Satellite Radio - Which one?

[Pegster710]

Sirius

My son wants Sirius for his car for Christmas. Problem is, i'm not sure what to get.

To complicate matters further, he's planning on getting a new (to him) vehicle in the near future, but he'll be keeping the Hyundai Accent as a "spare".

Can you give me any recommendations on how to proceed? What equipment should I get? Or is there a place to go for gift certificates?

 

[alex]

Pegster,


I am looking at a portable unit for Sirius. I would like one that can go from car to home/office. Right now I can only find one or the other. So I am still undecided. I checked out http://www.cnet.com for recommendations on what to get. They are usually pretty on the money with their recommendations.

 

[itsbob]

My son wants Sirius for his car for Christmas. Problem is, i'm not sure what to get.

To complicate matters further, he's planning on getting a new (to him) vehicle in the near future, but he'll be keeping the Hyundai Accent as a "spare".

Can you give me any recommendations on how to proceed? What equipment should I get? Or is there a place to go for gift certificates?

I think both XM and Sirius are the same in this regard.. there is nothing being permanently installed.. it's a matter of five minutes to remove the antenna the control head, AC adaptor and Cassette adaptor to take it and install it into another car.

You can even buy extra "parts" so you can move the receiver from home to car, or different cars.

ROADY2 came with a home system, stand cables and antenna, so you could take it with you into the house or office.

 

[gumby]

I have both. Sirius has everything over XM period. XM is great if you like listening to music you have never heard before. The talk shows get old quick. Sirius has much better music and talk. Crystal clear with no dead spots. I hit many dead spots with XM (trees, thick clouds) JMO

 

[FastCarsSpeed]

I think both XM and Sirius are the same in this regard.. there is nothing being permanently installed.. it's a matter of five minutes to remove the antenna the control head, AC adaptor and Cassette adaptor to take it and install it into another car.

You can even buy extra "parts" so you can move the receiver from home to car, or different cars.

ROADY2 came with a home system, stand cables and antenna, so you could take it with you into the house or office.

I will tell you this.. I have the whole incar system now and the carity and signal are soo much better over the portable units. I love it too I switch from my mp3 cd over to satellite and roll LOL..

 

[Steve]

Stern is SOOOO 10 years old. I tired of his stupid human antics YEARS ago.

STEVE what channel is that show on??

Stern is on 106.7, from 6:00am until 10:30-ish. His last show is next Friday. Then they'll play "Best of..." until January 3rd, when Don & Mike take over his morning slot.

I agree that Stern's 3rd-grade humor is a bit tired. His height was 1985-1995, IMHO. The only plus side to Stern, over all the others, is that he gets the real celebrities in his studio, all the time. This morning he had Donald Trump. I like hearing the celebs act more honest around him than on most other talk shows.

 

[ladylara]

i love my XM... hubb and i both have car units and a home set up. we paid for our service upfront and we got a "better" monthly rate.

as far as dead spots... i've only experienced one in the ranch club. must be a overpowering satellite at that spot or something.

from what i understand, sirius upped their rates due to stern. that's not very customer friendly to the people who already had them BEFORE stern.

 

[Christy]

So what's the best hardware to get if you'd want to use it in your car and at home? :shrug: I gave it a quick glance and it's confusing with all the gadgets availabe. What all would you need? Do you need adapters, do you not? :shrug:

 

[itsbob]

So what's the best hardware to get if you'd want to use it in your car and at home? :shrug: I gave it a quick glance and it's confusing with all the gadgets availabe. What all would you need? Do you need adapters, do you not? :shrug:

When I bought the Roady, it came with EVERYTHING you need.. Home antenna. AC adaptor, stereo plugs.. as well as the cassette adaptor, cigarette lighter and antenna for the car.... The roady2 is SMALL.. a little bigger then a credit card and about 1/4 inch thick. You can unplug it from the car slip it into a pocket and take it in the house.

 

[Nupe2]

Stern is on 106.7, from 6:00am until 10:30-ish. His last show is next Friday. Then they'll play "Best of..." until January 3rd, when Don & Mike take over his morning slot.

