Delphi SA10101 SKYFi2 XM Satellite Radio Receiver and Remote Control
By: Delphi Average Rating: 4.0 Total Reviews: 34
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 On: 2008-06-09
This is a replacement unit for a 4yr. old SKIFi2 that no longer worked. So far it is working fine. I like the features on this unit; its larger print display allows a quick glance to view info so less time is taken away from attention to driving.
On: 2008-05-28
This is our second xm radio. My husband wanted it to take to the assisted living home. We both enjoy the music so much, especially at night before we go to sleep. The Skyfi 2 is excellent. It is so much easier to read the song titles and seems to come in better (it wasnt as hard to direct the satellite disc). We only listen to a couple of channels but really like them.
 On: 2008-01-16
I use this unit with my stereo in my living room. I love to hear music and sports with minimal interupption through throught the great speakers of my onkyo stereo. Great features are the wireless connectivity and the memory that allows you to go back to a song that just played to hear it again. Good, inexpensive entry level product.
 On: 2007-12-28
Impossible to use anywhere near a city unless it is hard wired. Unlike its predecessors this unit doesnt play into the FM radio unless you can identify and tap into the FM ANTENNA that is in your car. It is equally useless in the home without a radio or stereo sytem that has RCA plugs. All in all its a bust compared to previously released units that you could plug in and play near any FM radio without any additional wiring. avoid this unit if you dont intend to have it professionally installed. That being said, nothing is bettter than XM radio.
On: 2007-12-27
Impossible to use anywhere near a city unless it is hard wired. Unlike its predecessors this unit doesnt play into the FM radio unless you can identify and tap into the FM ANTENNA that is in your car. It is equally useless in the home without a radio or stereo sytem that has RCA plugs. All in all its a bust compared to previously released units that you could plug in and play near any FM radio without any additional wiring. avoid this unit if you dont intend to have it professionally installed. That being said, nothing is bettter than XM radio.
On: 2007-12-09
This unit comes in plain white box packaging without:
an antenna
a power cord
any mounting device whatsoever
any detailed manual.
Here is exactly what you get:
XM unit
Remote
2 aaa batteries
photocopied manual
hard to open plastic shell (not OEM packaging).
I suspect this unit is stolen, or a minimum black market goods.
On: 2007-12-08
This unit comes in plain white box packaging without:
an antenna
a power cord
any mounting device whatsoever
any detailed manual.
Here is exactly what you get:
XM unit
Remote
2 aaa batteries
photocopied manual
hard to open plastic shell (not OEM packaging).
I suspect this unit is stolen, or a minimum black market goods.
On: 2007-06-24
I purchased one of these for my son. I did pay for installation and it works great.
On: 2007-03-09
The radio is great, I use the FM transmitter to send the signal to the radio in my Ford truck. The sound quality is super! I have been using it for over a year and have had no problems. Since I got satellite radio thats all I listen to!!
On: 2007-01-22
Wasnt sure at first if the larger size would bother me. The Audiovox Express was my other choice at about half the size. Ive decided it easier to work controls and such with the larger unit. Its definitely great to be able to pause and playback sections. Nothing worse than getting a phone call during important news or a great comedian and missing out on what was said. Got a Skyfi boombox at Crutchfield for $70 and was really impressed with the sound for a small unit plus it has great looks.
On: 2007-01-21
Wasnt sure at first if the larger size would bother me. The Audiovox Express was my other choice at about half the size. Ive decided it easier to work controls and such with the larger unit. Its definitely great to be able to pause and playback sections. Nothing worse than getting a phone call during important news or a great comedian and missing out on what was said. Got a Skyfi boombox at Crutchfield for $70 and was really impressed with the sound for a small unit plus it has great looks.
