I have not before been interested in getting sattelite radio and never thought I would, but after I saw my friend with one of these DELPHI Roady2 units, I had to get one too. My friend had shown me other XM units he had, but this is the one that got me to get XM.
When you look at this tiny shirt pocket sized device, you think it is just a controller or head for a much larger unit somewhere, but EVERYTHING is inside the small device itself, including the FM transmitter. Most FM transmitters on the market have been bigger than this device, but somehow they fit one inside this unit with all the other stuff it needs to do.
This unit is smaller than my radar detector. Much smaller.
And unlike most FM transmitters, this one has a nice strong signal! With my friend outside in his car with the unit, I went into my house and was able to tune the XM station he had tuned to on my radio in the house!
In fact, what I like most about this unit is that it is so easy to take from home to car so that you only need one unit for both. Right now, I have it tuned to a channel in the bedroom, but can listen to a radio here in the office on the other side of the house, or any room in the house, the FM transmitter is that good. You have a choice of several FM frequencies, and unlike those FM transmitters you tune with a screwdriver, this one is digitally PL locked to the frequency you select via the on screen menu, and it will not fade off frequency.
The audio quality is going to be better with the line out jack, but the quality of the FM modulator has been good enough for me so far, plus it means I can use any radio in the house or car without having to connect any wires to them.
OK, now some neat features not mentioned on most reviews and websites....
While listening to a channel, you can use the thumbwheel and read what is playing on all the other channels without leaving the channel you are listening too. If you find a song or program that you like, just push in the thumbwheel and you jump to that channel's audio.
Let's say you are in the car, and a song comes on that you really like but don't have pen or paper to write down the name of song and artist. Just push the button on the front labeled: MEMORY. Now that song and artist info is stored into memory so that at any time later when you are around pen and paper, you can call up that information and write it down! You can store up to 20 songs in this memory, then it starts deleting the oldest song title in memory once you have 20 stored.
You can also put songs into another memory that will have the unit BEEP at you if any of your favorite songs are being played on any channel while you are on another channel. Then one press of a button, and you can jump to your favorite song playing.
Each major city has it's own traffic and weather channel, and the current temperature and forecast is printed on the screen too.
You can program your favorite stocks to constantly show you the stock rate on the screen under song or channel name.
Another reason I never wanted to get sattelite radio in the car, is because of having to mount another antenna on the car, I don't like to put holes in the car. But this one has a magnet mount and is the size of a refridgerator magnet, so you can stick it on the roof while driving, but you don't even have to do that, since just resting it near the front windshield inside the car has been getting me great reception, so why put it outside the car if I don't have to? Some might just stick the tiny magnet antenna to the top of their radar detectors.
Same with indoors. I was told to put it in a window with some sort of direction view, but I have it in the middle of the room now not next to any window and it is working just fine. I ordered the in home kit, which will give me a seperate indoor antenna that is a bit larger and will probably be better yet, plus, then I don't have to take the one antenna in and out of the house, I can leave the one in the car and the other in the house and just take the unit itself in and out.
They give you several mounts for inside the car, and I like the vent mount the best, because I don't have to use any sticky permanent tape, glue, or velcro in my car, it holds on to the air vent real tight, and the unit just slides on and off of it and is nice and visable to read right over the radio. But this mount can be taken off easy and does not ruin the car or leave sticky residue.
I bet most people will not figure out how to use the vent clip, and no instructions explain it, but if you figure it out and do it right, it will never fall off and will stay unless you want to take it off. If it keeps falling off for you, you are not doing it right. You don't just slide it in and out of the vent, once you slide it in, in snaps onto to thin plastic parts of the vent and will not come back out unless you angle each of the clamps the right way. And once you have this snapped in to your vent, you do NOT take it on and off as another reviewer mentioned having problems with, the DELPHI Roady2 slides on and off of the vent mount, so you leave the mount on the vent, you don't keep taking it off, you just slide the Roady2 on and off the mount that stays connected to the vent, unless you are not going to use the Roady2 in the car ever again, then take the vent mount off.
And I figured since I got the unit on a weekend evening, I would not be able to get it activated until Monday morning, but XM had an operator to help me when I called and my unit was activated within 10 minutes just from calling from home with a credit card.
Even though you disconnect the unit from power and take it from the house to the car, or back the other way, it remembers what channel you were on last and all the memories and information you had stored in it.
