Customer Reviews

Sirius SDST5V1 Starmate 5 Dock and Play Radio with PowerConnect

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This little unit is a great item. I bought it for two reasons, first, it is plug-n-play, and second, it offers ala-carte selections.

What is ala-carte? For a cheaper monthly satellite bill, you can select up to 50 channels (minus the premium channels). I went for it, and actually struggled to find 50 channels I liked. Other channels such as Margaritaville are designated as premium, so they are a small add on cost. But all in all, expect to pay from 60% to 75% for the ala-carte cost than the full package.

Admittedly the ala-carte price has risen over the years, but its still cheaper than the full package.

I use this unit in 4 locations; which required the purchase of a couple of docking stations.

My boat. I have an Alpine iDA-x100 head unit with a compatible satellite interface so I can use this unit on the boat. Since the Starmate 5 is controlled by the head unit, the logical choice was to mount it inside a hanging locker in the rear cabin so it was out of the way. The unit hangs on the locker's wall; safe and secure. And the unit is locked onto the docking station. Depressing the docking station release, and the unit pops off.

My car. I also have a docking station in the car, so it can be plugged into the car's stereo system. You really need an upgraded stereo system for this, as an FM modulator is not a good alternative - regardless of whether you are trying to listen to an iPod, satellite receiver, or any other audio device. The idea is that the FM modulator will play through an unused FM channel. But as you travel along the highway, stations come and go, which constantly interfere with the "unused" channel.

Some FM setups are capable of disabling the antenna for the car stereo, and that is the only solution I see as working. However, even if such as setup is used, the audio quality is suspect. Therefore, I would recommend a "proper" configuration, meaning low level RCA inputs. This may mean replacing your stereo, or buying a 3rd party adapter designed for your factory radio.

Ironically, I already have a factory XM satellite receiver in my car, which I used for awhile. But for billing purposes, Sirius and XM are still considered separate companies, so you do not get a multi-unit discount if you have one Sirius and one XM unit.

And I have found that the car's XM receiver, due to the geosynchronous satellite orbits, is prone to dropouts when you do not have a clear sky, such as driving behind a hill, in a city with nearby large buildings, or even a tree-lined boulevard.

Consequently, Sirius uses 3 polar orbiting satellites, and one of them is always in the neighborhood, which results in fewer dropouts. You can still get a dropout or two with a Sirius system, for instance you are downtown with high buildings, you may lose signal. But it is much less of a problem than XM as one of the satellites is generally at a higher overhead angle.

Perhaps the most difficult decision in the car is where to mount the satellite unit. I use a RAM-Mount cup holder setup which works great. Since the use in the car is temporary (when the unit is not home or in the boat), I simply pop the mount in the cup holder and plug the wires in when needed. This also allows me to easily and quickly remove the system when I park the car so it is not tempting to thieves.

Fortunately, my car has a set of RCA level aux inputs - conveniently hidden in the arm rest, so I can connect the Starmate to those and the cables are not hardly noticeable. But since I remove the whole shebang when not being used, this is not an issue.

Installing the antenna and docking station in the car was not even as hard as installing a car stereo. You do need some basic skills, and may need to figure out how to remove a panel or two along the way. But it is not difficult.

My home. I also have a home docking station that I can use the Starmate to listen to satellite at home. I even bought the remote antenna setup to attach to my house exterior. You'll find that most houses have some trouble with the proper reception of the signal, and the best advice if you want a home system is to buy a external antenna.

All of these solutions require plug-n-play docking stations, which are also available from the manufacturer of the Starmate 5.

Finally, I also have a portable "boom-box" adapter for the Starmate 5.

The best attribute of this unit - other than the ala-carte feature - is that it is portable, and the station ID is part of the unit itself. And with plug-n-play, you can move the unit from docking station to docking station and have satellite in your home, car, and boat without having to pay for multiple receivers.

I have been a subscriber to Sirius for quite a long time, before Howard Stern jumped aboard. I have had the same radio for that time, the Sirius Sportster replay. Recently, the lights on the radio went out, so I looked to replace it. I came across this radio, liked the way it looked, so I purchased it. Well, I have mixed feelings about it. I use the radio in 2 vehicles, one being a work truck. The Starmate 5 works great in my car, due to the use of the Aux input on the Starmate and my car's stereo. No noise, static.. crystal clear and wonderful. The issue I have is with the FM transmitter. When in my work truck, I need to use the FM transmitter. Well, this is a problem. On my old Sportster Replay, the FM transmitter was great... had no static on the FM station. Now, with the Starmate, I hear alot of background noise and static. Transmitter is weak, to say the least. I have tried multiple FM stations and have had no luck in silencing the noise. So, if you plan on using the aux input in your car with the Starmate, it works like a dream. Just be wary of the fact that the FM transmitter is weak, and you will hear noise over the FM station.