On: 2006-06-28
If youre a radio channel surfer, music enthusiast, or road trip junkie, this is a must have unit. I had the original Delphi Roady 2 Satellite Radio system, it was stolen, and now weve upgraded to this superior designed unit. I like the large, easy access tuner/channel selector knob, its easier to manage as you are driving when compared to the earlier version. The display is must better than its previous version because it displays 5 channels ahead on a brightly lit screen, much better than the Roady 2! The remote control makes this SKYFi2 legendary because you can drive with your left hand and hold your remote control in your right hand rest your arm on your arm rest as you make your selections. You dont even have to look at the screen as you change the channel and drive! The customer service from XM was fantastic, install was super easy and the set up over the phone took like 5 minutes. The only thing I dont like about the newer version of SKYFi2 compared to its older version would be the cradle it connects to, its difficult to disconnect and rather bulky compared to the more simple bracket that held the Roady 2. Thats a small gripe, and Im willing to suffer that small flaw because its definately a better design, has better controls, comes with reliable customer service, and gets great reception in the flats of New Mexico and Texas-where regular radio and cell reception is dead! When you need reliability, count on Delphi!
On: 2006-06-03
Easy to install, easy to use, looks great, sounds great! I am very pleased.
 On: 2006-05-06
Hey Delphi, cmon... this is really not necessary. The radio features, looks and performance are great, but it is of a surprisingly poor manufacturing quality. The large turn dial has some hard spots when it becomes very difficult to turn, then loosens up again just to get hard to turn a little later on. The buttons on the radio are rubber and all sit crooked in their sockets. Because of that they rub on the case and are hard to push because of the rubber friction against the case. Besides the already mentinoed design flaw that the buttons are illuminated, but the labels are not (duh!). All buttons require a different amount of force to push and sometimes because of the friction, you have to push twice to complete your selection.
Next, the vent mount of the car kit does not match the radio base because the middle rib of the vent mount is too big for the radio base. It looks like there was a running redesign of one of these items and the other was not adapted, so the vent mount is entirely useless. Instead of the several, mostly flawed mounts included, Delphi should do away with them and just include one window suction cup mount like SIRIUS does in their Starmate Replay package. Too bad that a radio with great features is hampered by such a poor manufacturing quality.
We have Siruis on the boat and XM in the cars. Right now its hard to say which service gets the nod, since we are not interested in sports or Howard Stern.
I think form a music offering there is not much of a difference and the plans are costing exactly the same. It is really up to what service you already have sine a second receiver is always subsedised and costs less than one from the competing companies.
On: 2006-04-13
No comment on the programming or the customer service. Your choice. But this receiver works very well in the car from CA to OK and in the house also. Very happy with this receiver.
On: 2006-03-18
I ordered the radio specifically to use for a road trip to Phoenix which has in the past required three changes of radio stations and the playing of two CDs to travel through a no airwaves zone. What a pleasure to listen to quality radio for the entire 450 miles.
The vehicle hook-up was very easy, and I just placed the antenna on the dashboard near the front window and had absolutely no interferance. Moving the setup from car to car has been extremely easy - so if you travel a lot, you can set it up in a rental car in minutes and never miss a beat.
On: 2006-03-17
I purchased the XM Delphi and I drove to Florida and it made the trip so enjoyable, I cant wait to drive back. That is in a month. It is great. Highly recomend to any person who drives for a living as I do and for those who enjoy good music and great varity of other stuff. Cant say enough. Going to get the Radio attachment for my home in Florida.
On: 2006-02-27
This is a great system! I got one for Christmas and gave my boyfriend one for Valentines Day! We love them!
