TAO Electronics XM2go Satellite Radio Receiver
- Usage: Car Home
- Design: Compact
- FM Transmitter: Included
- Service: XM
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A Canadian's take on the Delphi Myfi
Pros
Good content
Cons
Too many wires
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
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I've had my Delphi Myfi XM2go receiver for about two weeks now. I bought at Walmart in the States for roughly $150. The normal price from what I've gathered online is $200 at other brick & mortar stores in the US, but at the moment there is a $50 mail in rebate, which did not come with the Walmart unit. I thought that $150 was a good deal, considering this unit costs $400 here in Canada.
While I have enjoyed the XM content so far, I have not enjoyed all the cords that come with the unit. I've been listening to the radio with this unit as much at home as I have been listening on the road. I was impressed with all the different attachments that came with the Myfi. You'll find a case, a cassette adapter, a small stand, 2 antennas(one for a car, the other for use at home), a suction for mounting the unit in the car, a cigarette lighter adapter,a remote and an AC adapter. There are a few other doodads that I've failed to mention.
In order to listen to the radio in the car, you have to have the antenna on the roof. That's one cord, and the second goes from the unit to the cigarette adapter. So while the unit sits happily on my front-passenger seat, the wires get tangled. It's annoying to have to de-tangle the mess to clear the seat when I have a passenger. It's a good thing the unit comes with the remote, otherwise it would be difficult to change channels even at a stop light.
The remote is small, but works well. Reception in the car has been good overall, although this past weekend it seemed to struggle as I was driving through a hilly area in the city. I later found a somewhat loose connection that may have contributed to the reception problems, but it was still firmly connected from what I could see.
At home, I've found that the unit has to have the antenna connected to get good reception. That means I have to connect the Myfi to the wall, so it ends up recharging at the same time. Without any connections at all, the reception is poor. I've tried moving around the house on the first and second floor but it doesn't seem to make much difference. I'll hear 5 or 10 seconds of a song and then static for the same period. Again, having to connect the Myfi to the wall and deal with all the wires is a hassle. Although I expected to have to plug the Myfi some of the time, I hoped that the internal antenna would be stronger than it is. When I bought the Delphi I was hoping to be able to take the unit to school and to poker games so I could listen while I played. However, with my poor experiences with the internal antenna, I'm sure it wouldn't work very well. The only way it would work is if I were to listen to music or content that is already stored on the Myfi. I do like the fact that the Myfi comes with everything you need straight out of the box - home kit, car kit,etc.
One of the better features of the Myfi is that you can record up to 5 hours of content on the device. All you do is press the "2go" button on the unit or the remote twice, and it records whatever channel you are on. Beware - if you start channel surfing while you're recording, it will record whatever channels you change to. I've found that when the unit records from any of the channels, it doesn't just record the songs, it records the advertisements too. If you intend to record one song, and leave it for even a second after the song to stop recording, it will record the extra second of the next song. That wouldn't be so bad, except I've found it impossible to delete songs one by one. From what I can see, you can only delete everything all at once. That really sucks! On a few ocassions I've left the unit recording by accident, which meant I had a lot of content on the unit that I didn't want, and couldn't get rid of without wiping the whole thing clean.
The Myfi also has a built-in fm transmitter. While at home, I set the Myfi to 88.7 FM, and I can then listen to any XM station on any other radio that is tuned to that same station. Unfortunately you can't adjust the volume on the other radios with the remote, or by changing the volume on the actual unit. The only time that the volume knob on the Myfi works is when you have headphones connected.
Right out of the box you have to charge the unit for about 6-8 hours. Next, write down the serial number of the Myfi unit by tuning in to channel 0 or 1. At that point you have to activate the Myfi online at www.xmradio.com or by calling 1-800-XM-RADIO. Activating over the phone costs US$14.99, while doing so on the internet is US$9.99. If you're in Canada, and you want to subscribe to get US content, you won't have any problems, as long as you have a US mailing address. You can use any old credit-card. I was about to activate my radio online when I saw a field for a promotional code. I immediately googled XM promo code and came up with this : http://www.fatwallet.com/t/24/563680/
Thanks to the Fatwallet forums I was able to get free activation and my first 3 months with XM for free. I still had to give them my credit-card details. If you do use one of these codes, check your credit-card statement anyway. I did about a week after I activated only to find that they had charged me an amount. They weren't supposed to charge me anything. After about 10 minutes on the phone I got the matter resolved, but it never hurts to double-check your credit-card statement.
I am pleased with the XM content thus far. I've been listening to the hockey broadcasts, the 4 comedy channels and Opie and Anthony. I've also taken a liking to channels 20-22, which have top 20 music. Channel 27, cinemagic, plays music from movies with clips from the movies in between songs. If I still have this receiver, or I'm still subscribed to XM, I will enjoy the major league baseball broadcasts. Here in Vancouver we only have a single-A team, so it'll be nice to listen to broadcasts of the Yankees, Blue Jays and Mariners once in awhile. Unfortunately XM does not have the NBA. I'm not sure how well basketball translates to the radio.
