Review: Griffin RoadTrip

TUAW labs received a Griffin RoadTrip for review on Friday, and I put the combination FM transmitter and car charger through the ringer over the weekend. If you'll recall, Dave posted about the recent updates to the RoadTrip last week.

I've uploaded a small Flickr set of the Griffin RoadTrip in action with both an iPod nano and a new iPod in place, as well as pictures of packaging and the different adapters included with the RoadTrip. Although the review unit we received was in white, the RoadTrip also comes in black to match your black iPod and iPod nano, and it retails for $89.95. Check after the jump for the full review...
In and out of the box: The first thing you'll notice when you get your hands on the RoadTrip is that it is neatly packaged. As soon as you rip that packaging open you will notice that it's somewhat messy with the amount of parts and adapters included.
In the end, this is a good thing, but unless you have multiple iPods in multiple sizes, you're going to have a lot of bits and pieces that you either put in storage, throw away, or try to sell on eBay. At first, this is somewhat daunting, as you have to figure out what pieces you will need to use for your set up, and then you have to do some basic assembly. There's an adapter for the iPod nano, a belt clip for the iPod, an adapter that fits in with the belt clip included with the iPod mini, and an optional adhesive pad for holding things in place. There's a combination USB and audio cable for attaching the RoadTrip to your computer. Out of the box you can either attach the car adapter directly to the back of the RoadTrip or add an extra extension arm, and there is an adapter ring included for fitting different cigarette lighters/plugs.

Use with a computer: One of the cool things about the RoadTrip is that it's not just a suped-up iTrip, a combination iPod Dock/charger for your car with FM Transmitter capabilities. You can also remove the transmitter part from the apparatus and using an included cable, plug it into your computer to broadcast tunes from either your laptop on the road or from your home computer to your home stereo. This works nicely, but the only downside to this set up is that the USB part of the cable is used exclusively for powering the RoadTrip, while the audio comes in over a regular stereo-mini cable plugged into the headphone jack of your computer. This means that if you are blasting your iTunes music from across the room, you will also be blasting your iChat alerts and any other System Sounds going on on your computer. Also, you have to adjust the volume levels both on your computer and on the stereo system, which isn't as smooth as the iPod integration, which overrides the audio controls of the iPod by using the lineout audio levels available through the dock connector.

Use in the car:The RoadTrip, as the name implies, is designed to be used in your car. As an FM Transmitter for your iPod, it's great. I have in the past used the original iTrip, which was not as user-friendly as possible, due to the multiple frequency MP3s you had to scroll through to set the broadcast frequency. My wife has been a longtime user of the Monster iCarPlay combo car charger and FM Transmitter, which seemed to get a signal boost from being plugged into and powered by the car, but lacked the ability to tune to stations outside the limited presets. The RoadTrip combines the best of both these devices, as it plugs into your car for its charge and a little signal boost, and you have the full gamut of available channels to choose from via an integrated and easy to use tuner. This becomes invaluable in metropolitan areas like New York,
where every two to three miles tends to interject a Spanish-speaking radio station on a frequency which 5 miles back had been entirely vacant. The best part of this: no need to deal with multiple MP3 tuning codes and separate iTrip-excluding playlists.

The RoadTrip also edges out the iCarPlay in the way it holds your iPod, iPod nano, or iPod mini. It's not only an FM transmitter and power adapter, but it's a nice stand too. This makes it easier to see and control your iPod. Also, as an added bonus, if you have a new video-capable iPod and you've been thinking about buying an in-car DVD player to entertain the kids, why not just plug one of these suckers in front of their eyes. The RoadTrip transmits video audio just as well as music and does a nice job of holding the iPod's screen in place for easy viewing. (Note the pictures of Space Ghost Coast to Coast playing on my iPod docked in the RoadTrip).

Overall verdict: As we don't have a regulated rating system here at TUAW, I'll break it down into positives, negatives, and what I'd like to see out of the next iteration of this device:

• Positives:

Strong, effective and clear FM transmitter with integrated charging that is easy to set up and use; Adapters provided for every Dock-friendly iPod model; doubles as an in-car iPod stand;
can also be hooked up to your computer.

• Negatives: A bit unwieldy and intimidating out of the box; lots of pieces; my wife said that with the extension attached, it was ugly and looked like it involved plumbing; audio out from computer not integrated through USB port.
• Next iteration: I'd like to see integrated adaptation for different iPod models, rather than separate iPod adapters. I'd also prefer one cable for attaching to computer, rather than a USB and audio cable.

Overall, I'd say that if you have about $90 burning a hole in your pocket and you're in the market for a FM Transmitter, you won't be disappointed with the RoadTrip.