On: 2006-02-22
I would give XM a negative number rating if I could. I have to say that XM Radios customer service is the worst I have every had the misfortune of experiencing. After a recent trip to Las Vegas and a visit to the Margaritaville Cafe in the Flamingo and hearing Radio Margaritaville both in the club and on the street outside of the casino I decided that I wanted to get satellite radio. I made the unfortunate mistake of not researching providers and assuming that all programming was the same. I purchased an XM radio and was disappointed to find that only Sirius carries Radio Margaritaville. Since the box was open and I couldnt return it I decided to activate it (the XM radio) anyway. In the mean time I bought a Sirius receiver for my car and absolutely fell in love with it. Sirius offers 4 times the programming in both variety and quality plus it has Radio Margaritaville which is the reason I wanted satellite radio in the first place. I decided to cut my losses and sell my XM receiver on Amazon which I did and buy a sirius receiver for my home. Should be simple, right? I mean I lost some money in selling my XM receiver used and lost the activation fee for the XM reciever but it was my fault anyway for not doing my homework and I was willing to live with it. I would just cancel my XM service and the world would be right again. Wrong.....First of all XM lets you manage your account on-line but will not let you cancel on-line. You have to call their customer care number and wait on hold for a half hour until someone answers and as soon as they do and you tell them you want to cancel, they put you on hold again for another half hour and then hang up on you! I called to cancel 11 days before my billing cycle was up, was hung up on 8 times and had the displeasure of talking with the rudest customer service people ever. Twice they said they were going to transfer me to the "retention department" and again after being on hold again there would suddenly be a dial tone as they hung up again. Apparently their way of retaining customers is to never let you cancel. One woman finally said I was cancelled but before I could get a confirmation number she promptly hung up. Guess what....11 days later I was billed again. I finally had to contact my credit card company and have my card cancelled to prevent my card being charged again and again. Of course then I had to spend several hours logging on to all the places I have automatic payments that were linked to that card and enter a different one. IN CONCLUSION ALL I CAN SAY IS BEWARE! AVOID XM OR THIS WILL CERTAINLY HAPPEN TO YOU IF YOU EVER WANT TO CANCEL! **********On the bright side Sirius Radio is so much better! Spend your money wisely and save yourself a boat load of hassle and BUY SIRIUS INSTEAD OF XM :)
On: 2006-01-16
So, I had to install an external FM Modulator on my SkiFi-1, because my Mercedes-Benz doesnt allow easy hardwiring of the SkiFi-1 unit. MB basically doesnt like you messing with their German Engineering.
Tired of crappy (and expensive!) external FM Modulators, I went ahead and upgraded to the SkiFi2. Worth EVERY PENNY. Frankly, the top of the line Radio Shack Monster Cable FM Modulator is around $50 bucks, and I picked up this SkiFi2 used on Amazon for less than that.
The FM Modulator is almost silent as far as in-line interference, and the sound is practically crystal clear (at least good enough to be heard well over the big, fat performance tires). That alone makes it a good buy in my mind.
Plus, the programming options on the SkiFi2 (extra station presets, 30 minute record options) are gravy.
I went ahead and kept my SkiFi-1 for use at home, in the Delphi Boombox, but for persons in need of a mobile XM radio solution, Delphi SkiFi2 is money.
On: 2006-01-14
The satellite radio works great in my car. So I wanted one for my house. I bought the Delphi Boombox and this receiver. What a mistake. Yesterdays business section of NY Times had a whole article about how hard it is to get a good signal in your home using the antenna that comes with the boombox. Bottom line the technology is just not ready for the home market because you need an outside antenna.
I set up the antenna all over the house, spent time on the phone with the XM technical folks who said it might be a bad antenna. The problem is the antenna comes with the boombox. The boombox worked but I dont know whether the antenna was bad or this receiver was bad.
Beware, this reciever is sold NOT by Amazon but by NYC Electronics. I have never dealt with such an incompetent company in my life. When you contact them they tell you that they assume you are intelligent and have read the NYC Electronics Return Policy like a lawyer. (Read it just for fun -- to return it you have to return it in the brown box it was delivered in. Then, if you think it is bad, but it works it their shop (!) you pay 20% (How are we supposed to know if it actually worked it their shop -- doesnt matter).
So I have a Delphi Boombox that works but maybe the antenna is bad, and a receiver which I cant tell is bad and am paying XM radio for a new activation and a monthly fee, and nothing works and no one wants to take responsibility.
And yet there are nothing but 5 star reviews of this product (It almost makes you think that some of these "reviews" are promotions written by Delphi...oh by the way forget about Delphi because you are buying it from NYC Electronics and I think Delphi is going bankrupt. Forget about technical support.
The NY Times article let out the big secret that you do not get in any of these reviews "the antenna technology is "questionable" in houses. The article goes on to say the companies all "know" about this and will be coming out with fixes in the next 6 to 12 months. But, you cant get this info by reading any of these reviews.
The good news is that I had no problem returning the boombox to Amazon. I did complain to them about NYC Electronics but have never heard back from them. Try googling NYC Electronics...I could not find one single name associated with the company to complain to.
