Customer Reviews

Sirius Stiletto SL10 Portable Satellite Radio Receiver

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Yes, you could buy this radio and attempt to run around with it wearing the uncomfortable, oversized antenna headphones and spend your day repeatedly tilting your head at weird, painful angles trying in vain to hold onto an elusive live signal, thus frustrating yourself silly in the process.... or..... you could (unfortunately) change your expectations just a bit, accept this radio for what it is actually able to consistently deliver on-- and ENJOY the heck out if!! Here is how:

1. Buy the MANDATORY home dock with the superior antenna, automatic charging of battery when the unit is docked, and remote control.

2. Program the radio to record up to 10 hours of your favorite channels, in 60-minute blocks (or whatever duration you prefer; I record a fresh 9 hours of content overnight while I am asleep, from about 6 different channels.) You do this while the unit is sitting in the home dock, making use of the continuous power supply and greatly improved antenna reception.

3. Wake up to 10 hours (or whatever you have chosen to record) of fresh, remixed content. Plug in a REGULAR pair of headphones-- whatever kind you like-- and enjoy!

In other words, just think of it as a radio version of a Tivo (or other brand of DVR). I am already used to using Tivo and not watching television "live" anymore-- so applying the same concept to satellite radio wasn't very difficult. I really wish I could say that you can be mobile all day with this radio picking up live signals with no problems from the antenna headphones, but the stark REALITY is that your "live" listening will possibly have to be relegated to when you are plugged into either a car or home dock; otherwise, you are just going to have to start enjoying making up to 10 hours of recordings (while docked) and then listening to them during your mobile times. Not hard to do! (Buying a second 'home dock' for the office will give you even more flexibility). Another benefit of recordings is that you can skip through the recorded songs (yes, song breaks are included in the recordings) very easily; quickly finding the songs that you may want to "dub" onto something else. (The home docks come with the outputs and cables that you will need to connect to other devices for dubbing.)

Good Luck!!!

First of all, the programming offered by Sirius is the absolute best. I couldn't wait to get this home and try it out. However, there are some huge limitations of this device:
1. Unless you live in a major city that happens to have a satellite repeater to rebroadcast the signal (New York), you cannot get any service. At my house 20 mins outside of Pittsburgh, PA, I can only get a signal if I stand directly in front of a window.
2. It comes with a set of satellite headphones that are so uncomfortable, they should be used to torture captured terrorists with. Unwearable.
3. I figured that at least I would be able to use this thing to store MP3s on. However, with their provided software, you cannot store MP3s on this thing - they want you to move up to the 100.

So, unless you want to stand outside in your front yard in the middle of winter to hear satellite radio, there's no benefit of this device at all.

Yes this item cost over $300 and it is worthless unless you want a paperweight that constantly says acquiring signal. I had this item outside in broad daylight, under clear skies and it was getting no signal. The item was fully charged and if I was lucky and moved into the perfect position and the stars and moon were aligned I would get a singal for about five seconds. But then it would go right back to acquiring signal.
It would be nice if Sirius did not try to milk every cent out of subscribers by monopolizing production of their equipment. Right now it is only Direct Electronics, which I believe is soley owned by Sirius and of course completely made in China. In short, they make lousy products, so it would be nice if Sirius let go of the leash and allowed companies like Pioneer, Samsung, Sony, etc. make products- as they are allowed to do for XM Radio.
Until then, Sirius will not have a decent portable radio. But if you want to spend over $300 on a paperweight that does not get signal this is for you.

I've had Sirius in home and car for about two years, and I got this portable to make a contract job a little less boring. I've used both my Shure 3 and Sennheiser P100 headphones, and put the Sirius antenna headphones in a window. The signal has been superb, as has the sound quality. The hookups for the two headphones are different, so there's no problem there. It has been a wonderful investment.

I found this product to be profoundly useless. The headphones which are apparently mandatory to get *any* kind of signal are unbearably uncomfortable. You must also be *outside*, so I had to sit in my yard in the winter to listen to the radio and even then only managed occasional snippets of broken up audio.

Stick with terrestrial radio - it works!

One other alternative - use an mp3 player and get into podcasts.

I LOVE Sirius radio, and I paid well for this because I thought it was supposed to be a high-speed, low-drag way to get it. It is not. The antenna headphones are pretty good at getting signal, much better than the antennas that come with the Sportster, but they are bulky and uncomfortable. If you want to use it in the car, or as anything but a Walkman, you have to buy seperate kits (another $100 after the $195 I'd already paid). And the car kit is, well...See my review there. For here, lets just say don't plan to use it in the car. So, to sum up, Sirius satellite radio...Excellent content in terms of music, talk and news. Getting satellite radio signal? A pain in the behind.

The reason the S10 was purchased was for it's recording option, and favorite artist option. IT does both WELL. Record your favorite shock jock in the morning and have his show ready to go when you get home. It skips thru commercials with a button push. Set it to keep only one show and it automatically erases the old one.

While browsing channels, click on add your favorite artists as you go. The favorite artist search works great when driving. Wait for the alert tone and hit the center wheel key and boom, you're listening to your favorite artist. After the song is done, usually the following song is just as good. So far after seventy favorite artists, it goes off every six or seven minutes, great if you want a good mix of tunes.

My location is under trees and found the external house antenna sold on amazon works great and most of the time gets full signal.

When the s10 is plugged into the home dock , it automatically charges the battery and comes with remote control. The dock is a must have.

About the only complaint, which isn't a big one is the memory storage of the unit. Ten hours is ok, forty would be great, but if favorite artist search is a MUST HAVE, then the S10 is the way to go.

Read all the reviews here before you buy a Stiletto because there is a 100% chance that; A.)The supplied antenae headphones cannot be worn for more than a few minutes without your ears beginning to blead.
B.)You cannot move while wearing said earphones or they flip down and off your head due to their top heavy design (the antenae on the top).
C.)Receiving a signal in any other location other than a wide open treeless prairie...while standing exactly still will be a rare occurance. If you do get a signal it will dissappear in a few seconds. Even glass is enough of a barrier to impede the signal.
O T H E R W I S E
It works great in your car w/car kit or at home with your home kit and of course you can record Sirius programing which is nice but I really wanted the portability and this just doesnt do it. You certainly cant jog with the headphones on and you cant ski either because no signal can get through a hat or helmet!

I'm not the type to generally review products, but the Sirius S10 was so remarkably bad, that I thought the least I could do was add my two cents here for other potential buyers. What the other reviewers say about the earphones and signal issues is absolutely correct---I cannot conceive what value a "portable" satellite receiver has that is virtually incapable of receiving any signal, and then when it does, loses it if you happen to move the wrong way. Unless you plan on installing an outside antenna and using the device for stationary listening, you're much better off with a standard MP3 player that includes an FM receiver.

I live in a relatively flat rural area of Pennsylvania and purchased the SIRIUS Stiletto SL100 Portable Satellite Radio Receiver almost two years ago to use when working outside. It has been a major disappointment primarily because of the poor reception. The headphone antenna is mandatory to obtain any signal, but even with the headset I am only able to get intermitent reception. It is lost as soon as you walk under a tree, behind a telephone pole or God forbid a butterfly flys overhead. It is primarily designed for the creative listener that likes to hear every 10th measure of a song or intermitent pieces of a game and mentally fill in the rest. It doesn't sound like the new Stiletto 2 is much better.