First of all I know this is a "product" review but I've got to mention the shipping aspect. I chose the free shipping and actually received the item 4 days ahead of schedule. Felt that was well worth mentioning. As far as the actual product, it's amazing. I had the Flexsmart X2 and had the same problem as the first reviewer....it wouldn't play through all my car speakers. But I've had no issues with the X3. The sound is friggin' amazing. I've tried several FM transmitters and this one is by far the best. Music through the Bluetooth connection sounds just like cd quality....crisp and clear with good bass. Just sounds really full. Anyway, I do agree that the thing is ugly, but I drive an '06 Camry so I'm certainly not going to impress the ladies with my FM transmitter. Anyway, the cosmetics aren't enough to throw it out, the performance is too good to do that (hey that line works in a lot of situations). Crap, sorry, back to the review....it's simple to pair with your phone. I have an iPhone 5 and it literally paired in seconds. You don't have to press anything on the unit to make it "ready" to pair. It automatically shows up on your list of Bluetooth devices. It pairs back up to your phone again automatically ever time you turn the transmitter back on. I've used the handsfree calling a couple times...works great. I will say the light color behind the buttons is pretty cool. It's that cool blue futuristic look...like something out of Tron Legacy. Of course as the description reads, it has a USB port to plug your phone in so you can charge it. That right there is a pretty stellar feature (you can pretty much throw your car charger in the glove box). All in all...this thing is well worth the price. Amazing (and I mean absolutely AMAZING) sound quality. You won't be dissapointed....from Lil Wayne to Taylor Swift and from Eminem to someone singing you happy birthday on a handsfree phone call*...all your music will sound awesome.*Note: the level of awesomeness on the birthday song really depends on who is singing it...don't blame the device if the person singing sounds like Pee-Wee Herman is choking himself.
Overall Impression:
This is one great product. The Bluetooth integration makes this super convenient. Just start your car up, have your phone in your pocket and the GOgroove starts playing your music and is ready to take incoming calls via the Bluetooth system.
The sound quality is very good. The main reason I bought this was because I had a cassette with a cord to play the music on my iphone. But quite often it made this really annoying interference sound that electronics sometimes have on speakers. With this product there is no crazy beeping or bad noises.
Connecting to a clear radio station is very easy. You just need to hold the middle button for a few seconds and it pics a new station. I live in the bay area so I need to change the station when I travel about every 30 miles. You do need to take some time and "try out" various F.M. stations. One station might be clear, but if you drive 10 minutes, it gets really fuzzy. I found a station that sounds great from my house to my school, about a 8 mile distance. I don't need to keep changing the station to get a clear signal. Though when driving long distances, be prepared to change the station every once in a while to get a clear signal.
You do need to turn up your volume on your car really high when listening to audiobooks or recordings. This in turn sometimes produces a little fuzzy sound in the background, but it doesn't bother me much. If you get a really good station, no fuzzy sound is noticeable. One bummer is this device does not "remember" your volume setting. So when I listen to my audiobooks or recordings, every time I have to manually turn the devices volume up to max to get the best quality of sound. If someone from the company is reading this, please ADD this feature to your next device.
The device looks nice in the car, I got a compliment from my girlfriend. :) She actually was interested in getting one because it "looks good" even-though she has an auxiliary port in her car! The blue accent lighting is quite nice, it adds a special "touch" at night.
Call Quality:
The call quality is good. I can hear the other person through my speakers easily. Also the people I am talking with say they can hear me clearly..no echoing has been found.
Hidden surprises I found using the product:
1. If you are listening to your ipod or even PANDORA, then the next time you start your car up, the device starts playing automatically. This is really nice because it saves time going through your device and starting up your music or audiobooks. It also pauses what you are listening to when you turn off the device or turn off your car.
2. You don't need to plug the cable from the phone to the GOgroove, it works via Bluetooth! Maybe it says this in the description, but it was a pleasant surprise to me. I thought the Bluetooth was only for the calling aspect.
