TheGoofster
Old Foggie
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2006
- Messages
- 5,451
If there's anybody out there who is considering getting one of these radios, let me give you a few reasons why I think it is WELL worth the money.
We picked one up last month because we have been doing a ton of traveling during the past few months (over 15 thousand miles), and I thought it might be worth it to not have to keep searching for radio stations every 20 minutes or so.
What I got was so much better than what I was expecting.
First of all, there seem to be a lot of different models that offer different features. We got the cheapest one they had (only 49 dollars), but add to that the cost of a kit to connect it directly to your car antenna, and the cost of installation (unless you have someone who is handy at connecting car audio stuff). We ended up paying about 175 all together.
I was amazed at just how many different stations that you get. Even though I'm not a big fan of many of the music stations, the fact is that they give you a ton of choices for music.
One of the main reasons I did get it was for sports. I knew I would be traveling to a lot of churches on Sundays, and that I would be missing many, if not most of the football games. I wanted to be able to at least keep up with the scores while we were driving. What you get, is every single game played (most of them are offered on two different stations, so you can actually get your home town's team broadcast on it's local station - for example I get the Pats on WEEI from Boston). You also get the NFL Network station, that not only gives you running commentary all day long of the games being played, but even better, a running update of all the scores on the bottom half of the radio screen. It's just like watching the NFL network, and seeing the scores running across the bottom of the screen. You also get all the NBA games (again you can listen to your local broadcast), and an NBA station that also runs the scores. I'm not a racing fan, but you also get all the racing coverage you could possibly want.
If you like talk radio, you get non-stop talk radio from both sides of the spectrum, as well as others like Howard Stern (whom I'm not a fan of), Martha Stewart, and others as well.
They offer some great Comedy stations from clean family comedians (only occasionally throwing in an off-colored comment), from somewhat clean comedy (We find ourselves listening to this with our finger on the button ready to change the channel whenever they start getting bad, but many of the comedians will stay pretty clean on this station as well - like Jeff Foxworth), to I guess a much racier comedy station.
You also can get some great weather stations that help while you travel.
There are many more stations included as well from Broadway musicals, to classic music to new-age like music, to opera, to all-Elvis, etc... Right now they are broadcasting Christmas music 24 hours a day.
One of the neater things that you can also do, is change from your Sirius radio, to your local radio stations just by changing the channel on you car radio. I was afraid that you might have to go through some bothersome process, but it's as easy as just changing the station. Which, if you're creative can offer some neat possibilities. For example, the other day I was able to listen to a favorite local station of where we are staying, while at the same time being able to watch the scores of the games running across my sirius radio (no sound, just the scores). You also get used to seeing the name of the song that is being played, the singer who sang it, and the year it was released.
One other thing I want to mention, I picked up a home kit at Goodwill the other day for my Sirius radio (usually it goes for about 40 dollars, I got it for 7 - brand new). It says that you can connect your radio to your home stereo, and pick up all the stations in your home. What I also found out is that you can hook it up to a set of amplified speakers (like the kind you use for your computer), and can listen to your radio anywhere you want to (in the house, outside, at work, etc...)
Plus, you can also go on-line, use your screen name and password, and get many of your stations on your computer as well.
Anyway, I say all this to encourage anyone who might be considering getting a Sirius radio for Christmas. In my opinion it is definitely worth the money.
We picked one up last month because we have been doing a ton of traveling during the past few months (over 15 thousand miles), and I thought it might be worth it to not have to keep searching for radio stations every 20 minutes or so.
What I got was so much better than what I was expecting.
First of all, there seem to be a lot of different models that offer different features. We got the cheapest one they had (only 49 dollars), but add to that the cost of a kit to connect it directly to your car antenna, and the cost of installation (unless you have someone who is handy at connecting car audio stuff). We ended up paying about 175 all together.
I was amazed at just how many different stations that you get. Even though I'm not a big fan of many of the music stations, the fact is that they give you a ton of choices for music.
One of the main reasons I did get it was for sports. I knew I would be traveling to a lot of churches on Sundays, and that I would be missing many, if not most of the football games. I wanted to be able to at least keep up with the scores while we were driving. What you get, is every single game played (most of them are offered on two different stations, so you can actually get your home town's team broadcast on it's local station - for example I get the Pats on WEEI from Boston). You also get the NFL Network station, that not only gives you running commentary all day long of the games being played, but even better, a running update of all the scores on the bottom half of the radio screen. It's just like watching the NFL network, and seeing the scores running across the bottom of the screen. You also get all the NBA games (again you can listen to your local broadcast), and an NBA station that also runs the scores. I'm not a racing fan, but you also get all the racing coverage you could possibly want.
If you like talk radio, you get non-stop talk radio from both sides of the spectrum, as well as others like Howard Stern (whom I'm not a fan of), Martha Stewart, and others as well.
They offer some great Comedy stations from clean family comedians (only occasionally throwing in an off-colored comment), from somewhat clean comedy (We find ourselves listening to this with our finger on the button ready to change the channel whenever they start getting bad, but many of the comedians will stay pretty clean on this station as well - like Jeff Foxworth), to I guess a much racier comedy station.
You also can get some great weather stations that help while you travel.
There are many more stations included as well from Broadway musicals, to classic music to new-age like music, to opera, to all-Elvis, etc... Right now they are broadcasting Christmas music 24 hours a day.
One of the neater things that you can also do, is change from your Sirius radio, to your local radio stations just by changing the channel on you car radio. I was afraid that you might have to go through some bothersome process, but it's as easy as just changing the station. Which, if you're creative can offer some neat possibilities. For example, the other day I was able to listen to a favorite local station of where we are staying, while at the same time being able to watch the scores of the games running across my sirius radio (no sound, just the scores). You also get used to seeing the name of the song that is being played, the singer who sang it, and the year it was released.
One other thing I want to mention, I picked up a home kit at Goodwill the other day for my Sirius radio (usually it goes for about 40 dollars, I got it for 7 - brand new). It says that you can connect your radio to your home stereo, and pick up all the stations in your home. What I also found out is that you can hook it up to a set of amplified speakers (like the kind you use for your computer), and can listen to your radio anywhere you want to (in the house, outside, at work, etc...)
Plus, you can also go on-line, use your screen name and password, and get many of your stations on your computer as well.
Anyway, I say all this to encourage anyone who might be considering getting a Sirius radio for Christmas. In my opinion it is definitely worth the money.
It's awesome
There are many other things I would give up before I gave up my Sirius. It is the greatest thing. Right now I have a plug and play Sportster Replay in my car, but I am going to get the chip to convert my GM XM radio to Sirius. 
Then DH can use my extra cradle in his patrol car for his radio.
