Sirius S50 Portable Satellite Radio Receiver with Car Pack

by Sirius Satellite Radio

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 2 x 1 x 5 inches ; 3.7 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000CCBFF0
• Item model number: Sirius S50 Receiver System pack
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (123 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 2, 2001

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description If you're serious about keeping your music with you at all times, the Sirius S50 Satellite Radio Receiver and MP3/WMA Player System Pack may be just what you're looking for. Small enough for your shirt pocket, and loaded with all the accessories you need to play it over your car stereo, the Sirius S50 offers an intoxicating blend of satellite radio and digital music capabilities that are certain to transform your portable listening experience.

Use the optional home dock to route Sirius radio to your home stereo. View larger.

Load up tunes from your computer via bundled software. View larger.

Your satellite programming. Your MP3/WMA digital music files. Take them all on the go with the S50.

For starters, when the Sirius S50 is set up in your car, or in the optional home docking station (sold separately), it's ready to capture more than 120 channels of Sirius satellite radio programming. But don't feel intimidated by the scale of all that programming; the Sirius S50 has several automatic and one-touch features that will help you get the most out of your satellite-radio experience in no time flat. Game alerts automatically prompt you when your favorite teams are playing, and a sports ticker gives you up-to-the-minute scores throughout the day. The unit's 30 channel presets offer one-touch navigation to your favorite Sirius stations as well as to Sirius traffic and weather reports.

The Sirius S50 also boasts an internal memory that can store up to 50 hours of digital content, either from your favorite satellite programming. With a simple push of the unit's easy-to-spot heart-shaped "love" button, you can save the Sirius program you're listening to for future playback.

So when it's time to work out, or when the beach is calling, just slip on the earphones and enjoy the commercial-free programming and music files of your choice. (A belt clip for the player is included in the kit.) Note that while live satellite radio content is available when you're in your car or at home--using either the included car cradle or the optional home cradle--it is not available when the S50 is in portable mode.

You'll also get the accessories you'll need to play the Sirius S50 over your car stereo -- a cradle that allows the unit to receive live Sirius broadcasts, a car mount, a DC power adapter, a remote control, and a roof-mount antenna. The car cradle's media dial makes it super easy for you to surf through 120 channels of Sirius programming, and a voice-assisted navigation announces the name of the channel you've just tuned into, so you can find your favorite channels without taking your eyes off the road. The unit's built-in wireless FM transmitter "broadcasts" the sound over an unused frequency on any FM stereo, so there's no complicated installation process. And if your in-dash stereo has an auxiliary input, you can connect the Sirius S50 directly to it for even better sound.

The unit's bright 176 x 220 TFT color display makes it easy to read programming data and sports scores. And at a mere 1.9 x .9 x 3.9 inches (WxHxD), and with rechargeable batteries that will give you six hours of play per charge, the Sirius S50 is ready to go wherever you take it.

Note: Sirius Satellite radio programs require a subscription that's sold separately.

What's in the Box
S50 satellite radio, AC adapter, cigarette lighter power adapter, car antenna, car mount, earbuds, remote control, USB cable, belt clip, and PC software.

Product Description

S50 Receiver System pack

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

129 of 138 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Siriusly cool, but some disappointment, December 8, 2005

By 

R. Winter "Huskerzn97" (Kansas City, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sirius S50 Portable Satellite Radio Receiver with Car Pack (Electronics)

I've waited for three months for the S50 to come out. I finally found one and had it installed professionally in my car. I love what the S50 can do, and I'm overall very pleased, but I have some problems with the S50. First the good stuff. It's a great design with an awesome LCD display. The station, artist and song are always visible. None of the scrolling stuff. The base has a rotating know to change channels, replay songs, press to record a song you like while it's playing and a host of other options. Very cool. The removable lightweight unit is about the size of 2/3 of a deck of playing cards. With this unit, you can remove it from your car, plug in the headphones and play your downloaded MP3's and recorded content from sirius. The rechargeable battery is supposed to last around six hours. I haven't drained it yet. It recharges automatically when plugged into the base unit. Additionally, it will automatically download music from your three most listened to stations...ingenius. Also, if you like a song you're listening to, you simply press the rotating knob, and the song is recorded for you onto the portable unit...awesome! Additionally, if you like a song you just heard, you can click the knob, and it plays again. You can then skip ahead to the current song playing or keep listening. You can also pause the broadcast and unpause without a hitch. As you turn the knob to change channels, a voice tells you what channel you're selecting which is a cool feature if you want to keep watching the road.

I love the selection of music that is available for my taste (alternative stuff). Some stations are lame, the all Elvis channel or all Bruce Springstine channel for example, but that's a matter of taste. Besides, there's plenty to choose from no matter what your taste in music.

And now, the bad stuff. 1) I was disappointed with the sound quality. I would describe the quality as somewhere between good FM radio and AM. Voices often sound like they're speaking or singing through a tin can. I thought it may have been the FM broadcaster in the unit, but when I play MP3's in the car through the unit, they sound great, so I guess it's not enough band width in the broadcasts. 2) The portable unit does not have an equalizer option. You can't adjust the bass or treble which even the cheapest MP3 players have. That was poor oversight on their part. 3) My biggest gripe is that the removable unit will sometimes vibrate loose, causing a loss in the transmission. This is very annoying, but I'm getting used to tapping my unit from time to time to prevent it. I think part of the problem there is that my unit was installed so that it lies in a flat position. I may have to get that changed, despite the fact that I love the way it's positioned right now. Sirius should have designed it so that the unit locks in. However, when you lose the signal (not from the unit vibrating loose), the voice asks if you'd like to switch to downloaded content which can be done very easily.
UPDATE: I had the unit re-installed so that it's not flat, no problem now with the unit slipping out.