3. The Pause/Play button and skip forward or backward buttons on the GOgroove device work with my ipod (through my iphone) and on PANDORA via Bluetooth. This is great because now I just keep my phone in my pocket when I get in and out of my car. No more spending time fumbling around to connect my device (especially nice in the cold mornings) or forgetting my phone in the car.
4. I won't lose this thing! I keep it in my car, and vuala! I say this because I have owned Bluetooth headsets and I have either lost them or broke them because they are so small and delicate. Also when I did have my headset, I would wear it into the house from my car and forget it next time I drove my car and NEEDED to use it. Now I just turn on my car and I am "Bluetooth ready" to take calls.
Overall this is a great alternative if you don't have an auxiliary port or are looking for an alternative Bluetooth device to take calls in your car. You can message me with any questions you may have.Just purchased and recieved the Gogroove Flexsmart X3 for use in my 2002 Honda Accord, with my iPhone5. My Accord has the factory radio and up until now I had been using an FM transmitter that required me to plug a cable into the earphone jack on the iPhone. I was worried that the continued plugging and unplugging would wear out/damage the earphone jack. I felt that a bluetooth link from the phone to the transmitter was what I needed.
After reading various reviews online I ordered the X3. Pairing was very easy and it feels like a solid, well built device, however the X3 has it own internal volume control that needed to be turned up all the way to give me good sound in the car (while the car radio and the iPhone were set at approx 1/2-3/4 volume level each). OK, so I don't mind adjusting the volume on the X3 ONCE, but the problem is everytime that the car is turned off and the X3 loses power the internal volume level on the X3 reverts to a much lower setting. So now everytime I get into my car I have to press the volume up button on the X3 several times to get it back to where I need itWhat a pain!! It doesn't matter if I'm listening with the key in the "acc" position and then I start the car, the momentary loss of power to the X3 resets the volume level to a much lower setting than I need.
For Pete's sake, They designed this thing so that it retains the radio station preset internally to broadcast to my car stereo, why can't it also retain my last volume level when it powers down??? Like most people, I am using it day after day in the exact same car with the exact same phone. They dropped the ball on this aspect of the design.
I thought maybe this Gogroove Flexsmart X3 was going to solve my problems. Turns out it created new ones.
The call is yours, if you don't mind having to fiddle around with this thing everytime you get into your car buy it. For me it is likely going to be returned.
One last gripe: Offer a color choice other than white. Having to put my fingers on it so often to get it to work properly is only going to show dirt. Does everyone have to copy Apple's design?I would've rated this a 5 if it came with an AUX cable with a noise filter.
If you have an iPhone and an AUX input in your car, this is the way to go, if you don't wanna spend the time and money on a full out in-dash Bluetooth head unit. It's one of the few units that have both "AUX In" and "AUX out" ports.
To put it simply, if you hate FM transmitters, and have an AUX/Headphone port in your car, this thing gives your car Bluetooth capability over the car's audio system.
Pros:
Auto-connect: no manual pairing needed. As soon as you turn on car, it pairs with iPhone and plays your podcasts or playlists over the car's speaker system (unlike the Motorola Roadster 2's crappy mono speaker output), pausing automatically for phone calls and GPS queues, and then auto resuming after ended call without any button pushing, manual pair, etc.
Flexible neck makes it super ergonomic for all cars
Great sound. Once again, it uses car's speakers, making it better than Jabra and Motorola's output systems. Though you will need an AUX cable with a digital noise filter. Kensington makes one for like $12, sold on Amazon.
Price
Cons/Suggestions for Improvement:
Galaxy s3 doesn't pair for some crazy reason
Please include a digital AUX cable with a noise filter. Seriously, with the supplied cable, there's so much static that it's almost unusable without one.
Make a way to turn off the FM transmitter. I use the AUX/Bluetooth solution. I don't need my phone calls broadcast on FM
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