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Radio the way it was intended to be
Pros
Easy installation, feature packed and functional
Cons
Small display and buttons, limited mounting options out of the box
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
The Roady XT is a great introduction to the world of XM Radio, feature-packed for such a small size and low price.
When I was young(er) I lived on the bleeding edge of technology. As a member of Generation X my short attention span demands constant entertainment. You would think I would have stumbled onto XM Radio years ago, but no. Although I have followed the satellite radio movement since the early 1990s, a few things have kept me from buying in, namely: money (both the initial equipment cost and ongoing service charges) and longevity of the technology. So I was content to let the hardware and service mature a few years to make sure the bugs were out and hope that competition would drive the price down.
Waiting has paid its dividends – manufacturers are nearly giving away the receivers, so the barrier to entry is flattened considerably. However, this is an interesting time to sign on, as Sirius and XM are merging into one company. Without competition, will rates rise? Will service falter? The answers remain to be seen, but for what it's worth, XM has penned an open letter to subscribers called "The XM Promise" that guarantees existing hardware will continue to work and core XM content – Major League Baseball games, Opie & Anthony, Oprah, etc. – will not be interrupted by the merger.
Researching the Purchase
For the initial decision – XM or Sirius? – I relied on a friend's recommendation of XM, and specifically his glowing report of the small but feature-packed Roady XT by Delphi. Still, I hit the internet to do research, and my first stop was (of course) right here at Epinions. Fortunately there were plenty of reviews, and a strong rating, so I decided to make the purchase.
Installation and Activation
There are numerous ways to install satellite radio in your car. The cheapest and easiest is FM modulation, where the XM signal is "broadcast" to your car's existing FM radio over an unused frequency. My last experience with this technology was a horrible FM mod for my iPod, and the sound was so lousy that I took it back to the store. My friend reassured me this was not the case with the XM unit, and I am pleased to report he is correct. There are still drawbacks to FM modulation, which I will discuss later, but overall I am greatly pleased with the sound quality.
Installation was a snap. I mounted the magnetic antenna on the car roof, about six inches from the back window. The only tricky part was prying up the moulding around the rear window enough to hide the antenna wire, but even this only took about ten minutes. Once inside the window trim I ran the cable down through the trunk, through the backseat and under the floormats to the passenger side of the dashboard where it plugs into the radio.
I initially planned to use the included adhesive disc to stick the Roady XT's swivel mount to the dashboard, but despite following Delphi's instructions to the T (which involved swabbing the dash with an alcohol pad, heating the disc with a hair dryer and then leaving the mount untouched for two days after installation to allow it to set) the swivel mount peeled off with virtually no resistance the first time I attempted to dock the receiver. Fortunately Delphi also includes an adapter that clips to the heater/AC vent. This is a flimsy solution that works its way free about once every two weeks, but it works for the time being. I am still on the lookout for a more permanent solution.
Once mounted and connected to the antenna, the only thing left was to plug in the power adapter to my cigarette lighter and then activate the radio. Activation can either be done over the phone or via the XM website, and involves providing your credit card number and a radio ID number that is printed on the back of the Roady XT (and also displayed on the XT's LCD when channel zero is selected). Until the unit is activated, all you will hear is XM's promotional channel, which will tease you with promos for all the awesome content that awaits once activation is complete.
I chose the internet option, which was quick and painless. On completion the site reported that it may take a brief period, usually around fifteen minutes, before the radio update is completed and you can access all 170+ channels of digital programming. I waited about an hour, then another hour after that, but I was still only getting the promo channel. About midday the next day I logged back on to the website and clicked a link to resend the activation code to the radio, which finally did the trick.
Using the Product
I find myself alternately impressed and frustrated by the Roady XT. On the positive side it packs a lot of functions into a tiny unit and does some unexpectedly cool things like notifying you when your favorite song or artist is playing on any of the XM channels. The small size is ultimately very limiting when it comes to tuning options, and the buttons are correspondingly small and difficult to operate, especially while driving.
There are five two-sided buttons each a little smaller than a Tic Tac along the bottom of the XT. In Direct mode, you can use these keys (numbered 1 through 0) to directly punch in the station number you want to jump to – for example, enter 1-5-0 to tune in Channel 150, XM Comedy. In Preset mode, the buttons work like the presets on your car radio, only you can have three sets (A, B and C) of 10 favorites each. Cycling through Presets A/B/C and Direct tuning mode is accomplished by repeatedly pushing the "pre/dir" button on the XT's face.
