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157 of 158 persons found the following review helpful.
Excellent Transmission for the Coby-745
By J. Wingard
The Coby-745 is in my opinion, the all-around best buy in the wireless FM car transmitter market. At $17.99 on Amazon, it is roughly half the price of most of it’s competitors, but what’s astounding is that it provides further and added features! The cap on the built in car charger flips off to disclose a spot for another charging plug (like for a cell phone for example). The springs hold the device in tightly while in use and the charger unit is hinged to the transmitter, supplying for a 360 degree+ rotation of the unit. The light up screen in blue shows the full frequency channels you may select from with the lighted dial, in increments of 0.1 MHz.
106 of 107 humans found the following review helpful.
Very pleased, after doing TONS of research
By Nicholas North
Right off, the price. If I remunerated double or even triple and it performed as it does, I would have been satisfied. FM transmitters by definition are supposed to be the last resort for sending audio through car speakers from a portable device, given their some potential downfalls. But I’ve used the Coby CA-745 daily for over two months now and I couldn’t be happier. I even made sure to wait this long before posting a review, in case it worked well but broke quickly.
A few major points to consider regarding this model: first, this is not an iPod-charging device. For me, that was OK. Everything I plug my iPod into at home charges it, so I was purposely looking for a transmitter that would fit the iPod’s 3.5mm headphone jack.
Second, it allows for selection amidst the full FM frequency band including the almost-never-taken 87.9. I set it there on Day 1 and never changed it. But it’s nice to know that I am not fixed to four preset tunings if I need to change it.
Third, it is designed thoughtfully. I didn’t want a battery-powered transmitter, but my lighter jack is located in a recessed share of my lower dashboard, so the tilting display helps. The coiled connection cable keeps things neat, as does the flip-off cover that discloses a piggyback lighter jack, so you may still plug in a cellphone charger or whatever. Funny that you don’t see any of these choices in the high-priced FM transmitters.
But none of the above would matter if it didn’t sound good. I am a critical listener, though conscious that I cannot suppose my car audio system to sound as good as my home system. Three distinct features of this unit’s audio quality stand out: it is output level strength is terrific, there is actual discernable stereo separation, and no noticeable coloration in frequencies. I tried all the preset EQ settings on my iPod with this and found that it sounded best flat, no EQ at all. To me, that alone spoke volumes with regards to the quality of it is transmitted stereo signal.
Background noise is almost non-existent and I never get those bursts of static anymore. I may make out a very slight continuous high-pitched whine, which I know is my car irruptive with the signal (having the wipers on causes the whine to modulate some), but note – this is just one factor of an overall VERY LOW LEVEL background noise floor. Unless you crank it up amidst songs or for the duration of very light musical passages, you’re not going to listen any artifacts invented by this unit. And for you purists out there – try cranking up your built-in car CD player when a song is paused – with factory units especially, you may be astonished by how much low-level rubbish is percolating back there that you’d never actually notice.
My Ford Taurus was tricky for getting an iPod to play through it. The factory audio system is set up in such a way that adding an audio input would have been highpriced and complex to install. The in-dash cassette goes into auto-forward when attempting to use a cassette adapter, so I’m genuinely stuck with the FM transmitter method. My antenna is a popular fixed-pole antenna at the back of the car, and the cheap no-name FM transmitter I was using before this could only be placed in sure locatings to work at all, and even then developed ceaseless light static that was annoyingly audible, plus regular bursts of deafening jarring static. Yet I put up with that for a long time since I knew from researching online that no matter what model or price, there was not one thing that was systematically lauded as working great, and each unit seemed to have the capacity to work as poorly as the piece of junk I already had.
So again, the price. There are no guarantees, but a lot of persons are having good luck with this unit. If your circumstance is like mine, the price alone ought to make it worth the gamble.
47 of 47 persons found the following review helpful.
Best transmitter I’ve owned!
By Jay Riemenschneider
I have gone through four of these types of FM Transmitters. One was powered by the iPod. I don’t commend that type as it sucks your battery arid quickly. The one I am replacing this time worked alright, but was bulky and at long last stopped working correctly. I was happy when I plugged this one in and without apparent effort synced FM stations and got CD quality sound. Another nice feature is that you don’t have to switch it on. When it is plugged in it is live when the radio is tuned to that station and does not affect any other stations if you are listening or scanning other stations. The only thing I wish someone would add is a bit of amplification. Every transmitter I’ve used requires you to turn your iPod volume up closely all the way and then you still have to turn your stereo volume up much higher than normal. Obviously, if you forget to adjust both volumes down before using either next time, you will blast your eardrums or speakers.
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