XM or Sirius????

[johnny-canuck]

I am putting a satelite radio on my bike. I don't know anyone with sat radio so my question is: Is one better than the other for reception/signal strength? I am in Canada and so far the companies aren't merging but that could change.

 

Thanks,

 

John

[SledgeHammer]

I have had both XM and Sirius. I bought a lifetime membership to Sirius, eventhough, my truck has factory XM. The key issue for me was the sports. I am an avid sports fan and Sirius has the market on most sports, particularly NFL football. My wife currently has a subscription to XM and has had it for 2 years. She is going to switch to Sirius also. XM has more channels (170) than Sirius (125), but I only listen to approximately 10 of the channels on Sirius and it was the same for me with XM. So the number of channels was not a factor.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/11/AR2006081100085.html

[hig4s]

From the last I read about it, Department of Justice has approved the merger of the two, they are just waiting for FCC approval, expected by mid year.

[Gary N.]

XM here and no complaints. I only listen to music. Wish that they carried the CBC though especially when I'm away down south for the winter. My wife always liked to listen to Stewart McClain on Saturday mornings and she missed that when we were away.

[johnny-canuck]

Yeh, my wife likes Stewart too. Sounds like it might break down to which radio I like the best. Thanks all.

 

John

[geresti]

I am a lifetime member with Sirius which was a great deal. I switched to using the cassette function instead of tuning into to a local channel which is the best. I only listen to a few channels and like the sports and headline news sometimes in the morning plus when I'm home I can listen to sirius on my computer but just music on the computer no sports.

http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/5/5_2_110.gif

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.smileycentral.com/sig.jsp?pc=ZSzeb112&pp=ZNxmk393BBUS

[Guest ReinyRooster]

Been using Sirius for about a year now....like it so far.

[Guest tx2sturgis]

If your a hockey fan, then you might like XM better.

 

I love it.

[Guest ReinyRooster]

I ended up choosing the Sirius only because it has an "All Elvis" station........wife is a huge fan.

[Gary N.]

I ended up choosing the Sirius only because it has an "All Elvis" station........wife is a huge fan.

 

So how come your nic isn't "Hound Dog"?...LOL

[hig4s]

So how come your nic isn't "Hound Dog"?...LOL

 

Or maybe Hounded Dog!!

[Guest ReinyRooster]

Compared to most of the names she calls me, that would be an improvment!!

[Guest divey]

I've had Sirius for about 2 years and have no complaints. Plenty of music (all kinds) and sports to keep me happy. I just bought a mounting kit for the scoot that attached to the handlebars and we're in business. Comes with a small antenna, all wiring, etc. Go to http://www.tss-radio.com/ and check out the various kits they have. I called Sirius Canada and they do not sell a mounting kit for bikes in Canada. They put me onto TSS Radio which is out of Chicago.

 

Now here's the best part. I ordered the kit on-line on a Monday morning, supplied my Visa number and on Wednesday afternoon, I got a call from our local DHL Courier in town that they had a package for me to deliver to my house. That's from Chicago, across the country and the border, to Edmonton, to my little town up against the Rockies in 2 days. Not once, but twice as I needed an extra part. Second time I ordered on-line on Sunday night and it was delivered on Wednesday afternoon.

 

Sat. radio works great on the scoot.

 

Doug

[hig4s]

One other thing to think about, if you are planning on adding GPS.. the Zumo 550, (one of the more popular) has an XM add-on option.

[az1103]

I don't know about Elvis:confused24: And quite frankly I don't give a rat's patoot about sports.

But I can tell you that I use the same XM unit in the house in two of my cars and on the bike because I refuse to listen to the "all black-all the time" stations on FM.

The bigest difference between the units is that the XM antena works fine through the windshield - you can just place it on the dashboard whereas the Sirius one needs to be on the outside. That's very inconvenient as far as I am concerned. In the house I have the antena not even close to a window and it still works fine.I have both Sirius and XM on my TV satelite and can see little difference between them.

[SledgeHammer]

The biggest difference between the units is that the XM antenna works fine through the windshield - you can just place it on the dashboard whereas the Sirius one needs to be on the outside. That's very inconvenient as far as I am concerned.

 

That is not correct. The antenna for my Sirius is inside my fairing on the RSV. I split the fairing and mounted the antenna on a piece of steel. It has been inside the fairing for about 18 months and works fine there. I use it in my car and truck with the antenna on the dash board. I have both XM and Sirius and the Sirius actually loses the reception considerably less than the XM radio when traveling. Sirius has the ground towers that give you a 2 second delay. That is why it does not lose reception when going under a bridge or something to that effect. They are both good, but I give the reception edge to Sirius. I give the talk radio edge to XM, but sports definitely goes to Sirius. The music channels, for the most part, are even for both of them. I would base my choice on what your listening preferences are. Outside of listening preferences, there is not much differences between the reception or quality of XM or Sirius.