After Xmas, I plan on using my money to get either an XM or Sirus unit.

My Premier deck in my car is XM ready. But I really need the unit to be portable, as I will be using it mostly in my daily driver and my work van.

Questions:
- Are there any stand-alone units that don't require an external antenna?
- Are there any color units out yet?
- Anything I should look for/avoid in the systems?
- Any clear cut reason I should go with XM over Sirus, or vice-versa?

I am leaning towars Sirus because I listen to Howard Stern most mornings, and he will be moving to Sirus in 14 months. My roomate just got an XM unit this weekend; he installed it in his daily driver, and let me take the car out to run some errands this evening. It was pretty sweet; I loved the selections, the clarity, and the lack of commercials.

 

As far as I know they all require external antennas. I have yet to see any color units, and have been looking for a few weeks. As far as looking for/avoiding features, they all seem to have roughly the same features. XM is 9.95 a month, Sirius is 12.95 a month, however, if you sign up for a year contract, Sirius goes down to 9.95 a month also.

I have yet to play with a Sirius unit, only XM but when I get one, I will be going for Sirius so I can listen to stern next year.

 

I went with an XM SkyFi since Opie & Anthony are much funnier than Stern, plus if you're a baseball fan, XM has every team every game as part of the $9.95 basic plan (O&A are an extra $1.99) The SkyFi 2 is coming out which doesn't have different color unit, but different color faces. I love it, mounted the antenna to the roof, wired it inside the headliner, and mounted the cradle on the piece of dash between the airbag and the side of the HVAC controls (If that makes any sense. I've had XM for a month and I will never go back to regular radio. Any questions you have I'm glad to help.

 

I used to listen to O&A.....but I prefered Stern. The fact you have to pay a premium to listen to them is pretty lame.

I've been looking at the Sirius units, but I'm not overly impressed with any of the units. I definately like my roomate's Skyfi 2 better than any of the Sirius units....mostly the orange displays do nothing for me.

Looking at the programming selection, there doesn't seem to be anything different that I personally care about. Sirius has the NFL, but I don't really get into that much, so it means nothing. XM has those Christian stations, which again are worthless to me.

I think I'm set on the Sirius just because I want Stern. Anyone with Sirius have any unit recommendations??

 

www.xmfan.com

I bought Roady for both of my vehicles in July and haven't looked back since then. Since the music choices are pretty much comparable (IMO, of course), to me XM was the way to go (cheaper than Sirius and all the channels I listen to are 100% commercial-free) since I do not care for any shock jocks like O&A (of whom I hadn't even heard before XM) or Howard Stern.

I installed the antenna on top of the dash in both vehicles and haven't had any problems with reception yet. I did a 4-day road trip coule of weeks back and really enjoyed XM.

If you are looking for portability, SkyFi is much better in that sense than the Roady. I am not that familiar with the Sirus units, so can't comment on them. I'm sure there are Sirius messageboards, too.

Which ever you are going to go with, you will not be disappointed. I was one of the biggest opposers for paying for radio of all things, but after I did it, I wondered why I didn't do it earlier. I'm pretty sure you will, too.

TS

 

It does suck having to pay a little more for O&A, but I'm sure there will be the same type of deal for Stern on Sirius. From what I've read on different boards XM's technology is way ahead of Sirius, and since you want portability, there's nothing more portable than the new Xm MyFi. If you haven't heard, its basically an iPOD type device that gets satellite radio, plays MP3's, etc, and has car and home adaptors. The SkyFi is just a great product, I'm no wiring genius, but it truly is plug and play, took me about 30 minutes to install it.

 

Well I play with all of this stuff all day so i guess I'll add my 2 cents. (I install for bestbuy) Personally I think I'd go with xm. They have a better channel selection, commercial free, and are cheaper than sirius. The roady 2 is probably the best unit imho. It's fm modulated, so you only need to run an antenna wire, and plug it into your cigarette lighter and you're ready to go. Additionally you could take it inside and use it with any fm radio (you would still need an antenna and a 12v source though. You can change the screen colors, as well as the frequency it transmits on. Out of all the sirius and xm units, the roady 2 is probably my favorite.

 

Sirus for HOWARD

 

I have xm and i love it. I've wondered if sirius might have a better selection, but I used to work at best buy, and I think sirius might eventually go out of business, or get bought out as they are getting OWNED by XM. Anyways I put my antenna in my hatch right in front of the t-top flap so its in the middle under the glass. No reception problems at all. Most antennas are magnetic, and I just didnt trust it staying on my car, plus it scratched my paint a little. Well swirled rather than scratched. Definately don't bother mounting it outside though. I would say its a total waste.

 

Where do all of you live?? I had trouble with reception if i put the antenna inside the car (the micro antenna) so i just taped it to the top of my back window (double side tape ) I still get a dead spot every once and a while mostly on back roads but its not that bad it only lasts for a few seconds. On highways i ALWAYS get great reception. i really like XM allot although i am mad that stern is only on sirus. maybe ill try that one too someday . im sure ether way you cant go wrong. the only thing that sucks is that i am always changing channels because there is always a great song on one of them . And best of all NO COMMERCALS well worth the 10 a month and ill deff never go back. So just be ware NO ONE EVER GOES BACK .

 

Depends on the back road you are driving on. If there are a lot of trees along the south side of the road, that might be the cause of the dead spots.

Or, it could just be equipment/connection issue.

TS

 

if you have a fiberglass hood (camaro SS for example) you can just put the antenna under the hood on the passenger shock tower. i get full reception even sitting in my garage.

 

Nope stern stated he definately would NOT charge his audience more to get him. so there will be no fee on top of the monthly rate. My alpine is all set for XM but ill be getting sirius just for stern. hes the best.

 

Out of the units I sell at Best Buy, the best setup is using the XM SkiFi with hard-wired FM modulator. You wont experience signal or reception failures from time to time with the wireless FM modulator and the Roady2 unit which has it built in. The SkiFi2 is out but I forget the price and believe it has a modulator built in as well. If you want small and less obstructing as well as cheaper, the XM Roady2 is just that. Easy to install too as I did it in 15min on an 04 Durango last week. The only Sirius setups we have now are the JVC which has been redesigned and is small but has a strange mount. The Sirius Sportster is like the SkiFi and the best thing Sirius has out right now. Also you must have an antenna. Antenna, modulator and receiver are necessary of course.

Depends on what exactly you're looking for and what service you want.

XM : $9.99/mo Sirius : $12.95/mo

XM:

SkiFi : $99.99 for receiver, $69.99 for car kit
Roady2 : $129.99 for receiver, antenna, dock, (everything you need)
SkiFi Special Edition : $169.99 SkiFi receiver, car kit all in one

Sirius:

Sportster : $149.99 for receiver, ant, car kit
JVC : $129-149 for receiver, car kit etc

 

Get both!

XM on the portable, Sirius on the head unit:
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/psiami...e/Dsc00001.jpg

XM + Sirius antennas:
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/psiami...e/Dsc00003.jpg