Great if you want less chat, more music choice on the commute

I used to like listening to XFM, then they ditched the intelligent DJs and distinctive new music at breakfast. In came a Virgin-lite station with repetition and inane 'banter'. Sometimes I also listened to Radio 1, until, again, some funny chat became endless drivel and no music. In the morning, I get through the journey with some light belting out of tunes and the happy coincidence of hearing some new music I love. So, with all the stations getting boring and missing the music, and a DAB radio at home with stations like Virgin Xtreme and 6Music (plus a bit of the World Service and BBC comedy), I knew I really wanted DAB in the car.

Finally, a very affordable solution from a trusted manufacturer. The highway is easy to set-up and gives a pretty reliable experience. Ok, round the M25 you lose signal on and off in some section, but most of the time it's good enough (though BBC stations seem to get better coverage or frequencies in London, same on Freeview TV stations). The wires are a bit clunky, but really, it's reliable and opens-up choice away from the limited FM options (surely Mr Moyles benefits from just how bad most local stations are?!).

Yes, it's true that it's annoying that radio can't broadcast to your FM radio without being permanently plugged in, and this means mobile and/or satnav can't be plugges in at the same time. But I can live with that when most of the time I do know where I'm going. It would be annoying if you were on the road to different places every day and relied on mobile and navigation.

Finally, word to the wise, people at GCap (Capital, Xfm & co.), digital radio isn't really flawed, it's the car manufacturers that have been the only thing slowing the take-up and the commercial stations have failed to promote it. The Highway shows the way forward, and is a must-have if you're fed-up with FM choice and love new music.

A great piece of kit

I can only reitterate what others have written about this product. I too was a bit unsure about whether to buy one or not. I initially saw this on a John Lewis site priced at £69.00. I did a search and found it for £44.49 on the BT Shop site. So its worth shopping around. Also make sure you have the correct product number as there are differences, before you order. Using this product is a dream. It tunes in really easily. The sound quality is as good with this as it is with the radio and CD player. Now I can have my whole CD collection in the car with me instead of the same ones I keep in the car and never replace! It also great that it charges the iPod at the same time so you are always fully charged up. I would agree that its better to remove the tuner when you leave the car as you dont want some low life to think there is a nice shinny iPod in the glove box! I cant recomment this product enough. Get one and be liberated.

Very Nice

Yep, a very nice case will an `expensive` feel to it, the Tom Tom fits perfectly into it and keeps it looking like new, if you`ve got an XL, you need one of these.

Does exactly what I want

My TomTom bluetooth receiver stopped working a while ago and I debated whether to replace it or use the money to get a hands-free set for my phone. The 520 gives me the hands-free capability as well as play mp3s and it acts as an FM transmitter so that I can play the MP3s through the car radio.

I spent a while searching for information on how to play MP3s off the SD card. I eventually tried putting an"mp3" folder on the SD card and it worked. You can have sub folders inside the mp3 folder (for artists, album, etc.) and the TomTom will find them and display them.

The unit has fallen off the windscreen twice since I have had it, both times because I attached it in a hurry. I find that if I moisten the sucker sufficiently and press firmly enough it stays on.

Attaching the unit to the mount with one hand is tricky. Likewise, connecting the charging cable with one hand when the unit is attached to the windscreen. I have got into the habit of plugging the charging cable in, attaching the unit to the mount and sticking it to the windscreen before I do anything else. That way there is no temptation to mess about with it while driving.

I haven't had any problems with navigation. Overall it does exactly what I want.

Tom Tom Nightmare

I downloaded a US Map for my UK TomTom Go 700 about a month ago. Since then I have been trying to upload it onto the device without any success. I have liaised with TomTom support several times and after having been advised to download the 50MB software twice, remove firewalls, use different computers, etc. , all without success, I have given up. I have asked for a refund and they have simply refused to refund. My credit card company has already paid the company and won't credit the amount.

Do I have any legal recourse. Can TomTom refuse to refund once the software certificate has been issued as they claim? Surely any other product would be refundable if it does not work so why not a downloadable software? Is Tom Tom just trying to frustrate the customer so they give up on the refund?

My advice for anyone is not to download any software for TomTom. In addition, with the level of support and care they provide no one should bother buying a Tom Tom, no matter how good it is technically.

My eventual solution was to buy a Magellan device with a pre-loaded North America map which cost me US$150 (the North America map alone on TomTom was GBP50!). The Magellan worked perfectly throughout and is as good as a TomTom.

Typical good Sony

The DVD player was delivered at 11.00am the morning after ordering at 4.00pm.
The display spec is a little dissapointing but in reality the picture quality is very good. When using head phones as I usually do , on very quiet passages there is a little motor noise created by the DVD unit but to be honest it does not spoil the usage at all. Photo and MP3 playback are great.
As usual Amazon beat all contenders on price.
All in all a great buy and the battery on playback is as good as they claim , the best I have had is 5 hours 38 mins to a charge.

Ken Baker
Wakefield.

Great Product!

I was looking for a few days for the right itrip and was a little confused with which one to buy. I had found a few that looked good, this was probably the second best, but due to the ridiculous postage prices on the other one i went for this Belkin iTrip. I read a few of the reviews and they made my very confused. i honestly think that this is a very good product, and works well with decent enough quality sound.

Excellent - does exactly what I want

Not a lot to say other than this does indeed let me plug 2 things into the cigarette socket at once, things like iPods, mobile chargers and sat navs. Seems strong enough and doesn't protrude any more than necessary.

Case Logic PDVK3

Nice case. Although the padding is not really thick will still protect from general bumps and knocks. Has enough space to hold player, 5 DVDs and the straps.

dose not work

did not charge tom tom
when i used it tom tom froze now it dose not work
tom tom that is
so am not happy paid £20 now i have no tom tom
good way to sell more tom tom's

Terrible cheap and nasty!

