Kensington/CPC - suckered again !

[Adrian Brentnall]

Hi All I know I shouldn't fall for it - but sometimes the products in the CPC glossies just look so useful....

The new van's got a rotten old tape deck / radio - and I fancied being able to listen to my MP3 through it... Tried the 'dummy cassette' and it wasn't wonderful - then saw this

looked like a bargain - allowing the mp3 to play though a space channel on the radio.

Doesn't work - plenty of audio out of the MP3 - 9/10 of b-all audible on the radio...

Maybe I'm doing something wrong ? Followed the install instructions several times - still doesn't work.

So - off to Kensington tech support online. Couldn't contact tech support without registering, so I registered - then the good bit....

Tech support is only accessible via a webform - and you have to fill in the product number to proceed - but the form doesn't accept the product number of this item.....

Some days you do wonder whether getting out of bed in the first place was a good plan ....!

Memo to self - stop buying cheapo electronics from CPC - this one#ll have to go back along with the wireless networking cards that were rubbish and the wireless mouse that didn't...

Adrian

[Andy Dingley]

Bought a similar thing a while back, as an MP4 player that just happened to do radio too.

Works fine on the back seat, where it's near the antenna but out of reach. Doesn't work well enough if you keep it anywhere you can reach it.

[Old Git]

With these devices you usually have to turn the volume on the mp3 player to Max. I have a couple, not Kensington, and the instructions for both mention this.

[Theo Markettos]

Make up a product number and then tell them their form is broken in the text?

Theo

[Adrian Brentnall]

I guess I should have known better.... after all, the radio installers / designers will have gone to quite a lot of trouble to prevent the radio from picking up interference / signals from within the car (screened aerial leads & so on) so it's not really conducive to getting a good signal from a trabnsmitter _inside_ the vehicle.

The vehicle happens to be a Pug Partner van, with the aerial on the roof

- so I suppose it's more of a 'screening can' than a conventional car would be.....

Adrian

[Adrian Brentnall]

Yes - did that - meant you could 'just' hear the audio, with the MP3 gain and the audio on the radio turned up to '11' - but so quiet that it would be inaudible while driving....

Adrian

[Adrian Brentnall]

Yes - I guess it might come to that....

Annoying though - the website knows about the product - you can even copy/paste the item no from the product section of the website - but when you paste it into the form it's not recognised...

I suppose pasting another item number in might work - and then, as you say, I could explain that their form doesn't work and it's really a different item I'm asking about - but I can see it getting complicated...

Thanks Adrian

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Adrian Brentnall saying something like:

The CPC website has always had the appearance and functionality of something knocked up by a couple of 3rd formers in a garden shed at lunchtime.

[Bob Eager]

Not disagreeing with you, but the OP was talking about the Kensington website...

[Adrian Brentnall]

Which is very pretty - but not very useful.... unlike the cpc one which fails on both counts!

Annoying thing about the CPC site - log in through cpconline.ie (the Irish site that knows about euro & suchlike) - start selecting a basket of stuff - then (I think this causes it) do a search and the darn thing leaps into the UK site, throws away the contents of your basket, and you have to start all over again....

Has anybody had one of the rf-type mp3 adapters work ?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I've bought quite a bit of CPC special offer stuff and never had a problem with any of it. I can't see a company of that size selling rubbish.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Never tried one since my radio has an aux socket. But have you tried it with the adaptor and or its aerial outside the car? The inside might just be semi screened to RF.

[geoff]

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes

I have from time to time

Oh yes

[chris French]

In message , Adrian Brentnall writes

Yep.

First one was pretty crap = did get audio, but also some sort of pulsing interference or something. It was an Ebay cheapo, but I've seen what looks like the same sold via Tesco or somesuch.

But have a Nokia one, that came also with a car charger for the phone. This works fine - audio is clear, doesn't suffer from interference etc.

The annoyances are nothing to do with the device itself - one is that sooner or later on a long journey you will need to retune as a radio station will be on a similar channel. And when you stop, of course the MP3 player continues until you stop it manually. OK with music, annoying if you forget with an audiobook

[Adrian Brentnall]

HI Dave The adapter doesn't have an aerial as such - I guess it must rely on radiating from the leads ? Consists of a 'fat' cigarette lighter plug with the electronics in, a 4" lead to a USB socket (for charging kit) and then a 2'6" long lead with a 3.5mm stereo jack on the end that connects to the MP3 player...

I was testing the thing with the car door open. As I say - there was a very faint signal (with MP3 and radio volume both at max)....

[Adrian Brentnall]

Ah - so they do work, then

Yes - I can see that mght be a problem. Maybe I should stop faffing around and fit my 'other' new radio/cd/usb player (bought to fit in the Moggie Traveller and never got round to it). Thing is- the Pug radio is all 'integrated' - with a display up on the dash - so I don;'t know how you'd adapt the new radio to fit - probably have to do without the dash display and sling the new radio under the dash somewher . I've been nervous to start 'cos I don't have the radio code - so I could easily end up with 'no radios'

Daft thing is that it's only really for occasional use - most of the time there's two of us in the van and we chat - but, from time to time, I'm flying solo on a longer journey and having some (decent!) music on-tap would be good.

[Adrian Brentnall]

They're a big company - and, like any big company, they'll sell anything that turns a profit.

To be fair - their delivery service is very cheap (to this part of the South-West of Ireland) - although they do sometimes fail to engage brain when packing delicate items alongside heavy stuff.

It's just things like this adapter - cost under a (UK) tenner - and it's going to cost me all of that to send it back for a refund... should have known it's to good to be true !

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I'd expect them to re-fund any postage costs - if indeed they want the old one returned. Have you phoned them? I've found them pretty helpful. Although I've never had to return anything for any reason.

Is postage *really* that expensive in your country?

[Bob Eager]

I have usually used the return label on the back of the dispatch note, although it might be different in .ie.

[Adrian Brentnall]

'Fraid so... (it's not 'my' country - I just live here ) OK - so slight exaggeration but AnPost just went through the same 'pricing-out-of-all-proportion' thing with classifying post - so it's looking like 3.5 - 5.0 euro or (7.85 - 10 euro registered).... all to do with the thickness of the package rather than the weight...

As to post coming from the UK to Ireland - you'd be amazed what some suppliers try to charge!

CPC did try to get me to return my pillar drill to them for a refund last year - eventually solved by talking direct to the nice man at Clarke who sent me a new starter cap for free!.....

Such a shame Screwfix don't deliver out here....

Adrian