Oh, and you can order a remote control for the unit too. It even has an infrared remote detector in this tiny thing.
NOW FOR SOME SECRET TRICKS!!
Not mentioned in the manual, and unknown to most Roady2 owners, are secret codes to get extra features out of the unit!
With the unit turned off... Press 2 3 2, and then push in the tuning wheel.
The unit will turn on without the backlight on!
This is great if you don't want to attract attention with the bright lights of the unit in the dark, or to consume less power if you want to operate the unit on a battery pack.
To help aim your antenna at the two satellites...
With the unit turned off... Press 2 0 7, and then push in the tuning wheel.
The unit will turn on, then press the DISPLAY button until the display shows BER%
Now adjust your antenna until you get the lowest reading on one or both of the satellites.
You are shooting for "0" on one of the satellites, as only one is
needed, but if you have a clear shot to both, it is possible to get low number or "0" readings on both.
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UPDATE: HIDE ANTENNA IN THE TRUNK!!!
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I have found out something very interesting that I wanted to share here. I put the tiny magnet mount antenna that comes with the Roady2 under the rear deck of the car under the back window. (The carpeted deck that the rear speakers are usually mounted in.) And as you can open the trunk and get access to and easily SEE the bottom of the rear speakers and see them hanging down from the deck, you can also stick the magnet antenna here!
Be carefull to understand that just putting any radio antenna in a trunk, where metal shields it from seeing the sky will NEVER work. NO METAL OF THE CAR CAN BE BETWEEN THE ANTENNA SO IT CAN NOT SEE THE SKY. (No damage will occur to the radio, you just won't get any reception!)
BUT.. on most rear decks of cars, there are usually lots of cut outs of the metal of the car (especially two big ones for the speakers to go through) and if you wedge this antenna and stick it on TOP of the metal, so that only the cardboard and carpet of the rear deck is between the antenna and the sky view out the rear window, this WILL WORK!!
Do not stick the antenna on the BOTTOM of the metal, but on TOP of it so that it is sandwiched between the metal and the carboard/carpet of the rear deck.
It is OK that the carpet and cardboard block it from seeing out the rear window, as radio waves can go through cardboard and carpet, just not METAL. So now, when you look at the rear deck, all you see are your two rear speakers and third brake light, you can't SEE the XM antenna, but the satellites CAN see it!
I have used it this way now for MONTHS without EVER having any reception problems. No matter which direction I am driving too, because the 2 XM sattelites are at such angles in the sky that they will always see through the windows of the car and reach the antenna under the rear deck. If the sattelites were directly straight above, then this would probably not work, since the metal ROOF of the car would block the antenna depending on which direction you were driving. I bet this trick won't work with Sirrius antennas, since their sattelites are always moving around and many times are straight above you.
But even under the hardest rain storms, I have had full strength reception with this tiny antenna hidden in the trunk! The wire I just sent under the rear seats and to the front of the car. The magnet holds it securely in place. And when the car is parked, no one can SEE the antenna, and the Roady2 goes in my shirt pocket, so no temptation for burglars are visible in or on my car at all.
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UPDATE APRIL 2006 XM lowers audio quality on all channels
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I am very disapointed to report that several weeks ago, I noticed a DRASTIC change in audio quality. The bandwidth on every channel has been lowered and all the music channels sound really bad now. (in my opinion) No highs at all, all music sounds like the lowest encoded MP3 files you find on the internet, watery and mushy. XM Comedy used to sound great, while the Laugh channel always sounded bad, but now XM Comedy sounds as muddy as Laugh, and every other channel now.
Turns out XM added around 10 new music channels, but there was not enough bandwidth to do something like that, so now all the channels have to sound bad, so they could add these other 10 channels in the same bandwidth.
I guess XM hopes that most people won't notice the drop in audio quality, and yes I am an audio engineer with audiophile ears, but even my wife noticed the drop in audio quality, so it was a MAJOR drop in quality as she never notices things I usually try to point out to her. In fact, I didn't tell her about the change, she asked ME if the audio sounds different than it used to!
I can't listen to any of the music channels now, and switching to a local FM station after listening to the XM channels, is like switching to a CD after listening to AM radio.