If you demand even just reasonable quality music in your car this item still doesn't deliver. The sound quality is terrible with a constant background hiss and crackle no matter what frequency you choose. Its also big and bulky - much better off just upgrading car stereo to one with ipod input. Avoid this item, it really isnt that good at all.

The best product of its type.

For two years I have put up with appalling sound quality whilst listening to my MP3 player in my car through a Belkin MP3 cassette adapter. My 4 year old Iriver IHP40 MP3 player is great (if now somewhat old fashioned by modern standards it still beats any Apple iPod hands down) and my Bose sound system in my Audi A3 is unbeatble but with no MP3 player socket (and no desire to try a notoriously unreliable FM receiver) I had to go and spoil the whole thing with a cheap Belkin device. The sound quality was just dreadful with a constant tape hum, variable volume, hiss and loss of bass.

But now all this has changed since I discovered the Sony cassette adapter. The quality is as excellent as it is ever possible to get for a tape device and definitely better than an original cassette tape. There is no discernible tape hum or noise and not only is my music so much clearer, sharper and with a full range of tones but I can also now listen to downloaded Podcasts of programmes predominatly in the spoken word - something that was close to unworkable with the Belkin. Previously, the best quality music on my car stereo was through CDs. Now the MP3 player through the Sony cassette adapter is as good. If you need a device like this buy the Sony. It is unbeatable and without question worth the extra money.

Bargain!

These cotton ipod nano socks are amazing - they are just the right size for the new nanos and you get six vibrant colours! I ordered mine after buying a shiny ipod nano and the socks arrived in a couple of days, so i could start using them straight away!

The black silicone case is sleek and offers good protection if you're looking for that extra bit of bounce in case you knock your ipod.

At such a low price, the socks are a much better buy than the Apple versions, which cost around £20 and are only differentiated by a little tag with their logo displayed.

I would definitely reccommend these cute little socks to anyone with a flair for style or wanting to take good care of their music baby!

Great for the PS3

I was looking around for a bluetooth headset for the PS3 and after looking at this and several others I decided to pick this one and I am glad that I did. Setting it up is easy, just charge it and register it, simple as that. Clear sound, sleek design and good price.

Very good for 1p !

I got this one as a spare along with a sony one.. which still hasn't arrived yet and i wasn't expecting it to be brilliant. when i put it in a casette player it gives you excellent sound quality for the prive (you loose a little bass but not much)
the only issue i had was that it made an annoying rattling noise which is easy to fix, take it apary and remove all the cogs inside - they aern't atttatched to anything and it works fine without them seeing is it's just a casette shaped bok with a chip and a wire coming out of it.
Great value for money

Super product

Looked at getting a hands free kit wired into car stereo. This is much cheaper and does everything i want it to do - I can make calls and answer calls legally. The sound is very clear and the voice tags make it easy to make calls. It works and works well. It can only be charged with a car charger so I also bought an adapter to allow me to charge the unit in the house, as I am usually in the car for relatively short journeys. The battery life seems excellent.

Great portable hands free kit without looking like Uhura from Star Trek

Got to agree with all the other reviews. This is a really simple bit of kit which does the job. It's easy to set up, completely portable (works in any car and stows away out of sight) and the sound quality is excellent.

No problems pairing with my Sony mobile and the voice tagging works really well too. The charge seems to last forever and you get in car and mains chargers.

I genuinely can't think of a negative thing to say about this and am really pleased I bought it.

Not as advertised

I received this today, and am quite unhappy.
I can confirm that this does indeed come with holders for TomTom One and TomTom One XL, (there is another holder on this site that is for the TomTom One only).
The pack contains an adhesive plate, adjustable swan neck, and interchangeable holders for TomTom One and TomTom One XL.
WHAT IT DOES NOT CONTAIN, IS THE PLATE THAT SCREW FIXES TO YOUR DASHBOARD OR WHEREVER, SHOWN IN THE PICTURE, OR THE PLATE THAT CLIPS TO THE HEATER DUCT GRILL, AGAIN SHOWN IN THE PICTURE.
THIS I PERSONALLY FOUND ANNOYING, BECAUSE THEY ARE THE BITS I WANTED !!!!!

I would agree however with the comment about the swan neck being sturdier than the one originally supplied with your unit.

Almost Perfect, One Or Two Things To Improve Though...

The sheer weight of positive reviews is what led me to buy this transmitter and I'm more or less satisfied with it. There are a couple of things about it that bug me though, one that has been mentioned a lot and one that I haven't spotted anyone mention yet.

1) The quality is NEVER going to be perfect. I can get it really, really close but there's always a hiss in the background. This is not noticable on louder tracks but on the quieter ones you're going to hear it. This leads on to my other problem...

2) As it is oly connected to your iPod by the docing port on the bottom and not via the headphone jack on the top, you CANNOT adjust the volume of the track using the iPod dial. This is only a problem if you have a quieter track. If you boost the car stereo volume you're boosting the background hiss as well. If you could boost the iPod volume independantly this would cover it up slightly.

Having said all that, this is still a pretty good player. As others have said, it's really easy to set up. Just plug it in, drive around and find a frequency that worlks for you. I've found three different ones and stored them in the memory and have stored the same frequencies in the car stereo memory slots so I can easily change between the three if I need to.

To sum up, the audio quality is not perfect so if that's what you're after, you'd be better off looking into hard wiring a connection into your stereo, with FM you will always get a hiss. If, however, you don't mind the slight sound of radio then get this player.

Great value for money

Delivery was really quick. Easy to install ,even i could do it !! Fab value for money as sound quality is great too.