Sirius is it worth it?

longarm · **Posted:** Mon Aug 08, 2005 7:47 pm

Hey all, I have a question for ya. For those of ya that have Sirius, is it worth it? I am thinking of gettin it for my KJ and was just wondering if I should spend the cash. Are there alot of signal interruptions?

Guest · **Posted:** Mon Aug 08, 2005 8:08 pm

Siriusly,

you'll never go back to FM radio. I have never experienced interuptions. Wish I could say the same for my Nextel.

mjfoto · **Posted:** Mon Aug 08, 2005 9:22 pm

Don't waste your money!!! Gave up my XM and only miss the ton of sports but not worth the money.

dirtykj · **Posted:** Mon Aug 08, 2005 9:59 pm

longarm wrote:

Hey all, I have a question for ya. For those of ya that have Sirius, is it worth it? I am thinking of gettin it for my KJ and was just wondering if I should spend the cash. Are there alot of signal interruptions?

If I had to pay for it (again) I wouldn't. It came with the car (so in a way I actually paid for it). I don't like the selections of music. I like music from the 70's, 80's, Front 242, Chemical Brothers, Future Sound of London, Techno (various), Tangerine Dreams, Kraftwerk, Yanni, Art of Noise, Delerium, etc. and hardly ANY of them gets played (except 70's and 80's).

Most of the songs I listen to on Sirius are ... poo poo

superspeckman · **Posted:** Tue Aug 09, 2005 12:43 pm

I have XM and love it. Satellite is way better than FM IMHO.

4 songs an hour with commercials (FM) < non-stop music for an hour (XM)

I like that XM has basically all big sports (no NFL but I don't do a whole lot of commuting on Sundays anyway) plus CNN, CNN HN, ESPN, FoxNews, MSNBC, and about 100 other channels. For $10 a month I'd never give it up.

Calvin56 · **Joined:** Fri Jul 08, 2005 1:59 am **Posts:** 345

I have XM, and I love it. I like the selection of music, news, sports available.

I have not noticed any real signal degradation when I'm out driving. When I finished up my last trail here in AZ, The guys in the TJ's told me that they were extremely supprised at how well the KJ did.

....... and then I told them I did the whole thing with Air conditioning and listening to music the whole way. Their radios had cut out after the first couple of hills

I definately will be getting sattelite radio in any additional vehicles I buy.

Talon 1 · **Posted:** Tue Aug 09, 2005 5:50 pm

I got the sportster model (you can put your fave football team logo on it for when it powers on) and love Sirius. Had it for about a year now. The only time I listen to "regular" radio is to catch the traffic/weather on the 8`s.

Mike

NU ARTY BOY · **Posted:** Tue Aug 09, 2005 6:01 pm

Brother, YES Sirius is worth it - if you spend a lot of time in the Jeep. If you are cruising around town most people won't waste their money ($12/ mo. + equipment). However, if you are like me, and get stuck driving from home (Ann Arbor area) to Vermont (school) or Vermont to Rhode Island (for drill twice a month) then I would recommend it.

The programming on XM does not even compare to that if Sirius. Its much better on Sirius.

As far as losing reception, it only happens when I get stuck in traffic under obvious places where it would be difficult to get a signal from the satellite ( overpasses, etc.) The antenna looks almost exactly like the magnetic external antennas for a PLGR that you stick on the outside of a HMMWV or LMTV. Boy, I wonder where they got THAT technology from...

I've had it since Janurary and I don't ever listen to normal radio anymore. I love it.

Guest · **Posted:** Tue Aug 09, 2005 6:07 pm

Your occasional loss under underpasses, etc., is interesting? Sometimes I drive within the concrete & steel canyons of downtown Chicago w/o loss of reception. At least I've never noticed interference.

hoss75 · **Posted:** Tue Aug 09, 2005 8:06 pm

YES, it's worth it.. DirtyKJ, did you check all the channels?? There's like 12 channels of just different style of rock/metal. You mention techno, isn't the Area63 channel All techno all the time? They probbaly play Chemical Brothers as well. You'd probably find Yanni on Sirius Pops..
You mention 70's and 80's music, there's like 5 channesl dedicated to 70's music.. at least 2 GREAT ones dedicated to 80's music (two of my favs, the Big 80's channel 8 and Hair Nation channel 23). My point is I just can't believe you couldn't find what you were looking for music wise... how long ago was it you had Sirius? Maybe they didn't have all these channels when you had it?