If you don't mind meandering through all 170 of the channels in the XM neighborhood, you can stroll up or down the channel lineup by pressing the Up and Down arrow keys on the right side of the XT's LCD display. The LCD will show a preview of what's on, and when you find something you like just pause a second (or press "Select") and the new station will begin playing. (If you'd rather skip the LCD preview, you can turn them off in the options menu.)
The LCD only displays two lines of information, which can be a bit cramped. Fortunately the Roady XT offers five modes to let you choose what you see onscreen while listening – the channel name/number, artist, song title, game score (neat when listening to sports, since many current announcers don't give the score as often as they should), plus some extras like scrolling sports scores and stock tickers. Unfortunately none of them is perfect – satellite radio just needs a three-line screen. Other XM models, like the Audiovox Xpress and Delphi's SKYfi2, have larger displays, but are also more expensive (and larger) than the XT. Nevertheless, having the artist and song title displayed at all times is a wonderful bonus, and something that will become hard to live without once you get used to it.
Sound Quality
Overall the quality of sound is very good, especially considering I am using the lowest quality audio connection (FM modulation). You can sometimes tell the signal has been digitized, especially when listening to talk shows, but the music sounds just as good as it does in iTunes. I have never been a real car audio snob, since the car isn't exactly the ideal place to listen to music, so as long as the signal is static-free and the sound is relatively full and rich I'm happy. And with a few exceptions, both of which involve the FM modulation, I'm satisfied with the sound from the XT.
One problem is that many FM mod owners use the factory default frequencies (usually 88.1 or 88.3) since there tends to be little interference on these channels. When a car using the same frequency as you pulls in close to you it is immediately apparent. Sometimes it's fun to turn off the XM tuner and see if you can hear what your neighbor is listening to. Other times it's just annoying, and short of driving away from the offender or retuning the broadcast frequency (not to be attempted from the driver's seat while the car is in motion) there's nothing you can do. This can be a drag in bumper-to-bumper gridlock.
On long road trips you may enter areas where local stations are broadcasting on your chosen frequency, as happened when I drove through San Francisco recently. Upon coming out of a tunnel west of Orinda the static was so bad I couldn't listen and had to turn the XM off. I tried periodically but it wasn't until I was south of SFO airport that the signal finally cleared up. If you don't have a co-pilot to mess with the modulator's frequency assignment, count on having to pull off the road to make the necessary changes.
XM Content
There are a number of great stations covering many genres: music by decade from the 40s through the 90s and today, Christian, Pop, Classical, Jazz, Country, Urban, and Latin. The great variety has led me to listen to music I would never have otherwise experienced, and brought back some great memories. On the 80s channel I heard a complete replay of Casey Kasem's Top 40 from 1982 (wow did that bring back memories). XM also does occasional "Artist Confidential" features, where they bring performers into an intimate setting to play and talk. Last week there was a great Artist Confidential with Harry Connick, Jr. talking and singing about the devastation in New Orleans caused by Hurricane Katrina.
There are news/talk stations for both the far left (Air America) and far right (Fox News Talk) of the political spectrum, and probably pretty much everything in between. There are kids' stations (Radio Disney and XM Kids) which get the seal of approval from my 5- and 7-year old children, and comedy stations both clean and uncensored. But the real gem for me has been the sports broadcasting. In addition to several sports news stations, XM broadcasts every Major League Baseball game live from the home team's feed. I listened to a Milwaukee Brewers game the other day and heard Bob Uecker's call of the game; somehow I had to remind myself this was really Bob Uecker, not Uecker playing Harry Doyle from the "Major League" movies.
A cool bonus is that every XM subscriber can create an online account and stream most of the XM stations (unfortunately not the sporting events) over an internet-connected PC, so I am actually listening to XM on my computer as I type this review (channel 309, "New Pop First", in case you were curious).
Conclusions
Satellite radio is definitely a keeper. My commute (2+ hours a day in heavy traffic) was always a drag, even more so because of the poor radio reception in my area. Stations that come in clear at my house disappear completely halfway to work, and the same thing happens when going home in the evenings. Thanks to XM I get better variety with no interference all the way to work and back. Hallelujah!
