Is the car audio pack V2 really as bad as the reviews say?

[S7ven7]

Hey guys,

I am thinking about buying a car audio pack (i'm from Canada and the zune isn't available yet so i am about to buy everything at once), is it really as bad as the reviews say it is (for example on amazon?), if you guys could compare it to like a griffin itrip for the iPod that would be great, is the quality the same? (i am switching over to zune i think)

Thanks!

[S7ven7]

Hey guys,

I am thinking about buying a car audio pack (i'm from Canada and the zune isn't available yet so i am about to buy everything at once), is it really as bad as the reviews say it is (for example on amazon?), if you guys could compare it to like a griffin itrip for the iPod that would be great, is the quality the same? (i am switching over to zune i think)

Thanks!

[Sven]

I wasn't impressed. Got one at a great price...free...and felt ripped off. That may be a bit harsh, but I got in my car with the unit and let it find a station to use. Used it and got excessive fuzz. Let it try again, same problem.

Then I took the other route. I manually tuned through my FM radio to find a totally unused station..not even any bleed from those around it. Tuned to that station on the Zune FM doohicky and still got unacceptable hiss.

Granted I only tried this in one car, so the radio may have something to do with it, but in normal use the radio is fine. If I can't take a random car and have it work acceptably though, it's a failure. Couldn't even say, 'works for me, YMMV'.

Who knows, somebody, in some car, travelling across Kansas on I-70 may have better luck. Maybe in Canada you would have better luck. You guys have radio stations up there?

It is a well designed piece of kit though. Two cables from the accessorery plug, one to the Zune, one to the controller, which has a great little magnet so you can stick it somewhere. Designed for the end of the plug, put if you have metal in your car, it would stay there. To bad functionally it is lacking.

I also have a Belkin TuneCast II that I got a long time ago. It is significantly better, but of course it doesn't have the nifty control capablity.

[Adam Krebs]

I've actually been quite impressed. These devices are usually fraught with terrible reception and even worse positioning, but I've had a great experience with mine. Next time you're stateside, check out Radio-Locator, which will find all sorts of static-free stations. Oddly, my best match, 107.5, isn't on there...

What I have to say about the high price is that you get what you pay for. Granted, I don't know if I'd pay $80 for this, but it's certainly the best radio transmitter I've used thus far.

You're much better with a line-in or tape solution, or ideally a hardwired dock, but you'll have to work it out from there.

[Phillip Dyson]

Originally Posted by Adam Krebs

You're much better with a line-in or tape solution,

I have a Memorex tape adapter, but strangely enough the sound output is very bass heavy. I wasn't sure it if was the adapter of my tape deck.

CDs play just fine. I've even tried turning down the bass and increasing the treble to no avail. I was hoping the Car pack would alleviate this.