6 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
Small sleek unit compared to others
Date of Review: Apr 15, 2007
The Bottom Line: Yes, b/c it's sleek looking in the car with the ability to show channel selection, artist and song.
I got this unit back in early Sept 06 when my XM Sky Fi Delphi 2 got stolen at the mall when I parked there to attend a Yankee game. I had bought this off of eBay and had it installed at Circuit City (Middletown NY). They did a good job there with the XM and liked their service.
Now the reason for this review is that currently as of today, my service has been crapping out on me within 5 mins of starting my carn and driving.
The device says "aquiring signal". I had called up Sirius 1st to see if they can do a signal boost. After they sent the signal boost (takes 30 secs up to 5 mins), I still had no luck. They then said to unplug all the wires(3) from the docking station and wait about 30 secs to 'reboot'. Kinda like a computer which I am experienced with.
PROS
A lot of memmory for artist selection OR song selection.
Sleek and small design. Able to fit the channel name, artist and song being played.
Sirius in general - NFL games, both Home and Away announcers; 5 great selections of genre, like Rock, Metal, Alternative, Classic etc
CONS
Ok, don't wanna sound like I am nit picking but here goes...
Small remote. Like I said before, I had the XM sky Fi 2 before and their remote was the perfect size. Numbers weren;t close and about to punch them in w/o looking down on a small remote.
Everytime my favorite artist or song is being played on a different station, the alert beep is way to high and kinda annoying. Since I drive mostly by myself, I can tune it out...however, when other passengers were in the car, they always ask me about that and what that noise is. Just imagine if you save a favorite new song that could be played on 6-7 given stations plus 29 other options you had selected.
Sometimes I like to listen to regular radio such as the Yankee game or NY sports talk radio. I have to fumble thru like 3-4 screens on the Sportster 4 to get to FM Modulator and to turn it off to get regular signal into my car w/o the Sirius modulator interfering from it. Some people might say to just turn the system off. However, what I like to do it listen to the terr. radio while Sirius is still on, maybe I'll catch a favorite alert song on there and can later replay it when sports talk goes to a commercial. A single button switch on the remote would be PERFECT!!!
Since that didn't work, the Sirius rep said that I prolly have a damaged antenna...which I prolly figured anyway.
I had waited about a week before I acted on this to see if this problem will fix itself. I just got fed up when listening to Artie talk about his trip to Bob Kraft's house when all of a sudden, my signal disappears for like 35 of my 45 min commute to work.
Other times, I got gotten the message 'antenna not detected'. To fix this, all you have to do is jiggle the wires around the docking station in the car. A coworker of mine had experienced this but he installed it himself...while I had it installed at Circuit City, hard wired with an FM Modulator. (which is a must b/c I use to get pissed when my radio station would pick up other signals from more urban areas and other cars on the road.)
Satellite radio is not cheap. And if you plan to do it, you should do it right with a hard wire install and FM Modulator.
So now I am in the market of a new Sirius Antenna. I plan to buy a new one at Circuit City ($55) $10 warranty (good for 2 years; replaced and installed for free) insallation of it. Which I may do on my own.