In the future I will "always" search out the one star reviews for the "true" info on these new technology items.
I have subsequently found out some of this bad news by googling this device, and found some other folks as mad as I am at thinking I was buying a sure thing.
On: 2006-01-04
Ive subscribed to XM for the past 18 months and have been pretty much pleased with the service. The only downside with the service and its playlist of 2 million songs, is that there arent 2 million good songs out there, so theres a lot of junk amidst the good stuff. Think of the LP collection you had as a kid ... most albums had only two or three really stand-out songs. Well, on XM youll hear the other 10 to 12 songs as well, for better or worse.
Amazon recently offered the SKYFi2 for free after rebate, so I decided to upgrade to the new receiver (although I did end up having to buy a new vehicle kit, as recommended).
The upgrade is worth it. The sound quality is superior, the reception is superior, and the screen is much easier to read, particularly during the day.
My only disappointment is the 30-minute rewind / pause feature, and its probably more a misunderstanding on my part than a fault with the equipment. It only records the channel youve actually been listening to, so if you are channel surfing and come across a song you like, you cant rewind to the beginning of that song. I guess its a useful feature if you were listening to a song you like and, say, a cell phone call interrupted you.
Other than that, the SkyFi2 and XM radio are a breathe of fresh air for anyone who spends a lot of time on the road. Goodbye, Clear Channel, and your 16 minutes of commercials per hour!
On: 2005-12-30
I recently purchased two SkyFi2 receivers for my wife and I and they both work flawlessly. After activating my service online (cheaper than by phone) both of our units were up and running in less than 10 minutes. I also purchased the car and home kits and have no complaints with the ease of their plug and play installation or reception.
If you have not been impressed with the sound quality of FM modulators in the past, then purchase the Delphi SA10112 FM Direct Adapter for the SKYFi2 Receiver (sold on Amazon) to boost it to perfection. Most car stereos do not have a line-in to directly plug in your MP3 player or other device. The FM direct adapter allows you to bypass this setback by allowing you to directly interface your receiver into your car stereo. The entire process (moderate experience) only took me 10 minutes to wire it in and was not very difficult. It is only a matter of unplugging your vehicles antenna and then plugging it into the FM adapter. Many cars, like mine, have the antenna connection in the trunk. Therefore, you may not need to pull out your stereo from the dashboard. If you do not know how to unplug your antenna, then you may need to ask someone with a little bit more expertise to do this job for you. Unfortunately, you may have to purchase ANOTHER wiring adapter for your vehicles make ($5-$15) to adapt the FM adapter to your antenna connection (picked one up at Frys). If car manufacturers utilized standardized antenna connections this wouldnt be a problem... but it is.
On: 2005-12-28
I purchased a SkyFi2 which came with a home and car kit as well as one of the boomboxes sold by Delphi. I bought this package at a wholesale club and havent seen the combo anywhere else. I couldnt get the receiver to power on using either the AC adaptor or the cigarette lighter plug. It may have been a dud but after getting a refund I bought a Roady XT just in case.
On: 2005-12-28
I just purchased this item on 12/26 and it was very easy to install. Within 3 minutes I had the preview channel and within 10 minutes of activation I had all channels. You just have to make sure the antenna has a southern view.
I plan on using this mostly for home use and seldom for the car. But I do plan on using it for weekend trips or long drives. The big turn dial on the Skyfi2 was a big seller for me compared to the new Roady2 which is the newest and smallest (and small buttons)of the Delphi products.
A couple of draw backs though. The screen...unless you are standing about 2-3 feet away from it, dont expect to see much. This is important if you plan on using it for mostly home use like myself. Seeing the channels is hard to see at home, but in the car, its great. Also turning a channel with the remote is difficult, you need to make sure you are on "direct" and not on one of the preset banks.
