Despite the fact that the iPhone has been out for almost a year now, FM transmitters designed for the iPhone have been slow to arrive on the market, though there have been a few non-approved ones that unofficially work with the iPhone. Belkin’s new TuneBase FM is one of the first FM transmitters to be officially iPhone compatible, as well as compatible with other current gen iPods. The package comes with a big selection of adapters to fit different ipod models including the 4G and 5G iPod, the iPod classic, all three generation Nanos, and the iPod touch.
The device plugs in to your car’s charger and also conveniently works as a power source for your iPod / iPhone. Set-up was simple, we docked our iPhone on the TuneBase FM - the adapter for the iPhone was already set up out of the box, but it’s easy enough to detach it and put on one of the iPod adapters. We then plugged the TuneBase FM in to the car’s lighter. The TuneBase FM features ClearScan technology which promises to automatically find a clear FM station. The ClearScan technology worked really, really well. It managed to find several clear stations, which is no small feat when you are in New York City where the radio waves are flooded. The stations it discovered were not completely clear- if you turned off the TuneBase FM we could hear some broadcasts coming through, however with the TuneBase turned on, it worked to cancel out the broadcasts on that station so that the music on our iPhone could came through loud and clear. How does it do that? We don’t know but we were amazed, especially at how well it worked in Manhattan. Granted we did hear some static here and there, but by experimenting at repositioning the Tunebase a little bit at different angles, we were able to eliminate most of the static. Our experience with other FM transmitters in New York City has not been very great, most of them have a hard time struggling to find and work on a clear frequency because the airwaves are so crowded, however the TuneBase excels.
The front of the TuneBase also features a bright display for scanning through stations. Beneath the display is the ClearScan button for automatically scanning for free / clear stations. On the left of the device there are 1 and 2 buttons for setting presets to good frequencies you’ll want to reuse. The + and - buttons located on the right side let you manually search through different stations. On the right there is also the Pro button which turns on the PRO setting which can work to improve the audio performance of the TuneBase FM by adding dynamic compression to your iPod’s audio. There are three different Pro settings, as well as just a normal setting which works well for most types of audio. Pressing the Pro button allows you to cycle through the different pro settings. Pro 1 increases the average volume of the audio, Pro 2 increases the volume even more and tends to be suited for quieter music, and the final pro settings is optimized for audio files like podcasts and audiobooks and as a result it transmits in mono instead of stereo.
The TuneBase FM also has a flexible steel “neck” so that it can rotate your iPod for landscape viewing. This is of course great for the iPhone with it’s neat landscape view for album art and videos. Also, it could also be used let’s say as a stand to hold your iPhone for a passenger to watch a movie.
Another unique feature of the TuneBase FM is that it has a line-out feature which lets you connect it to car stereo inputs or cassette adapters. So in other words, if you’re having a hard time finding a clear FM station to use, you can connect the 3.5mm audio-out jack in the Tunebase FM to your car’s stereo or a cassette adapter. Off hand, we don’t know of any other FM transmitter that has an audio-out jack, and really they all should. Unfortunately an audio-out cable isn’t included but those are cheap enough to come by.
Conclusion:
Overall, we are really pleased with the TuneBase FM. We dare say that it’s the best FM Transmitter we’ve tried yet in terms of sound quality and success with finding clear stations and playing tunes through them. The device is also easy to use and we appreciate the thoughtful design which sports a flexible neck for landscape viewing. Finally, the fact that it also sports car stereo inputs is icing on the cake and makes it the FM transmitter to beat. The TuneBase FM retails for $89.99
The Good:
ClearScan technology does a great job of finding clear stations, works great even in cities, flexible steel neck is convenient for landscape viewing, and car stereo inputs are a great bonus
The Bad:
This product, and every other FM transmitter, will NOT allow the iPhone to play without frequency feedback, unless the Airplane Mode is activated. Of course once that happens, then the iPhone is nothing more than an iPod; you can’t receive phone calls. As the owner of at least 6 different brands and versions of these for my iPhone, I found it ridiculous to rate these FM transmitters anything more than less than average due to this annoying issue of speaker distortion from phone frequency. Reviews from purchasers at electronic sites such as Best Buy, Amazon, CNET show this to still be a major problem w/ this product as well as minor to major static.
There are more cars on the road now than ever before. Combine this with new technology & the need to be in contact with everybody every minute of the day, and it could spell disaster for 1000's of road users daily.
Some new statistics state that more than 50% of road users in the UK have illegally used their mobile phone when driving more than once in the last week, and a figure around 85% have used their phones while driving in there life time.
To decide whether handsfree kits offer improved safety, we first have to discuss how using a mobile phone is dangerous. There is no doubt amongst the experts that it is. Using a mobile phone is dangerous for two reasons.
Firstly when talking on your phone whilst driving you have to break contact with the wheel & car controls to do so, and by breaking contact from the vehicle you also reduce your reaction time by up to 4x.
Secondly concentration is lost when talking to other people, less attention is paid to the road and more on the conversation taking place. This is a natural occurrence & no matter how much we feel we can over compensate for doing so we cant, again this reduces reaction time. Combining both together when driving can result at the very least dangerous driving.
We now come to the title question, Do bluetooth handsfree kits improve driver safety? Well there are arguments for both sides of the debate. The opposition mainly concentrating on the second point made earlier, that concentration is lost when making a phone call & to be honest the use of a handsfree car kit doesn't really improve this. However do we only hold conversations over the phone or do we also have them with the passengers we carry? I don't know anybody who carries passengers and doesn't talk to them at some point during the commute. Who defines whether this is more or less acceptable than doing so over the phone?
The problem is there are so many distractions when we drive already which are equal to talking over the phone, and not necessarily from inside the car. These distractions occur every minute where driving & its up to us whether or not to take notice (most of the time we don't). However this is where the counter argument comes from.
Distractions are a common occurrence, and talking on the phone is no more of a distraction than say reading an advertising board, playing the number plate game or even singing along with the radio. The point is, if we outlaw the use of phone kits where do we stop, do we make it illegal to do anything other than drive. Were not allowed to take our eyes of the road & our hands from the steering wheel, no talking, listening to music or anything other than driving? Would this be more dangerous due to boredom?
Phone Kits are considered to improve safety due to the fact you no longer have to hold the phone to have a conversation. Your hands remain on the steering wheel & eyes on the road. In fact the process is the same as talking to somebody next to you. Using phone kits aren't illegal, however if a police officer thinks you are driving dangerously due to using a phone kit or changing the stereo or CD or even talking to a passenger you can be prosecuted. It is the drivers responsibility to gauge whether they are capable or doing so safely.
One thing is for sure, using a bluetooth car kit does improve ease of making or receiving a call & allows the driver to concentrate on driving properly. Its certainly a better option than not using one. Parrot Bluetooth is a good place to start when considering a car kit.