Fox on The Road

I'm a news junkie so the prospect of having Fox News available in my car at all times was a great motivator to check into XM Radio. If you're thinking about getting satellite radio, you might want to read my comments on this...

For those of you who don't know, XM Radio is one of two services that offer satellite radio. The other is Sirius Radio. Both services offer 100 channels and are comparable in price. My wife, knowing that I was getting ready to buy it for myself anyhow, decided to get XMRadio for me for Christmas.

The service itself works as advertised. I get 100 channels with little or no interference. There is a good variety of channels divided into categories such as Country, Rock, News, etc. As I mentioned earlier, Fox News is there along with CNN, ABC, and the BBC World Service, among others. A full channel listing is here. The cost is about $10 a month. Fox News is basically just the audio portion from the Fox News Channel on television. For me, though, that's just fine.

Now before you run out and purchase this, there are a few things to keep in mind:

1. It isn't as cheap as it looks. You might see the basic unit for about $120 plus there's some sort of rebate. What they don't mention however, is that you'll need a car adapter ($70) in order to use it in your car. You'll also need a home adapter ($70) if you want to use it at your house. Then you can start paying $10 a month for the subscription.
   
2. It isn't as portable as it looks. Yes, the actual receiver is pretty small, but unless you plug in some other stuff it isn't much good. The receiver plugs into a docking cradle. (There is a different cradle for the home and audio adapters.) Then you have to connect a power supply, line out, and antenna cord. Mercifully, they at least managed to put all the plugs on the same side of the unit. (Why can't they figure out how to do this with my laptop?) So, you have this small receiver but then you plug it into a bigger cradle, then you have three separate cords coming from it. To top it all off, you can't easily unplug the antenna cable for the car adaptor unless you first remove the unit from the mounting bracket. The concept of being able to move the thing from house to car and back is a good one, but unless you have a high tolerance for misc. wires running all over the place, it isn't that feasible.
   
3. I have the SkiFi Radio and have it mounted in my car. Unfortunately, it really looks crappy mounted in my car and I suspect it will look crappy in yours too. The car adaptor cradle isn't real slim and the mounting bracket protrudes a good inch to allow you to swivel the unit so you can see the screen. Let's just say it doesn't exactly blend in with the dash.

   Add the antenna, line out to the cassette adaptor, and power supply and you've got a tangled mess of wires. I feel like I'm driving a police car with the small computer screen coming out of the dash. The mount feels sturdy enough but I have my doubts about how long it will last. For one thing, it sticks out so far that I suspect some hapless passenger is going to accidentally wipe the thing out with their knee. For another, I have my doubts about how long the adhesive holding the bracket will last. In Northern Illinois, there are a lot of temperature extremes, and adhesive doesn't usually last that long in this climate. (YMMV)

   If you are going to use it in your car, my recommendation is to purchase the XM Commander. For starters, it is a lot skinnier. Also, it only has one wire and it works with your fm radio. At $160 it is a little more than the base unit but it is actually cheaper since you don't have to buy the vehicle adaptor.

4. Keep in mind that you'll have to mount an antenna on the exterior of your vehicle. The one with the vehicle adapter is a little bubble like thing that is pretty unobtrusive. Unfortunately, though, it's probably only going to look good on the trunk which means that you should plan on running the wire from your trunk and under the back seats.

5. Finally, there is a little problem with switching between stations. Unless you use the preset buttons, it's far from intuitive, and difficult to use when you are speeding down the roadway at 70 mph. You have a total of 20 presets between preset A and preset B (10 each). Get them set before you start out on your trip or you just might find yourself enjoying your listening experience from a ditch.
   

I love having 100 stations including Fox News, but I'd recommend spending a little more up front for the commander. I'd also recommend that you plan on just keeping it in your car or just at home since it really isn't all that portable. For those who spend a lot of time in the car, this thing is priceless. I plan on enjoying XM Radio for some time to come, but I'm really hoping I'll be able to keep from running into a ditch while switching stations.