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#279411 - 12/04/2006 16:52 Portable Sirius radio?
julf veteran Registered: 01/10/2001 Posts: 1307 Loc: Amsterdam, The Netherlands	My brother-in-law is up for a major anniversary. He runs a carpenter/bulding construction company, so spends a lot of time eiher in his van or at sites. He is also a big Howard Stern fan. So based on that, the perfect gift would be a portable Sirius box. But I have no experience whatsoever of Sirius, so do you have any recommendations/warnings/advice? Which unit would be the best?
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#279412 - 12/04/2006 17:21 Re: Portable Sirius radio? [Re: julf]
petteri addict Registered: 02/08/2004 Posts: 434 Loc: Helsinki, Finland	I'm a Sirius subscriber, I've got two Sirius tuners. One is an old model that is no longer for sale, the Brix Streamer, works fine for me. The other is the new S50. So I can't comment from experience about the radios that I'm going to recommend. The S50 is too buggy in my opinion to recommend as a gift unless your brother-in-law is tech savvy and doesn't mind a product that is ending its production run early... The newer one is the S50 portable unit. Now when Sirius says it is portable, that means the the unit will playback stored Sirius content, MP3, and WMA files, but NOT LIVE reception. For that you will need XM or wait unitl later this summer/fall when Sirius releases a "true" portable. The S50 has been slightly unstable, although a new firmware has patched most of the problems with the unit. For more on this take a look at the S50 fourm over at Siriusbackstage.com. That's a great site for anything Sirius related. If your brother-in-law needs a boombox type of setup I think the best bet would be the Sportster Replay or its twin the Brix Streamer Replay. You will need to order the boombox seprately from the tuner itself. If he just wants to listen at home and in the car then the Starmate Replay might be the better bet. It has "Artist Seek" which will alert you when artists that you have marked are playing on another channel in addition to the "Song Seek" featured on the Sportster. You get up to 30 artists and songs to "mark". It also has a boom box, that just went on sale a day or two ago, but from the looks of it might be more fragile. At least the cradle that holds the tuner in place. I've haven't yet heard much about this new boombox. Both of these have seprate "home kits" that supply an indoor/outdoor antenna plus cradle and power supply. You can then run "supplied" RCA cables to your home stereo. I've got a boombox for my Streamer and use it as a bedside alarm clock. The links for the radios above will take you to "The Sirius Store" I've got no connection to them other than a happy customer. They are not related to Sirius Satellite Radio, they have their own on-line store. I hope that helps! Edited by petteri (12/04/2006 17:59)
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#279413 - 12/04/2006 17:56 Re: Portable Sirius radio? [Re: julf]
wfaulk carpal tunnel Registered: 25/12/2000 Posts: 16706 Loc: Raleigh, NC US	I just thought I'd chime in and point out some basic things, not knowing how little "no experience" actually is. Even after you buy the hardware, there's a monthy service fee of $12.95. (Or you can buy for a year or two at a time and save.) So he (or you, or someone) would still have to pay to get the service. In addition, the subscriptions are for one receiver only. You have to pay more if you want to have multiple receivers. That's why many of the receivers are somewhat modular. That is, for example, you might have one in your car, and when you leave your car, you actually pop out the bulk of the unit and take it with you. The "boomboxes" he speaks of are the portable cases for the receiver, with speakers and amp included. But you can't listen in the car and on the portable at the same time. I don't know how the reception is inside buildings. (If he's a residential contractor, that's probably not a big problem.) I know you have to have some sort of additional antenna for your car installation. Someone should probably chime in on that. _________________________ Bitt Faulk
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#279414 - 12/04/2006 18:03 Re: Portable Sirius radio? [Re: julf]
phi144 enthusiast Registered: 15/02/2002 Posts: 314 Loc: New Hampshire, USA	I have Sirius and love it. I went the cheap route at the time and bought this unit It has everything for both the car and home, including remote, which actually I never use. It's not the fanciest model out there but it works well for my needs. Edited by phi144 (12/04/2006 18:06)
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#279415 - 12/04/2006 18:10 Re: Portable Sirius radio? [Re: wfaulk]
