Kensington LiquidAUX Auxiliary Car Kit with Remote for iPod; iPhone 1G, 3G

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 iPod 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.

If you have a Prius, this LiquidAUX by Kensington is the closest thing you will get to a perfect car-phone interface. No, you cannot control it from the Prius touchscreen, but the charger and aux input fit in the center console and you have enough lead to the dock connector to put your iPhone/iPod just about anywhere. Me, I have a Kuda leather mount on the dashboard, a Dice charger cradle, and the Kensington fits in the cradle dock perfectly. The iPhone is then right next to my touchscreen, and an easy reach to control the iPod or phone. I would like about a foot more of dock cable, but the 3 feet length is good enough.

If you had the $15 Belkin cup holder/iPod holder it would work there and the cable coming out of the center console would be even more discreet. I love having my iPhone in easy sight while driving so I can read (NOT send) text messages or see caller ID. Phone calls go through the built-in Prius bluetooth and music plays though the aux line, and the phone switches flawlessly between them.

The only drawback is that voicemails still don't play through either bluetooth or the aux line. For that you have to switch to speakerphone. I think that is a bug within the iPhone, not this Kensington device.

You will, however, need to get a ground loop isolator. You can get them on eBay or Amazon for $10-15. If you don't, the sound gets staticky.

I have gone thrugh about six different methods of linking/charging my iPhone 1G and 3G in my Prius, and short of getting a $250 kit and paying $150 to get it installed, this $55 kit is the absolute best option out there.

The biggest this thing has going for it is that it is the only thing like it. I have searched and searched and nothing comes close to this. If anyone has something like it I would love to know.

The LiquidAUX works great with iPods. It only uses one connection on the bottom of the iPod. This give several benefits. One, less cords and hassle; no longer do you need a cord for the power and one for the headphone jack. Second, the sound quality of the dock connector is measurably better than the headphone jack. Seriously, if you are listening to music on a stereo system through the headphone jack...it's just brain damage. Through the dock connector is near CD quality, there are scientific reviews that prove this point as well.

The Bad.

I own an iPhone 3G. This barely works with it. Half the time there is a message on the screen that says it is not compatible with iPhone. It still functions, but I can only get the remote to work about 10% of the time. It so rarely works that I just put it in the glovebox.

Even with that, I still think it is worth the cash to get the great sound quality and charger.

The Bad.

This thing will fall apart much sooner than you hoped. It is barely put together. The charger portion falls out of the cigarette lighter all the time. The dock portion broke in half after a month. You can put it back together easy enough, though. After a while of this it got so loose that it started to work intermittently. It will charge for 2 seconds and stop for three. You won't notice it when not listening to music, but after a week your battery is toast.

So, you're thinking I got a bad one. Well as I said before, I love it; so much so that after the first fell apart I bought another. That's 2 in less than 6 months.

All the same troubles with the second. I will most likely be on my third before the end of the month.

Come on Griffin, get on your version for iPhone!

Pros:
1 cord to plug into your ipod (instead of Aux through headphone jack + charger)
Cords are nicely wrapped - seem durable
Smart charger - theoretically prevents overcharge
Remote can be placed on left or right
Includes shuffle feature, in addition to pause/play, forward, back
Includes Aux cord extension
Audio excellent

Cons:
Insanely long charger cord (is there no way to have an extension for this instead?)
No cradle
ipod must be powered off or disconnected before remote will work (e.g. remote stops working with it if I turn car off for 5 min, must disconnect charger and reconnect or turn ipod off to get it to recognize it)
Velcro on remote strap oozed glue 1st time it got hot

I have had two prior set-ups - a Kensington FM transmitter (miss the cradle, but not much else - STATIC!), and a simple cig charger + aux cable. I find the audio is much, much improved with this. Whereas there was some feedback/buzzing with the aux cable alone, there is none with this. Perhaps it has something to do with each car's audio or previous reviewers are not turning volume on ipod up to 100% but are instead solely relying on car's volume? (Just guessing) In any event, I am very, very sensitive to buzzing and static, and there is none in my car (late model Prius). However, I am really irritated with the long charger cord cluttering up my center console. I am also not completely impressed with remote set-up - the strap is bulky (remember, depending on where you place it, your hand may be over it). However, I am impressed with how well it holds in place, although I am concerned it may stretch over time.

EDIT: I have now also tried it with the iphone 3G, and it works fine. It initially it came up with the screen - "this accessory was not designed for iphone - do you want to turn airplane mode on to reduce interference?" I selected "no" so I can still use the phone function. It works fine - even better than the others (I don't have to turn my stereo on as high, go figure).

I really liked the design on this, and the steering-wheel remote worked very well at first. But in the middle of the first leg of my first road trip (begun the day after I received the charger), the plastic casing fell off the part that plugs into the iphone. (Note: I handled it with sufficient care, because it was attached to my new 3G, which I adore.) It sort of snapped back on and continued to work fine until the second leg of my trip when the rest of it fell off. On the last leg of my trip, the wiring got messed up, the reception got worse, and the remote control stopped working. I returned it six days after using it, and I'm going to try the Griffin recommended by the amazon reviewer who drives a cooper. Definitely disappointed, especially given the spendy price.

