I spent some time looking at all the options for mounting and playing an iPhone through my car speakers, as well as charging the iPhone. Nothing seemed to fit the bill perfectly. There are only a few options out there for mounts that charge and play music through your speakers--all of which are mounted awkwardly, directly to the cigarette lighter and down out of a safe area view to view the iPhone while driving. They all look flimsy and a little cheap.
Finally, after some searching I found this gem. I've never seen an iPhone mount that is literally mounted to a cassette adapter. It's mounted right in the middle of your radio, which is excellent as the iPhone is taking the place of the radio in the first place! It takes up less space than any other iPhone/iPod mount on the market. It really cleans up the clutter that most mounts create. It's easy to view without taking your eyes to far off the road. Tape adapter sound quality surpasses FM transmitters by a long shot. Sound quality is about a 9/10 (FM transmitters are about a 4/10). Really easy to mount and easy to view. It is a little bit wobbly where the mounting piece attaches to the cassette if you physically try to move it (which was a little bit annoying), but I corrected that very easily with a little bit of double-sided tape where the mount connects to the cassette to take up some of that extra space that allowed it to wobble. It was an easy fix to a problem that wasn't that major to begin with.
I had a little problem when I received the iDeck. The mounting bracket (there are 4 different ones included) I needed for the iPhone was missing from the package. I emailed Cyanics customer support to see if I could get this piece. They got back to me in just a few minutes with the tracking information on the piece I needed, telling me it was on its way. Cyanics customer support is second to none. I've emailed them a few times now and they have never taken more than 10 minutes to respond (imagine if every company was like that!).
The iDeck absolutely works with the iPhone, although the only way to use it as a handsfree unit (where you can hear the caller through the car speakers) is to use an extremely simple workaround that I discovered. The iDeck will charge the iPhone and play all the music, sounds, etc. through your car's speakers without any workaround. Cyanics told me I would not be able to use it as a handsfree calling device, though, because when you answer a call it switches to speakerphone and doesn't play the call through the car's speakers. You can get around this by connecting a 3.5mm cable from the iPhone's headphone jack into the jack on the iDeck labeled "AUX". It works very well. The person on the other end said I sounded loud and clear to them. If you have your car's volume turned up really loud, the caller will hear themselves echoing, but this shouldn't happen at normal volumes.
In conclusion, I'm really happy with this product. I'm extremely picky when it comes to this kind of stuff. I consider this the best iPhone car mount on the market. It's a shame it isn't advertised as an iPhone mount, because it works great. iDeck Integrated Car Cassette Adapter for iPod (Certified "Made for iPod")
First off customer service is great, I asked a question and was answered immediately. Ordered from them on Wednesday and got it on Saturday. I have been searching for an Iphone 3G mount for the last year and just couldnt find the right one since they looked butt ugly or was in a very cheap looking mount. I was waiting for the TOMTOM holder but I will not pay $100 for a mount. This all in one solution product solves all my problems including way to connect my iphone to my car speakers, charger and mount and looks great in my car. When I first heard the sound of my iphone music I was truly impressed and didnt have to fiddle with those FM transmitters which people always had problems with. If you have a tape deck and need a Iphone mount, do not hesitate picking this up.
Be careful when you buy this product. It only works if your cassette deck has the opening for the cassette's widest part on the passenger side.
My car has the wider part of the opening on the driver's side -- so the iDeck didn't fit. There's no mechanism to fix or adjust this.
I can't say whether it works well otherwise.
After I received my unit, I spent a couple of weeks wondering why the volume coming out of my car speakers was so low. I was having to crank up my car stereo's volume to a ridiculous level in order to hear the music well. of course, that created a tremendous amount of hiss coming out of my speakers. I couldn't tell if it was my iPod, the cassette deck, some random setting, or what. I played around a lot with the setup, and I was beginning to get pretty frustrated.
This morning, I discovered (entirely by accident) that by gently pulling on the unit, once it was inside the cassette deck, I was able to get a much louder signal. My guess is that the unit wasn't contacting the tape head very well and needed a little tweak.
Now, the sound is GREAT! My iPod Touch fits well with the provided adapter, and the charger works just fine. I just have to tweak the unit a bit each time I put it in the cassette deck.
I'm giving this 4 stars for the loose fit inside my cassette deck. This issue is probably unavoidable, given all the different types and makes of car cassette decks. Also, the unit is not all that sturdy - you will need to be gentle with it. Overall, though, I am pleased. - Ipod Car Mount - Ipod Dock - Iphone Car Charger - Cassette Adapter'
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