The presets....the new Sky gives you three banks of presets, and every bank holds 10 channels. I have more than 10 presets, so I found myself having to switch banks in order to get my presets. Although I found this to be a mild problem, not enough for me to return the product. This new Sky gives you many, many other fantastic features which makes the preset thing small.
by: willow_moon On: 2005-11-30
I live in Bermuda and get full signal with a TERK outside plastic antennae and a Sirius extension ( ithink the antennae is Sirius too )Great reception and a great product. I have called their help desk and have only praises! I think people expect too much and XM is No. 1 !!
On: 2005-10-16
I just returned my skyfi2 today after spending 3 days trying to get it to activate. It would receive the preview channel fine, but none of the other channels would show up - despite several attempts to "reinitialize" it either from the web or with tech support...
The web site to sign up was also a bit of a pain (e-sales by Siebel is what they use looks like...) with several lockups and having to start over 4 times... perhaps that was part of the problem... either way it went back to Best Buy. Disappointing since all my friends tell me it is great... perhaps Ill give Sirius a try.
On: 2005-09-08
Good inexpensive unit,easy install,good sound for a modulated unit, use it in a corvette which did not want to install a indash.Gave me XM with very minor modifacation to car.Travel often and sometimes have to change FM freq.in route but gives single station reception on the road most trips.
On: 2005-07-12
I have the SKYFI2 hooked up to my home stereo and am impressed with how easy it was to get it working. While the sound isnt CD quality I wasnt expecting it to be. Its on a par with FM but the music choices are 1000x better. XM has great music channels and I havent listened to the radio at home since I bought this. I like the display and the artist and song titles. The remote works great and the FM modulation works well even in the crowded Washington DC airwaves. If youre interested in XM you cant go wrong with the SKYFI2.
On: 2005-06-20
I purchased the SkyFi2 with an included vehicle kit after seeing an ad in a department store mailer. I have heard XM programming at the salon where I get my hair cut and have been impressed with the music selection and sound quality, so I didnt feel much hesitation in subscribing, and I think the price is well worth it just to avoid the endless morning drive chit-chat and commercials. My only concern was how difficult it might be to connect. I had absolutely no trouble, either with the vehicle kit or with the boombox I also purchased. Ive only had the SkyFi2 for a couple of days and havent used many of the features such as the stock scroller, but even so Im very happy with my first satellite radio experience, and cant wait to travel with it.
On: 2005-05-05
Salesman convinced me that this unit would work well on a motorcycle and having never used a satellite radio, I believed him. Unfortunately, my initial experience with satellite radio is not what Id hoped for.
My bike has external speakers that are powered off the bikes electrical system. This apparently causes significant buzzing when used with the SkyFi2. I tried for over a month - with the help of others - to get rid of the engine noise coming through the speakers, even getting to the point of foil wrapping all the wiring. Also tried new ground points, different wiring, and a ground loop isolator, but to no avail. Strangely, the noise is not apparent when I use my Walkman with the same hookup. It must have been something coming through the power side of the equation.
Ultimately, I returned the SkyFi2 for a MyFi, which uses the same motorcycle mount and speaker hookup. The noise is gone...as is my annoyance at the SkyFi2. It also came with earbud speakers which should prove quite useful for my 3,500 mile ride to Sturgis SD this summer. :^)
 On: 2005-02-05
Purchased Skyfi2 33 days ago. Skyfi2 quit working and I could not return it to the Store (seller) as it was over 30 days from sale. Called Delphi, for service and was given the third degree. Had to mail product back to service center and then wait for another to be mailed, over two week turn around. They were not friendly. Be careful.
On: 2005-01-16
Well what can I say, XM has done it again! If youre looking for a receiver which gives you the abilit to pause play, rewind or go forward (all up to 30 minutes) then this is the player for you! You know when youre listening to that one part of a song or news thats important and someone starts talking or the phone rings? Well with this receiver youll never miss one second as you just hit the pause button and itll pause the program until you return (just like TiVo or Recorder Box), and you can skip by the commercials (few there are) in playback until you get to the LIVE feed again.
The screen gives you two colors, black letters on white or white letters on black background. My opinion is that I liked the original SkyFi Amber color better than the Black/white or white/black. However many had a problem seeing it in the daylight (I personally did not).
There is a "ticker" at the bottom of the screen. Meaning you can program the receiver to scroll across the bottom of the screen current stock quotes, or sports scores and game times for all major teams and college. Even Golf!
