Delphi Roady2 SA10085 XM Radio Receiver with Car Kit

Let if first be said that I am a dedicated customer of XM Radio. I signed up the first year the product became available and I've been gleefully satisfied with the amazing variety the service offers. I wish I could say the same for the methods of delivery of the service.

I started out with an early Pioneer XM reciever that was designed to work with my existing stereo (this is mandatory as I don't want to remove a very good factory stereo from my car.) The Pioneer unit lasted two years before it perished, way way before its time.

Next up was the Roady 1. Like the former unit, it worked off a seperate FM modulator that was already installed in my car because of the previous Pioneer unit. The Roady 1 worked wonderfully for another year. Then the wire to the FM modulator failed.

Now comes the Roady 2, which is much like the Roady 1 except it has a few added features and comes with everything you need to plug in and start listening in your car almost immediately. Also, it does not need a seperate FM modulator to work as it has one built in already. It was cheaper for me to by the Roady 2 for 29 bucks rather than buying a new $70 FM modulator. However, the internal FM modulator in the Roady 2 is not much of an advance, as I'll explain below.

Installation: Hooking up the Roady 2 is very simple. It comes with a power cord that plugs into the cigarrette lighter and an antenna and cord that is easily installed on the outside of the vehicle. It also comes with one of those hoaky cassettes with a cord that assists in delivering the signal to your existing stereo --- assuming your stereo system still has a cassette player. Mine does. Since the wiring for the Roady 1 was already in my car --- including a power source wire that was hooked into my stereo --- I assumed I could just plug the Roady 2 in, minus the FM modulator, and be ready to go. Wrong. The power cord to my stereo did not accept the Roady 2 unit. So plugged in the cigarette lighter plug, and the Roady 2 came to life. I called XM's 866 line and had them change my service over to the new unit. Everything looked like it was cool. Wrong again. I wanted to hook up the Roady 2 using only the antenna and power wires to avoid a mess of wires on my console. I assumed since it had an internal FM modulator, I could just hook up two wires. This is true. But I noticed significant static in the service. I changed the FM frequencies that accepted the Roady signals, but the static was still there. Then, as a last resort, I hooked up the hoaky cassette/wire adapter. That took care of the static. But now I have a wire running from my Roady unit to the cassette player. It looks decidedly ghetto.

Function: If you read the other reviews of the Roady, they all have the same complaint --- the selector wheel which you use to find a station is extremely unwieldy. I also do not like the wheel as it's difficult to manuever (you toggle the wheel back and forth to find a station, then press the wheel to play the station if that makes any sense.) But the larger problem with both Roady units is they both make it impossible to scan stations up and down the dial. You really have to either use the preset buttons (10 of them, with three different banks for a total of 30 presets) or you can punch in the numbers directly. I never punch them in directly --- and would never do that while driving. There are many good aspects to the Roady unit. It's easy to read, even when the sun is shining on it. The letters are big enough. And you can change the screen back light color and choose between six different colors (you'll find that sky blue is the easiest on the eyes.) Unfortunately, the most logical place to install the Roady 2 unit is underneath my radio and behind the stick shift of my Mustang. When I'm in 5th gear I can't see the Roady's screen. Worse, it's hard to hit the presets with the stick shift in the way. To partially correct that problem, I have a remote control that comes with the Roady home listening kit that I use in the car to change channels. I like using the remote on long road trips. Unfortunately, when you turn the car off and the Roady 2 is plugged into the cigarette lighter, the unit will not automatically shut off. You have to turn it off yourself every time. But the unit does have a feature that will shut the unit off every 60 minutes to 120 minutes. This problem would be solved if the unit was hooked up directly to your existing stereo. I called up XM to ask about purchasing a direct power wire for the Roady @ but learned they don't sell it seperately (what!?!?)

Sound: The sound generated from the Roady unit is certainly not CD quality. It sounds just about like the terrestial station with the best signal in your city --- no better, no worse. But since it's a sattelite signal, the sound is consistant. It'll be just as clear in Juneau, Alaska as it is in New York City. The only time you'll lose the signal is if you're going through a tunnel, are driving through a parking garage, or if you're driving through a mountain range and a mountain cliff blocks the signal.

Service: My wife has had Sirius in her car for a year, so I've had a good amount of time to compare the two services. Without a doubt, XM has the better variety of music stations. And XM music stations are nearly devoid of chatter, while Sirius music stations are usually saddled with a DJ who likes to run his mouth too much. But where XM suffers is in the talk genre. XM news and talk stations are fairly pedestrian, but have gotten better with the addition of an NPR channel, and a talk left and a talk right channel. Unfortunately, XM news and talk stations have commercials and commercial breaks on these stations seem like they last forever, except on the glorious NPR station. Sirius has three NPR stations. And they're getting Howard Stern, if you're into that. XM and Sirius are divided on professional sports broadcasting as XM carries all pro baseball games while Sirius has all NFL games. XM service costs about $12 a month, but you get about a 20 percent discount of you pay for a whole year upfront.

Overall: The Roady 2 is a cheap and efficient way to get sattelite radio. You can even by a home kit and play the radio on your home stereo. I did that with the Roady 1, but the constant plugging and unplugging of wires to take the unit inside is how I screwed up the FM modulator wire. Now the Roady 2 stays put in my car. Roady 2 prices have dropped significantly as XM is trying to boost its listenership. However, if something goes wrong with this unit, I'm going to finally spend some serious money on another method of delivery and buy a long warranty. Three units in three years is not acceptable.