iSimple ISFD531

iSimple ISFD531 is iAwesome OMG1337!

I purchased this product to be able to stream music from my smartphone to my stock stereo. The stock deck in my 2007 Ford Five Hundred didn't have an auxiliary 3.5" audio jack like most modern cars; although, it did have an Aux button on the radio, there was no way to utilize it. After some extensive research I found that my stock deck has the ability to accept a CD changer, Satellite radio system, or an after market device to act as the auxiliary port using an unused port on the back of the stereo. The iSimple ISFD351 simply connects to the stock radio's auxiliary port using a provided wiring harness adapter. The stock harness unplugs from the radio and plugs into the iSimple device, you then plug the iSimple device into the back of your stereo. That's all there really is to it. You then connect one of the two provided cables into the device to give you either a 3.5" input jack or you can use the component cable for L/R audio. There's also a USB port;however, the instructions weren't very clear on it's use or compatibility so I left it alone. Once it was all connected I powered on the car and pressed the aux button on my stereo, this cycles through the aux inputs that are useable. They show up as SAT1 through SAT 3 for each of the three ports on the iSimple device.(two serial to RCA or 3.5" and one USB)I selected SAT1, plugged my phone into the 3.5" cable I ran up and through my center console and had sweet sweet music playing through my stock stereo! No need for an expensive $100+ stereo and complicated installation. Cheap and does the job I asked it to.

Don't expect this to improve the sound of your system, give you earth shattering bass or anything like that. It's simply an interface. It does it's job reliably and with NONE of the static or irritation that FM transmitters are plagued with. I would buy another one of these in a heart beat. I will warn you though, this device is potentially a gateway device akin to a gateway drug... you will soon find your stock system inadequate and will want better sound. If you want to find a way to adapt a subwoofer to your stock stereo, don't do it. You can get adapters that pull signal from your stock stereo but you can only pull from either the front or rear channels at a time so you end up missing the bass tones from half the channels and it's just not a good solution. Save your time and money and buy a new deck at that point. Until then, snag one of these bad boys and enjoy some internet tunes on your stock deck.

Look/Design has 4 stars because A. Its a black box in my center console so I really don't give a hoot about the looks; however, design wise the included harness adapter is awesome and made the installation dead on easy.
Features has 4 stars only because the manual(if you could call the couple folded pieces of paper a manual) made no mention of the use or functionality, let alone compatibility of the devices included usb port. Is it for programming the iSimple ISFD531 from the factory? Is it an apple device port to allow me to control an iPod from my deck? Is it how I'll interface with the Hive mind through my car in the great robot uprising of 2050?! I don't know! Some info on that port would've been great as an internet search didn't provide any more useful information. I also got lazy and stopped caring after a couple of weeks. So there's that.

Works great.

Installed this product quite easily in my vehicle in less than 30 minutes. Makes the auxiliary button useful in my Ford Freestyle instead just a button that says auxiliary.