Old car so no AUX, have been using a cassette adapter but thats not working well, I think want a bluetooth (not cable faff as phone case needs removing etc) transmitter to play Spotify that doesn’t drop out all the time and plugs into fag lighter. Ebay is full of the things, any recommendations or alternative solutions?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07J9VD5FR?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I used this one for a good while in my old car, was nice and reliable, only issue was that if you wanted to use the USB ports it had to be powered on.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B078J7KYXB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I use this one. Probably all the same thing underneath. My 2008 car has phone handsfree but no music streaming so this works great. Phone connects to both the car Bluetooth and this, tuned a spare channel on the radio and can listen to stuff from the phone, with nav sounds plus the car handsfree still works.

Has its own mic so will work as a handsfree too. Also copied a load of albums to a USB flash drive that it shuffle plays. And it charges the phone.

A friend has a cheap one off ebay, wouldn’t have known it wasn’t just a CD. Much better than the old one I had to use with a walkman 20 years ago.

Looking at these, there seems to be different versions of bluetooth…

https://xiaomi-mi.com/fm-transmitters/

i’ve got one of these in the van. seems pretty reliable.

Bluetooth 4.2 is fine for these things.

Out of interest….. do these things still struggle with interference from different stations as you travel across regions? I remember old ones (probably 15 years ago) being a right pain for that

I used an Anker one (old version of the first link) in my old car. Highly recommended.

Not sure why, but they seem much better than the old bulky ones I used to use years ago. Dunno if they have a more powerful transmitter, or FM is less congested? Mines at 108 MHz I think, seems to work everywhere.

Out of interest….. do these things still struggle with interference from different stations as you travel across regions? I remember old ones (probably 15 years ago) being a right pain for that

If you set the FM frequency to 108.0, it’s pretty much fine. Occasionally get interference from stations of they’re broadcasting on 107.9, but it’s pretty rare.

Out of interest….. do these things still struggle with interference from different stations as you travel across regions? I remember old ones (probably 15 years ago) being a right pain for that

I think the legal ones are all around ~92 (which interferes with radio 4), the law caught up with them as initially none were legal IIRC.

But most seem to be able to select any frequency these days. Probably because there isn’t really any problem as long as the power isn’t enough to be picked up except in a few nearby cars.

FM Transmitter

We have one of these in my wifes car. I liked that fact that it kept 2x USB charging ports free to use for charging phones.
I’ve never moved it away from the default 107.7 and never had a problem. Think I picked up a nearby car using the same frequency once when this one wasn’t actively transmitting anything. Sound quality is surprisingly good, can’t tell the difference from an aux-in.
Handsfree calling works OK too – nobody has complained they can’t hear me in the few times I’ve used it.

But most seem to be able to select any frequency these days.

Just looked, the regs were amended to let them use the whole FM radio range (87.5-108 MHz). 108 is a pretty safe bet.

I bought one of the firstE ones from amazon, 26 quid, it is bloody brilliant. Worth it just to have 6music in the car.

Bought a cheapo jobbie off of Amazon for about eight quid to dip a toe in these waters, and it just works fine for our needs.