Sirius One SV1 Satellite Radio with Car Kit

A friend of mine gave me an Amazon Gift Certificate for Christmas and I used it to buy this little Sirius radio. Though other radios have more bells and whistles I am very happy with this one.First of all, price-wise it cannot be beat. It includes everything you need to use it in your car (mounting bracket, power cable that plugs into the car lighter, antenna, remote control). At this time there doesn't seem to be a home kit for it. That was not a deal breaker for me since I was planning to really only listen to it in the car anyway. Plus, when you joing Sirius you can listen to all the music channels online.Though this is a simple unit, it does include some nice features. There are presets that work great. You can set the display to show the channel you are on or have it scroll to tell you the artist and title of the song that is playing.It has a built-in transmitter that transmits over the car's FM radio on an unused channel. This has worked great for me and I think the sound is very good. I did need to change the FM channel it was transmitting to (easy to change and you can have up to five presets for this as well) once or twice but once I found a truly open station it was crystal clear. It should be noted that I live in LA which is a very crowded radio market. Still I was able to find a clear FM slot to tune the Sirius radio's transmitter to. If you are not in a major market that should not be a problem at all, and really wasn't that big of a deal for me here in LA.I think it is a sharp little unit and very solid. I am happy with it and if you are looking for a nice, low price unit this is a great choice. I am also very happy with the Sirius service. The music channels are great and I enjoy the sports and talk radio.

This unit missed getting 5 stars from me because, as others here have noted, the blue LED display is difficult to see during the daytime, and the audio sounds a bit hollow. Other than that, and especially at Amazon's price, the unit is a great bargain for receiving commercial-free satellite radio.Although the SV1 has a built-in FM transmitter, I decided to purchase the Sirius FM modulator at the same time I purchased the SV1. I've used stand-alone FM transmitters with other audio devices and have been less than satisfied with result, especially on a long road trip when you frequently have to search for an open frequency. Anyway, the FM modulator eliminates the frustration of having to retune the radio and transmitter frequencies.The "hollow" audio I mentioned might be due to the FM modulator, but the bottom line is that when listening to Sirius radio mixed in with the usual road noise inside a vehicle, you can't really notice the hollow audio unless the vehicle is stopped or traveling very slowly.If you do mostly local driving, you probably should see if the SV1's built-in FM transmitter gives you solid audio thru your FM radio before shelling out about 20 bucks for the FM modulator.I ran into a bit of a hitch when I first tried activating the SV1 and registering with Sirius. I went online intending to sign up for the monthly plan -- $12.95/mo. But, when I got to the pages for payment plan selection, that option wasn't there. I ended up having to call Sirius and talked with a live person to get the SV1 activated and to get on the monthly plan. (She verified the option wasn't showing up online -- it should be fixed by the time this review is posted.)I wanted the monthly plan intending to pay the fee only during the 3 or 4 months during the year that we take a road trip of any significant length. The Sirius rep informed me it might not work out the way I intended. In case you haven't read the fine print, there's a $15 activation fee in addition to whatever payment program you sign up for. In my case, should I cancel after a month or two, then some months later request my unit be turned on again, there "might" be another activation fee imposed. Apparently there's no hard rule on this, so it might be possible to talk one's way out of it.I'd like to add my thanks to "nafta90" for his comment on getting Sirius to send an activation signal. My SV1 was turned off when I was talking with the Sirius rep., so Alexander's suggestion was exactly what I needed later after went to the car and turned on the satellite radio. As I understand it, Sirius does send out an activation signal every few hours to all registered receivers. In case your receiver needs to be activated or reactivated, going online to your account as Alexander explains shrinks what might be a multi-hour wait to just a few minutes.Finally, just a few sentences about do-it-yourself installation. The enclosed directions are adequate, and if you've messed around a bit with electronics, just doing a basic hookup is relatively easy. If you want to hide most of the wires, you need to be willing to crawl around a bit, lay upside down, and stick you hand into unknown places behind the dashboard.

I've purchased literally ALL SIRIUS radios with the term "motorcycle" written in the description. NONE WORKED for very long. Especially on a Harley! Harley shakes more than most bikes! Mount comes loose, pins wear loose, lose connection because of this. And only after a couple hundred miles, or a couple weeks, if they last THAT long! Finally gave up my subscription to this company because I was spending more money on radios that were "better" than the last one. Customer service was negligible, after counting at least 7 reps. I DO NOT SUGGEST a SIRIUS radio/receiver for any bike unless/until they come with a way to make it so they don't shake apart. (When they fix this problem, I'll purchase a subscription again, and another radio. Until then, not even a consideration.

I bought this with low expectations. Others had said it was hard to read, and that the FM transmitter was no good. Well, the thing works great and the FM transmitter worked like a charm in my VW, but the screen is REALLY hard to read. Blue is just not a good color to try to see during the day.. At night it is great -- doesn't match the VW blue guages exactly but looks good.The satellite radio itself and the FM transmitter sounded great. The unit does get a little hot, but I had it in a very enclosed area.I didn't think I'd care than it was a one line display, but it really does hinder you from "channel surfing" -- you have to repeatedly switch between showing CHANNEL NAME, ARTIST, and SONG or you can have it scroll.Overall, I still like this radio best out of Sirius' lineup -- it is small, fits great it my little cubby below the radio, and works well. I just wish it was easier to read during the day. Setting presets for FM, and setting your favorite stations makes it easy to still use it during the day, just realize the limitations!

I have gone through four of these units. Several were defective out of the box. Sirius has the best customer service and replaced defective units without a problem. Buy at your own risk. However, you know it is backed up if there are problems.

We have purchased atleast four of these kits, it in our opinion is the best sirius radio they have ever made. It has an fm transmitter built in. Great product and never breaks ;)