XM Receivers

[terpkristin]

Hi all,
I'm about ready to take the plunge and get an XM subscription (possibly 2). Yes, I'm going XM for a variety of reasons so please don't try to tell me that Sirius is better.

Right now I'm looking at receivers, and was wondering if anybody had "real experience" with any of them or could offer any input. Admittedly, I was looking at the Pioneer Inno for its portability, but Walt Mossberg has said that it has major reception problems (link). I'd be using it mainly in the car and at home. In either location, I'd have it hooked into my stereo system. I'm also looking for one for my dad, which he'd probalby use mostly in the car or on the boat.

Any recommendations/thoughts/anything else?
Your help is muchly appreciated!
/tk

[Samdari]

Satellite radios need to "see" straight up to get reception. In general, reception for either service is very good if there is nothing between the antenna and the sky, lousy if there is. This usually means that reception is great in the car (and probably boat), lousy inside a building (unless you run an antenna to a window or the roof). It is not going to vary much by reciever, location is much more important.

[Chas in Cinti]

I've found that the portable radios (XM2go) doesn't have a good built in Antenna at all. However, it's great with the antenna (either car or home, or portable). XM is definitely a great thing. Don't know how I ever lived without it!

-Chas

[Toddzilla]

If you come to the Happy Hour, I'll let you see my Inno

[Philliesfan980]

Have the XM2GO. I really am hoping for a day that they make something a little smaller, and with better reception. Would love to take it on my runs, but the signal is patchy at best.

[terpkristin]

Todd, you have the Inno?
What are your thoughts on it? Your thoughts on it in this area?

Is it possible to get an antenna that I could stick outside of my car and/or my apt that I can hook into the Inno?

As for the happy hour, can't do it this time (both those dates are bad for me, being my dad's birthday and then one of the only days my sister is in town this summer) but I'll do it in the future.

/tk

[Galaril]

I am also looking to get an Inno if I can get agood price on one. Remember even if the reception sucks inside of a building it has 50 hours of recordability. So, you can still lsiten to content.

[Logan]

Umm...XM sucks. Get Sirius.

[Toddzilla]

Originally Posted by Logan

Umm...XM sucks. Get Sirius.

Only if the ability to listen to live content isn't important

[Toddzilla]

The Inno rocks. I have not had any issues with the reception in my car ever, and only on a handful of occasions walking through my office. That's why it is so cool to have MP3 capability - I just switch over to some of my own tunes or play what Ive recorded from XM (in that respect, it is just like a Tivo - while you are listening, if you hear a song you really like, you just hit a button and it records the song for you). I don't have a massive MP3 library, so an iPod was always overkill for me. With the Inno, I can listen to baseball whenever and wherever I am and theres a game on. Worth every penny. If reception is an issue where you are, get the antenna-headphones - I hear it relly boosts the signal.

[terpkristin]

Dammit Todd I think you just talked me into the Inno.

I have an iPod (with a large mp3 collection), but things like ESPN Radio (stupid 980 switching their lineup), MLB play-by-play, ACC sports, and THE WORLD CUP have made XM supremely attractive.

And I know the guy who designed the Sirius network and frankly, I hate him (he's the guy I punched the wall over) so I have issues supporting them...lame, I know, but with the programming on XM that I want, the fact that I hate that guy is just gravy.

/tk

[SegRat]

Damn you all, now I am tempted to get the inno, any idea how many mp3's you can put on it?

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by SegRat

Damn you all, now I am tempted to get the inno, any idea how many mp3's you can put on it?

I read "150 songs/8 hours."

I'm sold on it...and probably the car kit for it, too.

/tk

[SegRat]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

I read "150 songs/8 hours."

I'm sold on it...and probably the car kit for it, too.

/tk

Do you even need thecar kit with the built in fm transmitter?

[terpkristin]

Car kit apparently includes an antenna. It's not an "immediate buy" type thing, but definitely something I'd want. It also has the power kit for the car.

/tk

[Jas_lov]

I don't have the inno, but I just got the Pioneer Airware XM2Go portable XM receiver and it works great. It's about $140 at amazon if you want a cheaper option I would recommend this if you don't want to put down $350 plus on the inno. I haven't hooked it up in the car yet, but it has worked great in the house even without a window. It can only record 5 hours of programming though. But for the price I think it was a good buy, and I didn't really want to pay $400 for the inno plus the startup fee, and monthly subscription.