I researched satellite radio for six weeks before deciding on this Sirius Starmate 5. There were several factors that made me purchase this item.

First, it is a 'dock and play' radio. I was looking to use this in several different vehicles and on a boom box and this one fit the bill. This unit goes perfectly with the Sirius Boombox SXABB1 and has wonderful sound.

Second, ease of installation. After reading another review, I went to tss-radio dot com and ordered a universal suction mount with short antenna. This allowed me to put this radio right on the front window (like a GPS) and not even mess with the long antenna wire that came with this kit. The only cords involved in my unit using this method is the power connect to the cigarette lighter. It is no problem to remove from one car and put in another one.

Third, ease of use. The Starmate 5 is so easy to use that my husband even figured it out :) ! It is also nice to have 30 presets. It has a record and replay feature but I really don't see the point in this extra technology.

Fourth, I liked that this unit supports al a carte programming. I used a $20 for 5 months coupon to begin with but after the initial time I will swap to my top 50 stations for under $10 a month (and it will be hard to actually come up with 50 stations that I will listen to ). This coupon was what made me choose Sirus over XM.

Last, the power connect feature sure was easy. I run this unit through a local unused FM number, using the same settings on car and radio. Sound is great (but not as great as the boombox) and it could not be easier to do. For those who complain, they must be pretty picky about their music quality. This, to me, is as good as an FM station.

The best price I found was right here on Amazon.com. They always stand behind their products and I like that (even though there is no problem with this unit).

The radio is okay but a pain to access all your favorite stations. If you live in or near a large city with many FM stations like the Houston area it is impossible to find a frequency without interference so your music quality is going to be hollow at high levels and hissing and popping at low levels. Signal strength is at maximum from the satellite but of course that makes no difference.

I most likely would not even have written a review had it not been for the horrible experience with their nasty, tricky, up selling and glib, passive aggressive, approach to customers. If you buy the Starmate 5 because its compatible with the ala carte package... get ready for some real hassling by their outsourced call center.

If you are a first time customer and you want a simple solution for what you want ( plain ole ala carte, pick 50 stations + .25 for additional ones or premiums. ) then be ready for hours of hassle with these game playing, imbeciles at the call center. Get ready for up sell attempts galore, numerous transfers, and literally hours of time wasted trying to simply get an account set up so you can access the ala carte portion of the website to pick your own channels. If you take what they want to offer you and don't mind being railroaded then it is probably much easier.

These people truly could not have cared less about the customers' experience. One of them even screwed up my account by entering caps for my email so that when I tried to do my confirmation log in, it conflicted with the preset small cap default already in the system. After more calls and more transfers, someone finally fixed the screw up and then tried to patronize me. THIS is almost 4 HOURS from the start, being on hold the vast majority of it; wrought with people popping in who supposedly could not figure anything out so would transfer again, they all had another "supervisor" who was just as intentionally inept. One of them even had the nerve to be out right nasty and aggressive, everytime I would try to explain the problem he would get loud and talk right over me (clearly trying to piss me off). I laughed and kept my cool up until the end of the experience. When they can't wear you down they finally agree to set it up and at that point you want to choke the hell out of them.

Even if you go directly to the website first (like I did) as of 08/20/2011, when you put in your Starmate 5 ID number for registration it will bring you to a page with only 3 selections, NO ALA CARTE access. Therefore you cannot continue your registration!! If you do not pick one of the three more expensive ones they offer and you click next, it defaults to $199.00 a year plan (I tried it). If you go directly to the Ala Carte section ( after you dig for it ) you have to already be registered to access it. Therefore there is nothing you can do but call that HORRIBLE Call Center. It is so blatant it is really appalling but mostly after you get there. BUYER BEWARE !!

When it was all said and done and I finally got to pick my channel line up for the first time, I noticed my bill on the website, they tried to charge me additionally as a channel line up CHANGE, instead of an initial selection. So guess what! YES, I had to call them back again go through another 15-20 minutes. When I finally got done. The little creep tried to pawn off their piece of junk Stratus 6 for the bargain price of 19.99, because I refused his offer to use my email for promos! Upon renewal, I am soooo done with these fools! Have a headache yet?

Siriusxm evidently thinks its product is so good they can do this to their customers. Believe me it is not, in a metropolitan area. REMEMBER... No matter what connection you use Direct, Aux, or adapter, YOU WILL BE AFFECTED BY FM INTERFERENCE if you have lots of stations in your area!

