I’m looking to install Sirius sattelite radio in my rig. I’ve looked around for some unbiased reviews, but haven’t found much. My questions revolove around the reliability of sat radio. I don’t know what I can expect in the woods and out in the boonies.
So have any of you used XM or Sirius (I’d prefer to hear about Sirius) and if so, what did you think?
I have xmradio and I love it. From what I understand, Sirius has (or at least had) a 100% commercial free lineup.
Some of xmradio’s stations have commercials.
Have you ever had any problems with reception in areas with tall buildings, or in the forrest? (If you’re ever around areas like that)
Sirius has 60 channels w/o commercials and (I think) 40 talk channels with some commercials.
So you like XM and I haven’t seen any negative comments yet… looks like it might be a go!
I do have some reception problems and they seem to be location-specific. They’re very brief, though, and barely worth mentioning. I don’t have problems near tall buildings. I don’t drive through any forrests so I wouldn’t know if there are reception problems in such an area.
I went with xmradio because their service was the first available.
I’ll probably go with XM when I get it. I just can’t take radio too siriusly.
Thank you! I’ll be here all week. Don’t forget to tip your waitress.
I have sirius and absolutely love it. It depends on what you want, though. I’d say, general rule. If you like Talk, go with Sirius. If you like Music, check out XM’s program guide.
Sirius has some good music stations, but, for some reason, the playlists never really grab me. So I find myself wandering back up the dial to the talk stations.
I LOVE the fact that Sirius carries NPR…XM Doesn’t.
I also like the personalities on Sirius talk, so I doubt i could change.
As far as reception the only time I have issues is in the rain, where the signal is weakend, and easily blocked by a bridge.
In the bright-day sun, going under bridges has no efffect, even REALLY wide bridges (like the ones in Atlanta, where I live <g>)
As far as buildings and trees…I’ve never driven through a “forrest” yet. But I’ve been VERY impressed how well the signal stays in, even when you can’t see the sky.
Go to the websites and look at the channel line-ups. You’ll know which’ll suit you better.
PLUS…at least sirius will let you stream some of their channels so you can get a “taste” for it. (the streams are limited to 20 minutes if you’re not a sirius subscriber)
Steve
Thanks a lot guys. I’ll definitely check out the program guide on Sirius. Glad to hear(heh!) the reception tends to be very good.
Appreciate the responses!
One problem with Sirius is their long term outlook is not anywhere near as strong as XM.
If you go with Sirius, be prepared to face the fact that you lose your 200$ investment in equipment if they go belly up.
XM is closing in on the 1million sub mark, and has strong deals with auto manufacturers and car rental companies. Sirius is still under the 100,000 mark, and has much smaller deals with rental companies and auto companies.
What city are you in? XM places terrestial repeaters throughout many large cities to give you service in tunnels, downtown areas, etc. Look around on www.xmfan.com , there are discussions regarding repeater locations.
If you go with XM, get the delphi unit…then by purchasing a home and a car kit, you can move the receiver around and only have to pay for one account.
I received an XM from SO for XMAS sorry, i just could’t resist. Since then, I have added two more to my daily life (home and office in addition to the original auto system) and have turned on four more friends who have actually purchased systems (not to mention all those people to whom I have XM witnessed). I have made several business road trips with nary the first interruption, I live one block from the Atlantic Ocean (read lots of potential weather disturbances) and have not experienced the first interruption. My cable has gone out, my DSL has been shot, my electric has blipped, but as long as I have batteries in my boom box…dude, I have tuneage.
I know, it sounds like I work for them (and I sometimes wish I did) but this is really an amazing product and as much as I can piss and moan about other stuff, hey, I can be a positive kinda bug.
I just bought a Sirius yesterday and I’m loving it.
The main reason I chose Sirius was that the equipment was cheaper. The Kenwood Here2Anywhere uses the same “docking” idea as the Delphi SkyFi (though there’s no boombox dock for the H2A), but it was $30 cheaper than the SkyFi.
The other reason was that it’s 100% commercial free. IMO it’s worth an extra $3 per month to not have to listen to any more commercials.
Also, I wouldn’t worry about their future. It looks like they’re planning to offer streaming video in the future, which would make them competitors to DirecTV and Echostar.