iTrip Mini vs. iCarPlay

Quick answer: The Griffin iTrip Mini is better than the Monster iCarPlay, and not just because of the snappier name. Less quick answer:

I wanted an FM transmitter so I could listen to music from my iPod Mini in my car. Just tune your radio to a preset station and the play the iPod as normal... ahhh... relief from the radio.

I first bought the iCarPlay. The combination charger and transmitter appealed to me (one less thing to plug in) and for some reason I thought the sound out of the dock connector should sound better than the sound out of the headphone connector. Of the many things I've learned from video games, one is all monsters have a fatal weakness. This one's is bad sound quality. Every preset station had some static and the worse part was this little whine it would make perfectly sync'd with the RPMs of the car engine. Yah. Step on the gas and over my speakers I'd hear "wwwwhhhhhheeeeeeeeee". That alone was reason to return it, but I should also add the thing looks bad with it's tacky red lights and mess of wires.

Now the iTrip sounds good. At first I was worried because I saw you need to install some sort of playlist of stations into iTunes then sync that up and I was just about to do that when I actually read the manual. You only need to do the install if the default station doesn't work in your area (i.e. there's an existing radio station at that frequency). All I did was plug the iTunes in and it worked and lucky me, the default station works fine here (Calgary, Canada). No installs, no muss, no fuss (so to say). I also found I don't need the integrated charger, the vast majority of my trips fit well within the iPod's battery life. For the odd very long trip I can take a separate car charger. One small issue, I need a different EQ setting to sound good in the car than when I use headphones. Oh, and the iTrip Mini looks very slick attached to the iPod Mini, almost like the designed it just for it...

I'm happy with my iTrip.