Moreover, I'm very pleased with the S50. If you're aware of sound quality issue I'd definitely recommend the unit.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Idea, Very Poor Execution., December 30, 2005

By 

Anthony (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sirius S50 Portable Satellite Radio Receiver with Car Pack (Electronics)

First off, let me say that I view the current S50 as a prototype. I think they rushed to market in order to have the product available by the time Stern started broadcasting. The fact that none of the accesories (including the home dock) are available yet shows that this product was rushed. The bugs and missing features, too, indicate a rushed release. Wait a few months and you will probably see prices drop, reliability increase, and features added.

Missing features: (1) There are no audio settings (not even the omnipresent "bass boost"). It should be against the law at this point to release a product like this without at least some sort of rudimentary equalizer. I have found the sound to be very poor largely because of this. The bass is lacking and the highs sound tinny. (2) If you are listening to one of your automatically recorded favorite channels in playback mode and leave the playback and return, you do not return to the point where you left (even if you don't turn the player off). You must start at the beginning of the recording and cycle through the tracks to find your spot. Remember those old CD players that started at the beginning of the disk each time you turned the player on? Would you buy one today? (3) Can I get a small keypad on the dock so I can change channel without using the dial? Come on, Sirius has almost 200 channels. I'm supposed to scroll through them one at a time? True, the remote has a keypad, but I will lose that thing. (4) Unlike your Tivo or DVR (which this unit is constantly compared to), the unit has only one tuner. That means that you can not listen to live radio while recording another channel. Why would you need to record a show that you listened to live? (5) Also unlike Tivo and DVR, the unit will not turn itself on for a scheduled recording. That means, if you want to record Howard Stern in the morning while you are still asleep, you'll have to leave the unit on all night. If you were able to track down a home unit during the limited release in December or you have purchased a DC/AC adaptor, you can just leave your S50 on at home. If you only use yours in the car you will find your battery dead and will be calling AAA for a jump start if you leave this thing on all night.

Design flaws: (1) The designers thought it would be cool to have the top of the player shaped like a triangle instead of sitting flush like every other MP3 player. Thats no problem if you only want to listen with the provided headphones (which suck), but if you want to use aftermarket headphones, the 1/8 jack for many will be to big to fit (the housing of the jack, not the jack itself of course). (2) The unit frequently freezes up and fails to respond to any commands. You have to remove the battery and wait ten seconds before reinstalling it in order to "reset" the unit. (3) Six hours of battery life? Thats at the low end of what I would consider exceptable. That is not a huge problem now, but what about a year from now when the battery begins to lose its charge and only holds, say four hours? (4) The interface is anything but intuitive and needs some major tuning. Example: the "Shut off Device" option is in the Setup Menu. Every time I turn this thing off I feel like I'm about to make a major change in the way the device functions. (5) Unlike most players, which have a full-time display, the screen on this unit goes black unless you have recently touched a button. I don't need the screen to glow all the time, I just want the text of the song on the screen so I know what I'm listening to. Only the backlight should shut off when the unit is "idle." You can go into "display settings" and change the screen to always be on, but since the backlight will always be on, this will drain the already inadequate battery.

I could go on, but I want to wrap this up. I give this product three stars instead of two or one because it is such a great idea. Finally, we can save large amounts of satellite radio content and play it back on a portable. Also, if you want to listen to Stern, but don't have the time to catch the show live, this is the only thing to buy.

Would I buy it again? No, not even at a lower price. My advice is wait and see what comes next. This is a new idea, using new technology. Things will only get better from here on. Wait a few months rather than blowing $350 on a prototype that never should have left the Quality Control Department in its current condition.

Update: Sirius issued a software patch for this unit. Now you can fast-forward through recorded material (before you could only skip tracks), schedule recordings for music shows in addition to talk shows, and save more individual songs to your "my sirius songs" folder.

My advice stays the same. Wait for the next generation S50. It will undoubtedly have two tuners, an equalizer, better sound, and will lack the bugs in this unit. Or, you can buy my S50 used on Amazon.com the day the next generation comes out(I will definitely be upgrading).

Second Update: Today is 2/9/06. My S50 is dead. All of the sudden it stopped receiving live broadcasts today. I turn it on while docked and all I get is the startup sound and the Sirius logo screen; then the unit freezes up. Now this thing is basically an Ipod with bad battery life and poor navigation. Luckily I have an extended warranty...

67 of 80 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Being an early adopter stinks!, February 10, 2006

By 

J. Abeles (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sirius S50 Portable Satellite Radio Receiver with Car Pack (Electronics)

I bought this primarily for the Tivo-like recording feature and that's a huge disappointment. If you want to record a full Howard Stern show, forget it. It's not designed to record that many hours and it rarely records the full amount it's supposed to. Show are almost always incomplete - or the device frequently crashes! I've had to remove the battery multiple times because it was frozen.

If you're a Mac user, there's no software interface fo the MP3 functions.

The sound quality is pretty mediocre, even with full signal strength.

Given the cost (don't forget to add $100 to be able to use it at home) and the mediocre performance, don't buy this.