Customer Reviews

SIRIUS ST4-TK1 Starmate 4 Plug-and-Play Satellite Radio Receiver with Car Kit

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Before I had this one I had the Original Sportster. The reception was great and I rarely lost signal. Because it was bigger it was easier to take off the cradle.
My radio was stolen from the car so I ran out and got the Starmate thinking it would take up less space. Once I hooked it up I realized it took just about the same and if I chose to hang it off the A/C vents the hooks were so long that it would just look too far out. You have to use a little bit of force to remove the unit of the cradle (I don't want it stolen again) which normally ends up moving the mount off place. The suction cup however is very strong.
The Starmate seems to have worse wireless FM as I get almost no signal into my car's factory radio. I went to a local professional to have the FM antenna cable routed outside and next to my car antenna to see if that improved things but no luck. By the way, I had to figure out that cable was an FM antenna because strangely enough it wasn't in any of the diagrams or the list of parts included in the box. I just ordered the FM Direct Adapter from Amazon which is how I ended up here. Hopefully that will improve things.
One final complaint I have is that I miss the classic tuner knob. I thought buttons would be cooler but they are so hard to push that I end up moving the mount off place.

Alright so I decided to finally upgrade to the starmate 4 from the stratus. I'm happy with it. It does have some cool features like the pause, rewind, ffw abilities. As well as the memo feature so you know when your favorite song or band is on. Also, I love having more presets and more display information. The remote is nice but can prove to be more of a hassle since its IR meaning it takes a sec to work and its easy to mess up all your presets on accident. Overall the radio is great. Now the bad. The reason I knocked it a star is because it sold as a kit is a joke. In order to make it work you have to have a direct connection. I got a fm direct connector and it works great. Needed some antenna adapters to make it all work perfect though. Thank goodness I had the car cradle that came with the stratus. I'm not a fan of the suction cup or ac vent options. However the one I had happens to work great with it. Anyways thats my take on it. Overall I love it but sirius needs to rethink what their including with it. It would make the perfect product if they included what you actually need. Especially considering the fm transmitter isn't allowed by the FCC to be powerful enough without the direct connector.

I bought the Starmate 4 to repalce an older, larger unit. I had heard that the FM transmitter on the newer Starmates and Sportsters were useless (and that turned out to be true), but that didn't really matter to me because I hook it up directly to my car stereo via an aux input. However, I noticed right away after setup that the fidelity from the Starmate 4 wasn't as good-- it sounded tinny and lacking in bass. Thinking it was just my imagination, I then compared the sound from the Starmate 4, alternating with my car's FM radio and CD player, and then with my older Sirius unit-- and the Starmate 4 sounded lousy compared to all of them. Almost like an old transistor radio in comparison. Don't know about the new Sportster 4, so I am going back to an original Sportser or Replay, which on second thought isn't a whole lot bulkier.

I purchased this as an upgrade from my Starmate 3 receiver. UGH! I am really disapointed in the unit. It's good for home use, where it can be connected to a stereo, and have not FM reception problems.

But, the FM reception is TERRIBLE in my cars...I agree 100% with the other person who talked about direct connection option, as I think that's the only way to get clear reception from this unit. Sirius added an extra FM Modulator to the unit, to try to improve the reception, but in my opinion, it's useless!

I LOVED my Starmate 3, and now, I only wish I still had that unit. I had heard from Sirius customer service people that they had to lower the frequency strength in the new Starmate 4 and new units to meed FCC regulations... what a shame, as it makes listening to the radio a drag sometimes....

Bottom line, the unit is Okay, but I only can hope the Starmate 5 will be a better unit than the 4....

I've had Sirius Radio for almost a full year now. It took a couple weeks to grow on me, I prefer it over terestrial radio for the most part, but I still have some issues with it.

Pros:
1. Less commercials, always good.
2. Lots of music and talk options. There's even comedy stations.
3. BBC News; no frills, straight news
4. "Left of Center" and similar channels can help introduce you to music you may not have found otherwise.
5. No more losing a good station as you're travelling!
6. The "Radio Classics" station!

Cons:
1. Despite having less, the commercials are pretty stupid.
2. While good if you like basketball, football, or baseball, Sirius sucks for Hockey fans.
3. There's a lot of weather stations by city, but you have to memorize the station, or scroll for a long time to find yours.
4. If you're in a big city with lots of radio, you'll find yourself having to keep selecting a different frequency... sometimes you're always plaqued with interference.
5. While there is a lot of great talk, there's no local talk which is considerabley more interactive and accesable to the audience (well, in Pittsburgh at least).
6. I find myself staring at the screen trying to find out who, or what, I'm listening to... might be hazardous to your driving. I recomend buying the windsheild suction mounter.
7. Some of the music stations are no different than regular radio (i.e. repitious, only plays the hits, etc.)



