do you guys have any opinion on Xm vs. sirius? im thinking of getting it for my dad for christmas. both seem to have good programming but my dad absolutely despises howard stern and im not sure he'd want to even be a part of something associated with stern....anyway, any thoughts?

I have xm, love it. Couldn't do with out it on my 5 minute commute to work :|

seriously though. It's worth every penny.

Search for it, there's a few threads for sure, and one new one in the lounge I think

I was going to sign up for XM, mainly for the baseball programming. But then I go to asking around. People tell me that it is the same as regular radio. The same thing over and over. Not sure I believe that and not sure it would bother me, but I still haven't made the plunge. I was going to get it because I travel a lot. I hear that if you are on the wrong side of a building, like in a hotel room the building will block it. Or at least cause static. I hope to have it in the next car I buy.

Well, I have Sirius & am also a mechanic who's talked to several people with both...

I went with Sirius because it's plug & play for my PT Cruiser. No having to splice any wires or anything. Beyond that, I'd say from what I've seen & heard, XM would probably be a better way to go.

Sirius doesn't have as strong a signal reception as XM does, and I often lose signal for a second or two when driving thru heavily wooded areas, etc... The programming is very similar between the two brands. XM does have alot of neat little extras that you can get though, like boom box units to plug your unit into when out of the car.

Beyond the slightly weaker signal strength though, it's a pretty close call & I think you & your dad would be happy either way.

Both Sirius and XM will lose the signal in trees and behind cliffs...XM has no advertising on music channels but on the other channels it is brutal. Stupid commercials too....From a music standpoint it is pretty good although the fidelity is a little inferior to actual FM but the play lists are infinitely longer than anything on corporate held FM. I long for the day years ago when there were all kinds of independent FM with very few commercials....

I wouldn't say it's brutal, yes, there are commercials on talk channels, but on the syndicated type shows, it's the same commercial time as on am/fm :shrug: On 150 Comedy, there aren't many at all.

On sirius, I would think they have better reception, since there are 3 sat's compared to XM's 2, but XM has tons of repeaters in the metro areas. I NEVER lose signal in town, it's even good in parking garages. The only time I have signal problems is in the woods.

I have the Delphi SkyFi2. Iw anted something I could switch between vehicles. With a spare car kit, I can put it in any vehicle with FM radio and only have to plug it into the cig lighter and put the antenna out :)

i read about that 150 comedy channel on another board--keep hearing good things about XM's talk programming too. Anyway, i think im gonna get him xm. it seems like they have are even with or better than sirius and plus, there is that pending stern issue--he gets NO love from my dad....

thanks guys-----

oh, Dacar, ive been doing some research and ive heard that sat radio is BEST for those that travel a lot....just my $.02