I really wanted to like this device, and the basic functionality works well. Any sound problems, as has been noted in other reviews, is likely caused by ground loop issues. In my car, it sounds clean with no background noise. Remote works fine, which allows me to keep my iPod in the center console, where it is hidden and out of the way. It would be nice if the remote had added functionality, but for play/pause/skip tracks/shuffle it works.

So why one star? When the car's engine is off, the device drains all of the charge from the iPod if it is left attached to the LiquidAUX device. It doesn't matter if you turn your iPod off...if it is attached , your iPod will be dead in a few hours (my iPod is a month old with no battery issues). This is a senselessly stupid design flaw that Kensington should have fixed. At the very least, Kensignton should have warned purchasers not to leave one's iPod connected.

If you don't leave your iPod connected, then this device should work well for you. Otherwise, I would wait until another manufacturer gets the design right.

I really wanted to like this product. I actually bought both the LiquidAUX kit and the Deluxe kit. One to use in my car and one on my motorcycle with my iPhone.

I think they worked once or twice with some adjustments. I know people don't like one star reviews and usually mark them as 'not helpful'. Often times they are right because people rate them with one star because the weren't shipped fast enough or some complaint not related to the product. Or they got the one unit that happened to be DOA.

Not the case here. Here's the problems:

When the iPhone firmware was updated recently, it caused problems with the remote operating and the message that the product was not iPhone compatible. Okay, I checked the manufacturer's website and found their workaround. The message did indeed go away, but the remotes still didn't work.

I decided to try my iPod to see if the problem could be caused by the iPhone, but the remotes didn't work with it either. Called Kensington tech support and they told me (in IndiaEnglish) to try replacing the batteries in remote. This after providing them with the serial number (written in illegible microscopic print inside the remote).

To their credit, they told me they would send me two new remotes (or complete units. I really don't understand IndiaEnglish very well). I should have them in 10 to 12 business days. I didn't have to return the old ones, just trash them. This makes me think they probably have had a lot of problems with these products.

My next gripes have to do with the different models:

The standard LiquidAUX kit:

They must be poorly assembled since the first time I used it it would cut out intermittently. If I just touched the wires going into the power plug they would crackle and pop and had to be delicately positioned to work. The extension cable (which you need unless your cigarette lighter is right next to your mini plug socket) has the same problem, but not as bad.

The Deluxe LiquidAUX kit:

This unit relies on a tight fit in your lighter socket, or you won't be able to keep the thing upright. The clamps holding your phone are not very sturdy and difficult to unlatch to get your iPxxxx out. After a short time most of the physical connections loosen up and you need to prop the business end of the adapter against something to keep it from falling.

I bought both units in Lightning Deals so the price wasn't as bad as it could be. But I'd rather pay more and have something that actually works properly. If I was within the 30 day window, I would have returned them buth.

I am not happy with this purchase.

update 6/9/09: Contacted Kensington and they sent a replacement at no charge. They also did not require the defective unit to be returned. I'm upgrading my review to 2 stars, but no higher because it still shouldn't fail like it did, and Kensington support (in India I suppose) got my phone # wrong, my email wrong, shipped the wrong unit the first time, and took 3 weeks to get it to me.

This is an excellent idea but poor design. The supplied remote works great but the receiver draws power from the iPod when it is connected and the car off. So, if you have the habit of not disconnecting and leaving your iPod in the car over night, you will find that the iPod is fully drained in the morning.

I bought this product to make use of the AUX connector on my '09 Honda Pilot. I wanted to connect my IPhone 3G and the idea of a single connector for recharging and playing mp3s sounded like a good idea.

In terms of sound quality, it's definitely better than an FM transmitter.

However, the down side is that the charger connector (as many people in this forum have observed) is very, very loose. In my case, it caused problems with the sound, at times, only coming out from the left speakers. I had to jiggle it a lot so that the sound would properly come out from both right and left-side speakers. When I hit bumps, it would also cause the right side of the speakers to fade out.

If they fix the charger connector, this would be a much better product. As it is now, I'm going to return it, and use separate cables for the charger and the aux.

I had a Belkin cable with an audio aux port on the car power jack that worked great with my old iPod, but it wasn't compatible with my new iPhone 3G. So I bought this Kensigton LiquidAUX to replace the Belkin cable.

The problem seems to be that both the audio and power jacks fit very loosely in the car's power and aux ports. When both are plugged in properly, everything works as advertised. Unfortunately, the plugs tend to work their way loose, resulting in one or multiple of the following symptoms:

- Buzzing noise in audio
- iPhone not charging
- Remote not working
- iPhone message, "This product not designed to work with iPhone."

Usually, wiggling the plugs or rotating them in the ports fixes these problems, but only temporarily. My power and audio AUX ports are in the center console storage area of my car, and it can be very distracting to have to open the lid and fiddle with these cables whenever there is a problem. The contacts on the power plug are spring loaded, but you can feel that the spring is very weak. I tried to live with it for a few weeks, but got so frustrated that I ultimately returned it. It's a shame because in concept this is the exact product I've been looking for, but the quality is just plain junk. Save your money for someone else to come out with a better solution.