I do love the Sirius, especially for longer drives. I really hope the merger goes through... I'd be irrate if it didn't. In the meantime, I'm glad to have Sirius, cons and all.

I purchased this unit as a replacement for a Sportster 5 Sirius Satellite radio that recently ceased functioning.

This unit is smaller, more compact and in fact, more attractive than the Sportster 5.

It has all the features I want on a Satellite radio, that being a fully functioning remote, 44 minutes of replay, game day alert (will automatically tune in your favorite sports teams broadcasts) and save your favorite songs into memory (you can program this unit to alert you to when any of up to 20 favorite songs are being played on any of the 100+ channels of commercial free music.

About the only negative on this unit is that the screen is somewhat smaller, making it a little more difficult to read than my old unit, however this is not a major detraction from this otherwise well made product.

Conclusion:
If you love satellite radio and the variety that Sirius provides in music, news, sports etc. then this is a unit that offers a lot towards fulfilling your car radio needs.
5 Stars.

Ray Nicholson

I was initially discouraged by reports that the FM rebroadcaster on these satellite radios did not work, but I went ahead and bought the Starmate anyway. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked, contrary to other reviews the unit will overpower all but the clearest FM signals even without hooking up the rebroadcasting antenna.

I have encountered some areas where the satellite signal cannot be acquired; as my job requires me to drive all over New England, I assume that this is when a mountain is between me and the satellite. I have also noticed some static, but nothing like as bad as a radio.

I would recommend this product to anyone who is stuck driving a company vehicle with no CD player, it really makes the long trips bearable.

This radio is great, however the remote doesn't work and Sirius customer support is terrible!!! When the radio was brand new and the remote was removed from the box and the battery installed, the remote did not work properly. The red indicator light stayed on constantly and the remote would not turn the radio on and off. When I called Sirius customer support they told me I would have to buy a new remote. Wait a minute! I just did that! Then they transferred me to warranty and they told me I would have to return the entire system for a replacement. Wait a minute! I just paid $100 to have it installed! With customer support like this, if I were you I'd buy XM radio! Radio gets a 5-star, but Sirius customer support/warranty doesn't even deserve a 1-star!

DISREPSECTFUL AND DECEPTIVE -- I purchased a Sirius Radio for my husband for Christmas. The company offered a promotional package that included the radio and a $50 gift card to be used towards the monthly subscription cost. When my husband called to activate the radio the sales Rep immediately began to sell us $400 subscription packages, quote exorbitant activation fees ($50). I was appalled that the entire gift card was going to the activation!! There was absolutely no mention of the fee when I purchased. When my husband began to question the charges, the supervisor was consulted and suddenly the fee disappeard. I am sure that if we had not protested we would have been charged..... Then after he decided on a subscription plan, additional enhancements were suddenly suggested to get "optimal service". The Rep basically suggested that the basic service was inadequate and we would have to pay additional charges (above and beyond the quoted subscription rates) to really enjoy the radio. That was the last straw and my husband decided to cancel everything. He felt very taken advantage of and the victim of a Rep that did not know what she was talking about. The process took about 45 minutes and we hung up with the intention to return everything.

Here is the kicker! Because the Sirius Rep asked us to scratch the $50 gift card during the activation process, it is now void.... When I called to see if we could get the full amount refunded, since it was due to their very poor customer service, incompetence and deceptive practices, that we canceled, the customer service supervisor gave me attitude. He even agreed that the $50 was never used and was sitting in our account. However it was our fault...... When I asked for his name so that I could write a letter of protest to management he told me it was pointless and that I could not "bend the company to my will" simply because I was upset. I told him that maybe everyone up the chain would deny my request, but that I had a right as a consumer to complain if I wanted to. He refused to give me his name, as my case did not "warrant" divulging personal information. I was insulted by his direspectful and condescending tone. He did even see fit appologize for our initial negative experience with the company...

Bottome line -- I think this company is deceptive and disrespectful. I am stuck with a $50 gift card I can never use and a terrible opinion of this company. I feel that in each instance our complaints should have been dealt with professionally and with respect. Please think twice before doing business with a company who treats their customers this was

I really enjoy satellite radio and the Starmate worked fairly reliably for the first year. It would occasionally lose its connection with the satellite antenna and display the "not connected" alert. Over time, the connection became more and more intermittent to the point of being unusable. For $100, I guess I didn't expect it to wear out so fast.