Beginner's Guide and Product Review : SiriusXM Satellite Radio

There are other articles on SiriusXM satellite radio out there, both beginner's guides and product reviews. However, most of them appear to be produced by and for those who sell the radios or at least directly link to websites that do. With that in mind, this page is a bit different.

This one is for the easily intimidated among us.

Like me.

Yeah, I can hear it now. I've done my service with the U.S. Army, gone through six divorces, two bankruptcies, and one home foreclosure. I've even been a pro rodeo rider (though quite a while back, that one), taken on opponents ranging from arrogant physicians to arrogant mega-corporations to--well, you name it, I've pretty much been there, done that. And now I'm admitting to having been intimidated by satellite radio?

Yep.

See, my wife and I wanted satellite radio back when I was working as an OTR (over the road) truck driver, circa 2001-2002. Back then, Sirius and XM were separate companies, long before the merge, but we knew the drivers who had one or the other were right when they said it helped them stay awake behind the wheel.

But we never spent the money to get one. Couldn't afford it, nuh-uh.

That was the excuse...and remained the excuse until today, November 25, 2011. Black Friday. Not that the date had any big meaning, nor did I get a bargain because of it. There were three equally important keys:

1. Our finances had thankfully and abruptly improved. We could afford it. No excuse left there.

2. My favorite, deeply trusted auto mechanic referred me to Winfield at The Specialists, a shop specializing in (duh!) sound systems for vehicles in Sierra Vista, Arizona. (No, the plug for the shop is entirely free of charge; I do not get a bird dog fee from Winfield if you happen to mention Ghost sent you!)

3. The original radio in our 2001 Subaru Outback had gone kaput, and I was getting really tired of whistling for entertainment on the all too frequent trips to town (half an hour each way).

So, since I could "wuss out" and trust Winfield to do the job right...and had a couple of hours I could spare this afternoon...yeah. Went ahead. Told the man, "Hook me up!"

Which of course he did, and here's what I found out.

There are numerous brands of SiriusXM-compatible radios out there. This store handles the Alpine brand, which was fine with me. I can remember young men (wa-ay back when I was still somewhat a young man myself) with aftermarket Alpine stereos in their cars and pickup trucks. Way cool. Way over my budget.

We're baking with butane now, though.

Winfield discovered, during the installation and testing process, that the Subaru's right rear speaker is dead. Bummer for Pam when she rides with me, since she's the family audiophile who gives a hoot about music for music's sake. With me, it's all about the story--if a song has no lyrics, it bores me to tears automatically (unless I can visualize space combat by listening to the Star Wars theme or some such).

Alone--which I am most of the time, running errands--I'm only listening to the front speakers anyway. Replacing the right rear can wait.

So far, so good.

Downside: Upfront cost. It wasn't cheap. $379 installed, plus $237 over the phone to SiriusXM itself for a year's subscription plus activation fee. Going forward, it'll be $199 annually (snagged right out of my bank account via debit card) until I say otherwise.

Downside: No local AM or FM stations. Which isn't a big deal except for local news (and we have the TV at home for that) or one talk show out of Tucson (Garrett Lewis) that I'll miss.

Oh, well.

Upside: Man, this thing looks cool in the dash. True, all those bright blue lights would bug the dickens out of me on long night runs, but I'm not making those often these days--and besides, where my right fist hangs on the steering wheel, it blocks the worst of the blue from view.

Upside: Built-in CD player. Yes, I realize most radios have those these days. But this one is super-slim, with the access slot directly above the readout display. In fact, it takes up so little space that a second, "stacked" open-shelf storage compartment now lets me place both my reading glasses and my sunglasses in the dash for easy access.

Now, that is super-cool.

Upside: Awesome sound. That is, zero static. Absolutely can't beat it.

Upside: Great channel selection overall (more than 140). Being a sort of redneck right wingnut type of guy, I've already got my six preset channels selected: 1. Outlaw Country. 2. Fox News. 3. Playboy Radio (temporarily--for the articles, right?) 4. Laugh Attack (Comedy) 5. Blue Collar Radio (Comedy). 5. The Highway. 6. Bluegrass Junction.

Subject to change, of course--and with notes in my notebook telling Pam where she can find Neil Diamond, Sinatra, The Coffee House, and B.B. King. I'm not suicidal.

Downside: SiriusXM has available some interesting channels--such as a George Carlin station--you can only access by plugging the radio into your computer (Don't ask me how--don't care).

Upside: Like most high-end audio car systems these days, the front of the radio will snap out and go into a handy little hard plastic carrying case to tick off the stereo thieves prowling your neighborhood. (Your neighborhood, not mine--we're wa-a-ay out of town.)

Upside: A large-print readout display that I can make out even without my reading glasses. You can toggle to get the time, channel, and even the artist who's on at the moment. Pretty impressive.

Inside-Outside: There are also a lot of features and/or capabilities we'll never use. Don't care, don't want to know. But you might, so I'll list a few: A USB port (no kidding)...audio input jack ...Bluetooth capability...capability of coordinating the thing with your computer, inside radio, maybe even the family dog for all I know. This thing will pause, rewind, and replay up to 30 minutes of your favorite show, it--

Enough! It's supposed to be a radio, right? And it is definitely that.

As a Beginner's Guide, this page is a little shy on details. For example, how do you change channels or whatever?

Hey, whoever sells you any radio--SiriusXM satellite version or otherwise--should explain that. So does the User's Manual...sort of. That stuff, you'll get figured out, or else your ten year old will explain it to you.

This Hub has one point for beginners, and really only one: Buying into satellite radio does not need to be intimidating as long as you've got a Winfield (or equivalent) tech to do the install for you. (I took one look at the installation guide and was really, really glad he was doing the work.)

Which leaves the Product Review. I've done a few of those and can say with considerable pleasure that the SiriusXM satellite radio (at least with the receiver and All Access subscription package I purchased) richly deserves an A+ rating.

P.S. How do I know it (SiriusXM) deserves the A+ rating? Simple: On the half hour drive home this evening (after the install and activation), I kept flipping back and forth between Talk Radio and two different Comedy stations. The whole time, I found myself grinning ear to ear. No buyer's remorse whatsoever.

Of course, you can't whistle while you're grinning ear to ear...but that hardly matters.