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Purchased this after a long search and many visits to Car Toys and other auto accessory stores. The product took me only 90 minutes to install; most of this time was spent pulling out the stereo head unit (an HU-605 in my 2006 Volvo S80).

It works very well with the IPod; the only complaints:

1) Sometimes when you start the car; the system skips around and the stereo displays “CD Changer Load Discs”. It takes about 5 seconds and then it works fine.

2) If you try and quickly change the “CD” (which changes the playlist) the unit can become confused, and it takes a few seconds to recover its mind.

Other than that, it works well and I’m happily listening to my ipod; and my sirius radio through the AUX input on the unit.
Rating: 4 / 5

The install was pretty easy and the unit works great! The sound quality can be anywhere from 7-9 out of 10 but I think it depends on what I’m listening to. If I’m listening to my iPod, the sound quality is about 8-9 out of 10 with a little bit of hissing sometimes (Note: I tapped into power and ground on my factory stereo harness – that alone should give me the best sound so I’m not sure why there’s a little hissing sometimes). Other times if I’m listening to online radio (I use an iPhone) the hissing gets a little louder but never enough to really bother me. Let’s just say it’ll always still sound better than AM radio.

I like how it gives you the option to choose between playlist mode (i.e. you can only play playlists from the iPod but you can control the iPod from your stereo) or manual mode (i.e. you play whatever you want but you have to control it from the iPod). I use manual mode because I love listening to online radio, especially now that the iPhone has a Sirius/XM app (I don’t have an XM unit). I used to HATE using an FM transmitter to listen to online radio. The sound quality would be horrendous!

One thing I don’t like is how it automatically starts playing from your playlists as soon as you plug it in. Wonder if there’s a way to stop that? Sometimes I’d like to just listen to online radio but it’ll automatically start playing from the iPod. No big deal. I’ve gotten used to stopping the playback before selecting my online radio apps. No big deal.

I also have my Garmin GPS plugged into the RCA jacks so I can hear the audio through my car speakers. That works great as well! Wish I had built-in navigation in my car so I’d be able to watch video from my iPhone through the screen.

Great product at a very reasonable price
Rating: 4 / 5

This item is fantastic. Installed it in my ’05 XC70 and now my Sirius sounds as good as CD’s, my son’s IPOD and my MP3 player sound great and all are free of the annoying FM modulation background interference. Go to [...] and [...] for detailed instruction on how to remove the climate/radio control. I used the radio ground wire as suggested in these directions and it worked like a champ. In one hour you’ll be as happy as I am with your auxilliary enabled factory radio. To connect your satellite radio or non Ipod MP3 you’ll need to buy a separate Audio Y Cable Splitter 1-Mini Plug/2-RCA Plugs connector. I had one in my pile of old cables in the basement. Audio Y Cable Splitter 1-Mini Plug/2-RCA Plugs see: [...]

While you have the radio/climat control removed consider wiring a directly wired/fused connection for your satellite or other auxilliary item (now using a cigarette lighter plug) to the cigarette lighter wiring.
Rating: 5 / 5