I also lose my signal when going under underpasses and tunnels and the like.. However, and this is why Hammer hasn't noticed any interuption.. in most major cities they have RF repeater networks set up so you can still get sirius reception even in undergorund parking garages.

hoss75 · **Posted:** Tue Aug 09, 2005 8:09 pm

Oh, and another great thing about Sirius (that costs extra for XM) you can listen online free as long as you have an active account.

CaKJFreedom · **Posted:** Tue Aug 09, 2005 8:32 pm

I tend to freak out in cars without Sirius. I get dissapointed at normal radio. Mine cuts out with underpasses and tiny curvy roads that have tons of trees. It's good to have a cd as backup and you'll find it takes weeks to liste to the one cd. I will never go to to regular radio. I live on 1,8,9, and 20-23. I took a road trip for like 27 hours last weekend and never had to venture out of those 7 channels. I find it totally worth the small investment for no commercials.

pepper · **Posted:** Tue Aug 09, 2005 9:28 pm

so where is the cheapest place to buy one??

NU ARTY BOY · **Posted:** Wed Aug 10, 2005 9:35 am

Hammer wrote:

Your occasional loss under underpasses, etc., is interesting? Sometimes I drive within the concrete & steel canyons of downtown Chicago w/o loss of reception. At least I've never noticed interference.

hoss75 wrote:

I also lose my signal when going under underpasses and tunnels and the like.. However, and this is why Hammer hasn't noticed any interuption.. in most major cities they have RF repeater networks set up so you can still get sirius reception even in undergorund parking garages.

Thanks for helping me out. In most major cities around the country there are repeater towers that help with reception when your car is surrounded by skyscrapers. I was referring to the open country where I would be on a freeway that passes underneath another major freeway (more that 4 lanes). Its only in places like that where I have any loss of signal but it comes back 1 or 2 seconds later. I also have this problem when filling up for gas and the pumps are all underneath a big overhang. Its more of a nusiance than anything. It could also be the placement of my antenna - right behind the lightbar (not exactly the best open spot on the roof but I want to hide the antenna as much as possible).

As for equipment, it depends on what you want exactly. Do you want something that is permenant in the Jeep or do you want something that you can take from vehicle to home? Once you answer that, then you can start looking at the recievers, antenna and tuner boxes that you might need.

dirtykj · **Posted:** Wed Aug 10, 2005 12:46 pm

I guess my taste in music is off the mainstream enough ... I hardly turn on my Sirius these days, too boring.

CaKJFreedom · **Posted:** Wed Aug 10, 2005 5:36 pm

I had reception issues and moved my antenna over an inch or two and it's a huge difference for the better.

I like the mix of artists overall but they could stand to throw in some more songs. I do a happy dance in the Jeep when they play anything by the Violent Femmes.

superspeckman · **Posted:** Thu Aug 11, 2005 2:34 pm

hoss75 wrote:

Oh, and another great thing about Sirius (that costs extra for XM) you can listen online free as long as you have an active account.

Actually when the price moved to $12 they (XM) included that and ended the additional charge.

CaKJFreedom · **Posted:** Thu Aug 11, 2005 5:40 pm

Check the Sirius site. Not sure if they still have it but you used to be able to log in free for 3 days to check it out and see if you like it or not.

cpliberty04 · **Posted:** Wed Aug 17, 2005 11:15 am

Hello! I actually signed up for the 3 day trial with Sirius this morning. I like 80's music so I've been listening to channel 8 and so far they've been playing great music. I see where they are running a $30 rebate special when you purchase a unit with a 6 month subscription package.

Anyone have any suggestions as to which unit to buy? I think I want a portable unit but with Internet listening options I probably won't need a home kit but might want to take it with me on the beach or someplace like that later. I see they have units from $80, Starmate with auto pkg, and up on their website. I'm hoping for the lowest priced but if another unit is better, I'd rather spend the money up front now then find out I should have gotten something else instead. Thanks!

CaKJFreedom · **Posted:** Wed Aug 17, 2005 6:53 pm

There are a bunch that have home and car kits, but only a few that have a boombox option. Go to sirius.com and click on "get sirius", then "radios", then "everywhere" to see them. I haven't really heard about any one plug and play being better than others. Some have tiny buttons that you need super skinny fingers for and others are more adult sized. Definatley take the time to look around and play with them. Gotta love the eighties (just the music, thank goodness most of the clothes didn't come back)

Sirius is it worth it?

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