XM Radio vs Sirius for DH?

[mom2boys]

THinking of getting DH satellite radio receiver for Christmas. I understand he will need a monthly subscription His job requires that he travel in a different company vehicle each day - so it needs to be portable. He travels to different cities so traffic reports in various Mid-Atlantic states is important. Suggestions/Comments? Will one fit his needs better than the other?

 

[LoraJ]

I think it depends on what kind of talk or music he prefers. If he likes Howard Stern, go Sirius. If he likes Opie & Anthony go XM. From what I have read, Sirius has better rock stations. XM has an all 90's station.

XM has portable units, but I hear they aren't always dependable.

I have Sirius and right now, I don't have my new radio installed in my car. I just plug it in the lighter and throw the antenna on the seat next to me and it works great. I also plug it in to a cassette adapter so that I don't get any interference.

 

[mom2boys]

Thanks Lora. I am glad you mentioned the difference in music. He likes Stern & is an old Rock n Roll fan - Alice Cooper, Kiss, Rod Stewart - ok he's just old - like his wife. These days, country seems to be our "modern day" listening. Any one else?

 

[ChrisnSteph]

Thanks Lora. I am glad you mentioned the difference in music. He likes Stern & is an old Rock n Roll fan - Alice Cooper, Kiss, Rod Stewart - ok he's just old - like his wife. These days, country seems to be our "modern day" listening. Any one else?

Sirius does have better rock channels, but I think XM has better 90's and current hits music. My dh will always have Sirius as long as it has the Jimmy Buffet channel! Nascar is also moving to Sirius.

 

[tmt martins]

I live in and drive allover MD. I have the XM roady and transfer it between my comp.veh. and 2 different per cars .I have never had any problems in th 2 years I've had it .But might go to SIRUS do to Stern.
Go on their websights to get the list of stations and pick 1 that he will use the most they are both about the same in price and qual.

Good luck I also take it to use in rentals when we travel.

 

[rnd4life]

Sirius!!! We have XM on our Directv satellite and honestly, I'm not all that impressed with it. The 90's channel is pretty good but that's about the only good thing I can say about it. I know there are a lot of XM fans but my vote goes for Sirius all the way!

DH and I are both Stern fans so that was our main reason for buying Sirius but I have no regrets about it at all.

 

[SRUAlmn]

Would he be interested in purchasing it to listen to any sporting events? My DF is a sports FANATIC and this is why I was considering getting it for him since we moved to SC and he can't watch the Ravens or Orioles anymore. The problem is that one of the programs (either XM or Sirius, I can't remember which) allows you to listen to all types of sports except football (NFL) and the other only has the NFL. So then I was totally torn because he would like to be able to listen to it all. Someone correct me if this is wrong, I hope it is Just wanted to share if sports were an important factor.

 

[Lynn CC]

I'd like to know which one is geared towards Sports too! Good question!

 

[tmt martins]

XM baseball Nascar (now )

Sirius football (nascar =later ? )

I think they both offer ESPN radio

Also not sure about Sirius but XM has RADIO DISNEY for the kids.

 

[rnd4life]

Sirius also has Radio Disney, my 11yo DS listens to it all the time LOL.

 

[Shutterbug]

Sirius now offers a receiver that will clip on your window or shade.

 

[drakethib]

THinking of getting DH satellite radio receiver for Christmas. I understand he will need a monthly subscription His job requires that he travel in a different company vehicle each day - so it needs to be portable. He travels to different cities so traffic reports in various Mid-Atlantic states is important. Suggestions/Comments? Will one fit his needs better than the other?

I have both.

Here is my opinion and it probably won't help but here it is.

Sirius has much better music.

XM has much better reception but the stations are not quite as good as Siruis.

 

[Papa Deuce]

First off, there is no "other" provider, and quite likely there never will be.

Ok, that said, I have had both and prefer Sirius. I am also a stockholder in both companies, so it is fine with me, no matter which way you choose!

It is ALL about the prgramming, with the exception being that Sirius does not yet have a fully 100% portable unit that you can listen to like XM does, meaning you can listen to it while you are walking around, keep it in your pocket kinda unit.

XM has MLB, Opie and Anthony, and NASCAR ( though NASCAR is switching to Sirius next year, I believe ).

Sirius will Stern in January. They also have the NFL, and the FULL March Madness basketball tournament.

XM has a "slightly" better choice of music played on individual stations. Sirius uses "focus groups", and eneds up with a smaller playlist than XM. Both services have "SIMILAR" stations. Both have lots of news channels. Sirius, hads local weather and traffice for most major cities. I do not know if XM has that, but I would guess that they do.

I prefer Sirius, but either are good.

EDIT: because I saw the post above this. I get better reception with my Sirius, so, obviously, YMMV.

 

[SRUAlmn]

See, that's what I thought. One has MLB and the other has NFL, so if I wanted to get it for my fiance to listen to Orioles and Ravens games I couldn't, or I'd have to get both

 

[Papa Deuce]

See, that's what I thought. One has MLB and the other has NFL, so if I wanted to get it for my fiance to listen to Orioles and Ravens games I couldn't, or I'd have to get both

That is correct. But obviously it makes great business sense. If one service had ALL the sports, quitel likely the other coud not exist. So, they each bid on the one they felt like they could afford or needed the most.

 

[SRUAlmn]

That is correct. But obviously it makes great business sense. If one service had ALL the sports, quitel likely the other coud not exist. So, they each bid on the one they felt like they could afford or needed the most.

Oh, I agree. GREAT business move, stinky for the consumer! Although, it may not be that great of a business move, because I didn't buy either as a result.

 

[rigs32]

Sirius also has NHL in addition to NFL and March Madness. As I usually say on these posts, Sirius is the only one to have NPR. Their 3 NPR channels are GREAT for long trips on weekends as they rotate through the "fun" programs: car talk, wait wait don't tell me, etc