There is clock in the upper right corner which allows regular or military time. All you do is set it to your time zone (Eastern, West, etc.) and if your area follows daylight savings, and then XM Satellites do the rest in adjusting the time! Youll always have the current time beamed down to your radio!
You can set it to broadcast to a nearby FM radio. Meaning you can have this receiver in your bedroom playing, and have it set to a frequency (there are many to choose from) on your FM radio so that you can hear it on your FM radio in the kitchen or other room! This litle box will actually broadcast to an FM radio!
And look at the prices! Amazons are the lowest around! Look even closer and the this SkyFi2 is ten dollars more than the original SkyFi Amazon has. At these prices I dont see how Amazon makes any profit!
And it keeps going and going with no problems. Meaning, when I first got this from Amazon, the following day I came down with the Flu. I had it playing soft/easy music in my bedroom for well over 48 hours while I layed in bed with the flu. Non stop for over 2 days and at no time did the screen get "hot" and have problems nor did the radio turn itself off from overheating.
Plus you get a nifty remote thats a bit larger and more comfortable in the hand than the original SkyFi. And theres a metal clip you can attach to clip onto your pants/belt. Remote has good range, comes in handy when you dont want to get up to adjust the volume (included) or do just about anything other than menu functions (changing color, ticker, etc.). Two AAA batteries are included with the remote.
What you will need with this (just like the original SkyFi) is with the homekit (to hook to your stereo) or boombox (has antenna, and all). Just make sure when you order them that its for XM radio as the Sirius Satellite parts will not work with XM.
If youre looking for a XM Receiver with lots of "toys" to play around with, adjusting it to see various things, then this one is for you. Youll spend hours customizing the screen to your exact color, darkness, brightness, contrast, selection of ticker stock quotes or sports teams, etc.
When I first read about Satellite Radio I said to myself "why would anyone pay for something thats free on the radio," but trust me there is a BIG difference! Sond quality is much better, there are little to no commercials (commercials are on the Old Time Radio and Sonic but are few) and you can zero in to listen to the exact type of music you want to. Not listen to your radio for hours upon hours for the genre songs you like. And if talk radio is your thing, especially LIVE shows, then Satellite is what you want. Especially if you live in parts of the country where you have one or no talk stations. XM gives you 5 talk stations. With G Gordon Liddy and Dr. Laura coming in Feb. 2005. And if baseball (Major) is your thing, well XM has an 11 year contract with MLB to carry each and every game starting with spring training to the world series! And with no additional cost to the $9.99 fee!
On: 2004-12-28
I was skeptical on using satellite radio in my basement where my lab is located. However I took the plunge and picked up a Skyfi2 and Skifi2 home kit. 10 minutes after I opened the box I had the radio working with it placed near a small basement window facing the east. Based on this I activated the radio and 15 minutes later I had full access.
The antenna has a 20 foot cable and I was able to run the cable to a south side window and got 100% level from the satellite.
The Skyfi2 is a work of art. The ability to page back to the beginning of a song after it has started makes it very easy to record a song that you like.
The sound quality is pretty good and perfect for my use. I would have given the unit 5 stars but the XM service has a few problems.
1.
The schedules on the web site are not always up to date. For instance I purchased the radio for the Sonic Theater and classic radio channels. I have yet to see an accurate schedule for the Sonic theater channel. Neither gives the Episode name of the program.
2.
None of the talk radio/entertainment channels are commercial free as I assumed. They have XM satellite advertisements every 15 minutes or so.
3.
The Episode names of many of the programs are not displayed on the receiver display.
4.
I have heard it said that sound quality on the non music channels is AM quality. This is true if you are listening to an AM station 1,000 miles away. In many cases they are pretty bad.
These three items could be fixed at some point in the future but in a world where less human involvement and planning is more likely, I wont hold my breath.
All in all I am happy with the Skyfi2 and will purchase a car kit so I can see how well it works as I travel.
*** Update ***
I just cant take the bad production of the stations any more. On minute too low the next too high.
With the new rate changes $12.95 per month I just dont feel its worth it any more.
