- Satellite radio receiver for your car or home; includes wireless remote control
- Access to XM's 100-plus channels of satellite radio, featuring music, news, sports, and more
- Direct channel entry plus 20 presets; preview a channel before switching
- Requires separately available car or home connection kit and subscription to XM satellite service
- Measures 4.7 x 2.9 x 1.5 inches (W x H x D)
I was skeptical about paying for satellite radio until I checked out the sample programming at www.xmradio.com. It took me about a day to realize I couldn't go another day without it. Now I listen to the radio all the time at home, and I've even hooked up the Home Adapter kit at work and listened through my computer's headphones. (It took a bit of doing to position the antenna for good reception in my office 'cube farm' inside a steel-and-concrete building, but I got it to work!) Now I can't wait to get the car adapter so I can take my stations with me on the road.
One of my favorite features on the Delphi SKYFi is that you can save Artist/Song Title information while listening if you hear something you really like. This has allowed me to discover several great new bands since I started listening to XM. I can confidently pick up new CDs of bands I'd never hear on commercial radio. It's like having a great college radio station!
Another great feature about the Delphi unit is that you take your one subscription with you wherever you go; there's no need to pay for an extra receiver, even though XM offers additional subs at a discount.
XM radio has a great fan following. Check out www.xmfan.com for a great online community of fans and fanatics. I learned a lot about antenna placement in poor-reception areas (XM at work!) from reading the message boards.
Quit stalling. Buy it. I promise you'll love it.
Buy Delphi SA10000 XM SKYFi Radio Receiver Now
Forget the naysayers. This product was worth every penny, as well as the subscription fee.I do not own a car, as I am legally blind. However, one does not need to own a car to enjoy XM radio. I live in the Coachella Valley in southern Central California, and quite frankly, the radio reception here bites, even on shortwave.
I also live in an stucco reinforced apartment, with NO WINDOWS at all in my bedroom.My Sky FI radio rests in the boombox docking station, and sits on top of my televison set. The antenna is simply clipped to the back of the boombox, and I do not use a single inch 0f it's 20 foot cable.
The radio works flawlessly.
All 121 channels.
No fading or digital artifacts.
The sign up process was quick and painless. I was up and running in under an hour.
Belive me, XM blows regular radio out of the water. My two favorite channels are 163 (Sonic Theater) and 164(Old Time Radio)
These 2 channels are well worth the subscription cost alone.
XM radio should side market this product to the visually impaired or blind as well. I could think of no greater a gift for someone blind, such as myself. An A PLUS!!!
Read Best Reviews of Delphi SA10000 XM SKYFi Radio Receiver Here
I purchased my XM Radio Skyfi system from Best Buy just before a cross country trip. My wife and I love it. However, after losing the signal a few times in the rain and then losing the signal for a few days after a heavy rain. I discovered that the magnetic antenna supplied with the system is "known" to be a problem. Best Buy techs know it. And Delphi, the suppliers of the system know it. When I called tech support at Delphi, I got a curt recommendation to seal the area of the antenna where the wire enters the antenna then I wouldn't have any more problems. In other words, their problem was my problem. The Best Buy techs graciously told me if I got any kind of replacement antenna, they would replace my antenna at no charge. I couldn't find a replacement. The Delphi people need some customer service training. So, if you buy this system, save yourself some trouble and seal the area where the wire enters the antenna. If it weren't for the antenna problem, I'd give the system five stars.Want Delphi SA10000 XM SKYFi Radio Receiver Discount?
I recently rented a Cadillac from Avis and was able to listen to XM at no charge. My wife and I really enjoyed it and decided the home kit option was something we were very interested in as we don't spend long periods of time in our cars.I was reluctant at first because of worries regarding the antenna not being in a south-facing window. My stereo system is in a built-in entertainment wall and does not allow for the antenna to be pointed at a south facing window. After reading that many others have had success with the antenna in less than ideal areas, I decided I would give it a try.
My house is 2 years old, one story brick with a normal pitched roof consisting of plywood decking and dimensional fiberglass shingles. It has 10 foot flat and tray ceilings.
After hooking up the cables to my surround sound receiver and placing the antenna on the top of the stack of stereo components, I pointed the antenna generally to the south and toward the ceiling at about 45 degrees. I plugged the SkyFi in and immediately was getting two bars on the signal strength indicator. I do not have terrestrial repeaters in my area, so I am relying solely on the satellite. After a few quick adjustments I was getting 3 bars or it bounced between 3 and 2 bars.
I was very happy to have it work, and it is not even close to sitting in a south-facing window. After getting a strong signal and hearing the sample channels loud and clear, I activated the subscription online. I timed it and it took 12 minutes before the tuner updated and began receiving all channels. I was pretty impressed it activated that quickly.
I generally listen to talk radio in the car along with a few CD's and I absolutely despise FM radio with all of the repetitive commercials and DJ's having meaningless "conversations" with people that call in requests. I love the concept of satellite radio. I like to hear different types of music depending on the occasion or mood I'm in. XM is like a jukebox in the house with something new and different on each channel. I am terrible with song names and groups so I especially like to be able to look up and see the info on the Delphi display.
I picked XM over Sirius because I had a chance to hear it in the Avis rental car and I trust Delphi equipment. Satellite radio IS rocket science, but you don't have to be a rocket scientist to enjoy all it has to offer. Overall, I am very happy with the SkyFi, the home kit, and the XM service.As a caveat here, I've been a subscriber of both XM and Sirius at different times. I'm not here to pump or dump either service or comment on programming -simply the merits and drawbacks of the SkyFi, so here goes. (1) I managed to break the SkyFi within 10 minutes of setting it up at home, simply by trying to turn the round tuning dial, and this didn't instill confidence in quality or build. I was able to get it replaced at my retailer, fortunately. Otherwise, the size of the unit is quite nice and the remote is slick. The display is nice, although the config options are a bit limited (and it's very, very red, which can be annoying to view). (2) The satellite reception was not bad but it was very, very touchy as to location. To that end, I moved to an apartment with a north/west exposure, so using it there was out of the question (no signal at all); ergo, I'm no longer a subscriber. (3) I also considered purchasing the Boom-Box rather than simply plugging into my home stereo -a friend still has his boom-box, but the volume on it is weak (it's only 4W output), and it has no adapters for external devices. Stylish, yes. Functional, not so much. It worked better through my home stereo's Aux input -even the latest boom-box model is still ONLY a 4 watt output, which is less than most cheap PC speakers. -Again, I won't discuss programming (I personally enjoyed XM, but that's a personal preference). The unit is nice, but there are some limitations, especially if you consider the satellite orbit for XM is very low and south-only; if you don't have that orientation available, try Sirius.
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