Chinese in-car MP3 players

My sister has one - not exactly the same model, but the same principle.

It doesn't work at all well, probably because the car's aerial is outside (as you'd expect) and shielded by the roof. The transmitter output is not high enough (in her case) to be received properly.

Funny you should post this question. I had the same problem and a couple of weeks ago decided to buy a cheap one just to try it. It was under £5 inc P&P, from China of course. I decided not on an all-in one like you linked to because the one I ordered can be used in the home too on 2 x aaa batts and has 200 channels (lots don't). This one looked a bit like the one in Sainsbury's for £15.

1. They promised a conservative delivery time like 7-10 working days and this was true (think it took 6).

2. What arrived had no bubble package or even a single word of instructions! Had to guess that you press the left hand button once for clock, twice for FM transmitter. You do get a free car power adaptor and it has 3 savable preset frequencies.

3. The Audio Input is not brilliantly sensitive, turn MP3 Player to near top volume.

4. In-house, signal is good, easily goes to the next room and sound is good too.

5. In-car, it worked better than expected: I drive around Berks/Hants and using 107.3 I had perfect noise free reception of my MP3 player all the way. It's strong signal seems to block out any weaker interfering stations. Transmitter turns off automatically if no sound for a min or two, this spares the batts if used, quite clever.

Find it on Ebay by searching for: black fm transmitter 200

example
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Black-FM-Transmitter-200-Channels-for-ipod-MP3-CD-VCD_W0QQitemZ120231405788QQihZ002QQcategoryZ58350QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

My seller was esemart

On the other hand those all-in-one Cigarette lighter ones do look neater. If anyone has found a cheap one that performs well perhaps they could add their comment? Are there any with 200 freqs to choose from, easier to find a free freq - a lot of the ligher socket ones have only a handful of freqs.

edit: Just discovered that the car power adaptor was not working. Unscrewed the ciggy lighter adaptor cap and replaced the little fuse and all is well.