I have canceled my service.
heheh Now I have $200 of XM radio equiment I cant do any thing with. Im not sure this satalight thing is all its made out to be.
On: 2004-12-27
I bought this unit on-line literally within minutes of hearing about it. TiVo does that to people; you begin to expect to be able to pause or rewind just about anything around you. Now, if it could only pause and fast-forward live people talking...click, click.
This reciever answers that need for satellite radio...almost. Sadly, it does not contain or allow an external hard drive chip to record songs permanently - when your 30 minutes are up or the unit is shut off, the songs stored in memory are gone forever. Also, the forward and reverse buttons can only skip one song at a time - to get to the front or back of the ever changing 30 minute memory, you must push the desired direction button many times to skip through all the songs.
The unit does have a built in FM transmitter, but it only works while installed on the home or auto cradle, NOT the boombox. Since the manual fails to mention this, and it being entirely illogical as to why they would remove this function only for the boombox, I wound up having to find this out from their technical help line.
Until music and electronics manufacturers eventually stumble upon the concept of a magic BUY button, which would record (or instantly download) the song playing to a removable hard drive or chip, along with relevant title and artist info, we are destined to be satisfied for now with small incremental steps in that direction that receivers like this bring. This unit is a rather significant and appreciated step to that end, nonetheless.
Also not published in any of the manuals is a diagnostic mode for the receiver that can be a great aid in aiming the antenna. Briefly, to enter the diagnostic mode:
Make sure your receiver is off.
Press these keys in order: 2 0 7 XM (button in the middle of the wheel on the SkyFi)
Press Display 3 times to cycle through the normal displays to the first Diagnostic screen.
SkyFi Screen 1
SAT1: East Satellite at 85 degrees west longitude.
SAT2: West Satellite at 115 degrees west longitude.
TERR: Terrestrial Repeater signal
DEMOD: A check mark means you have demodulator lock. This means the receiver is locked on the signal from that source.
TDM: A check mark means you are synchronized with the Time Division Multiplexed signal from that source.
BER %: Percentage Bit Error Rate. This is the percentage of received data bits in error. For satellite this value should be less than 3% for error free audio. For terrestrial, it should be below 6%.
AGC: Automatic Gain Control Level. This is an indication of the amount of internal gain needed to recover the signal. The more negative, the higher the signal being received.
SkyFi Screen 2
BER: Raw Bit Error Rate. This is the number of received data bits in error. This value divided by the maximum number of errors in a measurement interval is the BER % on Screen 1. Max number for SAT1 and SAT2 is 5440. Max for TERR is 6800.
AGC: Same as on Screen 1.
C/N: Signal to Noise Ratio measured as Carrier Power divided by Noise Power. For SATs, this value needs to be greater than 7. It does not apply for TERR. This is a good satellite antenna pointing indicator.
RSBK and RSBY: Reed Solomon Block and Byte Errors. They should be 0.
On: 2004-12-12
I purchased this system about 1 month ago and its amazing if you are a frequent traveler.
Excellent audio quality, good reception with satellite, a ton of presets and variable settings for displaying songs, artist being played.
Stores about 30 minutes of audio if you pause the system.
Its changed the way I listen to music and news (I mostly listen to news). As an example I traveled to southern TX and for the entire week could listen to my normal at home stations thanks to XM Radio.
Buy XM - will completely change your listening habits.
