Good radio, easy to install. The Pros: can change colors for display,
however, display picture is the same (with Howard Stern looming in the
background). Comes with remote, which can be handy, depending on where
you install the radio. Easy to see display during the day and at night,
even with polarized glasses (some reviewers stated that this is not
so). For reference, The Xact one I had before this had a blue display
which was close to impossible to see during the day, in particular with
polarized sunglasses. The Cons: the FM transmitter is a lot weaker than
the one from my previous radio (Xact). Activation: The legendary bad
SIRIUS customer service sure was confirmed trying to activate this
radio. I bought this as the replacement for my old radio which stopped
working correctly. All I needed SIRIUS to do was deactivate my old
radio and activate this one. It took about 1.5 hours to get this fairly
straightforward task accomplished, mostly because I was put on hold
several times for what felt forever. Best tip I can give: IF YOU BUY A
NEW RADIO AND WANT TO REPLACE YOUR OLD ONE WITH IT, CHOOSE 'CANCEL
SERVICE' WHEN YOU CALL SIRIUS. Otherwise, you will experience the same
odyssey I went through (I chose "CHANGE SERVICE"): You first get
transferred to Bangalore (I assume) where you are told that they CANNOT
swap your two radios (i.e. cancel one, activate the other). They WILL
tell you that you need to first activate your new one, which (of course)
they are very happy to help you with. They will try to upsell you (no
surprise) and tell you that you have to pay an activation fee. And
since I had two radios, I got a discount(lasting for how long it takes
to cancel the other radio). I explained in the beginning what I wanted
to do, but of course they just go through their script. After the
activation I requested to connect me to the 'department' to cancel my
other radio. Of course I was put at the end of the waiting queue, after a
few minutes my connection was lost, so I called again and chose the
"CANCEL SERVICE" option. After about another 20 min of waiting, I was
connected to the US service site and told the person that I needed to
cancel service on a radio. After logging in to my account the person
noticed that I had two radios, so I explained what I wanted to do. The
good news is that the person got upset about how this was handled and
talked to her supervisor (again I was put on hold). She then told my
that my activation fee for the other radio would get reimbursed and that
my old radio was cancelled. I hope that this radio will last a few
years so I don't have to deal with their customer service any time
soon...
UPDATE: as of today (12 Nov 2010) I still have not received my promised refund for the activation.
UPDATE: as of today (12 Nov 2010) I still have not received my promised refund for the activation.