[SegRat]

I was going to cancel my subscription to XM tonight until this fall when I would buy the Inno. Figured I only use XM in my truck and now that it is nice I will be on the motorcycle as much as I can. I explained it to the woman and told her I would resubscribe in the fall. She then asked if I would keep my subscription if they gave me 3 months free service which puts me about when I would resubscribe. NICE!!!!

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

Only if the ability to listen to live content isn't important

If you mean on a portable device, then Sirius has theirs coming out this summer. Although I love how you always throw that line out there, because you are one of the few who I don't hear say the XM portables are not very portable at all. No biggy though.


TK, as far as the Inno goes, check the XM fan boards before you jump in. No offense to Toddzilla up there but he tends to be a major XM fanboy and pimps them as much as he can. You can find out some of the problems the Inno users are having, or not having.

hxxp://www.xmfan.com/viewtopic.php?t=63410

hxxp://www.xmfan.com/viewtopic.php?t=63335

hxxp://www.xmfan.com/viewtopic.php?t=63610

hxxp://www.xmfan.com/viewtopic.php?t=63675

hxxp://www.xmfan.com/viewtopic.php?t=63543


Those are just a few. There are tons of Inno threads in that boards hardware sections. Many are negative. The plus side is several problems people are having can be fixed by firmware updates to your Inno.

There are positive comments there too of course, but I figured I would point you to the negatives since Todd there will give you plenty of the good spin.

[Samdari]

Definitely get the car kit if you get a satellite radio and want to use it in the car. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of having an external antenna.

As for indoor reception, it is very much going to be a case by case basis. In all likelihood, if your office is in the district, a terrestrial repeater will give you reception where you don't get satellite. In the sticks (i.e. near where you live) you probably won't get the repeater, and will have to be right near a window on the right side of the building to get reception.

If your reason for buying XM radio is to listen in your office during the day, you could end up disappointed in not getting reception. I know I was with Sirius, as my window faces the wrong direction. I am actually considering switching services, but would only do so if I could get XM at work (like you, due to 980 being unlistenable anymore). What I am thinking of doing is seeing what Best Buy's return policy is on unactivated radios, buying something with XM2Go and bringing the radio here to see if I get reception (there should be one channel that broadcasts instructions on how to subscribe). If BestBuy lets you (us?) do that, I suggest you test for reception with an unactivated unit before committing.

[Toddzilla]

Originally Posted by Cringer

If you mean on a portable device, then Sirius has theirs coming out this summer. Although I love how you always throw that line out there, because you are one of the few who I don't hear say the XM portables are not very portable at all. No biggy though.

Hater

But seriously, I've never had an issue with receprion and portability, so "The XM poertables are not very portable at all" is baffling. I carry it around and listen to live XM programming. I get it in my car, in my office, when I run around my neighborhood. What part of "portable" do you not understand? The 15 or so people that I know that have XM MyFis or Roadys also don't have a problem with carrying the little sucker around and listening to baseball games or music or whatever (albeit some needed to get the antenna headphones to boost reception) - so this little ruse you're trying to pull about the XM units being "not very portable" is silly.

Kristen - you'll be estatic with the Inno - if you don't like it, I'll buy it from you (and send it to Cringer to prove him wrong )

[Samdari]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

Hater

But seriously, I've never had an issue with receprion and portability, so "The XM poertables are not very portable at all" is baffling. I carry it around and listen to live XM programming. I get it in my car, in my office, when I run around my neighborhood. What part of "portable" do you not understand? The 15 or so people that I know that have XM MyFis or Roadys also don't have a problem with carrying the little sucker around and listening to baseball games or music or whatever (albeit some needed to get the antenna headphones to boost reception) - so this little ruse you're trying to pull about the XM units being "not very portable" is silly.

Kristen - you'll be estatic with the Inno - if you don't like it, I'll buy it from you (and send it to Cringer to prove him wrong )

But, if you read the user forums of either service, you would know that there are lots of problems with indoor reception. Someone with an interior office in a building with lots of metal construction has almost no chance of getting reception from either service with any reciever. For you to assure someone that they will get reception everywhere because you get it in two locations is disingenuous. There are enough doubts about indoor reception of satellite radio to make the statement, "You won't know about reception in XXX building until you get there" far more accurate than "buy, it, you'll get reception wherever you go!"

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

Hater

But seriously, I've never had an issue with receprion and portability, so "The XM poertables are not very portable at all" is baffling. I carry it around and listen to live XM programming. I get it in my car, in my office, when I run around my neighborhood. What part of "portable" do you not understand? The 15 or so people that I know that have XM MyFis or Roadys also don't have a problem with carrying the little sucker around and listening to baseball games or music or whatever (albeit some needed to get the antenna headphones to boost reception) - so this little ruse you're trying to pull about the XM units being "not very portable" is silly.

