Product Description

AirClick is the remote control you've been missing. The Griffin AirClick for iPod lets you hook up your iPod to your sound system and wander through the house while in full control of your tunes. Pause your iPod to answer the door and then crank it up without even going in the room. AirClick uses RF signals that travel through walls for control anywhere in your home or outside, up to 60 feet away. The five button remote allows for play/pause, next track, previous track, and volume up and down. A hold switch on the side prevents accidentally disturbing your musical nirvana. The remote has a clip on it for convenient attachment. iPod packages include a convenient remote holder with velcro straps to allow attachment as an armband or to a bicycle frame or steering wheel.

Product Details

• Brand: Griffin Technology
• Model: 4021-ACPOD
• Format: CD
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 1.25" h x .50" w x 2.75" l, .24 pounds

Features

• Wander through the house while in full control of your tunes
• Uses RF signals that travel through walls for control anywhere in your home or outside, up to 60 feet away
• Five button remote allows for play/pause, next track, previous track, and volume up and down
• Includes a convenient remote holder with velcro straps to allow attachment as an armband or to a bicycle frame or steering wheel
• Remote Dimensions: 2.75" x 1.25" x 0.5"

From the Manufacturer
AirClick is the remote control you've been missing. The Griffin AirClick for iPod lets you hook up your 'Pod to your sound system and wander through the house while in full control of your tunes. Pause your iPod to answer the door and then crank it up without even going in the room.

AirClick uses RF signals that travel through walls for control anywhere in your home or outside, up to 60 feet away. The five button remote allows for play/pause, next track, previous track, and volume up and down. A hold switch on the side prevents accidentally disturbing your musical nirvana. The remote has a clip on it for convenient attachment. Includes a convenient remote holder with velcro straps to allow attachment as an armband or to a bicycle frame or steering wheel.

Technical Specifications

• Operating Range: Up to 60 feet
• Transmission Method: Radio Frequency
• Frequency: 433.92 MHz
• Remote Battery: CR2032 3V
• Remote Dimensions: 2.75" x 1.25" x 0.5" (not including belt clip; 0.75" max depth including belt clip)

Customer Reviews

Excellent product, does what it claims to do!
Ok! Here's the bottom-line first: (a) It's MEANT to be a remote-control for your PERSONAL use, not for placing the iPod connected to your $800 stereo-system and then trying to play music from another room. (b) It's handicapped by the availability of options of the iPod. What I mean is iPod gives you the options like pause/play/rew/fwd. Now, if someone is thinking why it doesn't allow (Alas - read such reviews); it will mean that GOING OVER what iPod allows. This means someone has to mysterically put the wires INSIDE iPod, reconfigure it to allow such options.
Now - what I felt. Being in New York and travelling daily to office in subway and later a long walk; I needed the ipod to be safely tucked away in my backpack with my Shure (excellent product, isolates sound completely. The iPod earphones are essentially junk) providing me the music and this remote giving me the flexibility to jump songs/replay a song/increase the volume or a simple pause. That - it does immaculately. Perfect. Being in RF range, I CAN place the iPod in my backpack. The previous remote of mine forced me to have the iPod in line of the remote (IR they called it..;) .. rather stupid. NEVER ONCE did the remote miss a beat, did ANYTHING horrible. Best part, they have the hold switch too. That means I can safely chug it along and not fear the buttons getting "accidentally" depressed. Built: Very solid and sturdy.

All in all - a good product. The main unit's connection points are gold-plated, so they are extremely reliable.

Another winner for Griffin Technologies
Macintosh users are familiar with the name Griffin. In their long history, they've made many peripherals and add-ons for those computers (and later, for PCs as well). Most have a massive cool factor (the PowerMate is a good example: it's just a dial and button, but it's perfectly suited to certain jobs; not only that, it's designed so well that you may be itching to get it for looks alone). The AirClick is no exception.

Is your 3G iPod remote getting as frayed as mine? The cable at the iPod end pulled free of the insulation, the clip separated from the controls? Have you EVER been able to clip it to something thicker than a T-shirt? Guess what? For about the price of a new Apple remote, with that too-long wire that has to be curled up somewhere, you can get a wireless one that works seamlessly-- and with considerably more "wow" factor-- than the original. (And be honest. Isn't showing off one of the perks of having an iPod? Wouldn't you like to one-up the other people in your office who bought one after you did? And completely flabberghast those pitiful souls who remain iPodless? Sure you do.)

Cool and timely as it is, that isn't the only reason to get one. The cord limits you. I know that I can only put my iPod in my breast pocket, because the remote has to clip to someplace where (a) it can be easily controlled and (b) where it won't get crushed. With the AirClick, you can carry your player anyplace-- in your backpack, in a belt pouch, under your hat, in that screwdriver pocket of carpenters' pants-- and not have to worry where to clip the remote. Because you can carry the remote anywhere else. The change pocket of jeans is a great place, or hey, how about the inside of your watchband? The clip on it is way better, too; I tried it on a winter coat and it stuck firmly to the thick wool lapel.

(Oh, and if you lose the earbuds, you can make it so that no iPod material is visible to the outside world. No longer must you be mugger bait!)

At home, one might set up a cheap pair of powered PC speakers near the dock, and plug them into the Airclick's headphone jack while the iPod charges. You can then control the music playback from a room or two away. (Do not expect this tiny device, one-half the size of a pack of gum, to control things from a block away. The range is sufficient for any reasonable person, though.) For use in the car or on a bike, it even comes with a handy hook-and-loop type band and a plastic holder to attach to the steering wheel, bicep, or handlebars.

I'm kicking myself for getting the NaviPod, an infrared-based remote. The AirClick is $20 less and 20 times as good. It's one of the few products that has worked for me perfectly right out of the box-- literally! Griffin, you make computer fans happy. I hope you stay in business for a long time to come-- and I hope you continue to come up with products as brilliant, useful, and affordable as the AirClick.

Great Remote, with just a few shortcomings . . .
This remote is almost everything you could hope for. It looks PERFECT with the iPod - with similar finish and build - and it's a breeze to operate right out of the box.

Just a few shortcomings keep me from thinking it TOTALLY perfect:

1) Can't be used while in most cases. But this is a shortcoming of anything that has to be plugged into the top accessory port;

2) *** most critically - if your iPod is docked at all through the docking port, the remote has ***NO*** volume control. You must get up and go over to the dock and raise/lower volume on the dock. Just like the click-wheel volume won't work when the iPod is docked, neither will the volume control on the remote work.

I can overlook the case issue since it's a common issue with accessories. However, I would have liked it to have been made clear that I'd have no remote volume control when the iPod was docked. I guess I could have figured it out - but it didn't occur to me before I bought and used it.

That all said, I still give it a 4 out of 5 rating. It's great if you use the iPod alone, without a case (running, biking, etc). If you want ANY kind of remote for your iPod, you should seriously consider this one.