On: 2004-11-17
I was lucky I found the skyfi 2 this past weekend at a local store.The Skyfi 2 is an improvement in the Skyfi 1 in many ways.The Skyfi 2 has better sound and can be played in your existing car and home boombox cradle.From the beginning you will notice the sound is louder on this one than it is on the skyfi 1.I dont have to cut the volume up as loud now on my boombox as I did with my skyfi 1.The Skyfi 2 also comes with a brighter light for viewing during sunny weather.I can actually see this now when the sun is bright in my car I can still read it.The skyfi 2 has a choice of 2 colors.Black on White which is recommended when driving in bright sunlight or White On Black which looks kind of blue and not as bright but you can still adjust the brightness on both colors in the menu screen.This thing is really bright at night unless you lower the brightness.The Skyfi 2 also has a sport and stock ticker.You can see sports scores or stocks scrolling under the artist and song info.Im hoping Delphi will add weather as well to this.The skyfi 2 is the first reciever to feature extended titles.If you have the scroll on which is in the menu the song will start out at 16 characters but go to 30 something depending on song.Note the scroll for extended titles isnt the same thing as having the artist and song scroll across in big letters.The scroll for extended titles is in the menu you can cut it on or off it just scrolls the longer titles to extended ones.The song artist big letter scroll is in the display mode you can pick between this and other ways to see the song artist info.This makes the reciever look better similar to Sirius reciever.The skyfi 2 also has a unique feature.It has an Fm modulator inside the unit.When you put it in your car cradle it will turn on.You can cut it off in the menu if you want to but this thing has over 6-12 frequencies.It features the lower frequencies 88-89 and the higher ones 106-107.This thing sounds much better than my wired mod in my car.Also this unit features a record feature.You do nothing it automatically records from the time you cut it on.This is a first for an xmreciever.Also you could put 20 favorite stations in the skyfi 1 you can put 30 in this one.Here is a summery of this unit.Also you can view info 4 ways on the reciever.You can still activate it to scroll in big letters if your at a distance.You can have just the song and artist like the skyfi 1 featured,You can have artist,song and stocks or you can choose artist,song and sports.
Pros
Extended Titles-This is the only xm reciever to feature this but it will eventually be available in newer models too.XM is just starting to get into listing more than 16 characters for artist and song.
Brighter Light for viewing in bright sunlight.It doesnt get washed out.
Stock Tickers and Sports Scores Note you must go into the menu and pick your favorite stocks and sports teams.
Better Sound
Built In Fm Modulator and it lets you choose over 6 frequencies.Also although xm recommends you buy the new car cradle it works fine with the old car cradle.
30 Presets features A,B and C were you can put at least 10 channels on each.
Pause and Record Feature-The Skyfi 2 automatically starts to record when you cut it on.You dont have to do anything not even pause.If you want to hear a song again that you liked real good or missed when you was away from the reciever you can just hit the reverse arrow.It can hold up to 30 minutes of songs.You can also go foward by hitting the foward arrow.If you want to hear live programming what is playing now just hold the foward arrow it will then beep and display live on the top.Note once you cut it off all memory will be lost.When you cut it back on it starts to record again from the first song.This is a great feature to have if your reciever is in the house and you have to go outside for something.When you come back in you can just push the back arrow and go back to the songs.And the recorded songs sound live you cant tell a difference in sound quality.You can also pause the music if you want to.
The Skyfi 2 features a clock.You can either view it in 12 or 24 hr time.
The Skyfi 2 can also alert you when your favorite artist or song is on.For example if your favorite artist on Sunny channel 24 is Percy Faith if your on another channel you will hear a beep when they play Percy Faith.You can put at least 10 favorite artist or songs in.
The Skyfi 2 is lighter than the Skyfi 1.Even thou their the same size the Skyfi 2 isnt as heavy as the Skyfi 1.
The Skyfi 2 comes with a remote.Note the skyfi 1s remote will also work on the skyfi 2 if you want to cut up or down the volume,change channel or put in numbers.The sky 2s remote has additionel keys and different batteries.
Cons
It doesnt feature a variety of colors for your mood like the roady 2 does.
Even thou it says you can pick it up on any Fm radio inside the house you cant.The Fm mod only works on the car cradle.Its not in the menu when its on the boombox.
The sky 2 remote is heavier and takes 2 aa battaries instead of a long life lithium like the sky 1 remote.Also the sky 2 remote is slightley larger than the sky 1.
The skyfi 2 is worth the extra money.I highley recommend it.
I also recommend the protective satellite radio reciever case which is cheap to keep this in.It will protect the lcd screen from scratches.
Also Xm has an emergency channel on 247 which monitors tornadoes,hurricanes,volcanos,floods,blizzards etc.It came in handy this past summer with the Florida Hurricanes and this Fall with the eruption of Mount Saint Helens.They give evacuation routes,watches,warnings,school and business closings and other info.This is yet another reason to get xm.
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