AudioVox XVSAP1V1 XM Skydock for iPhone/iTouch
by AudioVox
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of AudioVox XVSAP1V1 XM Skydock for iPhone/iTouch
Customer Review: Amazing product for an Ipod Touch
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a truly excellent product from XM which FYI contracts all of their receiver units to Audiovox which is a very decent company. The product arrived in a typical amazon box which held its original packaging which was very shiny and well put together, everthing arrived in great condition and quickly (amazon is great with shipping in my opinion, but I am prime member). First thing to get out of the way is the logo on the front which says "Sirius-XM" which can be a little misleading. Although these two companies have merged, they're billing system and customer database has NOT been merged, therefore you MUST HAVE AN XM account to have this set up.
I have been a Sirius customer for some time and during this time period switched from a Howard Stern fan to an Opie and Anthony fan so I was using the "best of XM" upgrade on my Sirius account. Since you can not use your Sirius account with this product, switching to XM was no problem for me. I was not given a cancellation fee and since I told them at time of activation that I was dropping one for another, there was no activation fee. If you are new to satellite in general, both services are not merged yet but offer a "best of__" so if you want mlb, nfl, stern, O&A and whatever big highlights are on both services it will not a problem if you pay the extra $3 for the "best of" deals.
The product itself is of the highest quality. There is a very heavy duty arm coming out of the most solid car AC adapter input I have ever seen. The plug has some sort of little grips on it which hold it very solid against the walls of the input. If there is one negative to this product (aside from needing to switch to XM if that is a problem for you) it is the plug is too heavy duty and built to not be movable that it was more difficult than average to pull out and I loosened up my AC input which had to be tightened as the weight of the unit caused the whole thing (the skydock and factory AC input) to shake together. I have since installed a splitter and stopped pulling it out. The arm which holds out the unit is very solid as well, it is constructed such that it is tough to move but once its at the right angle or position it stays where it is.
On the unit itself you will find an input for the antenna and an .35mm output for all sound (including games which can be cool). This .35mm output is a huge selling feature for me, I have an aftermarket radio with an auxiliary input so I connect straight to the radio for both my MP3s and the Skydock app. I actually use the skydock more often as a charging unit, a cradle, and a connection to my radio for regular music more than the Sat function!
If you do not have an aux input, I think you miss out on this function. The Skydock does have a connection feature which lets you tune to a radio station and send the signal to your car speakers, since the connection is grounded through the AC adapter you get a great connection, the best I have ever heard using this method. But still it is no direct connection. The FM connection only works with the Skydock App which only lets you play Sat radio (to the best of my knowledge). Again best for a direct connect from the aux output but if not then they have come up with the best possible solution.
The antenna is your typical magnet style receiver which must be run through your car under the molding and hidden somehow, if you are not capable of doing this kind of thing best to bring it somewhere to get installed so you do not damage your vehicle, but I did it in about ten minutes.
The cradle itself is wide enough that it holds my Ipod touch which has a VERY thin hard protective case on it. I was worried that my case might be an issue but it was not, in fact it could have taken a much bigger case, they provide spacers with XM logo on them to place behind your ipod / iphone onto the unit to hold the different devices properly. My only issue though is how the Ipod connects to the charger, this is not the Skydocks fault but I think Apple, why do they use that multipin connector which has a cheap feel pluggin things into it? Still the unit charges very fast when plugged in and the whole time while playing, there are little plastic pieces which grip the unit and it does not move at all.
The SkyDock App is downloaded from the APP store and needs to be activated by calling XM just like any other sat radio. It really does turn your Ipod / Iphone into the slickest sat receiver available, the display and graphics are gorgeous, menus move quick, you can set favs and tag songs, but you cannot record which would have been nice but no biggie for me.
All in all, highly recommended. I use this every day and will continue to use it with my beloved Ipod Touch which is so amazing that it can be stretched to work with a product like this.
Customer Review: Skydock Review & How to Get XM Package Savings
Summary: 5 Stars
First, some savings tips: Found an XM promotion online for a year of service for $77 (50% off the reg $12.95/mo rate); you have to call a special number (800-347-0600, which as a bonus appears to reach a U.S. call center) and ask for it. As of 12Nov09 it's still good but only for their basic package. I wanted XM Everything & the Best of Sirius, which is $16.99; the rep offered 3 months of service for $29.99 then the regular rate after that. Not nearly as attractive a deal but hey, at least they threw me a bone. Also saw online that XM will credit your account $12.95 for having a credit card on your account for recurrent billing. Asked for that and got it too.
On to the Skydock. Based on a few days' use, it's a very, very well done product. Installation was pretty easy, with the antenna obviously the hardest part. It sticks quite well to metallic surfaces but you then have to run the wire to a spot where you can plug it in to the Skydock when it's in use. So the challenge is hiding it behind panels, carpet, etc. along the way. A huge advantage over dedicated sat radio units is that you'll usually take your iPhone with you when leaving the car. One less thing for someone to steal, and it's also easy to detach and hide the Skydock if you're concerned about break-ins.