Overall, I'm enjoying the content XM provides, and the Myfi is a neat-looking device, but ultimately I don't think I'll keep it. It's just too much of a hassle to have to plug it in everywhere I go. I also don't like the XM2go feature as much as I thought, because of the problems noted above. The Myfi does have some nice features, including a few that were unexpected.
While I have enjoyed the XM content so far, I have not enjoyed all the cords that come with the unit. I've been listening to the radio with this unit as much at home as I have been listening on the road. I was impressed with all the different attachments that came with the Myfi. You'll find a case, a cassette adapter, a small stand, 2 antennas(one for a car, the other for use at home), a suction for mounting the unit in the car, a cigarette lighter adapter,a remote and an AC adapter. There are a few other doodads that I've failed to mention.
In order to listen to the radio in the car, you have to have the antenna on the roof. That's one cord, and the second goes from the unit to the cigarette adapter. So while the unit sits happily on my front-passenger seat, the wires get tangled. It's annoying to have to de-tangle the mess to clear the seat when I have a passenger. It's a good thing the unit comes with the remote, otherwise it would be difficult to change channels even at a stop light.
The remote is small, but works well. Reception in the car has been good overall, although this past weekend it seemed to struggle as I was driving through a hilly area in the city. I later found a somewhat loose connection that may have contributed to the reception problems, but it was still firmly connected from what I could see.
At home, I've found that the unit has to have the antenna connected to get good reception. That means I have to connect the Myfi to the wall, so it ends up recharging at the same time. Without any connections at all, the reception is poor. I've tried moving around the house on the first and second floor but it doesn't seem to make much difference. I'll hear 5 or 10 seconds of a song and then static for the same period. Again, having to connect the Myfi to the wall and deal with all the wires is a hassle. Although I expected to have to plug the Myfi some of the time, I hoped that the internal antenna would be stronger than it is. When I bought the Delphi I was hoping to be able to take the unit to school and to poker games so I could listen while I played. However, with my poor experiences with the internal antenna, I'm sure it wouldn't work very well. The only way it would work is if I were to listen to music or content that is already stored on the Myfi. I do like the fact that the Myfi comes with everything you need straight out of the box - home kit, car kit,etc.
One of the better features of the Myfi is that you can record up to 5 hours of content on the device. All you do is press the "2go" button on the unit or the remote twice, and it records whatever channel you are on. Beware - if you start channel surfing while you're recording, it will record whatever channels you change to. I've found that when the unit records from any of the channels, it doesn't just record the songs, it records the advertisements too. If you intend to record one song, and leave it for even a second after the song to stop recording, it will record the extra second of the next song. That wouldn't be so bad, except I've found it impossible to delete songs one by one. From what I can see, you can only delete everything all at once. That really sucks! On a few ocassions I've left the unit recording by accident, which meant I had a lot of content on the unit that I didn't want, and couldn't get rid of without wiping the whole thing clean.
The Myfi also has a built-in fm transmitter. While at home, I set the Myfi to 88.7 FM, and I can then listen to any XM station on any other radio that is tuned to that same station. Unfortunately you can't adjust the volume on the other radios with the remote, or by changing the volume on the actual unit. The only time that the volume knob on the Myfi works is when you have headphones connected.
Right out of the box you have to charge the unit for about 6-8 hours. Next, write down the serial number of the Myfi unit by tuning in to channel 0 or 1. At that point you have to activate the Myfi online at www.xmradio.com or by calling 1-800-XM-RADIO. Activating over the phone costs US$14.99, while doing so on the internet is US$9.99. If you're in Canada, and you want to subscribe to get US content, you won't have any problems, as long as you have a US mailing address. You can use any old credit-card. I was about to activate my radio online when I saw a field for a promotional code. I immediately googled XM promo code and came up with this : http://www.fatwallet.com/t/24/563680/
Thanks to the Fatwallet forums I was able to get free activation and my first 3 months with XM for free. I still had to give them my credit-card details. If you do use one of these codes, check your credit-card statement anyway. I did about a week after I activated only to find that they had charged me an amount. They weren't supposed to charge me anything. After about 10 minutes on the phone I got the matter resolved, but it never hurts to double-check your credit-card statement.
I am pleased with the XM content thus far. I've been listening to the hockey broadcasts, the 4 comedy channels and Opie and Anthony. I've also taken a liking to channels 20-22, which have top 20 music. Channel 27, cinemagic, plays music from movies with clips from the movies in between songs. If I still have this receiver, or I'm still subscribed to XM, I will enjoy the major league baseball broadcasts. Here in Vancouver we only have a single-A team, so it'll be nice to listen to broadcasts of the Yankees, Blue Jays and Mariners once in awhile. Unfortunately XM does not have the NBA. I'm not sure how well basketball translates to the radio.
Overall, I'm enjoying the content XM provides, and the Myfi is a neat-looking device, but ultimately I don't think I'll keep it. It's just too much of a hassle to have to plug it in everywhere I go. I also don't like the XM2go feature as much as I thought, because of the problems noted above. The Myfi does have some nice features, including a few that were unexpected.
