Satellite Radio - Recommendations?

KristinU wrote:
Has anyone been through this decision process lately? What did you end up with and are you happy?

Kristen,

I have had Sirius Sat Radio for over 10 years. It is probably the best Christmas present that I have ever given myself.

Starting out, I used a unit that we could transfer between our 3 cars, the RV, and the house. That way, wherever we were, we had the sat radio service.

Then we got Sirius on our Dish Sat TV so we didn't need it in the house.

A couple of years ago, I bought a Miata (daily driver and towed) that had an in dash unit, so I transferred my subscription to it. It was GREAT in my daily driver, but I missed it in the RV and in the wife's car.

That Miata got totaled and the replacement I bought did not have Sat Radio.

A couple of months ago, I bought a Sirius Stratus 7 (Radio Shack had them on sale for $30). The picture (scroll down) is about the actual size of the TOTAL unit. It transmits to the FM car radio. Nothing else to buy.

I transfer this unit between our now 2 cars and the RV by using 2 3M removable Command strips to stick it to the dash of whatever vehicle we are in.

This works VERY well for us.

I think that you will find that the cost of an IN-dash unit will be prohibitive. The units that are advertized as Sat Ready are really not. You must by another unit that really carries the brains of the system. I have priced them in the $250 range.

As far as antenna placement, in the RV, the antenna lives under the bed in the cab over. In the car, it goes up in the sun roof, and in the Miata, it sticks to the trunk. Yes... There wires to deal with, but I can put up with a LOT of that for the $400-$500 cost of an in dash unit.

PM me if you want more details and/or pictures.

Tim