The iPhone app has been flawless except for a couple of minor irritations like occasionally having to tap several times before an input will 'take'. Also, when changing stations, the buttons and labels are small enough and far enough away while driving to require more attention than a typical car radio, so caution is definitely required. But the app is very intuitive and the ability to set alerts so you can switch over and listen to favorite artists/teams when they're on is a very nice touch. There are really too many cool features to list, like being able to choose favorite teams and see a little ticker with news about them.
It's a definite plus that all your iPhone/iPod functions work in the Skydock. When a call comes in, the programming or iPod music fades out and then back in when the call is over. I've seen complaints that the Skydock doesn't feed phone audio to the vehicle speakers but that's a 'so what?' for me since I use a Bluetooth earpiece anyway. It's very nice to have the iPhone handy in front of you when you're sitting at a light and want to take a quick look at e-mail or whatever. (UPDATE - Check your local laws. Since my original review last year, Georgia has outlawed texting/e-mailing or even reading messages while operating a vehicle. Please stay legal and, most importantly, safe.)
The sound is terrific using the supplied Aux cable, which we have in one vehicle. We live about 50 miles north of Atlanta and the FM method is good most of the time in the other vehicle, but this morning I drove downtown for the first time with the Skydock and it didn't work well at all. The problem in a large city like Atlanta appears to be that there are no empty FM channels that don't have a working channel on the next frequency up/down the scale, and the static/interference when driving near the city made the Skydock pretty much useless. In fairness, that's based on having chosen four empty freqs to use the Skydock with (another nice feature is that it can accommodate multiple frequencies) so I still have much of the FM spectrum to explore and may get better results in the future. Still, it's something to keep in mind for those in large cities.
One minor minus is that for bandwidth reasons maybe, Atlanta weather/traffic is on the same channel as Miami's. You sometimes have to wait for the Miami info to finish before you hear your own.
What's truly annoying is Sirius/XM's nickle and dime approach to customers. For example, I'd much rather have Sirius service but though the companies have merged, Skydock is an exclusively XM product. You can't have a Sirius subscription. The best XM package is $12.95 a month. But if you want NFL play-by-play or Howard Stern for example - not coincidentally, both highly popular Sirius products - you have to pay another $4 monthly. If you decide to drop the Sirius add-on, that'll cost you $5 to make the change. Have another, separate satellite radio? They make you get a SEPARATE subscription. Ridiculous. Nothing earth-shaking but irritating nonetheless.
And one more thing, not a dealbreaker but still very annoying, is that on Sirius' NFL play-by-play, there's a national feed but you can also choose either the home team or away team broadcasts. You only get that option on XM for prime-time games and of course that is never mentioned.
XM's crappy policies aside, Skydock is an outstanding product and highly recommended, especially for those who like me own an iPhone and have been on the fence about satellite radio.
Customer Review: Wow, So Easy Even A Caveman Can Do It
Summary: 5 Stars
I've owned several XM radios over the years, each progressively better than the last, but the SkyDock is my favorite.
Start with downloading the Sirius XM iPhone app -- and make sure to power off/power on your phone. The app is free.
With many XM car set-ups, you need to find a decent place to put it -- stick it on the dash, hang it from the vents, or some other scenario. The SkyDock just plugs right into the cigarette lighter, and that's done.
If you're new to satellite radio, placing the antenna usually takes the most time, and with the SkyDock, there's no way around that. Take your time, do it right. But if you're already a subscriber and the antenna is already in place, then plug that in.
To get the sound, you'll either need an AUX jack from your radio to the SkyDock, or use the built-in PowerConnect to broadcast it through an FM channel. I tried both, and while the AUX jack has better sound quality, the PowerConnect is decent and sounds better than the previous FM transmitter set-ups I've used in the past.
Once you've got it set up, your iPhone (or iPod Touch) is in the dock and is on, and the app is running, you should be hearing channel 1. Next, get on the phone and call XM to activate the SkyDock. It is possible to activate it through the app, but that didn't work for me. The call should take 5 minutes. They'll ask you to leave the radio on, playing channel 1 and that it might take 15 minutes to an hour for all the channels to activate, but it should be closer to the 15 minutes.
The SkyDock IS the XM radio -- the iPhone and Sirius XM app are only a channel changer, but besides listening to any of the 130+ XM channels, you can also listen to the music on the iPod, podcasts, audiobooks, and other music/radio apps you have on your iPhone/Touch (such as Pandora, Last FM, Slacker, Pocket Tunes, etc.) as long as you have a decent AT&T signal. I tested this listening to Pocket Tunes on a 10 mile drive and experienced no drop-outs . . . but I was in a heavily populated area with lots of 3G.
Another "secret" benefit is my 160 GB iPod (you know, with the click-wheel) works perfectly in the SkyDock. I can listen to anything in my 16,000 song collection just by popping the iPod in the SkyDock.
