Belkin F8Z183 Tunebase for iPhone 3g review.
August 14, 2008 Iphone 3 party accessories
I bought my belkin tunebase threw amazon.com which had a price of 69.99. You need to make sure you get model # F8Z183 it is the only model right now of tunebase that supports the iPhone. The box comes with instructions , several different ipod adapters from original to the new nano and touch. I found the Iphone adapter to be a bit snug for my 3g iphone, could be because I have a skin on it. I found the orginal ipod adapter to work best for the iphone 3g with my skin on it. You have a couple ways to find a station for the fm transmitter. One is ClearScan all you have to do in press the button and it searches for a clear station. I found it to work pretty well I live in Denver and it did not have a problem finding a usable station. The other option is to find a station that just is static and then manually tune the fm transmitter to that station. The tunebase has two presets to save stations, all you do is press the button and hold till it beeps and the preset are set. It also has a Pro setting that optimizes audio and boosts volume, I found this very handy and really did improve the audio thru the fm transmitter. There are 3 settings and I found that either setting 2 or 3 sounded the best. For an fm transmitter it seems to work really well I have not had to change the station while driving all over town or have had any static. the tune base does a great job holding the iphone in either upright or landscape position. While the tune bas was made for the original iphone it works perfect with the 3g iphone. There are no messages that come like not compatible with this device no need to put it in airplane mode. It charges the phone, plays music threw it, using the ipod function or thru aol radio or Pandora. The only problem I have found is if you use the iphone as an ipod on the belkin tunebase , when you go and snyc it with itunes it does not update the play count in itunes. I have tested this by playing a playlist at work putting it in the tunebase on the way but not using the ipod function and when I sync it the play counts up date. Now when I do the same thing but use the ipod function while in the tune dock it does not sync play counts for anything played that day. You can use aol radio or Pandora in the tune dock and will still sync your play count but as soon as you use it as an ipod in the tunebase in seems to erase any playcount info not sure why.
Overall I very happy with the belkin tunebase it does what I wanted it to do and does it very well. If they could just workout the play count issue it would be perfect. I no longer have to worry about my phone sliding around my car and makes the gps easy to use while driving .
Comments (5)
[...] News » News News Belkin F8Z183 Tunebase for iPhone 3g review.2008-08-14 16:25:47Could instructions , several different ipod adapters from original to be a bit [...]
I ended up inadvertently purchasing the F8Z176 Tunebase, and it seems to work just fine in my Ford Focus with my iPhone 3g. (However, in my wife’s Honda Civic, I can’t get any radio station to work. I think it’s the distance from the Tunebase to the antenna.)
YMMV.
–mike
Hey Mike,
Based on your review, I bought the same tunebase(F8Z183) from Amazon and can’t get it to interface with my radio. I had inadvertently bought another tunebase (f8Z176 I think) at the apple store, and it worked, but not very well. I’ve driving a 2001 VW GTI with an aftermarket kenwood stereo plugged into the factory antenna. Any advice on troubleshooting this?
Thanks,
Randy
not sure if you’re still using that same transmitter, but i also bought that model…at first i thought it sucked, but i pressed the program button a couple times, and it actually gave a stronger signal when it’s on the 3rd setting…not really sure what the setting is (haven’t had a chance to look at the manual because i left it in my other home…)
basically…first time you press program, it sets it to pr1, then you press again and it sets it to pr2, then the third time you press it, it goes to another setting that’s like…a speech bubble or something…i found that the quality was significantly better…wonder if this works elsewhere as well…?
because ’speech bubble’ = Mono only (Not Stereo)