Lousy XM reception

I think the sound quality of XM in my Prius (I listened during the initial free 3 month period, and also in the last few days during the annual free promo period) is terrible.

When I would get a loaner from the dealer when my previous car (BMW) was in for service, the Sirius sat radio quality was bad, but the Prius XM is worse. Could be XM is worse than Sirius, and/or the Prius technology is worse than BMW's.

 

Yes reception blows. If anyone has a solution I would be glad to hear it. Atlanta radio sucks and if the car had a USB port like my 16k dollar Fiesta has then I could go that route.

 

Just this last Monday I went out with the family and our XM reception started going in and out for quite a bit. Frustrated, I jumped over to a CD for a while. A half hour later, the XM had gotten better.

My wife purchased a Honda Pilot a few months ago with XM and it too gave me the same problem the first time I took it out so I think that you can rule it out as a Prius issue.

I have had Sirius for years (and I mean years) and have never had a problem with reception. Even though both companies have merged they are obviously getting their signals out via two different methods.

I am driving a new '11 so I'm still within the free trial period but I don't know what I am going to do when my three months are up. I have Sirius streaming to my iPhone so I can go that route (via either the USB or bluetooth) but I don't want to have to control my music through the phone while I am driving.

But yes, the XM reception can be very spotty (and I am in Miami so no hills, mountains or skyscrapers).

 

It matches the FM reception! The OEM unit in this car is the worst of any that I've recently owned for FM reception!


Fortunately.....even though it's in a goofy place, there is an AUX-IN jack!

 

My XM reception in NC is really good. It must be dependent on the area that you live. I have driven across the state and never lost XM, except maybe going under bridges, etc. My FM reception is also excellent.

So, to me it sounds like it is an area reception problem rather than a problem with the Prius or XM.

 

The XM reception in my Prius is CD quality. I just loose it when I travel under a bridge. FM quality is just ok. just wish the JBL system came with a sub-woofer.

 

My XM reception is pretty good in Maine (with some rare interruptions when you drive under certain bridges and trees) and sound quality is very good on JBL. However I am planning not to continue my XM subscription, since the smart phone has 1000's of radio stations (talk, music to any taste, etc + Pandora). Quality of sound when connected to car stereo is excellent and there is no additional charge, but you also have to deal with some interruptions.

 

We just traveled from East Tennessee to Dallas and Austin, TX, back to Oklahoma, Arkansas and across Tennessee.

The worse reception was after we passed Nashville. It would cut in and out numerous times.

 

64kbps AAC audio, the best XM has to offer, cannot sound good no matter how good the reception is. That being said, I still subscribe because it beats the local stations on content.

 

Totally agree with the reception being lousy.

XM = fail

Because my commute requires going under 14 overpasses, a tunnel, and every now and then a bridge. It's to the point where I am just enjoying FM/AM radio stations, MP3 on CDs, and streaming pandora on my iPhone. I already forgotten about the free trial of XM.

 

XM reception in Eastern Massachusetts is just fine. The only time I lose it is when driving under bridges. XM is piped into the tunnels that run two to three miles under Boston. Navigation also continues to work in the tunnels. I have XM in my 2010 and 2011 Prii, and it works exactly the same in both.

 

the quality here in se texas is ok, just really low volume. if I switch to FM the volume is about twice as loud as XM

 

+1 Agree 100%!!!

 

In Atlanta, I get better reception with FM (then when I tried XM during the 3 month period). What was odd was that in rural areas of Northern GA/SouthWestern NC, I'd get XM reception just fine. When I'd drive around Asheville (especially the Blue Ridge Parkway) reception was terrible. Since I noticed my genres of XM channels just repeated the same songs over and over....I thought I'd save my money and just listen to mp3s.

 

I live in the Atlanta area and reception is really bad in the Prius, much better but not perfect in my Cadillac STS. I have been wondering if there is a better antenna available.

 

Here is a gif of the Sirius and XM satellite orbits. Note, the XM sats are geostationary while the Sirius sats are in a lower orbit.

http://i56.tinypic.com/95oa46.gif

 

Trees seem to bother my reception a lot in NY. I had my free trial period in late winter and early spring, and the reception was good, I only noticed dropouts under bridges (and on one road in a valley, with trees, shortly before my trial expired). I finally decided to respond to one of the "welcome back"offers, bought a subscription and now find my reception is much worse than it was during the trial. I now notice dropouts every day, mainly when on narrow roads near or under trees (in wide open spaces, like interstates with no nearby trees, reception is still good). I'm thinking this is because there were no leaves on the trees during most of my trial period, but now with leaves, there's too much signal loss. Since I have a year subscription, I'll have to wait and see if reception improves in the fall.

I like the variety (much better than local FM, also better selection than what I have on CDs or MP3s) and convenience (setting up my phone for streaming audio each time I get in the car is a pain). I just wish the reception was better. It's good over 90% of the time, but the dropouts are annoying.

 

Something happen recently that my XM reception went from great with very rare interruptions to no signal pretty much all the time.

Took the vehicle in under warranty and mentioned the issue. The Toyota invoice stated "unknown codes retrieved from navigation unit".
They submitted a tech case to Toyota for diagnosis and I am currently waiting on a reply.
I figure it's worth a try going this route.