Amplification of PDA in car

[kezza]

Just thought I'd start a thread about my 'experiences' with amplification of my IPAQ 4700 running TomTom 5.

When I purchased this from Total GPS I also ordered the Arkon powered cradle for it. Unfortunately, the volume of the amplified cradle is not really much greater than that of the IPAQ itself. However, rather than return this I decided to keep it as it was useful for its ability to power the IPAQ in the car.

I then purchased an Arkon SoundFeeder from a company called handnav.co.uk (I'd read a thread on here about this product and, at the time, I didn't think TotalGPS sold it). My personal advice would be "don't buy one"!

My irst impression was that it worked fine, but that was when I hooked it up via my home stereo. In the car it's a totally different story. No matter what frequency I chose to use the SoundFeeder can't 'overpower' the signals coming through from stations that are broadcasting on nearby frequencies, the net result of which is that the sound quality is pretty poor. My home stereo only uses the bog standard trailing wire for FM reception and so I guess it's not so affected by this, but obviously in the car the reception is a lot better.

I contacted handnav after approx 10 days and they quoted the old '7 day' rule and said that I could return it as faulty for testing but if they found no fault it would be down to me to pay for postage etc. I've now tried two or three times to get them to issue an RMA so I can return it for testing (intending to send them 'recordings' of the reception in my car as 'evidence') but they resolutely fail to reply!

I tried a battery powered speaker from Maplin (cost about £9.99) but the volume on that was also pretty poor so I took it back.

I ended up purchasing Creative i300 speaker(s) - the volume is more than adequate for the TomTom voice guidance and I would think the sound quality for MP3s would be reasonable as this is what they're designed for. Quite compact and the only disadvantage being is that you need a cable between the PDA and the speaker(s). I actually bought mine from Carphone Warehouse when I went in there for something else and got talking about the volume problem on the PDA. They charged me around £39 and, at the time, I was worried that I could've bought it on the web for much less, however when I look around it seems that most web suppliers actually charge more for them!

Hope this helps folks that may want to 'pump up the volume' of their PDA in-car.

[Charlie]

I to used an Arkon Soundfeeder although had very different results from yourself. Mines was fine in the car and never suffered from interference from other stations. I only tried one frequency when I originally bought it and never needed to change it. I eventually moved up to a hard wired system in the car so the sound is fed straight into the CD player now but the Soundfeeder got given to a friend who is using it with his iPAQ 5550 & TT5 in-car.