Customer Reviews
Adequate, but only if you live far away from a city 
2008-05-08
This product is nicely made, and seems reasonably durable (though I've only owned it for a couple of weeks).
Sound quality is mediocre...worse than CD or FM, perhaps the same as a tape cassette. The thing doesn't seem to broadcast in stereo either.
Another issue is reception: If you live in a major metropolitan area (I travel between Boston and New York most of the time) you will have a difficult time finding a free frequency that is sufficiently noise-free. The manufacturer suggests finding a frequency that has "empty" frequencies on either side. I've tried it: Such a thing does not exist in Boston, New York or any points in between.
Maybe I'll try a tape deck adapter next and give the RoadTrip to my kids. Ultimately, I feel that the only real solution is to buy a new car (!) or modify your car's stereo system to accept a wired connection to the iPod.
Piece of Junk 
2008-04-25
I bought one of these about a year ago, and use it pretty much every day in my car. About six months into it my right speaker stopped working with the dock. Now, I'm addicted to my Ipod and can't live without it, so I bought another of these docks since they're so cheap, but after 3 months, this one has stopped working altogether. Bottom line? Cheap price = cheaply made.
Griffin Technology 4030-ROAD RoadTrip FM Transmitter & Auto Charger and Cradle for iPod 2008-04-14
This product was disappointing in that it is very bulky in the car and does not fit well. It is hard to position in it, hard to see the ipod screen no matter how it is positioned.
The transmitter itself works good, the music transmits great, but the design of the product is poor. I would not recommend it.
Road Trip blows 2008-04-05
Griffin Road trip is crap. Weak, poor signal.
We tried it in 2 different cars, no difference.
The dock is great, allows for good positioning in a variety of vehicles.
We have an inexpensive Macally, which is less convenient without the dock, but the music quality is very good.
Pros: convenient dock
Cons: very poor music quality
iPod FM transmitter 
2008-01-30
I bought this item for my son at the Apple store for $90. I felt that was a little expensive, so I tried Amazon and found the identical product (same make and model) for $20 plus $7 shipping. I returned the Apple transmitter and ordered online. Great savings for a great product.
Great ipod fm transmitter 
2008-07-10
I found the 4030-ROAD RoadTrip to be great in almost every way. It is certainly much better than the iTrip.
My two feature complaints:
1. The RoadTrip should also transmit the title of the song for my car stereo to pick up and display. I have to dig the unit out of the arm rest compartment where I have it plugged into the recepticle to see the song displayed on the iPod screen. This can be dangerous.
2. When I shut down the car (and the power to the unit) it does not resume the same settings as when I stopped the car. I have to push the connect button again for it to detect the FM station I was using when I shut it down. Annoying.
Hit the Road, Trip 2008-07-07
This device is a nightmare.
The bad dreams began the moment I opened the package and attempted to fit my 80GB iPod w/ video into one of the provided mating flanges. Turns out the only one that fit was for a different iPod and then only after some filing of plastic. And, of course, I had to remove the iPod from it protective neoprene wetsuit, which would have been very nice to have when the iPod fell out of the Griffin 4031-RDGC RoadTrip FM Transmitter and Car Charger for iPod (Charcoal) ... standing still in the driveway.
Things went downhill from there as I tried to get music through the car's tuner and into my ears.
Okay, true, I live in an FM-RF saturated environment. So I wasn't expecting optimum performance close to home. But none of the three frequencies auto-scanned by the Road Trip were at all usable. Manually tuning a dead band on my radio - and incrementing Road Trip to match - produced an interference-ridden, wheezy little simulacrum of the strong studio mixes in my Playlists. Damn disappointing for a hundred bucks.
Worse, on recent rural road trip my Road Trip was even more galling. With no audible stations within two guard bands either side of Road Trip's self-selected optimum frequency, there was still plenty of harsh hash, multipath "swang", and annoying collapse to mono.
So it's gotta be my vehicle, right? It's a 2000 BMW with a decidedly Bavarian audio system. Maybe it's just a Germanic engineering attitude problem? Nope. Road Trip fared no better in my wife's 2007 high-end Toyota, a vehicle with impeccable modern electronics.
In desperation, I tried Road Trip's OTHER route: a direct output jack (1/8" stereo), bizarrely (and inconveniently) located on the power plug. At least I'll get clean audio straight into the preamp section of my car's system?
No such luck. The Road Trip's output impedance is severely mismatched to everyone else's idea of the line-in spec. It is neither line level nor headphone level. And the result is, like, 20% harmonic distortion. And, of course, no way to attenuate the output; it just smashes its way in and clips like a [...].
Unusable for audio, I now have a very expensive iPod charger that sometimes - when it wants to and obeying no logic that I'm able to figure out - supplies a trickle of current through to my iPod, but then shuts off well shy of full charge.
These issues seem baked-in and endemic, not at all the result of poor manufacturing or lax quality control. These are basic design flaws.
Succinctly: This device is an unmitigated piece of crap. Do not buy it.
Works but difficult to use 
2008-06-23
I love that this product works great through the radio and charges the ipod at the same time. The thing that's most difficult is that my outlet is in an place that makes the itrip really inconvienent to use. It's extremely bulky and doesn't fit right. I actually had to give mine away.
works with iPod touch 2008-06-03
I have no experience with FM transmitters, I've been told to avoid them though because they usually suck compared to a tape deck, or aux in. That being said, my new (used) car doesn't have a tape deck, or aux in, just CD and AM/FM stereo. I did some research and found this one, while it doesn't say it works with the iPod touch, that's because it came out before the touch came out.
It does work with the touch, although the clear plastic holder is about a mm too narrow, so the fit is tight, but that's nothing you cant fix by bending alittle.
As a transmitter, i've used it so far all day with no problems at all. It found a frequency, and i tuned the radio to it, and bam! music.
It's so-so 2008-05-27
This thing must depend highly on your vehicle and the existing stations in your locale. I had to flip through several bandwidths on several occasions to get any sound on the radio. It seems like stations that work one day do not work on another day. I do have this the Roadtrip positioned right in front of my radio BTW('02 Pathfinder) I tried it in a different car and could't get it to work at all in that one as well. So, basically, it works but with frequent fiddling. Also, when you dock and undock your iPod, it's almost like resetting the Roadtrip so you have to start over in some cases. We also have a $19 iPod adapter (forget the brand)and it performs better than this one, we got this one because of the extender kit which does work well and seems relatively solid.
