Sirius XM Radio Sportster SP-TK1 Satellite
- Usage: Car Home
- Design: Compact
- FM Transmitter: Variable frequency with 0.1 MHz step
- Service: SIRIUS
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OK but not great - unit, service, technology
Pros
Large display, easy to setup, "Sirius Disorder" worth the price alone
Cons
Cheaply made parts broke after 9 months. Support is hard to reach.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
If purchasing this unit, have it permanently mounted and skip the FM transmitter and use the cradle's FM-out. Make sure to write down all details when setting up service.
This is sort of a three-way review of the Sirius Sportster unit itself, Sirius's service, and satellite radio service overall.
An unexpected birthday gift for my 40th birthday - I was very excited about the Sirius Sportster.
Signing up for service was pretty simple, but I was not able to choose my login or password, so I've not been able to contact Sirius for support. The device and service work pretty well. I live in New England/NYC area, and where I live has lots of trees and overpasses, and the dropouts from these are more noticeable than terrestrial radio.
The sportster unit itself seems to lack (or behaves like it lacks) an internal battery, so it loses presets. I also found the buttons confusing and not intuitive. I'm going to have to dig deeper into the manual, which blows. Radios shouldn't have to be a read-the-manual device. Being over 6-feet tall and with pudgy hands, I found the buttons small despite the size of the unit. The combo data-dial-push-button is a pain. When driving it's hard to adjust the unit (or any unit) with combo buttons.
After about 9 months, the glass suction mount started loosing its suction, and I had to practically wrestle the Best-Buy guy to sell me a permanent mount, which didn't work so well, either. The ongoing drops from the mounting hardware cased the fragile antenna jack on the cradle unit to break off. Also, the FM transmitter seems to be directional, and if not mounting the Sportster above the radio (mine was mounted in front), the stations that have the link frequency will override the unit, even if far away.
Right now, the unit is broke, and I haven't been able to contact Sirius, and they're still billing my card even though I haven't listed to it in over a month. Even when it was working, sometimes it was a hassle to dig it out of the glove box and futz with the presets that emptied out each time. DJs were easy to reach via email, but they (of course) aren't available to direct gear questions to support.
An unexpected birthday gift for my 40th birthday - I was very excited about the Sirius Sportster.
Signing up for service was pretty simple, but I was not able to choose my login or password, so I've not been able to contact Sirius for support. The device and service work pretty well. I live in New England/NYC area, and where I live has lots of trees and overpasses, and the dropouts from these are more noticeable than terrestrial radio.
The sportster unit itself seems to lack (or behaves like it lacks) an internal battery, so it loses presets. I also found the buttons confusing and not intuitive. I'm going to have to dig deeper into the manual, which blows. Radios shouldn't have to be a read-the-manual device. Being over 6-feet tall and with pudgy hands, I found the buttons small despite the size of the unit. The combo data-dial-push-button is a pain. When driving it's hard to adjust the unit (or any unit) with combo buttons.
After about 9 months, the glass suction mount started loosing its suction, and I had to practically wrestle the Best-Buy guy to sell me a permanent mount, which didn't work so well, either. The ongoing drops from the mounting hardware cased the fragile antenna jack on the cradle unit to break off. Also, the FM transmitter seems to be directional, and if not mounting the Sportster above the radio (mine was mounted in front), the stations that have the link frequency will override the unit, even if far away.
Right now, the unit is broke, and I haven't been able to contact Sirius, and they're still billing my card even though I haven't listed to it in over a month. Even when it was working, sometimes it was a hassle to dig it out of the glove box and futz with the presets that emptied out each time. DJs were easy to reach via email, but they (of course) aren't available to direct gear questions to support.
