Users Product Reviews: |
Product Review Summary: total waste Don't waste your money.
I read all the reviews, and knew I would have to adjust the internal gain setting. Not a problem, or so I thought.
It arrived. I opened it, and tried adjusting the plastic setting screw. It is so delicate that I think I adjusted it too far, pushing it past a stop point. Now, there is no maximum setting that I can find. It rotates endlessly.
And, the performance sucks. My plan was to beam my DirecTV music channels from the living room to an upstairs exercise room and to an outdoor radio on the deck. I can tune in a channel, but the reception is fuzzy at best, and the sound is horrible. It basically sounds like AM radio.
Count me as extremely dissatisfied.
Product Review Summary: About what I expected. If you have read about the "mod" be careful. The first one I got the volume knob was broken right out of the box. The second one, the mod worked great, but be super careful taking the cover off. It is glued on by the power wires and the volume knob requires a little finesse to get out of the cover without breaking it. Once everything was cranked up to full blast it covers a decent area.
The sound quality is ok, its not bluetooth, its FM, its is about what I expected, slight static, but pretty clear, good enough to listen to by the fire.
Product Review Summary: Terrific product for me I am a audio program junkie.
My habit started with Sondra Gair's program on WBEZ and Studs Terkel on WFMT. It was further fed with the addition of more programs on WBEZ. I knew the schedules for the discussion and music programs on WBEZ, WFMT, and WDCB. Eventually internet technology, and the very nice stations providing live streams, allowed me to broaden my listening area beyond Chicago's Southwest Suburbs. With the aid of [...] I have found many new-to-me shows and stations. Many of these radio shows offer mp3 downloads and I can find many more interesting mp3's on iTunes and from searching through open courseware.
I can throw the mp3's on my Sony Walkman, but the for the live streaming shows, I was tied to my computer.
The most convenient, cost effective solution seemed to be an fm transmitter, so I tried C. Crane's.
The reviews for this product vary greatly, and I found this worrisome. I wanted it to work, but I did not want to throw 70 bucks down the drain. I planned to do the tweak.
Out of the box, I went to my back porch, worked out what seemed to be the emptiest frequency on the fm radio in my 4GB Sony Walkman NWZ-E436F digital media player, tossed the batteries in the transmitter, attached it to my laptop, adjusted the volume, and listened to it through my Walkman. It sounded okay a couple of feet away. At 7 feet, it was too scratchy to understand what was being said. The computer volume was at 100%. Adjusting the volume control on the transmitter only showed that I had previously optimally adjusted the volume.
I was a little disappointed because although the pre-tweak distance varied considerably in reviews, the difference between pre-tweak and post-tweak distance seemed to consistently max at about a 10 fold increase. I was hoping for greater than 70 feet post-tweak distance.
Having no very close neighbors, I performed the tweak.
I do not recommend anybody else do this tweak. It is illegal and voids the warranty.
Repeat: I am not in any way suggesting that you do this tweak.
I did this awhile ago, so I am trying to recall what I then encountered.
After removing the batteries, first I tried peeling back the sticker and rotating the dial. Although I had searched the internet for information and found a photo of an opened transmitter with the V2 control clearly pointed out, I had difficulty understanding what I was trying to do through the little hole under the sticker. I am comfortable with replacing computer parts and adjusting DIP switches, but I have not otherwise played with electronics.
I put the sticker back. I removed the feet. I realized I removed the wrong feet, put them back, and removed the two little round feet and the screws underneath them. Being careful of the volume control and wires, I took the device apart. It was easy. I then carefully turned the V2 dial. I think I used a small screwdriver? I was careful to try and be sensitive to the dial ceasing to turn. I think I turned it far enough. It stopped turning, but it was a soft stop and I did not want to break it by attempting to turn it further. I put the batteries back and tested it out.
The reception was greatly improved and it worked as I expected. At about 70 feet, I could no longer understand what was being said. I reassembled the device. I have had no problems with the the round feet/stickers coming back off.
Setting the device on the dining room table next to where I usually have my laptop, I can easily listen through my Walkman throughout the house - upstairs, basement - but toward the garage door, about 55 feet and 2 interior walls and 1 exterior wall away it is a bit scratchy. Not bad at all. Sometimes I forget I am listening to streaming media over the radio, not a mp3 on the Walkman, and I start to walk out of range about 30 feet out the back door.
I tried replacing the antenna with one of appropriate length from Radio Shack, but it was too wide to insert where the current antenna is screwed in. Attaching a copper wire, besides being cumbersome, did not seem to help much. Placing device on a cookie sheet did not seem to help either. I am soon moving to another location, perhaps I'll try increasing range again then.
While I do wish the range was even farther (more, more, I want more), it does pretty good, especially for the price. I like very much that I can choose the frequency.
After giving this device 5 stars for working so well for the price, I was asked to give stars for Sound Quality, Distance, Ease of Use, and Compactness. I gave three stars for each of these, except 5 stars for compactness, because the mod was necessary for this device to be at all useful to me. I found the mod easy, and, post-mod, I have found the device very liberating. I expect I would feel differently if the range was any less, or if something went awry in performing the mod.
If I were to do anything different, I maybe ought to have tried to exchange this device for another one upon discovering that the range was only nearly 7 feet before the mod.
Product Review Summary: You gotta be kidding... This works great for 4 to 5 feet. I have this hooked to my xmsatellite radio so I can take my portable around the house with me. Well, guess what, it works great up to 5 feet from the unit. Since it is a C. Crane unit and I use C. Crane radios - I wrote them for technical support. They said PLACE IT ON A METAL TRAY -- you gotta be kidding me! I thought. I purchase this little jewel for $70 and I have to find a metal tray, also, pull the antenna out all the way -- wouldn't that be logical and then tune it so the red light just flickers -- and turn the volume on the source all the way up. I did all of these BUT THE METAL TRAY - I refuse to buy something and then have to go find a metal tray. It's ridiculous. I have been C. Crane customer forever - since Art Bell got me to start buying their radios (which are 5 star) and this is the first product that just plain SUCKS!!! So, I dump this little "jewel" in the morning and head to Wal-Mart. My Radio Shack here has nothing and my Wal-Mart just remodeled and it has EVERYTHING electronic.
Product Review Summary: Worthless I'm a bit of a gadget nut, and I can say, without hesitation, that this is the biggest piece of junk I have ever purchased! Out of the box I could get recption of, at most, 3cm (that's right cm, not feet). I tried the mod (boosted my recption 5 fold to about 15cm), then the "grounded plane" trick (increased my subpar reception to at best, 5 feet - line of sight). I added an extension to the antena as suggetstion an voila! I got static filled C*@P up to 15 feet! Of course my warranty is void due to the mod. Anyone up for a class action lawsuit? I'm in! I don't expect much. Performance up to the minimum spec's before any tinkering would have suited me fine. Heck, I've got a pair of wireless headphones from
[...]! Save yourself the trouble, don't buy it, this is JUNK! At best it's a crap shoot. Wish I could recommendc an alternative, but I'm just an average Joe looking for a product that will perform as advertised, not a techie. If you are in for a class action suit against these guys, email me! Consumer protection laws obviously need some teeth!
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