Its great as a free music package on your Dish Network( had it for 8 yrs.) sitting at home and don't have driving distractions. Otherwise, if you are interested in the road version like me, save yourself the awful runaround for a very low quality product from a glib corporation.

Good unit. I like the compact size. One thing I really liked about my old Sportster is that it came with a remote. Nowhere in the product description could I find that this (or any other Sirius radio) came with a remote. I finally gave in and ordered this radio. To my surprise, it DOES come with a remote. Maybe that's a given so they don't even bother to mention it? I don't know.

The price of this radio seems to fluctuate as much as airfare. I innitially ordered the radio when it was $74.99 w/free shipping. The next day when I went to see if it was shipped it had dropped to $61.99 with $3.51 shipping. I cancelled my order and re-ordered the unit at the new low price. The next day it dropped to $59.99. Then it went back up to $61.99 and today it's $69.99! All this in an eight day period!

Dealing with Sirius' customer service is a different story. They are the most incompetent people I've ever dealt with. It took 3 calls to them and over an hour of my time just to get them to deactivate my broken Sportster and activate this one, on my existing account. How hard can it be to change the SID number in thier system and send an activation signal to the new radio? By the way, tell them a $15 radio activation fee is ridiculous and they'll waive the fee.

I recently re-joined sirius after my old unit died. I was able to talk Sirius into giving me a free Starmate 5 with my subscription. I currently have it installed on my 2004 Honda Civic. It is mounted to an air vent and the antenna sits on the dashboard. Here are my thoughts:


Pros:
1. Adjustable brightness is nice
2. Comes with all hardware to mount on car at various points
3. Antenna works when sitting on dash board
4. FM transmitter works well
5. AUX cord provides great sound
6. Plenty of pre-set buttons
7. Included remote works well (i use this most often)
8. Unit is small and not bulky like older models
9. Portable unit can fit into sirius boomboxes
10. You can save many artists / songs to have it alert you when they are playing


Cons:
1. When mounted unit feels loose. Buttons are hard to press sunce unit gives when touched.
2. FM transmitter loses to major radio signals
3. Tape included to secure wire is weak and will not stick properly.


Overall it is a great unit. I like how small it is and how it includes everything you need to get Sirius playing in your car. The audio quality is good! My old unit did not sound nearly as good as this unit does. My only issue is the crappy vent mounts. While it holds the unit it is not solid. This makes pressing the buttons difficult. I use my remote to fix this problem.

I have had my Sirius radio for almost 5 years now , and mind you its the same one. I was in a car accident and the car was totaled . I pulled out my Starmate and plugged it in to my home unit and it worked fine. Listen, if you buy this unit be prepared to pay for a subscription in which you get the full package of channels, dont buy just the discounted package or else you will become frustrated, disapponited and miss out on some great programming. Oldies music, 70's , 80's old school , top 20, Elvis, Sinatra and anything else in between. The reception on the radio is almost CD quality and rarely do you loose a signal unless you drive into a garage or tunnel . Even in heavy rain and clouds usually you have great reception. I've even drove from Oklahoma to Canada and the radio didnt miss a beat. There are also different items you can buy such as a home docking kit and boombox to have more options in regards to where you want to hear your radio. Sirius even goes further to have online control where you can hear the stream of music over the internet wherever you have an internet connection. The fee is about 3 extra bucks or so a month. That means any wi-fi spot starbucks etc. I have a wireless router at home so im able to stream the music all over the house to the laptop, ipad , or ipod with the sirius app you can get for free. I take it to the garage , bedroom etc.. The only con I have is that they havent really gone down on the price of the Starmate so I will not be going to buy another till the one I have breaks and simply doesnt work anymore. So make the best of your sirius radio, talk to others and see how they set up theirs. The options on how you can listen are endless.

This unit was great, for about the first 2 months or so. At about that time, the pre-set buttons started acting up occasionally, storing every pre-set with even the slightest touch of the buttons. This happened for a couple of weeks, off and on, until they finally quit working altogether. The "up" and "down" buttons do not work, either.

To make matters worse, the hold time for the Sirius warranty department was very long and when they did finally agree to send a replacement unit, I was told that I would have to pay to ship the defective unit back. I don't feel that this is right or just, considering that the unit is obviously defective.

This new radio does not hold FM stations as well as the older one I had . Also I had interchangable mounts in all my cars and now they changed that mount and made it costly to change from one car to another. The power connection is also different so you have to use the power cord they send you. I had all my cars wired
now have to do it all over again . Only the antena is the same.

Worked well for 6 months, now when ever we hit a preset, it beeps and says preset saved. So it keeps overwriting the previous preset. Need to get it looked at. It stays in 1 car so there should be no issues with it.