Customer Reviews

Delphi SkyFi2 XM Satellite Radio Receiver and Car Kit

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

After much research, I finally decided that this was the receiver for me! So far, so good.

I am primarily using this in the car, so I grabbed this version that included the car kit. If you only want one receiver but want to use it in two cars, you will need an extra car kit. It's too annoying to try to move the antenna between cars. I had looked at a few portable units, but I chose this one since it was designed primarily for those in the car, and I wanted the a unit that was going to be easy to use when I'm in the car.

Installation was very easy. I did it myself, and my antenna is on top of my roof near the front. The antenna cord is about 24 feet long, so there is plenty of extra cord if you are in a sedan like me. I ran my cord right under the weatherstripping on the front windsheild as was suggested at cruchfield.com, then through the door and around the door jam. The kit also includes one of those little tubes that you can fit around your cords, as you will have three: antenna, power and the cassette. All cords plug into the base.

I used the air vent base installation instructions (the kit also comes with dashboard mount and a swivel mount, but both can damage your car when you're ready to remove the mounts). The only thing is that I wish it were a little more steady from side to side when I am pushing the buttons. It takes some playing around with to get just right.

The receiver itself has been pretty easy to use. I definitely recommend actually reading the instructions on how to use all of the different buttons. There are 30 memory buttons available. There is also a neat feature that will alert you to when your favorite artist or song is playing, and the alert will allow you to go straight to that channel if you so desire.

One downside is that only the buttons have a backlight. The labels above them do not have these lights. So, until I get to remember exactly where the "jump," "memory" and "menu" buttons are, it's going to be to difficult to use them in the dark.

There is also a 30 minute record/replay function on this receiver. However, anything you save is erased when the unit is turned off.

I tracked this item for a few weeks before I bought it, as I noticed that the price occasionally would change from day to day. Amazon's price when I bought this three days ago was $93.99, and today it is listed about $3 less. Some third party merchants have dropped the price below the Amazon price from time to time, but generally, the Amazon price has been the lowest.

If you buy this item before the end of April 2006, there is also a $30 rebate available from XM.

Although I have not actually been a Sirius subscriber, I took advantage of the online trials with Sirius and XM. I also read some reviews of both and examined their channel guide. Their offerings are very similar. If you are interested in sports, XM has great college ACC/Pac 10/Big 10 channels (I am a UNC grad, so I have to have my ACC sports!), NASCAR and MLB. Sirius offerings are more towards NFL/MLH fans. One review I read said that the music on Sirius tended to be what he phrased as "riskier," which the reviewer defined as playing more deep cuts, etc. I have been very, very pleased with the XM offerings, playlist, variety, talk, etc. No complaints with XM here!

I've owned this XM receiver with car kit for several months now and I can tell you that it has met or exceeded my expectations in every category.

INSTALLATION
The receiver mounts easily enough in one of my air vents in the front dash. From there I run a direct stereo line out into my AUX input jack on the front of my car CD player. The antenna has a strong magnet and is easy to get on the top of your car. The installation took me about 10-15 minutes total, with no tape or tools and it is completely reversible.

FEATURES
The receiver itself is great. The large jog-dial, in conjunction with the Menu button and XM button, controls most of the selections you'll have to make. You can set 3 sets of 10 presents. You can display song info on the screen in two different ways. There is also a feature to run a real-time stock ticker or sports ticker with your selected stocks or teams at the bottom of the screen. All things and other receivers being equal, this feature sold me over other receivers and Sirius.

The last main feature in the SkyFi2 is TuneSelect. You have 20 slots to store artist and song info. Say you're listening to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." You just hold down the XM button for 2 seconds while its on and it's stored into memory. You can then set TuneSelect to either "artist" or "song." If it's on song, whenever Smells Like Teen Spirit begins to play on any of the 150+ channels, the receiver will beep and you can hit the XM button to jump to the channel that's playing it to catch the song from the beginning. If TuneSelect is on "artist," anytime ANY Nirvana song is being played on any of the 150+ channels, the receiver beeps and tells you which Nirvana song just started. You can once again hit the XM button and jump to that channel. You can store 20 songs or artists this way.

SERVICE
The XM service has been phenomenal, and better than I expected. I live around downtown Chicago, and I always get XM signal--even on lower Wacker Drive. This is because XM has set up terresterial signal emitters on the ground in metropolitan areas that are in the shadow of skyscrapers and tunnels. I have also taken it on 300 mile highway trips and always get XM signal. The service is great. After you have it, it's like cable TV, you can never go back to just broadcast TV. Commerical radio is horrendous compared to XM.

The one caveat of signal quality is how you get the signal from your XM receiver to play over your car stereo. If you use a direct line-in like i do, your signal will always be perfect. If you use the FM modulator (set your car radio to 88.5 FM and the XM receiver to broadcast on that channel) you're in for a crapshoot. In downtown Chicago, there is so much interference that FM modulators for anything, satellite radio, iPods, anything--will not work. In fact, when most people complain that the XM or Sirius signal is lost, the receiver doesn't lose the signal; the car radio can't pick up the FM modulation signal. So if you can only use the FM modulator to get the signal from the XM receiver into your car radio, I would tell you to pass on getting satellite radio if you live in a dense metro area (NY, LA, Boston, Chicago, etc). Otherwise, I fully endorse this product, it is outstanding.