petteri addict Registered: 02/08/2004 Posts: 434 Loc: Helsinki, Finland	Quote: I just thought I'd chime in and point out some basic things, not knowing how little "no experience" actually is. Even after you buy the hardware, there's a monthy service fee of $12.95. (Or you can buy for a year or two at a time and save.) So he (or you, or someone) would still have to pay to get the service. In addition, the subscriptions are for one receiver only. You have to pay more if you want to have multiple receivers. That's why many of the receivers are somewhat modular. That is, for example, you might have one in your car, and when you leave your car, you actually pop out the bulk of the unit and take it with you. The "boomboxes" he speaks of are the portable cases for the receiver, with speakers and amp included. But you can't listen in the car and on the portable at the same time. I don't know how the reception is inside buildings. (If he's a residential contractor, that's probably not a big problem.) I know you have to have some sort of additional antenna for your car installation. Someone should probably chime in on that. Good points! Sirius offers a few plans, ranging from month to month thru a "lifetime" subscription. The lifetime is the life of the radio, not the subscriber. You are granted three transfers at $75 each. As far as indoor reception goes it is very hit or miss. If the your brother-in-law (the radio really!) is in or near a large urban center in the USA or Canada, then indoor reception "might" be possible. If not the the antenna MUST have a clear view of the sky. The Sirius satellites are not stationary in the sky. The radios come with a antenna for se with your car. They should be mounted on the roof of your car or truck, with a thin cable running into the cabin. If your borther-in-law wants to he can do the install himself or take to to a car audio shop for a very simple install. Edited by petteri (12/04/2006 18:15)
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#279416 - 12/04/2006 18:22 Re: Portable Sirius radio? [Re: julf]
robricc carpal tunnel Registered: 30/10/2000 Posts: 4931 Loc: New Jersey, USA	If he has a Windows mobile phone and an unlimited data plan, something like SiriuCE might be good. No line of sight issues with that and you get internet streaming for no extra charge with your normal Sirius subscription. Last I heard, Howard wasn't broadcast over the internet stream though. This may have changed, but knowing what a crybaby Howie is, it probably hasn't. _________________________ -Rob Riccardelli 80GB 16MB MK2 090000736
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#279417 - 12/04/2006 18:37 Re: Portable Sirius radio? [Re: robricc]
drakino carpal tunnel Registered: 08/06/1999 Posts: 7868	The internet streams seem pretty reliable, enough so that my friend with Sirus stopped moving his receiver back and forth between the house and his car. He just now leaves it in the car, and listens to the stream from his laptop.
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#279418 - 12/04/2006 18:41 Re: Portable Sirius radio? [Re: drakino]
robricc carpal tunnel Registered: 30/10/2000 Posts: 4931 Loc: New Jersey, USA	I sometimes listen to XM streamed to my phone. XM has no problem operating over (sometimes spotty) GPRS and EDGE service. Sirius is likely the same. _________________________ -Rob Riccardelli 80GB 16MB MK2 090000736
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#279419 - 13/04/2006 08:22 Re: Portable Sirius radio? [Re: petteri]
julf veteran Registered: 01/10/2001 Posts: 1307 Loc: Amsterdam, The Netherlands	This is all very useful info - appreciated! Thanks!
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#279420 - 13/04/2006 19:19 Re: Portable Sirius radio? [Re: petteri]
ithoughti old hand Registered: 17/07/2001 Posts: 721 Loc: Boston, MA USA	Quote: Quote: I don't know how the reception is inside buildings. (If he's a residential contractor, that's probably not a big problem.) I know you have to have some sort of additional antenna for your car installation. Someone should probably chime in on that. Good points! Sirius offers a few plans, ranging from month to month thru a "lifetime" subscription. The lifetime is the life of the radio, not the subscriber. You are granted three transfers at $75 each. As far as indoor reception goes it is very hit or miss. If the your brother-in-law (the radio really!) is in or near a large urban center in the USA or Canada, then indoor reception "might" be possible. If not the the antenna MUST have a clear view of the sky. The Sirius satellites are not stationary in the sky. The radios come with a antenna for se with your car. They should be mounted on the roof of your car or truck, with a thin cable running into the cabin. If your borther-in-law wants to he can do the install himself or take to to a car audio shop for a very simple install. Many large urban areas have ground repeaters set up all over the place so there is no dusruption of service. I know several people in the Boston area that use Sirius radios at work with no windows in sight and the reception is just fine. _________________________ --------- //matt
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