Gear4 ProControl review: Gear4 ProControl
Gear4's ProControl gives you a simple way to connect your iPod to your home stereo, computer and charge it all at the same time. It's hardly a unique product, just one that does its job well.
Design
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
The dock part of the ProControl is decked out in white, proving either that there's little imagination in the eyes of most iPod product designers or that people like things that already look like iPods. Given the sales reach of the iPod, probably the latter. The top of the ProControl houses the docking mechanism, and like the Gear4 HouseParty II, adaptors are provided to more snugly fit your iPod into the dock itself. A light on the front indicates charging activity, while ports on the rear of the unit let you connect up to power via the provided AC adaptor, as well as out to AV and USB connections for listening/viewing and synchronisation respectively.
The ProControl ships with a credit-card sized remote control, although it's significantly thicker, and almost the same size as the top of the ProControl dock itself. The remote allows you to power up the ProControl and manage playback controls, including the use of playlists without touching the iPod itself.
The AV cable that ships with the ProControl terminates in two stereo RCA plugs and a single composite RCA connector for hooking up your iPod to your home theatre, or any other compatible audio output solution for that matter.
Performance
There's certainly no shortage of docks on the market, and while the ProControl isn't truly exceptional, it does outdo the official Apple dock at least in the fact that pretty much all the required cables and connectors are in the box at an asking price that works well when you consider everything on offer.