Venturi Mini uses lots of RF to get music from phone to car stereo

We've seen more efficient ways of piping tunes from phones to stereos, but admittedly, they usually involve a wire or two. The Venturi Mini, now being offered by Verizon Wireless, performs the wondrous feat of receiving music streamed to it via stereo Bluetooth and relaying it on to your car's head unit by way of FM transmitter, making the whole process completely wire-free. "But wait," as they say in the industry, "that's not all." The cigarette lighter socket-powered device doubles as a handsfree that cleverly pauses your music when the time comes to take a call. Grab the multitalented wonder now for $129.99 -- and if you live in Washington or Oregon, the sooner, the better.

[Via MobileBurn]

[Jeffrey @ Jan 28th 2008 1:44PM]

Fantastic, now people can broadcast both sides of the conversation to anyone listening to the right station. Might make the drive home a little more interesting if you could listen to the conversations of everyone around you. FM broadcasting of phone conversations...sounds dreamy.

[quiksilv3r @ Jan 18th 2008 1:03AM]

well....that's a bit pricey.

[billy bob thorton @ Jan 18th 2008 1:12AM]

Perfect, more idiots crowding 88.1 I live well within range of this 100,000 watt radio station and can barely listen to it because so many people broadcasting onto that frequency. Even mainstream, nationionally recognized radio stations in the upper 90s are suffering from major interference because people are now getting transmitters with broader frequencies.

[DarkLightConnection @ Jan 18th 2008 2:17AM]

The problem is on the radio stations..

If I was to take the decision, I'd shut them down...

Totally useless to those of us who like to listen to real electronic music (ie. Direct 2 Brain, dB Bass Killaz ) and not the crap they stream nowadays "because it is what the idiotic teenagers like"...

Ah, the distant past when you could hear some Lasgo and IIO on the radio.. those were the days

[billy bob thorton @ Jan 18th 2008 10:12AM]

did you not even read my post? what teanagers listen to stations in the 88mhz range? That's where the best college radio stations broadcast and usually NPR/PRI. Besides that not the point. I have a right to listen to any legally broadcasted station without the fear of interference from some idiot who pulls up next to me in a traffic jam. Broadcasters invest a considerable amount of money for the right to use those airwaves. It's not right that people who are too cheap to buy an updated audio unit for their car get to bypass the system.

[packetsniffer @ Jan 18th 2008 5:42PM]

Crybaby.

[DarkLightConnection @ Jan 18th 2008 7:04PM]

Here on Mexico there are music stations on the low part of the spectrum... yes, THAT low part of the spectrum..

There's no such thing as college radio in this country

But you are right on that, broadcasters are paying a high price for those airwaves nevertheless

[HDTVFanAtic @ Jan 18th 2008 3:04AM]

An $129.99 boat anchor for most people as most radios will not tune to even number stations (.0,.2,.4,.6,.8) such as 98.0Mhz.

[fdgdfdfdfg @ Jan 18th 2008 2:19PM]

Huh? I've never heard about nor seen such a radio...

[DarkLightConnection @ Jan 18th 2008 7:08PM]

I had one of those.. it was a RCA

It sucked... it's the ONLY radio I've ever seen that doesn't get even number stations, all the other's I've seen/used can get anything

As far as I understand, there are countries that use even numbers and other countries that use odd numbers.. I read that on a stereo's manual I think, you had to set it up to get odd numbers or even numbers depending on your country

[Tony C @ Jan 18th 2008 9:34AM]

Interesting and strangely attractive industrial design... Even though it looks like a candybar MP3 player that got bent in half... =)

[mlody11 @ Jan 18th 2008 10:22AM]

meh... they were too late in this release. http://satechi.com/Bluetooth-Handsfree-Fm-Transmitter-for-Car/M/B000KJBNEI.htm

I've been enjoying my Media Server at home with a 3G networking streaming to my phone and wireless bluetooth to my car stereo via the satechi adaptor for about 3 months now. The media path...
Home Server > Cable Modem > 3G Cell Phone > Bluetooth > FM > Speakers :o and its pretty damn reliable during my commutes back and forth. The marvels of modern day technology and universality that allows for each one of these devices to work separately.

Home Brew > Dlink > Samsung (via ATT network) > Motorola > Infiniti. This is what technology needs to look like... interoperability!

[RA @ Jan 20th 2008 9:04PM]

Venturi Mini
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Venturi Mini
User opinions
for Venturi Mini

User Rating 2/10
Terrible

User Summary
"great on paper if you have the right phone and you live in the right place"
by abadfish (see profile) - January 17, 2008

Pros: great features, good price

Cons: needs the right phone and conditions for FM to work

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I live in the SF Bay Area, FM bandwidth is heavily congested here. I am unable to use the FM transmitter feature because of all the noise on every FM frequency (whether or not its in use by another radio station). Anybody who lives with congested airwaves will suffer the same fate as me.

The Phonebook Download feature only works on certain phones. It does not work on my Motorola RAZR2 V9m.

Emailed Venturi's customer service on their web site about these issues. They essentially told me I'm SOL.

I then found out that the USB charger doesn't work for my phone either. I tried the USB charger and my phone displays "Unauthorized Charger".

I'll be returning this product since the features I wanted (and needed) to work don't work.

2 THUMBS DOWN!!!