Accessories

Sirius Fan
When my Starmate 1 finally burned out after 6 years, I got the Stratus 4 as an upgrade. It is much better looking and easier to use than the old one, and if you already have Sirius, you know that the service itself is fantastic. The only thing that actually seemed worse was the reception. Believe it or not, the old one sounded much better. For what it's worth, I think this is an across-the-board modification to all of their newer radios. I don't think another model would be any different. My solution is that I've stored a few different preset stations, and usually one of them is pretty decent. It's a little annoying, but not enough to want to go without Sirius.

Misleading product photo
I recently bought this to install in my car. The installation was pretty straightforward. I ultimately returned this product because the display was more primitive than indicated by the product photo.

The product photo for the Stratus 4 currently shows a three-lines of proportionally spaced font, which indicates a "pixel-by-pixel" display. However, the actual Stratus 4 has a cheaper looking "character-by-character" display where all text is monospaced. For reference, check out the following photo of an older model with the same display:
[...]

My advice is to go to one of the big stores and see the Stratus 4 for yourself before purchasing. (And Sirius should stop providing misleading product photos to merchants.)

Good way to get into satellite radio
I've used sirius as a subscription internet radio provider for about two years; it's a good way to keep up with Jimmy Buffett concerts in the summer (Ch. 31)!

Adding on the satellite radio was easy, but I wish I could do a month-to-month subscription rather than pay for an entire year at a time.

The radio itself is fine--the installation was pretty easy. I run it through my cars' tape decks, and the sound is just fine. The presets make browsing much easier, and I like the "jump" function to local traffic.

Expect to spend about a hundred bucks on add-ons. You'll need/want a home setup, and I added an extra antenna for our other car. I'm really enjoying the amount of music choices so far.

Easy to setup, easy to use
Display is easy to read. Setup was very easy. Sound quality is good (not as good as my iPod). Wish it had a "scan" option to autoplay a few seconds from each channel. Well worth the $40 I paid for it on Amazon. Overall I am very happy.

After contacting customer service I learned that the Sirius Customer Service Database has all account passwords available in plain text for CS reps to read and have access to. It is unacceptable that a modern technology company would not safeguard customer passwords from the eyes of employees, making my password vulnerable to theft by an unhappy employee, contractor, hacker or anyone else who could gain access to Sirius CS database records. Too many companies have been forced to disclose the theft of customer data due to human error and Sirius is leaving the door wide open to a future security breach. My warning: If you use Sirius, use a unique username and password during account step to safeguard your identity and confidential account info.

low cost, yet mediocre
If this is satellite radio, I am not impressed. A year ago, I was in a rental car that had Sirus. I really loved the music programming, yet frankly, FM radio still sounded better. So, I am in Best Buy over Thanksgiving and I see a special- spend $50 and get this radio with 3 free months. So I decide to take the plunge.

The hook up and install in my car was easy. Yet, this system will leave you with a Rube Goldberg like contraption on your dash board or in between the seats- The unit, the base, and wires for satellite antenna, power cord, and the FM extension antenna.

And, frankly, the FM extention antenna is totally worthless. As a matter of fact, it will make your reception worse at times.. And, there are issues of hitting bad spots in city areas-- when going to lower elevations, or driving by some broadcast/communication towers, the FM transmit is going to not work, period. yet, I still get the satellite signal strongly on the unit.

If Satellite radio is run directly into the car's radio, it will be fine, or if you add yet another contraption- the cassette deck adapter. So, all this for getting satellite radio is not as cheap as you think, with all the additional install and component buying.

All this, and still, even if you have the perfect set up in your car, FM radio still sounds better and has a better stereo seperation.

So, I don't know if I am going to continue service as of yet. The programming is fantastic, when it the radio works. but, having a product that has mediocre performance is making it not worth it..