If your in the market for a FM Transmitter, its probably somewhat inevitable that you’ll end up that a Griffin product. Whether it be an iTrip, or the Griffin iTrip auto version of it or a Griffin RoadTrip. Most people don’t mind paying that extra £5 to £10 for the additional quality.

So if we assume you want a griffin transmitter, which one will best suits your needs?

This depends very much on how you listen to your music & therefore control your iPod. If your a constant track flicker for example you’ll be better off having the device mounted in one position, so its easily accessible and controllable. The Roadtrip comes with a flexi tube which supports the iPod / iPhone when mounted & holds in position near the Cigarette lighter.

If you like to listen to albums or playlist you might be happier with the iTrip and just leave the iPod running in the tray, ready to pick up and flick tracks when necessary?

One thing you must bare in mind is the charging facilities of the devices, as the iTrip is a stand alone device and draws power from the iPod / iPhone when in use. Whereas the iTrip auto & RoadTrip have cigarette light attachments to recharge the battery, and generally speaking its much better to have the charging facilities as the battery on the iPhones drains fairly quickly.

In essence your getting a fairly similar product which ever you choose. One is stand alone, another offers charge and the RoadTrip offers charge and Mounting.

If your interested in a Dension Kit or already have one. There are a few little tips to making the Dension kits work differently to better suit you and the way you want to use them.

Each Integrated kit (for example the dension gateway 100)comes with two control types, iPod Mode and Gateway Mode. iPod Mode is when you would like to control the music from your iPod (Track / Album selection) Gateway mode is to control from the stereo / steering wheels (iPod mode still retains steering wheel controls).

To change between modes is simple and pain free. It takes a few seconds and a combination of buttons. For example CD6 track 2 and Hold FF.

One of the biggest problems now is the amount of storage on the iPod / iPhone and the number of tracks you have to sieve through to get to where you like. If you have a large music collection and like to flick from track to track, a lot of our customers prefer to be in iPod mode, increasing the speed of which you find the track or album.

An iPod Car Kit Direct top tip is select your favourite tracks and add them into a playlist on your iPod. Keep the device in Gateway Mode, select Playlists and you can fast flick through the tracks and aviod the unwanted album tracks you don’t really like.

Griffin have announced a slightly new direction to the next range of products released in 2011.

Handsfree is on the agenda for griffin as even the more popular products such as the griffin iTrip auto are receiving the handsfree functions.

See a full list of the griffin handsfree products here

http://www.griffintechnology.com/drivesafe/

Griffin have announced a few new products to hit the market soon, Which should excite some of the current griffin fans.

New releases to the market are to come in the form of a bluetrip and an updated version of the roadtrip funnily enough called the roadtrip handsfree. Both of which offer handsfree and music input to the stereo (Via different forms).

There isn’t too much information about the level of integration of the bluetooth devices, however its likely to be similar to the current iPod or AUX connectivity offered on other devices.

One potential problem with the kits maybe interference issue caused by stronger radio signals in particular areas of your region. However one thing you can rely on is the quality of the griffin products in relation to its competitors.

Dension have recently released there brand new Gateway Five onto the market. Although the initial uptake has been a little tentative due to a few teething problems the moment is now definitely building behind this fantastic product. They have now announced the release of the Gateway Fives little brother, the Gateway Blue.

The Dension Gateway Blue is, in effect, a Gateway Lite with a built in bluetooth function. The kit has been designed for non text capable cars and provides all the features of the Gateway Lite kit such as control from the iPod and charging but also incorporates a basic bluetooth capabilities. You can use the kit to accept and reject calls as well as make calls from the phone through the cars standard speakers. This is perhaps the ultimate iPhone car kit for the none text vehicles.

There is currently only a small range of kits available however Dension are working hard to increase this range over the next 6-12 months. Look out for the full review and video demonstration soon on www.ipodcarkitdirect.co.uk.