If I had the money, I would have preferred to have professional installation and a wired connection to my car audio system. Since I'm not sure how long I'll keep my current car I might hold off and save my nickels to buy a new car with built in XM. Over 22 car companies offer XM as a factory option.
4 Stars.
Waiting has paid its dividends – manufacturers are nearly giving away the receivers, so the barrier to entry is flattened considerably. However, this is an interesting time to sign on, as Sirius and XM are merging into one company. Without competition, will rates rise? Will service falter? The answers remain to be seen, but for what it's worth, XM has penned an open letter to subscribers called "The XM Promise" that guarantees existing hardware will continue to work and core XM content – Major League Baseball games, Opie & Anthony, Oprah, etc. – will not be interrupted by the merger.
Researching the Purchase
For the initial decision – XM or Sirius? – I relied on a friend's recommendation of XM, and specifically his glowing report of the small but feature-packed Roady XT by Delphi. Still, I hit the internet to do research, and my first stop was (of course) right here at Epinions. Fortunately there were plenty of reviews, and a strong rating, so I decided to make the purchase.
Installation and Activation
There are numerous ways to install satellite radio in your car. The cheapest and easiest is FM modulation, where the XM signal is "broadcast" to your car's existing FM radio over an unused frequency. My last experience with this technology was a horrible FM mod for my iPod, and the sound was so lousy that I took it back to the store. My friend reassured me this was not the case with the XM unit, and I am pleased to report he is correct. There are still drawbacks to FM modulation, which I will discuss later, but overall I am greatly pleased with the sound quality.
Installation was a snap. I mounted the magnetic antenna on the car roof, about six inches from the back window. The only tricky part was prying up the moulding around the rear window enough to hide the antenna wire, but even this only took about ten minutes. Once inside the window trim I ran the cable down through the trunk, through the backseat and under the floormats to the passenger side of the dashboard where it plugs into the radio.
I initially planned to use the included adhesive disc to stick the Roady XT's swivel mount to the dashboard, but despite following Delphi's instructions to the T (which involved swabbing the dash with an alcohol pad, heating the disc with a hair dryer and then leaving the mount untouched for two days after installation to allow it to set) the swivel mount peeled off with virtually no resistance the first time I attempted to dock the receiver. Fortunately Delphi also includes an adapter that clips to the heater/AC vent. This is a flimsy solution that works its way free about once every two weeks, but it works for the time being. I am still on the lookout for a more permanent solution.
Once mounted and connected to the antenna, the only thing left was to plug in the power adapter to my cigarette lighter and then activate the radio. Activation can either be done over the phone or via the XM website, and involves providing your credit card number and a radio ID number that is printed on the back of the Roady XT (and also displayed on the XT's LCD when channel zero is selected). Until the unit is activated, all you will hear is XM's promotional channel, which will tease you with promos for all the awesome content that awaits once activation is complete.
I chose the internet option, which was quick and painless. On completion the site reported that it may take a brief period, usually around fifteen minutes, before the radio update is completed and you can access all 170+ channels of digital programming. I waited about an hour, then another hour after that, but I was still only getting the promo channel. About midday the next day I logged back on to the website and clicked a link to resend the activation code to the radio, which finally did the trick.
Using the Product
I find myself alternately impressed and frustrated by the Roady XT. On the positive side it packs a lot of functions into a tiny unit and does some unexpectedly cool things like notifying you when your favorite song or artist is playing on any of the XM channels. The small size is ultimately very limiting when it comes to tuning options, and the buttons are correspondingly small and difficult to operate, especially while driving.
There are five two-sided buttons each a little smaller than a Tic Tac along the bottom of the XT. In Direct mode, you can use these keys (numbered 1 through 0) to directly punch in the station number you want to jump to – for example, enter 1-5-0 to tune in Channel 150, XM Comedy. In Preset mode, the buttons work like the presets on your car radio, only you can have three sets (A, B and C) of 10 favorites each. Cycling through Presets A/B/C and Direct tuning mode is accomplished by repeatedly pushing the "pre/dir" button on the XT's face.
