 | Pioneer GEX-INNO2BK Inno 2 Portable XM Satellite Radio with MP3 Capability
Good product, but has its limitations -- 2009-01-04
My wife got this for me as a Christmas gift. At first, I was skeptical--I had never heard of a portable XM unit (although it made total sense) and wasn't thrilled about the idea of paying for radio.
That said, I really like the Inno. It's compact--almost exactly the size of my candy bar cellphone. The sound is great. Reception will of course vary by location, but my house doesn't have an exposed southern window and still I'm getting maximum bars through a south wall on the home unit. The menu is quick to figure out and it's easy to manage recordings. The option of listening live vs. recording XM content is cool.
The major limitations have been discussed already, but I'll reiterate--if you want to do anything besides listen from the home unit through your stereo or listen through headphones on the go, be prepared to pay a significant amount extra for an additional home unit or a car adapter. The car adapter is ridiculously complicated, requiring hours of installation time and removal of interior panels in the car, etc. Why Pioneer would do it this way is beyond me.
The other limitation is a minor one, but from what I can tell there's no way to connect this unit to a home stereo through a line-in. It has to be through RCA cables. This doesn't make any sense to me, but that's seemingly the way it is. If I'm wrong on this, please let me know commentators.
Last thing is that I'm officially a XM/Sirius convert. For fifty cents a day, it's tough to beat all the music programming plus sports that the two satellite nets provide. Now that they're joined and you can get everything in one package, it's awesome.
My husband loves it!!! -- 2009-01-02
I got this as a Christmas gift for my husband. He takes it everywhere with him and gets good reception. He uses it when he exercises or when he needs a news update at work. The only time he has had some trouble with reception was at our daughter's house in the hills of West Virginia but he found it worked perfectly in our bedroom there. His phone doesn't work there at all. I believe this was his favorite gift.
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 | Delphi SA10315-11B1 XpressRC Plug and Play XM Satellite Radio with Color Display
fantastic rcvr....read the fine print -- 2008-12-29
I got this radio for Christmas and the features far outweigh those of my old Roady2. However, be aware, it says plug and play. This only applies if you have a cassette player in your vehicle. If you do not you will NEED either the FM direct adapter, a mini jack to mini jack cable if your car stereo has an AUX jack or the Sureconnect kit. This was not very clear from any description, but it is a must have to make the XM play through your radio. Very poor instructions, otherwise it is a great piece of equipment.
Solid Performer -- 2008-12-28
This is a nice unit with multiple display types and the color really enhances the display. The 60 minute rewind feature is really nice, but it isn't as easy to rewind and fast forward within a program/segment. Be warned: The FM Modulator only works when it is plugged in the vehicle cradle (in vehicle mode) and is pretty weak. However, for those who can use a direct connection like an mp3/auxiliary jack or cassette adapter, the lineout volume level can be set to adequately send out a decent volume level.
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 | SIRIUS Stiletto 2 Portable Satellite Radio with MP3 Player
Stiletto 100's and 2's - just say "no"!!!!!! -- 2009-01-02
I cannot tell you how horrible a device these Stiletto 100 or 2's are. I believe I have had at least 8 shipped to me this past year 2008. Granted, all but one have been refurbs, but I went through at least 5 S-100's, one being new and that only lasted 7 months before it wouldn't receive the satellite signal anymore.
The refurbs were all bad right out of the box. I am convinced that no one actually refurbs any of these things, as I received a couple with settings of other owners still intact. All were broken in one way or another. Thankfully, I found a great customer service rep who switched all of my equipment over to an S2, but that did not go any better. It took 3 units before one worked, and that lasted only a few weeks before the playback files got scrambled and it could not play anything in order or even play what the file said. It played random files from whatever date and time and length it felt like and not even the same way twice, which when you are recording Howard Stern, is not a good thing. I record six hours Mon-Thu, in one hour increments, and cannot find the next file (part) anymore. The next unit worked a few extra weeks and I had just gotten confidence that it was a good one - emailing the rep and thanking her, when that very night (yesterday) it happened again - another scrambled brain. I cannot find what I want to hear - the file names do not match the contents. Another is soon going to be on its way. Oh, the pain.
I love to hate this thing. When it works, I love it, but that isn't very much time - the rest of the time, I despise it and Sirius should be ashamed of itself for inflicting these things on its loyal (lifetime) customers - they are a true piece of CRAP. If I had paid full price, I would be even madder, but I got the first one for only $150 and even at that price, they aren't worth the aggravation. I can only hope to get lucky this next time, but I Siriusly doubt it can happen. On the bright side, at this rate, the warranty will likely never expire because I cannot get one to last anything close to a year. I suppose that is an upside, albeit a small one, a very small one. If you buy one, you had better have a ton of patience or develop it very, very quickly.
