Review: LiquidAUX iPod/iPhone Remote Control for Your Car
I have fallen in love with the Kensington LiquidAUX
. It is ingeniously
designed and is an inexpensive option for safely using your iPod while
in the car. If you want the aesthetically most pleasing solution to
integrate your iPod and iPhone controls into your car stereo, this is not
it. This device is specifically designed for the individual, like
myself, who had their iPod sitting on the seat next to them or on the
dashboard, connected to their stereo via an auxiliary input or cassette adapter.
So contrary to some reviews, an aux-in on your car stereo is not
mandatory for use, making this device usable in older cars with a tape
deck and newer cars with the aux-in port.
In my mind, the primary benefits of using the LiquidAUX
instead of
simply manually controlling your iPod while in the car are two-fold: 1)
Safety, 2) Ease of use. Safety: I consider myself a pretty competent multi-tasking driver, but even still anything that keeps my hands on the steering wheel and my eyes on the road has to keep me safer. My wife has pointed out that I swerve a little less and keep a more consistent speed - signs of not being distracted - since using this device.
Ease of use: The LiquidAUX
wireless remote that is mounted on the
steering wheel has four buttons: Play, back, forward, and shuffle. The
first three are obvious and any remote would be lacking without it; but
the fourth, shuffle, is my favorite. In the car, I love to use shuffle
to listen to random songs from either my entire collection or one of my
playlists. Often I find myself reminded of an album that I love or
haven't heard in a while. I wish I could take shuffle off and finish
the album. To do that on the iPod, I would have to go into the settings
menu, then take shuffle off (at least five seconds with my eyes on the
iPod and not on the road). That's what the shuffle button does with one
click. If you get to an album you want to keep listening to, hit that
button, and you will continue on that album or artist. Then when you're
sick of it and want the shuffling to continue, hit the button again,
and off you continue on random again. All of this without even touching
your iPod. So the LiquidAUX provides safety and convenience. Of course,
you are still able to control your iPod the "old-fashioned way" while
connected to the LiquidAUX...just make sure you do it at a red light
;-).
The box comes with a charger device that connects from the cigarette lighter (DC Power) to your compatible iPod (basically everything but a shuffle) or iPhone. There is a small wireless remote control (battery included) that mounts to your steering wheel for easy ability to control your iPod without being distracted from driving. Finally, the charger device has a 3.5mm output to connect to your cars auxiliary in (an extension is included in case your aux-in is further than a few inches from your cigarette lighter.
My car does not have an aux-in so I was concerned that I would not be able to use this device. But the headphone jack on the iPod still outputs audio even while under the control of the LiquidAUX
, so I am
able to connect to my stereo using a cassette tape adapter. This does
make for quite a few wires, however: 1) From charger to iPod, 2)
charger to aux-in port, 3) iPod to cassette-adapter (only if you don't
have aux-in on stereo). This would be my number one foreseeable
complaint. But these are also features that make the LiquidAUX not
confined to a single car. Take it with you in a rental car on vacation,
use it in a friend's car on a road trip, or swap it between your
vehicles. I could not be happier with the LiquidAUX; it is engineered
excellently to do that for which it was designed.
