Sirius Sportster 4 SP4-TK1 Satellite Radio Receiver with Car Kit

You may seriously question my opinions and taste when I tell you I am a huge Howard Stern fan. Sorry! As such, I became a member of the Sirius Satellite family in January 2007.

My husband set me up with the Sportster Satellite Radio Receiver and Car Kit. He installed it for me and said it was simple. I believe him since this was done quickly and without incidence of coloful language or blunt force to inanimate objects.

The Sportster is sleek and nice enough looking. In my car, it is situated unobtrusively in the inside lower left portion of my windshield. We selected this receiver for the ability to remove it from the car for use in the home, outside, or anywhere else. Additional components are required for this versatility, for which we are equipped.

Here's what you get:

SIRIUS Sportster 4 features the same large, easy-to-read display, rotary turning knob and large buttons as the previous Sportster models, but now fits even easier into your car, home or boombox.

Owners guide

Features

GameAlert™—Prompts when your favorite games are being broadcast and alerts you when the scores change
GameZone™—Lists all your favorite teams in one category and lets you select a different team from each of the various sport leagues including NFL, NBA, NHL® and college sports
Parental control and channel lock
SIRIUS Replay™—Pause, rewind and replay 44 minutes of live radio
30 channel presets
One-Touch Jump—One touch to traffic and weather reports for your city, or tune to your favorite SIRIUS channel
New SIRIUS Universal Docking capability means more accessory options designed to fit your life
Slim profile vehicle docking cradle for easy, attractive in-vehicle installation
Large, easy-to-read 6-line display
Easy-to-use rotary tuning knob
MEMO with S-Seek stores and alerts by artist and song
Wireless FM transmitter with 100-frequency choices and FM frequency list shortcut button for quick, easy FM transmitter frequency changes

Kit includes:
- Radio
- Remote
- Vehicle docking cradle
- Vehicle power adapter
- Vehicle antenna
- Suction cup & vent mounts

WHAT I LIKE (my use of Sirius is really limited to Howard Stern and Sports)

30 presets (program 30 favorites)

Game Alert (serious football fan, serious March Madness fan)

Game Zone (ditto)

One touch Jump ones (with so many channels, an excellent feature for programming and switching channels)

REALLY cool SIRIUS Replay™—Pause, rewind and replay 44 minutes of live radio

My husband likes the memo feature which will alert you to favorite artists/song titles.

Universal Docking capability means more accessory options designed to fit your life. For me this means:

I can remove it and dock it in my (shhhh!) top floor office, at my son's soccer games (which sometimes coincide with Giants games and March Madness)and if I'm lucky enough to get a signal, in my home.

There are plenty of other features which for many, would be a much appreciated benefit. Like, parental control. Personally, my 12 and 15 year old are too busy with their IPODS, DVD players, or good old fashioned texting to bother with the Sirius. Refer to features above for more that might be of interest to you.

Here's what could be improved:

The boring black and white display.

The QUALITY! I had to replace mine within a year because the backlight in the display was no longer working, which rendered the display useless. Additionally, within the first year, sometime before the display backlight went out, the backlight for the 11 buttons located on the bottom of the unit also went out. The display on my second Sportster is still backlit, but again the buttons are out with the exception of no. 7 and 8. Not the end of the world, but certainly annoying.

Remember this is the receiver only, so I can't comment on sound as this will be determined by whatever docking station is in use. I can tell you that I have a boom box with average sound, and I have an office docking station with excellent sound. And of course it would be off topic for me to extoll the virtues of Sirius Satellite. But if you're familiar with it, and your car isn't equipped with it, you're going to need a receiver.

Skip this one, and try the Sportster 5. Haven't tried it yet, but I'm sure it's an improvement over the Sportster 4.For more information, here's the manufacturer's website: www.directed.com. Plenty of product info and where to buy. And some additional phone numbers for Directed (manufaturer of the Sportster)

Customer Service: 1-800-753-0600

Technical Support: 1-800-753-0600

Find a Store (by phone): 1-800-274-0200

At the time, my husband paid about $125.00 total for the receiver and car kit. You can find better prices at several online outlets. Overall, if you want Sirius, and your car isn't equipped, you're going to need a receiver. We're about to purchase a new car and if the Sirius-XM merger doesn't go through soon, I'll be stuck with an XM equipped car. Which means I'll still need a receiver. This one is so-so quality and I'm hoping for more from the Sportster 5...