15% off XPS M1330 & M1530 laptops
-
CNET editors' rating:
3.5 stars
Very good
Detailed editors' rating - Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 27 reviews
- See all user reviews
Product summary
The good: XM Radio satellite receiver; TiVo-like 30-minute replay; built-in wireless FM transmitter; improved menu display; more than 65 commercial-free music channels plus news, sports, and talk channels; remote.
The bad: The buttons and controls are a little too small; requires separate purchase for car, home, or boombox adapters.
The bottom line: Smaller, cheaper, and more capable, Delphi's new and improved SkyFi2 XM radio is markedly better than its predecessor.
Specifications: Device type: XM radio tuner; Tuner bands type: XM radio tuner; CD system type: None; ; See full specs
Price range: $99.99
CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 01/21/2005
- Released on: 11/15/2004
That's just the beginning, though, because you'll still need to purchase the car or home adapter kit, or one of the two boombox attachments (with or without CD), to hear anything. On the upside, few other units offer a boombox option, and any kit that works with the original SkyFi will also work with SkyFi2. On the downside, the XM subscription will run you another $12.95 per month. Currently XM supplies 68 commercial-free music channels, 55 news and sports channels, and numerous local weather/traffic channels.
The SkyFi2 receiver is a little thing (4.6 inches wide, 2.9 inches high, and 1.25 inches deep) that weighs next to nothing, a mere 5.2 ounces. We found the front-panel buttons a bit crowded, but happily the unit comes with a small remote that duplicates all of the controls. Connectivity options are standard for play-anywhere satellite radios, meaning that the receiver itself must be plugged into an adapter kit to be of use. The cradle that comes with the home adapter kit has an antenna jack, 3.5mm ministereo jack stereo audio outputs, and a power jack for use with the wall-wart power supply. A XM antenna is also included with the kit.
The SkyFi2's coolest new feature, 30-Minute Replay, works like a TiVo for XM Radio. It lets you time-travel back up to half an hour, song by song, and listen again to what you just heard. You can also pause a song in midplayback, and when you're done, you can fast-forward to return to the current program. The screen flashes "Live" to confirm you're back in real time. We found the replay feature of limited use since we usually didn't want to hear the same song again so soon but were more inclined to the pause function--no more missed songs when fielding phone calls, for instance.
In another improvement over the old SkyFi, the SkyFi2 allows you to wirelessly transmit XM radio signals to any FM radio in the room or to the FM receiver in your car stereo. The unit can also store up to 30 XM channels as presets, as well as flash sports scores and stock price ticker info across the screen.
Continue reading- See more CNET content tagged:
- XM Satellite Radio,
- Boombox,
- Delphi Corp.,
- kit,
- Borland Delphi
User reviews
- Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 27 reviews
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
-
Showing 3 of 27 user reviewsSee all 27 user reviews
-
6 out of 6 people found this review helpful
"I never thought satellite radio would be worth it, I was wrong."
-
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful
-
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
- See all 27 user reviews Write review
Delphi XM SkyFi2:
