Product Test Drive: Griffin RoadTrip

We recently received a box of Griffin iPod accessories in the mail to test out and give you guys our opinion. Griffin is kind of new to me, and my first experience with their products was at CES this year. My initial impression from CES was that they had simple and clean designs, and looked to have a relatively high build quality. Griffin's product offering is quite large, so we thought we'd start out with the most common iPod devices for the car: the charger and the wireless FM transmitter.

Our first test drive is the Griffin RoadTrip, a slick-looking iPod charger and wireless FM transmitter combo. This little guy features a very bright white display, simple design, fully adjustable gooseneck and swivel display, and an audio/video output jack. The RoadTrip is compatible with the iPod Classic (80GB/160GB), Touch, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th generation iPod.

I was fairy impressed with the functionality and simplicity, and the swireless transmitter's sound quality was pretty strong and clear. Check out the full review after the break for detailed product photos, installed photos in a couple different cars, and our thoughts on the functionality and features.

 

First Impressions:

The RoadTrip came packaged in a pretty sturdy and attractive package.

Once I finally got the product removed from the box, I was pleasantly surprised by the build quality and sturdiness of the device. With the number of iPod accessories on the market, quality can be hit-or-miss. This is definitely a hit. The piano black finish gives the RoadTrip a nice high-quality appearance and the buttons are not too big, not too small, just about perfect for quick fingertip access. The adjustable stalk is beefy enough to resist vibrations and bumps, and we later found it to withstand the numerous potholes around Seattle.

The RoadTrip includes multiple mounting bases to snuggly accommodate any of the various compatible iPods, seven in total.

Having quick-change adapters is a nice option as most families (or even some individuals) have multiple iPods. Switching the mounting base is an easy snap-off-snap-on process and the adapters are labeled on the underside should you need to find a different adapter.

I test-fit the mount before snapping it onto the RoadTrip and found it fit snuggly around the base of the iPod. It doesn't hold the iPod firm in it's grip, it simply adds support to keep the iPod from rocking in the cradle when using the touchwheel.

The base snaps onto the RoadTrip, and the iPod locks securely to the dock plug. The black piano finish of the RoadTrip matches my iPod really well.

Once powered up, one of the first things I noticed was the vibrancy of the display. This thing is bright! Rather than use a standard LCD, Griffin went with an electro-florescence display, which works much better in direct sunlight; standard LCDs tend to wash out easier.

The Griffin's display is simply fantastic.

This is how the display would appear in direct sunlight. Most white displays tend to wash out and turn a shade of yellow. Griffin's display maintained the white and remained easy to read.

A small, but really cool feature that I've never seen before was this interesting collar Griffin added to the front of the 12-volt plug. This "foam-flower" keeps the plug locked into just about any sized 12-volt receptacle. This is great if you've ever owned a car that has a shallow 12-volt plug, like in my previous car, a 1996 VW GTI.

The plug also houses the mini-wafer fuse on the outside, which offers easy access should it blow (rare, but hey, it happens). This is a small point, but it's much easier than most other designs that require you disassemble the unit to access the fuse.

A few OEM radios and many aftermarket units come equipped with a 3.5mm auxiliary input jack. The RoadTrip has a line-out jack built on to the 12-volt plug which offers a much cleaner signal than the wireless FM. and here's a bonus, if you have a 5th Generation iPod (iPod Video), you can also use this jack to output video from your iPod to an external screen. You'll need to pick up a mini-jack to mini-jack cable for audio, or a mini-jack to composite audio/video RCA for video output. These cables are not included, but available from companies such as Belkin, Scosche, or Monster Cable.

Here is the Griffin 12-volt base plugged into my handy wall-outlet adapter (not included). Once an iPod is docked, the illuminated ring will shine red, amber, or green. Red means your iPod is connected, amber means charging, and green means fully charged. Nice bonus.

Functionality:
This dock is relatively simple, and so is the feature menu. The three buttons on the base can be used to set the RoadTrip's radio frequency presets, access the "Smart Scan" feature, and toggle between stereo and mono output.

"Pre-Menu"

Main Menu

"Mode" allows you to access the Stereo/Mono selector:

The wireless FM transmitter works pretty well, but actual performance will vary depending on your car stereo and the antenna location on your vehicle. Also, in cities like Seattle where almost every radio frequency contains a radio station, it can be difficult to find a usable frequency for the RoadTrip (or any wireless FM transmitter) to transmit onto. That's where Griffin's SmartScan comes in handy.

Smart Scan will automatically program the three strongest frequencies and set them to the RoadTrip's preset options. This is a great feature if you travel a lot. Pop this bad boy in your rental car's 12-volt outlet, hit the Smart Scan, and you're ready to jam wherever you land.

"Preset" in the main menu will give you access to the preferred programed FM frequencies for the built-in wireless FM transmitter:

When the "Pre Menu" is viewable, you can also tune to different radio frequencies manually, pressing the '+" button to tune up and the "-" to tune down. Once you've selected a frequency, make sure to tune your radio to the same frequency. If you prefer, you can also select your own preset frequencies in the Griffin rather than the Smart Scan selections. Tune the RoadTrip to your preferred frequency, go into the Preset menu and simply press and hold the preset button for three seconds.

Installed:
Because the Griffin RoadTrip is a universal adapter designed for use in just about any car with a 12-volt plug, we decided to test it out in a few cars to see how it fit against various center stacks, and how easy it would be to use. We really only anticipated one problem with the install of this product: the 12-volt plug on the RoadTrip is larger than most due to the built-in audio-output jack. This can cause a problem if your 12-volt outlet is in cramped quarters.

The gooseneck is flexible and fully adjustable, and the display/base can also rotate 180-degrees to accommodate multiple mounting positions. We found the upright position worked best during our test-fit sessions, but having options is nice.

2004 Saturn Vue:

Isuzu Minivan

1999 Pontiac TransAM
The T/A was the only car where we ran into a bit of trouble. As we mentioned earlier, the plug is rather large, and if the 12-volt outlet is in a cramped area, so the RoadTrip may not be the best choice. The T/A has two possible outlet choices, one in front of the gearshift, the other in front of the e-brake handle, both a little too cramped for this device. The ciggy plug in front of the gearshift might work if the car is not in park, otherwise the shifter hits the plug. The receptacle in front of the e-brake is pretty much a no-go. When the e-brake is engaged and the handle up, the RoadTrip works fine.

However, if you decide you actually want to drive and put the handle down, the Griffin does not allow the handle to sit all the way down. Now, it's just barely too big and probably won't get leave the brakes engaged at all, but it still does get a bit in the way. This is not an extreme case, but there will be a few cars where this situation is worse.

2004 Scion tC

 

2008 VW GTI

2006 Subaru WRX STI

Not designed for the iPhone, but it will work. You just won't have access to your phone unless you remove the phone from the Griffin cradle.

1997 Mercedes-Benz C36 AMG

International

Summary:
So is this product cool? Would I use it? Would I recommend it to a friend? Yes, you betcha, and yessiree-bob. Griffin really did a great job on this adapter. The key benefits and differentiators of the RoadTrip over most competitors are:

• Super-bright white display that's visible in sun and not blinding at night
• Line-out with video capability
• Fully variable mounting options (gooseneck & rotating mount)
• It just looks damn good
• Smart Scan is a handy tool

in the forums!