I purchased this to replace an Audiovox PNP2 radio purchased in 2004...after wasting tons of time and effort trying to make it continue to work properly. I had purchased three home docks and one auto dock for the PNP2 so I was not thrilled when it started to fail. I could not get consistient reception with the PNP2 even after placing the antennae in various places outside my home. I even bought an antenna extender so I could place the antenna on the roof, free from obstruction...no dice. I listen to Sirius all day long so reception problems were driving me nuts!
I ordered the Stratus 6 (with car kit) and a home kit from Amazon because they had the lowest pricing and free shipping. I only ordered one home kit to be sure everything worked properly. After spending a short time connecting everything to a receiver on the first floor I was ready to take the antenna outside for a test when, to my surprise, I heard music! The new antenna was pulling a signal from inside the house! I was completely floored and soon realized that the technology has been enhanced quite a bit since the days of the PNP2. I now keep the unit on top of an organ next to the receiver and keep the antenna curled up, pointing at a wall, and I get all three reception bars! Moving to another stereo in another part of the house is so simple that I don't even need to purchase additional docks. I wish I hadn't waited so long.
The car kit is just as great...I plugged the supplied 3.5mm to 3.5mm connector to my AUX IN, ran the antenna through to the trunk, and found a convenient spot on the dash for the dock. WAY better reception than the crappy PNP2 car dock!
I was able ot transfer my lifetime subscription to the new unit in about five minutes ($75 fee for that but worth it to call all the way to India for assistance ;-)
The blue display is so easy to read and the 10 pre-sets are adequate to get me around the dial quickly. Sound is stellar! I highly recommend this unit! SIRIUS Stratus 6 Dock-and-Play Radio with Car Kit (Black)
Great basic radio for Sirius Satellite. Has plenty of pre-sets for storage. Set up was a breeze, took me less than half hour to run all the wires in my Nissan Murano. Hooked it up to my Aux-in and the sound is as clear as can be. Now I can listen to Howard Stern while I drive. No brainer.
I bought this as a replacement for my factory new car Sirius subscription. We have 3 trucks, so in order to have Sirius available in all three, I decided to go with a docking station type radio. I am using the FM modulator on all three. I would put the sound quality using that method at marginal. It works, but isn't going to help you win any sound quality competitions. It does look nice,and the car kit comes with everything you need to mount it, no matter what method you desire. I used the adhesive type mount in one truck, the vent mounts in the other two. All work perfectly. I called Sirius and got the activation fee waived, paid 95 bucks for 1 full year with all the fees and taxes included. Can't beat that deal at all.
Pros: Ease of installation and activation is a snap. Sound quality is very good (with caveat in the cons). Very easy to use; menu and programming is very intuitive. Hard to beat the price.
Cons: On the third day after installing, the audio wire/plug going into my 'aux' input of my car radio started hissing and lost the right channel. The wire is really, REALLY, cheaply made. I worry about the antenna wire, because it appears to be no better in quality. The gauging of both wires is MAYBE 14-16 gauge. Great for hiding under trim, not so great in terms of robustness. Also worrisome is the fact that sometimes the radio doesn't always go into menu mode when pressing the menu button. It seems to be hit-or-miss, and you have to press it several times to finally get the thing into menu mode. Very worrisome if you ever have to change a FM frequency setting, etc.....which IS likely, because.......if 97.9 (the default frequency transmission) is too close to a strongish commercial radio station in your area, you will need to change it. Any FM frequency close to a fairly strong commercial radio station will suffer from static/interference. In the interest of fairness, once you find a relatively 'lonely' FM frequency in your area, the sound quality of the FM transmission is stellar. I'm hoping the purchase of a decent mini-plug stereo cable will fix up the aux feed problem but, frankly, that extra purchase shouldn't be necessary for a brand new radio with a (supposedly) complete car installation 'kit'.
Overall, I can't fault the concept, but the execution seems to be really marginal. Buyer beware. This could be $50 thrown away if the thing dies within a few months. Which, I suspect, may be more likely than one would hope.
Beware: SIRIUS and XM radios are not the same. If you have an XM Radio account, the SIRIUS radio can not be added to that account. A new account must be created. If this is your first satellite radio, no problem, it is a good product.
Dear wife got me this radio for Christmas and I love it. Was able to plug it in and have it playing within 15 minutes in my truck, although making the installation permanent took a little while longer.
Ended up ditching the "mounts" provided with the unit, and just used velcro to mount the item (it's light!) to a clip I'd already used to mount my mp3 player. The directions say to run the antennae outside the truck cab and use adhesive to mount to the top of the truck. However, I just ran it into the dashboard, out a vent opening and stuck it in place with a little velcro right on the dash near the windshield - inconspicious, easy to remove, protected from the elements, and still have perfect signal.
Logging on to Sirius and starting the subscription was easy, as well. With this unit, I could opt for the A La Carte package - 50 channels for $7/month. Got the channels I wanted for a minimum price and it all went through QUICK.
All in all, I highly recommend the unit. No complaints at all. - Satellite Radio - Sirius Satellite Radio - Howard Stern - Sirius Radio'
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