Customer Reviews

Pioneer Airware MyFi XM Portable Satellite Radio

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I don't normally submit "product opinions" (I know, shame on me) but this portable XM radio from Pioneer is so good that I felt that I had to. I had been considering getting some kind of a satellite radio for my car for more than 6 months and when I found out that a friend of mine had a Delphi XM unit in his car I knew that the time had come to finally make a move :-)

I was thinking of getting a Delphi MyFi but then discovered that the Pioneer AirWare had recently hit the store shelves. I like the Pioneer brand and also liked the looks (and controls) of the Pioneer unit more than those of the MyFi .. so I picked up an AirWare at the local Circuit City (can get it cheaper elsewhere for sure). I have had it for 3 weeks now and during this time have used it EXTENSIVELY in the car, in my home office and also on business trips. It works great !

I am especially impressed by the effectiveness of the built-in FM transmitter ... I have used a few built-in and external FM transmitters in my time over the past few years but haven't had much luck with them (too much interference from other radio stations). I was pleasantly surprised (and relieved) to discover that the AirWare's transmitter is VERY effective ... I have been driving around the Connecticut/ Westchester County/NYC/Long Island region quite a bit since I got it, without having to switch FM frequencies at all !

The features and sound quality of the unit are great. It is very useful that you can record up to 5 hours of audio (via a "scheduled record" function) that you can then listen to offline when the satellite reception is not up to snuff. Another neat feature is that if you hear a song or artist that you like, you can press a button and from then on whenever that same song or artist is playing on any of the 150+ channels the unit beeps and displays a message so that, if you want, you can press the same button and the unit automatically switches to the relevant channel.

The AirWare comes with everything that you neeed to set it up at home or in a car. When using the AirWare in my car I use the "vent mount" to secure it (in its cradle) to an air vent. I have the antenna magnetically-mounted outside on the front part of the car roof. On some of the more tree-lined roads of Connecticut, satellite reception can sometimes be spotty ... you need to have line-of-sight to the XM satellites which are positioned in the southern sky .. but generally reception is very good. All-in-all I am very happy that I got it ... it is a very, very well designed and executed product ... plus the breadth and quality of the XM programming is great.

In summary I can heartily recommend both the Pioneer AirWare and the XM service !

I went with the XM2GO because I have 3 cars and one house and I want XM in them all without buying a subscription for 4 radios. Works great with the one obvious downside being sometimes I am in car 2 and the radio is in car 1. Small trade off for me.

The radio itself works exactly as advertised. Home reception is great, car is very good. Walking around doesn't work too well as the internal antenna needs to face the southern sky. But if you are outside sitting in a chair sipping wine...this thing rocks.

FM transmitter works great. XM Radio is in the house and I can pick it up on the FM radio in the garage while I work on the car. In the car it works just as well, but if you can use the cassette input thingy do, as the dynamic range will improve.

One downside of the Pioneer is you cannot buy extra car or home kits at a reasonable price. Pioneer sells them but a kit costs almost as much as a radio. I ended up buying 2 more radios, pulling out the car kits then selling the radios (sans car kit) on eBay.

BTW, there are 3 different manufacturers offering portable XM2GO radios. The guts are all made by the same Asian mfr so choose the one that you think has the best style and/or offers the best accessories.

This is my first time in the Satellite world. I love it! The unit is pretty easy to use, even though I am used to the MAC computer world. Though the built-in antenna is not always going to be work when walking around - my expectations were that applications like that was a hit or miss. The dock for the car and home are nice, and work well. I took the unit and home antenna to a hotel, placed the antenna near the window and no problem there. I had the antenna and car mount installed professionally, and I like the way it works. The five hour record feature is great when you want to listen to music, etc. and can't get satellite. No doubt traveling in a car and not having to mess with radio stations that go in and out is a pleasure.

I bought this unit thinking I could walk around with the radio and listen to XM. However the reception is horrible without being plugged into the car or home base and thus the antenna. So why spend $300 when you can get a cheaper unit with home and car adapters for a lot less and not be so upset at the wasted money.

I bought tbe Airware hoping to have a portable music source with variety. I love XM Radio, but I give the Airware a big thumbs down. It is supposed to have a built in antenna for getting XM on the go. Well, I live in a urban area and would say I get conistent signal about 10% of the time. I even bought an additional antenna to attach to the device and still the signal is spotty. So basically, I only use the Airware in my car in hooked up to the home kit in my house. If I wanted it for these uses I could have paid $50 for say a Delphi Roady 2 instead of over $200.

AWFUL customer service. Radio worked 12 hours then died. Then to return the itemn I entered RETURN HELL. Customer Service Line was alsways busy. I got through once and had to hang up after 32 minutes on hold.Absolutely HORRIBLE service. I recommend Amazon quit using this vendor.

I must say I do agree that XM Radio is a beautiful thing. It makes the long car rides that much more enjoyable.

I am currently on my 2nd Pioneer XM unit and I will tell you why. I had owned the unit a little less than a month and I experienced a memory storage problem. I would program my favorite stations while I was driving and then turn off the car. When I started the car again I would lose all of the stations that I just programeed. The same applied to recording of music.

Now I have my 2nd unit since it was covered under the retailer's warranty. I have experienced memory loss but it is not as frequent as everytime I start the car.

Other than the problem I am experiencing I do enjoy my XM Radio very much. I hope this helps.

After 2 months of use the unit completly failed and I had to send it back for a replacement. The customer service company was very helpful and friendly, but I was shocked that it failed so soon.
The ear buds have a bad design at the point where they go into the jack on the unit, the wire frays right there and eventually breaks.
Don't get fooled into thinking that the "built-in" antenna really works because it only functions when all the conditions are just right, which is about 5% of the time.
I do not like the fact that I cannot pick and chose what songs I can save from the songs that I downloaded. Overall I would not reccomend this product.

Just received my Airwave and fresh out of the box, the battery cover is jammed on. Back it goes. Sad, I am.

This diminutive radio is about the most sophisticated receiver one can imagine. Pioneer has stated that it had been on the drawing board since XM's debut of satellite broadcasting.

From the moment it arrives by mail, one must be impressed with the care that went into the beautiful magenta packaging.

The gourgeous faceplate appears at first glance, under which is contained the carefully crafted attachments for car and home setup. But the unique accomplishment is that it will play as it lay, anywhere on the US grid, and carried on the hip.

This little radio is a gem. Nice work, Pioneer!