The SkyDock had a little trouble getting all the way into the cigarette lighter on my Camry, but this seems to be due to a rubber sprocket/gasket near the tip of the SkyDock plug which is apparently there to make sure the SkyDock fits snuggly and won't pop out. This caused the opposite problem for me, not letting it pop in. I had to gently yet firmly push it in, but I could sense the pushing came close to breaking the housing around the cigarette lighter. But, it didn't, and I did get the SkyDock in all the way.
I previously used a Sirius XM Mirge plug-n-play radio, which I removed from my car each time I arrived at my destination so it wouldn't get stolen. So I was carrying around both the Mirge and my iPhone -- annoying. Now I just carry my iPhone, pop it in the SkyDock, press the button for the Sirius XM app, and get satellite radio in 10-15 seconds. When I park, I push the home button, take the iPhone out, and am on my way.
I know a question some people may have is: What if I get a phone call? What happens? Can I listen to the call through my stereo speakers?
When a call comes in, the app goes silent, and you'll hear the ringing through the speakers (unless you're on vibrate). If you answer the call by sliding your finger along the iPhone's bar, you will hear the caller through the iPhone's speakers -- not the car's stereo speakers. A Bluetooth headset would be recommended for answering calls.
The only drawback I have experienced with the SkyDock is it is difficult to change channels while driving. While the app interface is great, you have to look at it to do anything, which is not easy (nor recommended) while driving. I usually wait for a stoplight, or just stick to what I'm listening to. The app does have an area where you can add up to 12 favorite channels . . . but you still need to look. I wish there was a remote control that worked with the iPhone and the SkyDock, as I was used to that with the Mirge -- the ability to change channels while driving without having to look down at the unit. But hopefully a remote will be available someday.
If you're interested in satellite radio and have an iPhone or iPod Touch, then I would highly recommend the XM SkyDock. And if you add the "Best of Sirius" to your XM subscription, you'll get the added sports and talk channels from the Sirius side. But even without it, you'll never want to listen to regular AM or FM again.
Customer Review: Surprising innovation for Sirius XM, a perfect solution!
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought the XM Skydock after getting a new car that wasn't equipped with satellite radio and needing a solution to have satellite radio and iphone connectivity without wires running everywhere. The initial appeal was the efficiency of using the iPhones far-superior OLED screen and touch interface as my XM radio tuner, AND using the same hardware to get non-XM audio to the car stereo.
Installation was very easy. The power-outlet mount is surprisingly sturdy and tight. It will hold it's position with minimal vibrations while driving, but a passenger can easily grab it and reposition to change the channel. The antenna wire and optional aux-line both connect to the base, facilitating a good wire-hiding job for a nice clean installation. I can't review the new FM power-connect feature, as I chose the Aux-line installation, but I can say that the unit provides some good clean amplification for both XM audio and regular iPod audio. Nice rich deep bass and no noticeable electrical noise, indicating that the unit must have decent ground loop isolation built in. The sound was far better than when I previously had the iPhone connected via a direct line to the aux input.
I give the hardware 5 stars, the required iPhone app gets 4 starts for now due to some quirks, but hopefully there will be updates. It keeps deactivating the screen even though I have the keep alive option checked, and sometimes it won't respond easily to a tap when trying to change the channel while driving. It is, however, substantially better than anything I've ever seen from a traditional Sirius XM receiver. Plus there's the added value of being able to easily take a phone call even if you don't have a fancy integrated bluetooth in your car, and each individual iPhone can carry it's own favorites and other settings without paying for multiple subscriptions. Of course, perfect ubiquity is hindered by Apple's iPhone OS limitations. If the XM Skydock app could be backgrounded, it would be possible to tune in a channel and then switch to GPS navigation on the same device. For now I'll just have to stick to the dual iPhone solution when my wife and I are travelling.
Customer Review: A great product
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been using the XM skydock for about 5 days now. Previously I had a Roady XT installed in my car, but I recently bought another car that did not have an Auxilary jack and I didn't want to go through the hassle of having another radio installed. I have only used this with the FM transmitter and so far it's great. The sound is better than the other transmitter I had been using with my iPod. The only problem I ran into was when I first plugged it in. I had to push really hard to get it to make a connection in my outlet. I was actually afraid I was going to break it (it is an extremely tight fit). That was in an Infiniti G35 so it could just be my car. I tried it in a GMC Yukon and it seemed to fit a little better although still pretty tight.
When comparing it to the roady xt (that I had for 3 years) there are some things I like about the skydock better and some things I like about the roady xt better. I really miss the scan feature that my roady xt had. It can be kind of distracting looking down at my ipod while driving. I could use the scan feature on my old radio to scan through my presets. I'm hoping this will be included in an update via the app in the future.
The tagging of the songs is also really cool feature. I always hear songs I want to download, but can't remember the name or artist and the tagging feature solves that. It also can alert you if that song is playing (on any station). I also really like that I can have the station, artist and song title showing in one screen. The roady will not do all 3.
I would definitely buy this again. I think it's a great product for the iPod/iPhone.