Sirius Factory Kit Verdict

I have had my Prius for about 4 weeks now, and I have what Sirius considers to be a "factory" install, even though the dealer put it in prior to my picking it up. I have no literature or documentation of the brand radio it actually is. I had to figure the settings out pretty much on my own after a rudimentary overview was given to me by the young guy who did the install. It is integrated into my display which is cool and has 6 pre sets per screen and 3 separate screens that you can scroll to. In my last vehicle had my "Sportster" hardwired. I liked the "replay" feature on that radio. I still have it and use it in my house. I recently purchased 2 lifetime subscritions one for each radio. I like Sirius that much. As far as the antenna location goes, I am using what ever came with the initial install. It is a 1 1/2 inch aprox. square magnetic deal. They originally put it on the dash in the left hand corner, but the reception was awful. I had them place it dead center on the roof just above the windshield. The wire is routed under the gasket of the windshield. I could have had it located between the antenna in the back and the rear window washer. I just opted for the simpler install. It is ok, and it is unobtrusive because of its size. It sounds awsome!! I have read some people have it under their shark fin antenna, but don't know how those work, and if you can actually have 2 antenna in one, but I guess you can. Hope this helps.

 

That's where I installed mine. Reception is great. It's not perfect, but satellite never is.

 

I take it you have never owned a Sirius receiver. The cutting out under bridges and overpasses you are experiencing is normal (unfortunately). It will also cut in and out under a tree lined street. Cloudy days are not an issue. Take some pictures of your antenna install. I kinda wish now I had them put mine where yours is being installed. I dont think the dealership will be so generous and move it again for free on the next go around if I decide to move it again.

 

The buffer in the 'factory' Sirius piece is horrible. It doesn't even pick up on the live feed, only the 4-second one.

 

I went from a sportster in my old prius to an integrated one in my new prius. I like it. The reception is great, of course it doesn't work in tunnels. And being winter I have no problem on normal streets. In the summer I lose reception a lot around my town because we have narrow streets with a lot of overhead trees, but I don't expect it to be any better or worse with the integrated system.

My son dislikes the new system. He liked the display feature of the sportster so that he could see what was playing on all of the other stations. I miss that a little too, but its worth giving it up in order to not have the radio suction cupped to the windshield.

 

Sirius has three broadcast streams. There's a "live" satellite stream and a four-second delay satellite stream, and (in certain areas) a live terrestrial stream.

It seems that the factory Sirius receiver doesn't get the delayed stream, only the other two. In a regular receiver, the playback is delayed 4 seconds so the receiver can switch to the delayed stream if there's a brief dropout in the live stream.

The next-generation version is supposed to be out soon. This will be the SCC1 receiver module plus a vehicle-specific translator, the TOY-SC1 for Toyota. The SCC1 is out, but the TOY-SC1 is not.

 

Other way around, it only picks up on the delayed feed. That's why when you emerge from a tunnel it takes 5 seconds to get sound instead of 1 second.

 

I have the best of both worlds. I kept my Sportster and use it exclusively at home and have the integrated system which I agree is different and just slightly disappointing only because we know the difference. I bought 2 lifetime subscriptions, so I am set.

 

Beware of the lifetime Sirius subscriptions for the car though. Realize it is only for that vehicle and is transferable to the "NEW" owner of that vehicle. That is the way they are selling the lifetime services. I caught the guy form Sirius who signed me up for the lifetime for the Prius, he said it was transferable 3 times (total of 4 cars). I questioned this, but he was adamant this was the way the contract was. I bought it, and called a few hours later to check on the credibility as I was told differently a few weeks prior when I was checking on pricing. The sales person said that was incorrect. I kicked it up to a higher authority and indeed he was wrong to sell that to me as he did, but they made an exception and will honor the 3 transfers in my case. They also said they were planning on doing away with the $399.00 lifetime subscriptions. So If you plan to keep your car for awhile, a 2 year subscription with tax is a like $279 + tax, I think. SO MAKE YOUR DECISION SOON. A "lifetime" would pay for itself in less than 4 years. In my case I will have my driver's license revoked before I use up all my lifetime allotments!

 

Did they say anything about Sirius Inc. was phasing out the lifetime subscriptions? I am wondering if that was just a line the guy was telling me. Also, don't assume you will be able to transfer your lifetime to another car, unless you physically remove that radio and use it in your next vehicle. Not likely to happen, I would think. If you like a good argument, call them back and tell them you were told it was transferable up to 3 times, and have a go at it!

 

Clearly I have a moron for a dealer!

I wanted to get sirius radio for my wife for Christmas. I went to the dealer and they told me that they only did XM! I ended up getting a kit from Best Buy. It works fine, but doesn't display on the mfd! What kit can I get to do that?

It is also a hassle to have to plug it in in the lighter socket in the arm rest as well as the aux in.

I'm kinda pissed!

Icarus

 

last time i researched the topic sirius did not have a terresterial stream, only XM features that