Review: Griffin Navigate

Radio remotes for iPod are nothing new. Griffin itself previously had the iFM, and even Apple has gotten into that game. But Griffin’s new Navigate is something else entirely. The six front-face buttons allow you to toggle back and forth between your iPod or iPhone’s music and the Navigate’s built-in FM radio, and the two-line screen not only displays track info for whatever is currently playing, it also allows you to navigate (hence the name) through the entire music library of your iPod or iPhone via artist, song title, album name or playlist – plus EQ settings and shuffle mode.



I found that the best way to use the Navigate was to place my iPhone in my front pocket (upside down to accommodate the cable sticking out of its bottom) and then clip the Navigate to the top lip of my pocket, but just as easily could have clipped it to the bottom of my shirt. The cable is only about two feet long, meaning that you can put your iPod or iPhone into a bag but you’ll need to do so in a way that the Navigate can be placed where its screen is still visible to you.



Despite all its functionality, the interface is easy enough to figure out. Press the MODE button until you land on the screen you want (“artists” for instance), then use the forward and back buttons to move between the artists on your iPhone alphabetically. Users with a large number of artists may want to take time to make some additional playlists to make navigation easier.



The only flaw in this brilliant concept is that iPhone users can’t take phone calls through their earbuds because the mic and button on the earbuds are useless when plugged into the Navigate’s headphone port (moving the earbuds back to the iPhone’s own headphone port during the call will do the trick). Still, even as an iPhone user, I can’t see myself leaving the house without the Navigate in hand.

Learn more at GriffinTechnology.com