I've had a SkyFi receiver in my home for over two years now, and am addicted to Satellite Radio -- it's all I listen to now. When we leased a Lexus RX 330 that did not have Satellite radio pre-installed, we purchased this receiver and car kit for it. Initially, I was concerned about trying to install the antenna on the roof of the car (the instructions that come with the kit are necessarily vague concerning how to install the antenna on the car roof, because each car is different). I did not know if I could do it myself, or if I would have to pay a professional to install it. Well, I decided to try putting the antenna inside the car, on the dashboard, rather than trying the more complicated roof-top installation, to see if it worked. I placed the antenna on the dash as far forward as possible, and stuck it in place with a little museum wax. I hid the antenna wire easily in the seam between the dash and the side of the car, and then strung the wire below the driver's side floor mat. It works great! Every now and then, the signal drops off when you make a turn or go under a bridge, but it's only momentary and no different than the drop off I got on regular radio. Indeed, it does not seem to happen any more frequently than in my other car, that had XM pre-installed with a roof antenna. The receiver plays through the tape deck in the car, and the reception is strong and crystal clear digital. (One of the other reviewers complains of poor reception when played over the FM radio -- that is only necessary if you don't have a tape deck, and I haven't tried the FM broadcast signal myself.) All in all, we're very pleased by this receiver and car kit, and wouldn't know what we'd do without it.

My son purchased the SkyFi2 for me as a Xmas gift. Had the unit installed at Circuit City (all day affair ~ $80). I have a Honda so the unit installed in the empty compartment below the radio. I agree with the previous reviewer...the unit is not as tightly connected to the base as I would like...moves a bit when pressing buttons, however, I use the remote control so it is no problem. The on-board memory (30 mins) is great. If you like the song you hear, play it again (5 times if you want). The unit gets great reception and sounds better than my radio (little or no static). Remote is easy to use since there are 30 presets and a direct access for just typing the channel you want. Direct access works well...go to the channel you want and hit the up and down button to increase or decrease the channel selection by 1. XM sorts the music in ranges so its easy to find what you want. The display has several modes to scroll the channel and artists name...no more wondering who the artist is. If you are buying this as a 2nd XM radio for a family member, be sure to check out the discounts for 2nd account user....you can save up to 50% on the monthly fee. My son has built-in XM (in his new Honda radio)and he likes my SkyFi2 better then his own. The remote control feature is great !

Hey Delphi, c'mon... this is really not necessary. The radio features, looks and performance are great, but it is of a surprisingly poor manufacturing quality. The large turn dial has some hard spots when it becomes very difficult to turn, then loosens up again just to get hard to turn a little later on. The buttons on the radio are rubber and all sit crooked in their sockets. Because of that they rub on the case and are hard to push because of the rubber friction against the case. Besides the already mentinoed design flaw that the buttons are illuminated, but the labels are not (duh!). All buttons require a different amount of force to push and sometimes because of the friction, you have to push twice to complete your selection.

Next, the vent mount of the car kit does not match the radio base because the middle rib of the vent mount is too big for the radio base. It looks like there was a running redesign of one of these items and the other was not adapted, so the vent mount is entirely useless. Instead of the several, mostly flawed mounts included, Delphi should do away with them and just include one window suction cup mount like SIRIUS does in their Starmate Replay package. Too bad that a radio with great features is hampered by such a poor manufacturing quality.

We have Siruis on the boat and XM in the cars. Right now it's hard to say which service gets the nod, since we are not interested in sports or Howard Stern.

I think form a music offering there is not much of a difference and the plans are costing exactly the same. It is really up to what service you already have sine a second receiver is always subsedised and costs less than one from the competing companies.

My husband and I initialy purchased a SkyFi2 prior to a road trip last fall. We loved it so much that we got another for our other car. The XM variety and quality are wonderful and I have had absolutely no problems with the radio. I use my radio through the FM modulator and my husband uses an auxillary hook up, both of which work great. His auxillary hook up does have better sound quality, though. We live in Denver and I have had only a few problems in the past few months with FM interference. Overall, I would absolutely recommend these radios!!

I got a great deal on this radio and with the rebate, paid about fifty bucks. Had it installed at Best Buy (would recommend professional installation) and it was activated in minutes. There is a plethora of news and sports stations (my main reason for getting satellite radio) so I am never without something interesting to listen to. Very easy to operate and lots of features. I'm very happy with my SkyFi2. This is a gem.

We had this radio for about 6 months, when it completely quit working. During the 6 months the reception would go in and out, until finally the radio wasn't transmitting anything. To troubleshoot, we tried the Pioneer satellite radio that my husband has, and it works great in my car. So, I know it was not my car radio receiver or antenna that was the problem. Getting XM to help us with this was like pulling teeth! We originally contacted Delphi, and they told us to call XM. We kept getting the run around from XM for over one month, until they finally told us we needed to call Delphi for warranty refund! A big circular mess... Our opinion is to spend the extra money and get the Pioneer radio.

I purchased this product for my son to put in his car. He has a 2002 Grand Am. We had a little trouble finding a flat spot to mount the product. It will not mount using the vent mount. His vents would not allow this. We finally mounted it below the vents on the dash, but it is not on a flat spot which the directions recommend. Not all cars have an easy spot for mounting. The product works great however and he absolutely loves it. The reception is fine and we purchased a 12 month contract with XM radio. Great product!

So far I love the Delphi XM Satellite radio and haven't listened to FM in about a month. Controls are pretty easy to use, however the screen is hard to read if it isn't pointed to you. Once or twice the remote acted like the power button was getting stuck but it hasn't given me any problems in a couple of weeks. Great reception in the NC mountains and at Mrytle beach. Installation took me about 20 minutes. All in all a great purchase.