The Best in Music -- 2008-12-25
The Stiletto 2 continues to bring me joy. Daily, I am impressed with its capabilities. Not sure what happened to the other reviewers with negative comments - I have had no incidents with the unit. WiFi is incredible. Recording assets are on par with most MP3 players. Only cons: Slightly buggy at times (exercise patience and you are listening again in 1 minute). Sirius needs to update software for Mac usage. Buy this and your music listening experience will never be the same! This is my third Sirius radio (2 Sportsters, now the Stiletto - not sure how Sirius can top this).
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 | SIRIUS Sportster 5 Satellite Radio Receiver with Vehicle Kit
The Best Sirius has to offer -- 2008-12-31
I travel a lot in my car, so I bit the bullet and got Sirius. I looked at all the receivers available and narrowed it down to the Starmate 5 and the Sportster 5. I ultimately decided on the Sportster because frankly it looked the coolest.
This thing has so many bells and whistles that I'm still getting used to it. For me it was the best choice. I love the display, the number of presettings, the way it will track your favorite sports teams. Overall a great buy.
Some people have talked about the installation. I read a lot of these reviews before buying this receiver and followed everyone's advice and had it professionally installed. (Cost: $60, Headaches; 0)
My only complaint is the remote... it's to small. One of the reasons I bought this unit is because of the remote. While driving it's easier to use a remote than to mess with the display. But it's super small which makes it difficult to use at times. It would have also been more helpful if it was lighted for night time driving.
Overall a great receiver.
Love this receiver! -- 2008-12-22
The Sportster 5 is a neat little receiver. Lots of features, love the color screen. Easy to install and use. The only complaint is the small size of the buttons and they are a little hard to push. Overall, very satisfied that I chose this one!
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 | Audiovox Car XMH10A Xpress Home Kit
Handy and simple! -- 2009-01-05
We used the XM in the vehicles before but only on long trips. This easy-to-use setup allows us to listen all the time at home now -- and it was a hit at our New Year's Eve party when we wanted different eras for dance tunes!
Nice product, signal. -- 2008-12-29
This works exactly as expected; rather better. I can get a geat signal in the basement which is surprising. In face I haven't found a place in my house where this doesn't have a signal.
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 | Sirius Universal Dock and Play Home Kit SUPH1
Buyer beware -- 2009-01-02
Don't buy this product, it's junk! The dock simply doesn't work. The wires and antenna are fine (which I know because I used them to hook my car dock up to my indoor stereo system) but the dock is dead.
After many frustrating hours trying to make this system work, we gave up. I have returned this worthless junk and we will do without Sirius in the house.
I love Sirius but their hardware is garbage. -- 2008-11-29
I really enjoy the programming, Howard mainly, but the music, BBC and comedy too. This is now my ninth Sirius hardware purchase since I joined Sirius when Howard finally started b'casting a few yrs back. Three Starmates, a couple Stratus, and four home docks. After just three yrs in w/ Sirius, in these modern times (it's 2008!!!), you'd think the first radio and the first dock would still be humming along and working fine. NO! After just three short yrs I now have three useless/broken radios and two useless/broken docks! Plus the 'working' radio and dock I using now...... plus a radio and dock as a back-up. More e-waste headed to Red China.
Gee I haven't had to buy a 'back-up' for my big flat screen Sony! Go figure. I wonder why?
I'm near a big city so I've never had the recp problem many other reviewers have. I can pretty much aim any of the 100 Sirius ant I now own (!!!) any which way and I'll get an 80-100% signal.No problem w/ Sirius on that front for me.
This review is of the product in Q, the SUPH-1 home dock. As it should be.
First I have a problem having to pay $50+ extra to HEAR my $100 radio!
That said, the failure point for all the broken home docks so far has been the ant connection on the back of the dock base. The unit stays put in ONE location on a shelf 100% of the time connected to my stereo receiver/amp w/ the inc'd cable, but both times the ant connection on the dock broke loose! Broke loose. Pulled completely OUT!?!?! The dock and the cable NEVER move! They don't get wiggled about at all after the inital connection! There's an inch of dust on the cable!
If, like me, you can't stand missing a min of Howard in the early morning, I strongly suggest you always have a spare radio AND dock in the closet. Not just in case, but because within days of it going out of warranty, IT WILL FAIL!
Sirius....please quit doing biz w/ the lowest Red Chinese bidder. Maybe pick the second lowest Red Chinese bidder. Maybe they will pay their workers a whole $1.50 per day.
While your at it, how about 'stealing' some product designers and engs from Apple? Your hardware really looks blah.
I do like Howard tho. But when he goes, prob so will I. Babba Booey, Babba Booey!
