DennisFranz

I just got my FM transmitter for my Axim. I think it was designed more for MP3 players and so far I am extremely impressed more so than the SoundFeeder Units.

The unit can be found here.

The unit can be purchased here for about $29.00. Honestly it was about $15.00 more than I wanted to spend but you only live once and if $30.00 gets it for what I want it to do I am a happy camper.

So far I only tested distance and it was outstanding. I need to try it in the car for motor/ignition interference. I was outside my Civic almost 2 car lengths back and although the static was noticeable, it was on the threshold of being not bearable. Mind you, the song was still playing fine. The frequency reponse is more full than the SoundFeeder which sounded pretty flat and almost dull. The bass seems heavy and the high end dropped off faster than what I wanted.

This unit also has freq settings from 88 MHz to 108 MHz. It turns on and off by pressing and holding the lower of the only 2 buttons on the face. This is nice so no accidental power on in a bag etc. Start up shows "ON" shen powering on and "OFF" when powering down. I guess so you know when to let go of the button to change power status.

It starts up at 90.2 MHZ and travels up and down by .1 MHz increments. Holding the up/down button gets it travelling at 1 MHz increments and a little longer goes about 2x speed. Its not too bad in having to set the right station and the setting buttons are not easily changed so worry about accidently changing the setting. It woul dbe nice to have maybe 2 preset frequencies but its not big of a deal. I just noticed that it stays on the last statio you had it set too.

It has a backlight which comes on when a button is pressed and stays on for about 1.5 secs so you can change the channel in the dark.

The display is readable enough in full light and in the dark as well since it has dual lamp on the lower side of the display. There is a battery power icon which I am not sure what percentage of settings the display decreased by. It takes a single AAA battery which is included. NO real instructions come with it so this is about the best instructions with the unit thus far ;)

Here are a few pics and links under if the pics (hosted by geocities) do not appear. I show the size in relation to the Axim, frona dn back view and how I secured it to my Car holder. I will try a real test tonight on duty and see if other eletronics and iginition noise kill the tranmisssion of the signal. :crooked:


Link

The rest are click links so I don't make this post too cumbersome.
Gruv-X Front
Gruv-X Back
On Caddy Front
on Caddy Back

Bottom line 9 due to the freq response but distance suprisingly far. I think my initial response is better than what I exepcted in sound. In comparison I rate the SoundFeeder a 5 due to freq response and transmitting distance that won't even allow it to stay in the the back seat, out of the way during travelling.

alphacow

Thanks for the review, Im looking for one of these. An update though, its showing up as $22.99 at buy.com It's also available at Amazon.com for $26 with free shipping

io333

I don't understand. Which unit had high freq response drop off, the soundfeeder, or the GruvX?

Can you describe the freq response better when you get back from your testing?

DennisFranz

Quote:

Originally posted by io333 I don't understand. Which unit had high freq response drop off, the soundfeeder, or the GruvX? Can you describe the freq response better when you get back from your testing?

So far better. My A/C caused glitching in the sound. The noise floor seems a little high also. Kinda more like having a tape encoded with Dolby C and then listening to the tape w/o the noise reduction on.

As far as freq response, better that I initially responded. It seems the headphone/system volume can overdrive the unit and cause high end splash and is annoying.

io333

So then your overall impression is that it is a "good thing" because you can compensate for its problems with minor EQ and volume changes?

DennisFranz

Yeah, I am pretty impressed with the unit in comparison to the SoundFeeder. My biggest gripe on the SoundFeeder was tuning via a pot which is mainly what drove me to ths unit, electronic tuning.

I had a busy night last night so I wasn't able to mess with it at all. Now we got baackyard deals all weekend.

Yumm.. Shrimp Fry!

peterbright

What's the battery life like?

DennisFranz

On another reviews it stated about 8 hours on one AAA battery. Not too shabby honestly.

peterbright

Since I use rechargable AAA's that seems a resonable length of time. A couple AAA's would get me through a week of commuting. Thanks for the info.

DennisFranz

Quote:

Originally posted by peterbright Since I use rechargable AAA's that seems a resonable length of time. A couple AAA's would get me through a week of commuting. Thanks for the info.

I also have the rechargeables. Maha makes the best charges and it is wonderful to 1st invest in the chager, then all the other batteries make it decently economical if you have enough battery powered devices for it.

I do..