What can you tell me about . . .

Sirius Radio? I know very little about it and I am in need of your opinion/experience with the service and equipment. Thanks!

 

I have XM. have had it for 4 years....love it. They are identical to Sirrus. I love it and wouldn't trade it for nothing. I am not sure what you are asking, can you be more specific?

 

Well I want to purchase a set up for a gift. I have asked around here at work and only one person has the service. He is not 100% happy with the reception of his mobile auto unit (which he received as a gift) and but continues to use it anyway because he has a contract.

I guess the service prices are pretty consistant so recommendations on good equipment would be great. Thanks!

 

I have never had a problem w/ reception in my car, the boat or the house. There is one spot on 42 that if its cloudy, that its intermittent. But that's it. I have zero complaints and we have it everywhere. It was really nice during election. not one campaign commercial. I dont remember exactly, but the contract was only for a year, and after that, you just pay monthly. The more units you have the cheaper. We have 2, and its about 8 bucks a month each. The units are interchangeable between the boats and cars and house.

 

We have Sirius, we dropped XM after they lost the bid to carry Nascar races. It almost depends what your interests are for sports and/or talk shows. I know Sirius has the NFL channels and Nascar. XM carries basketball and a golf channel. If you sign up with Sirius and prepay for the plan quarterly (instead of monthly) you are able to pick up an additional package that they offer call the Best of XM (they can offer this since they have merged). It includes some of the sports and talk channels. I like the music channels on Sirius better than those that were on XM. Sirius also has the Playboy channel :jester:

As for reception, we don't have any problems except on really overcast days, then it can be spotty. With both services, either we purchased, or the unit had a built-in FM Modulator. That allows you to set the service to receive on one particular station, and not to have to change it as you travel through different radio markets/areas. Otherwise, if you have it on say 100.1 in this area, and it comes in fine. When you travel and come into an area that broadcasts a station with a strong signal on that station, that station will try to play over the satellite broadcast.

 

I have the Sportster 5 Sirius Radio and I love it!! My husband got it for me last year for Christmas and I very rarely ever listen to regular radio or cd's anymore. The only time I find it hard to get reception is going under bridges. I have a hard time getting reception in my house, but in our last house I never had a problem. I also have the boom box to go with it. The only thing that we noticed is that they seem to have a color coded system that if buy a radio with say the purple color code, you have to make sure that the accessories that you buy have the same color code. I think I pay $8 a month and then when we added my husband's it was another $4 and now you can get the best of XM for I think it is $3 per month per unit. It is definitely worth the $8 a month to not have to listen to commercials.

 

There are still commercials... just not so many.

 

:iagree:

 

True, but I have mostly heard just their own commercials advertising their other stations. I can deal with that. Not to mention there are soooo many stations that I can easily turn it and typically the next station doesn't have commercials too like on regular radio. I swear on regular radio if one station is playing commercials they all are.

 

Ya'll are so fancy! :twisted:

I have a cassette tape deck in my car AND a single CD player. I'm kool like that.

 

Thanks for all the info! Are all of the receivers portable?

 

Most of them are, we have Sirius Sportster 4 and a Starmate, and we move them between 3 vehicles. If we had a "boom-box" then they could be brought into the house, or taken "on-the-go" in that as well. Sirius calls those units "Dock n' Play". The Sirius "Stilettos" are the true portable units, and bit more expensive than the Dock n' Plays.

 

OK, where do I begin?

Sirius merged with XM about three months ago now. So, if you purchase Sirius you can get the "Best of XM" for an additional 4 or 5 bucks. These channels include the Oprah Channel, The Virus(Opie and Anthony), The NHL Network, the channels to carry all the NHL and NBA games among others. As of now, MLB(pro baseball) is not available on the Best of XM package due to MLB restrictions. Sirius has two Howard Stern channels, about three or four comedy channels among many other specialty stations including Martha Stewart, they of course have the NFL and NASCAR. All of their music stations ARE commercial free. Everything else has commercials, just not as many as regular radio.

Now, ONLY available on the new Starmate 5 Sirius radio can you pick what channels you want to pay for. This service is called "A La Carte". All the channels you'll never listen to can be avoided by simply going through the channel listing and picking which channels you want. This service's price varies depending on channels picked. I'd go to sirius.com and look for the "A la carte" package on pricing explain it more thoroughly.

As far as portability, the Sirius portable units, the Stilleto and the Stilleto 2 are OK but I wouldn't purchase these. They are overpriced and the wi-fi that kicks in isn't reliable.

You have access to listen online for free if you're a subscriber. This is great while working at your desk.

I've had Sirius for about four years, so I can tell you about anything you want to know. I hope I've helped in some way.

 

You don't get all the channels via the internet listening though, they are limited. I don't think the Nascar channel is available via internet.
Personally that does peeve me, if I'm paying for full subscriptions, I want full accessability on all venues of listening.

 

That's to do with the licensing set up by NASCAR and all the other sports. You're right though, but Stern is on there though.:lol:

 

I know tha I received an e-mail a while back that if you were a current subscriber and committed to another or additional year contract (pay up front) that they woult give you the best of XM for free.

I'm currently set-up on the quarterly plan with both of our radios, and like it alot better than when we were with XM.

The one thing that I missed when first switching over was being able to listen to any of the NCSU games on XM, and now with the best I can get their games on Sirius.


Craig

 

:lol: I'm with ya, girl. I only have a single CD player.

 

Love Sirius...my dh esp. loves channel 24...80's Hair Band!

 

its channel 41 on XM...the BONEYARD....its my number one station! Rock ON!!

 

I listen to 43 (Backspin) alot while driving back and forth to work.



Craig