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 | Sirius Soloist Universal Sound System
Great value -- 2008-11-25
My husband had a sportster boombox that his replaced. Great sound, added feature of clock is nice too.
Not bad, not great -- 2008-11-02
I bought this to replace my existing Xact boombox account with my Sportster account. I wanted to save a few pennies each month and believe Xact products and support are junk.
Pluses: It looks great, classy. I could use my iPod on it. All definite pluses.
Minus are more: The sound is so-so. The boombox had great base and resonated nicely. This, which uses an electrostatic technology, is very crisp, but lacks base. I'm still tinkering with the sound quality adjustments, but it is a noticeable variance.
Also, the remote transmission/reception is poor. I must stand three feet or less from it to get an accurate power-off or else the unit cycles through the different modes: iPod, line in, etc. The remote uses the same button for Power and Mode. I'm not sure if this is a battery strength issue as I'm using the one that was enclosed.
I'll keep it. But I'll keep the deactivated Xact handy in a closet.
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 | Audiovox XMBB1 XM Compact Sound System
XMBB1 Great Buy -- 2009-01-06
Got my XMBB1 XM system today. Docked my XpressRC but couldn't get a signal downstairs and have no southern window. Took it upstairs and placed the antenna on a west window - got a signal, activated the system and took off. The sound is terrific and I'm picking up hundreds of stations. So, the radio is great-but, the antenna that comes with it is most likely not a "high-gain" antenna and the company is not responsible for my tall trees or how my house sits. So 5 stars it is. Now to get a high gain antenna or outside antenna with wireless receivers. I'd say anything under a $100 on this unit is a bargain, plus it's portable.
Audiovox XMBB1 Boombox - Excellent! -- 2008-12-22
I am extremely pleased with this product. It has very good quality sound and is very easy to use. Overall volume and bass are great. I bought it for my parents (age 70+) along with the XM Express radio receiver and they love it. They live in an apartment building and I was worried they would have difficulty receiving a good signal, but they get a great signal and excellent quality sound. The boombox is so handy. You can take it anywhere and the antenna can either be stored right on the back of the boombox, or it can be detached with a fairly long antenna cord if you need to put the antenna closer to a window if the boombox is more centrally located in a building. The receiver dock is on the front/outside of the unit which makes it really easy to work the controls of the receiver without having to use a remote (again easy for the older folks). Definitely would recommend this product as an easy way to get satellite radio into your house and still take it with you if you travel.
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 | Pioneer GEX-XMP3 Portable XM Satellite Radio Receiver w/ Home Kit
A Good Portable Satellite Radio -- 2009-01-05
The unit is performing as I expect for a portable radio. The unit works quite well in my car with a cassette player adapter playing the XM broadcast from the headphone jack. The reception is very stable while the unit sits in the cup holder between the front seats.
I tested the unit inside a restaurant sitting about 5 feet away from the closest window and the reception was still quite good and the sound quality of the music was quite high . I played around with the EQ setting and found that the different equalizing setting would definitely affect the sound quality.
Not having the special XMP3 car cradle, I'm using the car charger and the cassette player adapter from an older XT Roady unit, so I have not had a chance to test the XMP3's FM transmitting capabilities. However, with reduced FM transmission power as required by the FCC, using FM transmission to listen through a car's FM radio while in a major city like Los Angeles may be a challenge as I have experienced before with many other FM transmission products.
In short, I find the receiving part of this unit is strong. The sound quality of the live broadcast is good. The control is easy to understand and use. I have not tested the mp3 player so I cannot comment on that. The price is high but then it works as it is supposed to.
XMP3 better than ipod, zune,........etc. -- 2009-01-03
I am so glad I decided to buy this pioneer product. To have 100% commercial free music plus also have stored music available is the best. The home kit that comes with the unit is super easy to install. The instructions are super easy to understand. The reception is not bad without an external antenna but with the home kit there is no problem. My only advice is when you go to activate this device do it online. Over the phone with an automated service was horrible. Half way through activating it over the phone I hung up and turned on my computer and in less than five minutes my XM radio was working like a dream. Great product. If you want the capability of an ipod or zune with 100% commercial free music, this is for you.
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 | SIRIUS SCC1 SIRIUS Connect Universal Tuner
Worked great, but can't pause -- 2008-10-12
This unit works great with my AVH-P4000DVD and CD-SB10. It would be nice if I could pause and rewind though. Both the stereo and the CD-SB10 claim appear to support this feature, but it doesn't work with this radio. Still, I'm pleased.
Excellent Sirius Tuner -- 2008-04-18
I purchased this unit to replace my ailing Sir-Alp1.
The swap was straightforward and the new tuner works great.
It has a smaller footprint and hook up was simple.
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