I agree that Stern's 3rd-grade humor is a bit tired. His height was 1985-1995, IMHO. The only plus side to Stern, over all the others, is that he gets the real celebrities in his studio, all the time. This morning he had Donald Trump. I like hearing the celebs act more honest around him than on most other talk shows.

The Junkies are taking over the morning slot.

 

[willie]

I know zilch about Sirius but the advertising on XM drives me nuts.

 

[alex]

Well I went to the new Best Buy last night and bought my car kit for Sirius. I was pleasantly surprised by the staffer there. He was very knowledgable and helpful on what I needed, etc. He did not try to push one over the other or even extra equipment.

I bought the Starmate for the car and it came with everything. I was able to set the whole thing up in 15 minutes and paid for 1 year of service so it was about $2 per month cheaper.

You can get a home kit direct from Sirius for about $40 which is cheaper than Best Buy. They sell it for $50. The staffer even told me that it was better to get the home kit than the boombox ($100) they sell for it because you get better sound hooking it up to your home radio.

 

[Tomcat]

I've been happy with my Sirius. If you want to check it out first you can go to their web site and get a free 3 day trial online (music only, none of the sports, news, or comedy channels). You can also buy direct from them and get some good deals. For those of you wanting to use one at home and in the car look at the various plug and play units. Instead of hooking mine up to the home stereo, I use a set of powered computer speakers so I can take it out by the pool or whever. Don't count on using it in the office unless you can have the antennea outside and get the cable to your desk, but that's where the ability to listen online works best.

 

[itsbob]

I know zilch about Sirius but the advertising on XM drives me nuts.

I don't think I've heard "advertising" on any of the channels we listen to, other then ads for shows on other channels.

 

[willie]

I don't think I've heard "advertising" on any of the channels we listen to, other then ads for shows on other channels.

If we're talking about XM here, there is much more ads than I was led to believe. Actually, the ones that are most irritating are the ones for their other channels. The latest is that screeching high pitched soprano that make my dog howl. They seem to air them on all channels at the same time. Other than that, XM is great. Hardcore opera pushes me over the edge.

 

[penguin6]

I sell these:

http://www.penguinradio.com/penguin/

Internet radios no pc needed. Maybe one day when we have nationwide wireless I can make a version that will work in cars.

 

[SAHRAB]

I like my xm. They do have an extra package which I don't have. Coverage is excellent, except when you go through a tunnel or behind a large building. Sirius would be the same. If I lived in an area with a lot of tall buildings I'd probably get annoyed. Xm is also on Direct TV now, for what that's worth.

Just a note, for both the sattelite radio companies, they use ground based repeaters, mainly for in City coverage (all the buildings and various electronic emmissions coming from the buildings play hell with sattelite signals).

the coverage for both is virtually identical (for the most part), your left at basing which one on Programming

 

[SAHRAB]

Stern is on 106.7, from 6:00am until 10:30-ish. His last show is next Friday. Then they'll play "Best of..." until January 3rd, when Don & Mike take over his morning slot.

I agree that Stern's 3rd-grade humor is a bit tired. His height was 1985-1995, IMHO. The only plus side to Stern, over all the others, is that he gets the real celebrities in his studio, all the time. This morning he had Donald Trump. I like hearing the celebs act more honest around him than on most other talk shows.

I thought the Junkies were taking Sterns place in the morning?

 

[ylexot]

I was going to go with Sirius because of the S50 radio which is a portable radio/mp3 player. Then I found out that the S50 receiver is in the home/car base so you don't get radio unless it's plugged in

Now I'm going to go with XM and the Pioneer Airware. It doesn't play mp3's, but it can record a few hours of music that I can listen to. It will just take some time to get the songs I want on it. I also like that XM has three channels for ACC sports...Sirius has three channels for all college sports. Oh, and the Airware is ~$100 cheaper than the S50.

 

[Steve]

I thought the Junkies were taking Sterns place in the morning?

Apparently they are.