If you don't mind meandering through all 170 of the channels in the XM neighborhood, you can stroll up or down the channel lineup by pressing the Up and Down arrow keys on the right side of the XT's LCD display. The LCD will show a preview of what's on, and when you find something you like just pause a second (or press "Select") and the new station will begin playing. (If you'd rather skip the LCD preview, you can turn them off in the options menu.)
The LCD only displays two lines of information, which can be a bit cramped. Fortunately the Roady XT offers five modes to let you choose what you see onscreen while listening – the channel name/number, artist, song title, game score (neat when listening to sports, since many current announcers don't give the score as often as they should), plus some extras like scrolling sports scores and stock tickers. Unfortunately none of them is perfect – satellite radio just needs a three-line screen. Other XM models, like the Audiovox Xpress and Delphi's SKYfi2, have larger displays, but are also more expensive (and larger) than the XT. Nevertheless, having the artist and song title displayed at all times is a wonderful bonus, and something that will become hard to live without once you get used to it.
Sound Quality
Overall the quality of sound is very good, especially considering I am using the lowest quality audio connection (FM modulation). You can sometimes tell the signal has been digitized, especially when listening to talk shows, but the music sounds just as good as it does in iTunes. I have never been a real car audio snob, since the car isn't exactly the ideal place to listen to music, so as long as the signal is static-free and the sound is relatively full and rich I'm happy. And with a few exceptions, both of which involve the FM modulation, I'm satisfied with the sound from the XT.
One problem is that many FM mod owners use the factory default frequencies (usually 88.1 or 88.3) since there tends to be little interference on these channels. When a car using the same frequency as you pulls in close to you it is immediately apparent. Sometimes it's fun to turn off the XM tuner and see if you can hear what your neighbor is listening to. Other times it's just annoying, and short of driving away from the offender or retuning the broadcast frequency (not to be attempted from the driver's seat while the car is in motion) there's nothing you can do. This can be a drag in bumper-to-bumper gridlock.
On long road trips you may enter areas where local stations are broadcasting on your chosen frequency, as happened when I drove through San Francisco recently. Upon coming out of a tunnel west of Orinda the static was so bad I couldn't listen and had to turn the XM off. I tried periodically but it wasn't until I was south of SFO airport that the signal finally cleared up. If you don't have a co-pilot to mess with the modulator's frequency assignment, count on having to pull off the road to make the necessary changes.
XM Content
There are a number of great stations covering many genres: music by decade from the 40s through the 90s and today, Christian, Pop, Classical, Jazz, Country, Urban, and Latin. The great variety has led me to listen to music I would never have otherwise experienced, and brought back some great memories. On the 80s channel I heard a complete replay of Casey Kasem's Top 40 from 1982 (wow did that bring back memories). XM also does occasional "Artist Confidential" features, where they bring performers into an intimate setting to play and talk. Last week there was a great Artist Confidential with Harry Connick, Jr. talking and singing about the devastation in New Orleans caused by Hurricane Katrina.
There are news/talk stations for both the far left (Air America) and far right (Fox News Talk) of the political spectrum, and probably pretty much everything in between. There are kids' stations (Radio Disney and XM Kids) which get the seal of approval from my 5- and 7-year old children, and comedy stations both clean and uncensored. But the real gem for me has been the sports broadcasting. In addition to several sports news stations, XM broadcasts every Major League Baseball game live from the home team's feed. I listened to a Milwaukee Brewers game the other day and heard Bob Uecker's call of the game; somehow I had to remind myself this was really Bob Uecker, not Uecker playing Harry Doyle from the "Major League" movies.
A cool bonus is that every XM subscriber can create an online account and stream most of the XM stations (unfortunately not the sporting events) over an internet-connected PC, so I am actually listening to XM on my computer as I type this review (channel 309, "New Pop First", in case you were curious).
Conclusions
Satellite radio is definitely a keeper. My commute (2+ hours a day in heavy traffic) was always a drag, even more so because of the poor radio reception in my area. Stations that come in clear at my house disappear completely halfway to work, and the same thing happens when going home in the evenings. Thanks to XM I get better variety with no interference all the way to work and back. Hallelujah!
If I had the money, I would have preferred to have professional installation and a wired connection to my car audio system. Since I'm not sure how long I'll keep my current car I might hold off and save my nickels to buy a new car with built in XM. Over 22 car companies offer XM as a factory option.
4 Stars.