Kristen - you'll be estatic with the Inno - if you don't like it, I'll buy it from you (and send it to Cringer to prove him wrong )

Just repeating things I have read on XM boards and hardware reviews and such. I am sure the newer generation of stuff is much better though and probably does get better reception. That is why Sirius is now going to come out with one (according to them anyways).

Also, I would think location plays a big part in this. I am sure in your area (pretty much the home of XM is it not?) the ground repeaters give good coverage. I doubt XM has even one in my area, as is the case with Sirius.

[terpkristin]

I appreciate the feedback, good and bad.

It seems (from my reading) that a lot of the complaints with the Inno come from people using ONLY the built-in antenna on it, and on top of that, using it indoors. That is why I'd be getting the car kit for it, and would be using the home antenna.

I still do plan on picking it up, though I might wait a week and see if the Samsung Helix (more or less the same device) has any improvements (seeing how it's being released ~5 months after the Inno).

In the end, I think that I'll be happy with the purchase. Now if only I could stream music at work, then I'd use the Inno at home and the car and then listen to live XM on the web....life would be perfect.

/tk

[Samdari]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

I appreciate the feedback, good and bad.

It seems (from my reading) that a lot of the complaints with the Inno come from people using ONLY the built-in antenna on it, and on top of that, using it indoors. That is why I'd be getting the car kit for it, and would be using the home antenna.

I still do plan on picking it up, though I might wait a week and see if the Samsung Helix (more or less the same device) has any improvements (seeing how it's being released ~5 months after the Inno).

In the end, I think that I'll be happy with the purchase. Now if only I could stream music at work, then I'd use the Inno at home and the car and then listen to live XM on the web....life would be perfect.

/tk

One thing I think I have found out about the helix is that is only gets live XM when docked, as opposed to the Inno, which gets live XM on its own.

Another benefit of these recorders is that you can record one of your favorite channels while you sleep, then listen to it at work. And who knows, you may even get live reception at work.

[Toddzilla]

Originally Posted by Samdari

One thing I think I have found out about the helix is that is only gets live XM when docked, as opposed to the Inno, which gets live XM on its own.

Another benefit of these recorders is that you can record one of your favorite channels while you sleep, then listen to it at work. And who knows, you may even get live reception at work.

Actually, the Helix and the Inno are the exact same unit, just rebranded by Samsung and Pioneer respectively. The Inno gets slightly highter marks because of the outside appearance (aluminum vs. plastic) and the buttons are more tactile. A slight difference for sure, but they are 99.999% the same.

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

Actually, the Helix and the Inno are the exact same unit, just rebranded by Samsung and Pioneer respectively. The Inno gets slightly highter marks because of the outside appearance (aluminum vs. plastic) and the buttons are more tactile. A slight difference for sure, but they are 99.999% the same.

He may have mistaken it for the other 'x' one...Nexus or something. They are all starting to sound the same.

[Samdari]

Originally Posted by Cringer

He may have mistaken it for the other 'x' one...Nexus or something. They are all starting to sound the same.

Ack, yup, this is what I did. XMradio.com does not even list the Helix as being a product, so I had never heard of it until this thread. I was talking about the Nexus.

[Samdari]

Well, my wife bought me a TAO XM2go this weekend, and I am able to get reception simply by placing the antenna on the shelf by my office window and get 3/3 bars reception.

Woohoo, no more 980!

[Toddzilla]

Hells yeah! Did she getit on the cheap because of the new units? I'm thinking about getting one for my pops, but only if they brought the price way down

[Samdari]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

Hells yeah! Did she getit on the cheap because of the new units? I'm thinking about getting one for my pops, but only if they brought the price way down

The TAO, which has always come with both car and home kits, lists at $199 at CompUsa. Last week they had a $30 instant rebate and a $90 mail in rebate. So, once the rebate check comes, it will have cost $80. I think the dates for getting the rebate ended Saturday, but I expect the XM2go receivers to continue to drop. Its all about the Inno, apparently, but I sure didn't want to spend $400.

Now if I can just get the f*cking online activation to work.

[mooreadamc]

For those with the Pioneer Airware how would you rate it? I would love to listen to XM while at work. Even if the reception does not come in I could record and listen later.

I have read they are not as portable as one is lead to believe. Can I carry it in my hand like an iPod or is it to big?

Thanks for the help and any other info you can give me