Crest Electronics FM Transmitter (MFM10)

With the iPod phenomenon making MP3 players one of the biggest movers in electronics over the past few years, the accessory market has literally exploded, with many companies rushing in for a piece of the pie. Unfortunately, rushing to make a product isn't always the best solution and it seems Crest have fallen into this trap, producing a barely useable product that fails in almost every department.

The MFM10 FM Transmitter is designed to plug directly into your MP3 player through its standard 3.5mm headphone jack, and use the FM radio frequency to output your music through your car's speakers. It spells simplicity - right from the single on/off Power button and frequency switch on the left hand side, to the bland silver plastic finish. It's not attractive, nor sleek, but the LED light which glows red when the unit is powered on is a nice touch, as it the non-slip rubber base (which doubles as the battery cover). Unfortunately simplicity can sometimes spell poor quality and this is the case with the MFM10.

The main problem with the unit is the frequency selection that Crest has chosen to employ on the device. For some unknown reason, you are forced to select from only four FM frequencies (89.2, 89.4, 89.6, 89.8) which are selected by moving the slider button to correspond to the appropriate selection. This sounds fine in theory, but someone at Crest forgot to note that even though these channels aren't used by any current radio stations, they can still experience distortion and feedback from closer frequencies. In attempting to choose the best option to transmit our iPod to, we were extremely disappointed to hear that all four of the frequencies on the three car radios that we tested this device on weren't clear. This means that once you tune into the channel you wish to use, you can barely hear your music due to the heavy interference.

Why Crest decided to make use of four fixed frequency channels rather than allowing the user to select the clearest channel relative to his or her area is truly is puzzling. Its unfortunate, as this product suffers greatly and becomes almost barely useable. In light of this, we simply advise you to look elsewhere.