Otium Bluetooth FM Transmitter – Item of the Day
Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.
Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is the Otium Bluetooth FM Transmitter. I was turned onto this product by a listener and knew at once I needed one for my old F350. About 2.5 years ago we got our Toyota 4Runner. It was the first tech heavy vehicle I have ever owned.
I really love being able to play my iphone music and podcasts in it, to make phone calls hands free and hear them over the speakers, etc. I have been trying to talk myself into getting a new stereo for my truck with features like that.
I just can’t justify it! My old beast is a long ago paid for 2005 F350. Not only is it an 05 but it was even when new a bare bones work truck. I paid cash for it in 2011 and it has been a good partner. I just don’t drive it that much any more, so I wanted the cool features and access to my music but couldn’t justify the expense.
I did have a FM Modulator in it for a while that allowed me to play music but it wasn’t really that good of a sound quality. What I had been doing is taking my Bose Speaker with me, but I don’t really like having a 300 dollar speaker sitting in my truck when I am in the store or what have you.
Coming in at only 20 bucks, when I first reviewed it, I almost wrote this thing off but the guy that wrote in about it was raving about it so I gave it a shot. Man this thing is slick. First you pick an open unused frequency on the FM dial and set it to that. You pair your phone to it and that is that. And today it is an even better deal as the price has dropped to only 16 bucks!
Better yet they just upgraded this unit and didn’t even raise the price. After two years the old one in Big Red was getting hard to read the screen so I got one of these as an upgrade. It is everything the older model was an more. Poor Big Red is never getting that shinny new stereo she wants.
With this adapter you can make calls, listen to music or podcasts, etc. One really great thing is it also has a USB port so you can charge your phone and you don’t loose the outlet for that purpose. It also takes an SD card if you want to put music or audio files on it that way.
Another great feature is that it has an aux port, so you can directly connect a non bluetooth device or not use bluetooth on your phone to conserve battery life, or simply because you don’t want to use it for any reason. And the new model even has a USB input so you can use a thumb drive with audio files on it if you want to. On top of it the number of USB charging ports has been increased from one to two. Otium, took upgrading this device seriously.
Most newer vehicles now come with these features built in but if you have an older vehicle this little gadget will give it a hell of an upgrade for only 16 bucks. So check out the Otium Bluetooth FM Transmitter if you have an outdated sound system.
Remember you can always find all of our reviews at TspAz.com
P.S. – My only word of caution is make sure you have some “empty space” on your FM dial based on where you live. Here in Dallas I have 107.7 and 105.1 that are actually empty with minimal bleed over. I have put presets for these two stations on my radio so I can swap if one starts picking up too much static or bleed. I live in a huge market and the dial is really crowded, in many areas the dial is full of empty channels.
I’ve been planning to replace the radio in my ’03 F350, but now going to try this. Thanks
Can you connect this device via the AUX cable to your car stereo, thus eliminating the need for the FM modulator? If not, how is the FM modulation from this device? Like you said in the article above, most FM modulators suck for sound quality. Thanks!
No that Aux is an input not an output. This one sound great for me. If you look at the reviews the first one has a video in it, shows all the features and the sound.
I picked one of these up, and it was an additional $4 off (final price $15.99) at the moment I ordered. It was only $5 more than earphone plug to cassette converter. It’s not perfect, but worth what I paid for it. The USB port does not keep up with the demands of my Samsung Galaxy S7 smartphone, that is, with the simultaneous demands that I put upon the phone in turn. It might keep up with lighter (no pun intended) use, but not nearly as well as Jack’s previously recommended dual USB Apple/NonApple auxiliary plug in charger. (I forget what it’s called.) A lazy remedy to that would be to get an auxiliary plug that turns one jack into dual jacks, then plug the other device in as well for quick charging. (Not to be confused with dueling Jack. I do have advanced training in fencing, but he’d bring a firearm, so no bueno.)
The display on the device was a little weak for daylight. Pay attention to the product tips on Amazon, as the paper instructions in English are less than optimal. Also, watch the video reviews, as previously suggested.
Remember, wherever you go, there you are.
when i was driving truck long haul i played a lot of audio from my laptop on the trucks stereo aux port. the audio was just fine if the truck was off, but when running i got static/interference from the trucks alternator. audio would be fine if the laptop was not plugged in, but that doesn’t last long. instead of getting a very expensive inverter that may have filtered out the noise. i went with an FM transmitter. after trying out a few models i discovered the only was i could get clean audio was if the FM transmitter was powered by a usb port on the laptop itself. got the same noise problem it the transmitter was powered by one of the trucks 12v plugs.
Noise problems can, often times, be mitigated if not eliminated by grounding your hood to the frame if there is not an existing strap. The hinges don’t do a good enough job.
how would grounding the hood effect the radio/ electronics? the noise is from the alternator, and there is a lot of metal in the frame of the truck.
that aside. most new tractor-trailer trucks the hood is all fiberglass.
Jack,
If you do find a similar device that operates on the AM band you will sacrifice two features.
1). Sound quality
2). Stereo (AM Stereo was a thing for a short while)
That is all.
I bought one of these and had it in my van till I bought a new radio with bluetooth built in. Now it is in my wife’s van and she loves it.
I bought one of these the same day the recommendation was made and I love it. It always works, synchs easily, easy set up. Very happy that I bought it. I’ve had several of the non blue tooth FM connections and they were worthless, and a lot more expensive.
I found it funny that it comes with Chinglish Instructions but the voice on it that says “Waiting for Pairing” and “Paired” is done with a James Bond quality English accent.
Purchased Thanks Jack!
Thanks man, let me know how you like it.
I bought one of these roughly a year ago on your recommendation and it gets used every single day. Great sound quality with very little interference (unless I get near a car using the same frequency.) I would buy it again!