I recorded a lot of programming directly from this XM radio to DAT and into my DAW, and I can record from the same channels today and compare the differences from only two months ago to today, and the difference is NIGHT AND DAY. XM also added very high compression to the music channels, that they never had before this change, so now even the classical music and Jazz channels have absolutely no dynamic range and sound ridiculous. (in my opinion)
This is really sad, because I really enjoyed having XM, but if other people don't complain, and if they don't get the audio quality back to where it was, very soon, I am going to cancel service. I find myself listening to FM stations again because the audio is SOOO GOOD when compared to what XM sounds like now. (in my opinion)
Comercials are now being added to some of the XM music channels, and has always been on the talk channels, so now that the audio is WORSE than FM broadcast, I feel like XM is insulting my intelligence.
Sirius is no better, they sound awful to me too. Both these services are adding too many channels trying to compete with each other, and now they both sound horrible. If XM was smart, they would have DROPPED some channels and improved sound quality, not made it worse. Up to last month, XM was the better sounding of the two services, now it's like listening to two AM stations and trying to determine which sounds better.
This is still a great little unit, and this change will effect ALL XM radios, so it doesn't make this unit any worse than before. If XM decides to put the audio quality back where it was, this unit will be able to give you good sound again.
I just wanted to add this new information so I could sleep at night having my review up here.
Go listen to this at a retail store first, and if it sounds ok to you, and you think the audio sounds good, then buy it.
I started looking at the satellite radio service when I found out that Major League Baseball signed an 11-year deal with XM to broadcast all games beginning in 2005. After doing my research on this site and many others I decided to purchase the Delphi Roady2 (SA10085) and the optional home kit (SA10069-11P1). These two items togehter simply provide you the least expensive, simplest and most complete package for satellite radio.
What it comes with:
The unit comes with all you need to install the Roady2 in your vehicle. (cigarette lighter cord, mini mag-mount antenna with plenty of wire, cassette adapter, vent mounting clip and swivel mount). The Roady2 itself is the size of an audio cassette tape and has a built in wireless FM modulator and comes with a black face plate installed on it and a red and blue which can be installed if you desire.
The home kit comes with a stand to hold your Roady2, AC power adapter, antenna and remote control with battery.
Home installation:
The first thing you need to do is find a spot in your home where you can recieve the satellite signal. After my experience, I suggest the following. The Roady2 has the built in wireless FM modulator (12 different channels) which means you can use any FM radio in your house to listen to your XM radio. The range is pretty good. I placed mine in my second floor bedroom with the antenna near a window that provides a full signal. You will have to experiment to find a location that works for you both for signal strength and functionality. But once you find the spot you are all set. I used the second floor to increase the range of the FM modulator and its more convenient.
Once you have a signal and the unit is on tuned to Ch 1 (Preview Channel) you can activate your XM service. I activated mine online on the XM web site. This was straight forward and painless. About 10 minutes after activation I had access to all channels. I listen to my XM on my home stereo system, a boombox in the kitchen and a small radio in the bedroom all while my Roady2 just sits there on my night stand doing its thing. The only thing I have to do is go to the Roady2 to change the channel if I desire.
Operation of the Roady2:
The unit is fairly straight forward to operate. There are some drawbacks many of which are just do to the small size of the unit, but there are also many great features. The display can only show 2 lines of information at a time. To see the other lines you need to press the Display button. There are some features and preferences which you can change with the Menu button, such as the display color (there are like 7 to choose from) and FM frequency and others which I wont go into here. The buttons are fairly small and you can easily hit the wrong one. However, that is where the best part of the home kit comes in. The small remote control. The remote has all the funtions of the Roady2 except the Menu button. It also adds a couple of features not available on the unit. (SCAN and JUMP)
There are 3 banks of 10 presets for a total of 30. The only downfall of the presets is that the display does not show the memory position while you are listening to a station. (minor problem) A nice feature is the ability to store up to 20 of your favorite songs. While the song is playing you simply press the MEMORY button and the Roady2 will store it. The next time that song is playing on any XM station you will be notified even if you are not listening to that station. Haven't seen this in action yet because in the 4 days I have had this unit I havent heard the same song twice yet.
