disconnect), I decided to buy a new one. When I saw the LCD version, I ordered this instead.
My setup in my car is exactly as it was with the original iTrip, (2000 Saab 9-3, 3rd-Gen iPod, with flat EQ and broadcast to 88.7), but the result is simply maddening.
With the old iTrip, the iPod volume was set to about 90%, and caused very little distortion. But, with the new iTrip LCD, the sound is heavily distorted at 90% volume, and the unit automatically reduces the volume to about 50-60% for most music. This of course amplifies the static and background noise. To make matters worse, even then the music is still distorted. DX-mode makes only a marginal difference.
I hate to rain on the parade, but I had the old one, and it worked fine. I submitted a help ticket to Griffin 12 hours ago, and have yet to receive a response… perhaps their service techs are busy drafting the product’s support web site?
Yea, oddly enough, I went and bought another “vintage” iTrip at the Apple Store, plugged it into my iPod on the car ride home, and it worked as I expected.
Only problem is returning the iTrip LCD - Griffin wants a 10% re-stocking fee. Luckily, the kid at the Apple Store told me to just bring it back in, and they’d give me full store credit…
Of course, I’ll just end up buying an “iPod nano”:http://nedward.org/archives/002922.php or something…