SIRIUS Sportster 5 Satellite Radio Receiver with Vehicle Kit
by Sirius Satellite Radio
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List Price: Our Price: $147.39 You Save: $22.60 (13%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $90.00 (click here) Category: Car Audio or Theater See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
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for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of SIRIUS Sportster 5 Satellite Radio Receiver with Vehicle Kit
Customer Review: Buy the radio, avoid prepaid cards, activate online
Summary: 5 Stars
I upgraded from a smaller siruis radio to this sportster5. This model is perfect for subscribers who don't have built-in satelite radios or a satelite-ready unit.
I gave it five stars for the multi color and big display, and easy to use.
THe variety of chanels is great.
Customer service are always bad, but there is a way to get around them as I'll mention later.
You need an FM radio in your car to play this radio, or a cassette player with a casstte adapter (sold separetley).
I use it through my car FM radio using the built-in FM transmitter that works fine on highways and bad in city.
I don't like the FM direct adapter, it needs profissional instalation and hard to move it between cars. I like to switch between satelite chanels and local ones and the adapter kills the FM antena unless you turn off the sporster.
if you have an auxilary input in your car radio, it is the best way to listen to this unit. the cassette adapter is not bad also.
the satelite radio is a good experience and i'm very satesfied with the reception, I need it as I'm always traveling hudred of miles every day for work.
I advice new subscribers to AVOID buying the blue cards ( prepaid cards) they save you few dollars and waste your time and they don't work as they should when activating online. you end up calling customer service and giving your credit card number. customer service are bad any way so do your job online.
here are some steps to enjoy sporster5
1. open the box.
2. read the manual carefuly.
3. instal the unit in the car.
4. turn on both the unit and your car FM radio.
5. park your car in open air. Get the free chanel (national weather). Now the unit works but you need to subscribe to get the rest of the chanels.
6. Run into the house and subscribe online using a credit card ( not a check card/ debit card). As I said, avoid those Sirius PREPAID CARDS.
7. run back to the car to enjoy.
Customer Review: Sirius Sportster 5
Summary: 5 Stars
Installation was a snap. I had an idea of how I wanted to mount the receiver when it arrived but I ended up doing it differently and was very pleased. The product has good flexibility for mounting. The product arrived sooner than I anticipated which was nice. I mounted the unit under the dash on a mount with my GPS and was pleased with the results. I'm using the FM transmitter since I don't have an easy way to hook up to my radio and the sound quality is very good. Of course if you have an audio input on your radio that is the best way but if you don't the FM transmitter works great. I found that I didn't need the FM extender antenna. I activated on the web and the entire process took less than 20 minutes, including activation of the radio. My girlfriend activated her subscription by phone and it took a couple of hours plus confessing directions from the representative on the phone. If you follow the directions on the web everything should work easily. Ok, now for the problems. I tried two different debit cards from two different banks and the web page would say 'Invalid credit card'. I decided to try a card that wasn't a debit card and it went through with no problem. Also, I had to sign up for a year's worth of charges and there is an activation fee plus taxes so expect it to cost about $50 dollars more for a year's subscription. I didn't mind paying for a year in advance because now it's done. The total for the Sirius Everything was $194.47 but they do offer cheaper subscriptions. The only other problem I had was the instruction on the face of the radio after activation. It said 'Updated, press any key. Well, pressing any key takes you back to the activation screen. The book said to push in the 'Rotary knob' after the 'Updated' message. I did this several minutes after pushing another button and the receiver went to normal mode instantly.Customer Review: Excellent unit
Summary: 5 Stars
I have had Sirius service for about a year now, and love it. The customer service could be improved, but I gave the 5 star rating based on the Sportster 5 unit itself, not the customer service.
When I fist got the service last year, I bought a Stratus receiver. It worked great, but after a few months I decided to upgrade. After much research, I got the Sportster 5 because it had the most features (love the color screen), and good reviews.
I gave the Stratus to my dad, who uses it at his house.
When I got my Sportster, I set it up and called customer service to activate. On most of the occasions I have called them, I have found the staff somewhat hard to understand. I had to explain multiple times what I was trying to do (activate this new receiver while keeping the other one active), but within a couple minutes they activated the new one, and I was up and running.
I have a 2 story house, and downstairs I have the receiver in the Sirius bombox, and upstairs I have a home dock set up, plugged into a set of powered speakers. This setup works great, as it is easy to pop the receiver in whatever dock I need to use.
The only complaint, though, with the service is antenna placement. Depending on your location and set up, some people may find antenna placement harder than others. You just have to find out where it will work (the unit has a very helpful bar graph that shows your signal strength, in the menu) Fortunately, I was able to mount my downstairs antenna in the garage, and the upstairs one works fine just sitting on a bookshelf.
The sensitive antenna placement is a limitation of satellite technology, it's not a fault of the actual antenna or the receiver.
All in all, I am very happy with the service that Sririus provides, and the Sportster 5 is a user-friendly and fun device to use.
Customer Review: Love this thing!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is my second Sirius Satellite radio; my first is a Stratus 4. This radio is incredible! The display is large and clear, and the 30 presets are more than I'll ever need.
Probably my favorite option on this radio is the "memo," which allows me to save up to 30 songs or artists. When my favorites play anywhere on the dial, a little beep lets me know on what channel, and gives me an option to go to the song in a single click. I haven't really used the record option yet. I like the little remote, as well. it makes for really easy switching between channels.
Unlike many, many other customers here, I've had nothing but pleasant experiences with customer service in the two or three times I've had to contact them. I might just be lucky in that regard. Or, it could be that the customer service is improving--who knows?
The connections are easy; I use the direct connection through my car's tape deck. I understand that there may be many problems with the FM option. The sound is clear, and the volume control via the remote is very useful. The only real complaint I have is that, without the remote, it takes several steps to adjust the volume on the radio itself. I wish that were easier. But that's a small issue, really.
I love Sirius, even though I'm not a Stern fan. Radio Margaritaville, Springsteen, the Dead, all have dedicated channels, and terrestrial radio has far, far too many commercials for my tastes any more. There's plenty of national news and talk from all over the political spectrum, and some good stations for more obscure classical rock music, as well. I really am enjoying my subscription.
Customer Review: Best of the ones I've had
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm not sure off the top of my head what my first two models were... Which really isn't important here... What I will do is answer some of the questions, or rather assist some who may experience install issues or customer support issues...
First to install, it's quite basic and should be able to be installed, by someone will little to no electronic experience at all in under 30 minutes...
You have the following wires, Power,antenna and a line out if you go that route. I will say this, I would invest in a 15 dollar item from Crutchfield, that will block all engine noise if you have an issue with it.
The Antenna, isn't as troublesome task as you might think... find where you will place the unit on the windshield... and start from there running it down the left side of the dash... pull the kick panel away just a bit and tuck it in there... with either a phillips or a torx driver, remove the screws holding the piece you see when you open the door... I'm not sure what they are called, but when you do that, there is a spot there for the wire to go, continue to the back seat, and pull it away or out, so the wire will go into the truck... open the trunk lid and place the mouse on the trunk... put everything back the way it was and you are good to go...
Now just power it up and you have some tunes...
Customer support, there is a trick to this, that I figured out along the way... When you call, don't ask for sales... when the prompt for tech support comes up, go that route...( they speak perfect English ) and they can set it all up for you...
Any questions, ask