Vehicle Installation:
As with many newer vehicles, my car does not have a cassette player, so the cassette adapter is useless to me. That is why the wireless FM modulator is so important. The vehicle installation was simple, but I do have some suggestions. I experimented with antenna placement on my 2003 Chevy Impala. I wanted to try and place it on the inside top of the windshield. I took it out for a ride and noticed that the signal faded out in some spots. I live in a CT town with many trees and some hills which surely had some affect. I found this unacceptable and tried it mounted outside using the magnet. I placed it on the vertical post on the drivers side of the windshield, which was the easiest spot for me without running the wire all over my car. I took another ride on the same route as before and never lost the signal. Problem solved! I am using the vent clip mount and the cigartte lighter plug. Plugged the power and antenna in and tuned my car stereo to the FM modulator and XM was playing loud and clear in my car. They say that the wireless FM modulator is the poorest sound quaility of the possible connections, but it sounds GREAT to me and for the ease of installation you cant go wrong.
I love this radio and the XM service and to those of you who are considering the Roady2 or XM service I recommend you buy it. You will not be disappointed! This is the best bang for your buck and the service has something for everyone (music, news, talk, sports, comedy, specials, weather, traffic and more)!
Buy Delphi SA10085 Roady2 XM Satellite Radio Receiver with Built-in Wireless FM Modulator Now
I had always wanted satellite radio, but thought it would be out of my price range because all of the accessories that I thought I had to buy and have installed. I was telling a very good friend about wanting a satellite radio and after taking him to see the display they had set up in a local "Best Buy" he wanted one also, but like me figured price of all the accessories would be a bit much, and we both left it at that. Well about two weeks later He was in a mega truck stop on the outskirts of Denver, (He is a Car Transporter) looking at the XM radio wondering out loud if he should bite the bullet and just buy it. A trucker over heard him and Said, "Well buddy you could buy all that stuff or you could do like I did and just buy the Roady 2." The trucker went on to explain what it was and how he could put it in himself and that if he acted right away he could get the home kit sent to him free. Well say no more my friend bought the roady 2 and call me the very next day and told me about the roady 2 and the free home kit rebate offer. Fifteen minutes later I was buying my very own.
Hooking it up was so easy, and customer support was great. I had to be careful while driving because it it hard to channel surf with the roady, but I just ordered a remote and that fix's that problem. The sound quality is so much better than am/fm radio but at times I do hit dead spots, but they don't last that long.
The mounting can be a bit trouble some, but I solved that by using the velcro pads they hold it in place very good.
There are so many great stations I have not been able to listen to them all. Being that I love all kinds of music it is hard to pick my favorite station.
I sent the rebate for the free home kit the same day i bought the roady 2, and as I sit here writing this review I am rocking to station 74 -The blues stations.
I don't know if they still have the free home kit rebate going on, but it is great to be able to hear xm radio in the house. The home kit like the car kit is very easy to set up it comes with a stand and everything else you need (except a remote).
The sound quality of the kit is very good and like I said the ease of hooking it up to a home system is easy.
Being that a lot of new model cars come with satellite radio the death of commercial radio is right around the corner.
So if you love crazy wacky D.J.'s and commercials, then the XM Roady 2 is not for you. But If you love great music and lot's of it Then The Roady 2 is for you.
Read Best Reviews of Delphi SA10085 Roady2 XM Satellite Radio Receiver with Built-in Wireless FM Modulator Here
Im really in the same boat as reviewer S. Conley. The roady2 is a very user friendly XM receiver. I had the unit installed myself in about an hour, with all wires aesthetically pleasing and hidden (only exception is where they plug into the unit).
Yes the buttons are small but manageable. Several mounting options are available and useful. I currently use the wireless FM modulator, I can't complain. It sounds crisp, clear and better than your FM stations. The only problem I have is an occasional weak signal, depending where I'm driving.
I would have appreciated the remote being packaged with the unit though, it's almost a necessity while driving. (...). The only other thing I wish was different is to have an option to display the channel, artist and song at the same time, currently you can have only two of the three displayed at a single time.
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Always wanted XM Radio but I never wanted to spend more than twenty dollars on a reciever. Spend "real money" on car stereo equipment in a major city never makes a lot of sense since you are one parking lot away from having something stolen.
The Roady 2 is a great, small, cheap solution for anyone that wants satellite radio. Nice design, about the size of an IPOD and a bit thicker it works great. No problems with the FM Modulator even though I live in the heart of L.A.
XM Radio is everything that's been promised. The subscription set up is a breeze.
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I was excited to be able to use this in the car so I didn't have to hold my phone but the quality isn't that great and the volume doesn't go up high enough so I only used it two times before giving up and just using the speaker on my cell phone.
