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The irock! 450FM has a host of features that will allow you to have that ultimate listening experience wherever you go. For those of you that thought those 12 channels in my last review were not enough, with this baby you can choose from 100 available frequencies for the best listening experience.
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Is it easy to use? You bet it is! Just plug the 450FM Beamit into the headphone jack of your iPAQ, tune it and the stereo your using to the same frequency and enjoy! And you WILL enjoy it because you will be listening to a high fidelity, full stereo sound!
It is a neat device that truly works with virtually any portable audio device with a headphone or line-out jack. Often, while I am using my laptop, I watch a movie with a portable Panasonic DVD player I have. Now, I watch my DVDs with the sound playing through my stereo system — very cool!
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The irock! 450FM Wireless Music Adapter has a smooth non-obtrusive design. A slick looking device, sort of like a long silver bullet; it is compact, lightweight, and actually quite unique! The front of the device has a lighted LCD display as well as a duel function switch that allows for powering the unit on and adjusting the channel frequency. The top of the device has a small band that would allow for attaching the device to a clip or hook for carrying. I wish that part were just slightly larger to allow for easier attachment to clips.
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What particularly struck my fancy was the dual power capability that came with the device. Not only can you power the unit with a single AAA battery but also in the event your battery died while on the road, there is a 12V DC auto adapter included — a nice touch! I have been using the Duracell Ultra battery with terrific results. irock! indicates that the battery life is typically about 11 hours but I have been getting significantly more than that.
The quality of FM transmission is excellent, actually somewhat surprising as to how great it really is. Recently, while using the irock! 450FM upstairs in my house, my wife called me down for lunch. I just left the player running and went down to eat with her. I decided to turn on the stereo in the living room and low and behold, the music that was playing on my iPAQ upstairs was streaming through my stereo downstairs and it was crystal clear. Whew — this is too good to be true! I had to quickly run another test — if I go out to my garage, turn on the old radio that sits on my workbench and tune it to 88.7, will I hear the music playing from my iPAQ? Well you guessed it, I could!
So how far could I go and still receive a signal? If I could receive a signal in my garage then that meant I could get the signal in my car. Of course I had to check and I was receiving a signal and the quality was terrific! I started my car, backed out my driveway and slowly drove down the street. The signal started to degrade at about 200 feet but I was really impressed! I had just changed the battery so I am sure that helped but it works and it works extremely well! Oh yeah, I finally went in to eat my lunch — and my wife had already eaten hers!