I am looking at buying sattelite radio for my truck. Those of you that have it, what are the pros and cons of each service?

 

I have XM Roadie and i love the flexability to have it in the truck and in the house. Also with a subscription to XM you cna listen to all the channels over a computer no matter where you are. My buddy has sirius and is switching over to XM but what ever you get have it run through your head unit the roadie is great but the whole wireless fm station transmiter gets annoying in larger cities.

 

I too have the Roady 2. I put it in the area above the purse hook, and below the air vent. Fits good there, a little low and hard to reach. Luckily, I use a remote to change channels. Overall, happy with the service. XM is starting to repeat music and play the same song on multiple channels lately. They are pretty much the same service price, but XM has MLB, and Sirius has NFL. I wish I had the football honestly. Also, if you are a Howard Stern fan, you might be better off going to Sirius.

Oh, and I transmit it wirelessly via FM, and have little problem at all with that. Works pretty good.

 

Sirius NFL Radio. They have an exclusive deal with the NFL and carry all the NFL games and have talk shows all day about the NFL. It is the most addictive channel out there. They also have all the NHL games, all the NBA games, a lot of college football and other sports. I think the only sport they don't have is MLB. The music channels are nice too. I listen to country mostly and they have great country channels. Definitely get Sirius (unless you don't care about sports)! It is a couple dollars a month more than XM.

 

And there getting Howard Stern in 2006! Long live the king of all media!!!

 

If the Roadie models are the ones that use FM modulation (you tune in to a particular FM frequency to pick up the satellite broadcast) I would steer clear of them. I got one of the original designs on those with XM and hated it right away because of the poor audio quality due to modulating through to the stock tuner.

Consider a dedicated XM or Sirius-ready head unit. You'll also need a harness adapter, available through any knowledgable stereo shop. Also consider replacing the stock door speakers and possibly adding a sub unit (Quad cabs are easy to add this to, not so easy in the regular cabs).

As far as XM vs Sirius, XM seems to have a somewhat more younger listening crowd bent to it, with stations like Squizz (hard, modern rock) and some interesting alternative stations, as well as everything else. I've heard Sirius has a good lineup as well, but are a bit more expensive.

Lastly, make sure to invest in a high-quality satellite antenna. I highly recommend Terk.

Good luck!

 

My vote is SIRIUS all the way. As previously stated it has the NFL, all of the NFL. Hometeam broadcasts of both teams. It lets me know when the Bears, Blackhawks and the Bulls are playing. The Music is great and the channels are well laid out. I have the Sportster model (they have since introduced the Sportster Replay but mine is pretty much the same) and I have it mounted in the only acceptable position in my truck. The guy at Best Buy took an XM mounting plate for the Delphi unit with about a 45 degree bend to it and trimmed it to fit the back of my Sportster. Then he srewed it into my center console but not into the vinyl part you see. He screwed it into the plastic inside, right above the cig lighter inside the console. The power is right there, It is sturdy, no visible holes from mounting and all the wires are routed inside the console and then under the seat. Also, our windshiels do not have the room to tuck a wire and run the antenna onto the roof. Mine was left inside the cab and sits in the middle of the dash all the way forward. You don't even notice it. My unit sits right next to my right hand while I drive. A quick look down is all I need to see the display. I never use the remote except for with the boom box (wich I highly recomend). I wish i had pictures but this should be enough to explain to the installer how you want it mounted. I almost didn't get sat. radio because I wasn't going to put holes in my dash, block my view or use suction cups. I would have loved to get a SIRIUS head unit but you have to buy a pack for under the seat that de-scrambles the signal from space and it was EXPENSIVE! Plus with the head unit I couldn't have gotten the portable boom box that was great in Nothern Minnesota this year where regular radio dosen't even come in. There is my two cents, good luck and make sure you know exactly where they plan on installing the unit in your interior before you give them the keys, sometimes they try to be vague so they have some flexibility when you're not looking. Good luck --Kevin

 

I agree Sirius is the way to go. Go online and compare the programming. I went with the Sportster plug & play unit so I could us it in my garage, and both vehicles without multiple subscriptions. Most of the portable units have an FM modulator, but don't use it. They will also have RCA output capability. There are several adapters available that use the OEM CD changer port to give you RCA inputs for your radio.

 

Don't have Sirius in my Dodge yet, but I did have it in my Explorer and was very happy with it. All my friends wanted to ride around in my car because of the variety of stations. CD quality sound and no commercials kicks A$$ for sure. I messed around with the XM radio that they had in an airplane I flew in and it didn't seem to have as many stations. I think you can listen to it for free on the website. Sirius Website

 

I haven't done it yet, but plan to go with the Mopar Sirius unit for several reasons--Howard in 06, NASCAR in 07, but the main reason is I like the Mopar interface. The receiver mounts under the dash and displays through the regular radio head (you need the radio that displays the stations and songs such as the Infinity). Pretty slick---no extra head to try and find a place to mount. The flexibility of moving it from place to place would be nice, but I just don't want the display hanging somewhere it wasn't meant to--just my opinion.

Look around on the web and you can find them, or try http://www.discountmopar.com/dodge/c...y.asp?catid=75