Delphi SA10224 SKYFi 3 Portable XM Radio Receiver with Vehicle Kit
by Delphi Products
|
List Price: Our Price: $129.99 You Save: $69.96 (35%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $75.00 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
|---|
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Delphi SA10224 SKYFi 3 Portable XM Radio Receiver with Vehicle Kit
Customer Review: Terrible Device, Horrendous Customer Service
Summary: 1 Stars
Shortly after purchasing the unit, it began to malfunction. After it was turned on it would freeze in the startup screen. I looked through the instruction manual and there are no troubleshooting solutions to this problem. There is no a reset command procedure listed in the manual, and it would not turn off even when the power cable was disconnected. I was left with a useless piece of equipment for the remainder of the long car trip that I was on.
After returning home, I went online and found out that many other people who bought this product had the same problem, and also could not figure out a way to restart it. I upgraded the firmware (after letting it completely drain batteries and restart), but I still had the same problem. Other users have stated that they only experienced the freezing after installing the firmware upgrade. This leads me to believe it is a hardware problem. Only after contacting customer service, were they able to tell me how to restart the device (Volume+ and Mode at same time). However sometimes I have to restart the device 5 or 6 times before it starts working. I notice it freezes when the temperature is anything outside of 70-80 degrees, so even though it is a car stereo receiver you cannot leave it in your car.
The Delphi automated telephone system that answers customer service calls is horrendous. Once connected to a service representative, they were extremely nice, knowledgeable, and helpful, but getting there was a guessing game with many dead ends. On 2 separate calls, I followed the instructions to be connected to customer support for XM satellite radios, and then I would get either an operator saying "this number cannot be completed as dialed, please hang up and try again", or the phone would ring for a few minutes without being answered and an operator's voice would say "no one is available to take your call, please hang up and try again". On the 3rd call after going through the entire menu, I was told that the customer support office was closed, even though it was well within the hours of operation that I found on the website. The only way I was able to get in contact with a human being, was to follow instructions for a different division, wait on hold for that division, then have my call forwarded to the correct division and then be placed on hold again. As a company that is founded on electronics for a variety of applications, including communications, I think it is absolutely ridiculous that Delphi has such a terrible customer support interface.
Now the device has started malfunctioning again with the same problem, and I went through the same hassle to contact customer service. I was given an address to send the receiver for a replacement under warranty. However I am required to spend my own money on shipping to replace a very expensive yet defective product.
I am a very dissatisfied customer of Delphi, and based on my experience I would not recommend anyone buy Delphi products in the future.
Customer Review: Good, but could have been better.
Summary: 4 Stars
Having been a loyal XM customer for the past 2 years, I have always liked the quality of the radios that I've owned. My first radio was a Roady 2, which I then upgraded to a MyFi. Both were a combination of performance, reliability, and compact design. The Skyfi continues this tradition. For the most part.
If you've read the reviews previous to this one, then you've no doubt seen the complaints regarding lock-up. I too, have experienced the same problem, though under different circumstances. My unit froze during attempts to play recorded content. However, a reset (Holding down the +Volume button and pressing Mode/Power) fixed the problem at least for the time being. Looking at the other reviews and comparing my own experience, it seems to be a random thing with no particular cause. On a side note, I recently updated the firmware and have had no issues since. Whether it's just coincidence or it has remedied the problem remains to be seen.
That problem aside, it IS a good unit to have. It offers several features that previous radios have not had. Having a MyFi, I loved the ability to record content and listen to it at my leisure. My only problem was that the MyFi did not offer the ability to fast forward through recorded segments. You could only skip to the end or beginning of a track. Also, you couldn't delete individual songs, sections of a program, etc. The SkyFi 3 fixes this. Both individual track deletion and fast forwarding are here. Also, it allows you to "lock" a track so that it will not be overwritten during future recording sessions. It also allows you to schedule and perform a recording session from your car dock, which is something that the MyFi would not do. You can even make playlists of recorded content.
There are more features, but perhaps finding them out on your own and being as pleasantly surprised as I was is half the fun of this unit.
In short, I am very pleased with the radio and if you can put up with the occasional lock-up then no doubt you will be too.
Overall, I found the unit easy to use and full of features that I love and don't know how I went without them on my MyFi. If Delphi can fix the small problems remaining with the unit, then expect 5 star reviews more and more.
Customer Review: I'm Very Happy with Mine
Summary: 4 Stars
Mine works great and I think it's an excellent value. Just compare the price on other players that are portable. Portability does require a special set of headphones, but they're inexpensive. Follow the directions on the flyer that comes with it: the first thing you should do is connect it to your computer, log on to the specified web site, and update the unit's firmware. It does freeze up occasionally, but all you have to do to unfreeze it is hold the volume button down simultaneously with the mode button. This is problematic when it happens whle driving because you must use both hands to do it. But it hasn't frozen up on me in weeks. Maybe it was the cold weather that affected it. I've mostly left it in the car cradle in the car overnight regardless of temperature. The car cradle controller buttons are difficult. I cursed them many times before I finally got the feel for how they work. Hint: You can press down on the center of a button, on the left side, or on the right side, and the length of time you hold the button down is important. Their use is 2nd nature to me now, but that didn't come easily. For saving your favorite channels, you get 3 sets of 10 favorites (30 total preset channels): Favorites A, Favorites B, and Favorites C. A center press on the top button (when unit is installed landscape style - rightmost button when installed portrait style) toggles between these 3 favorites groups, direct channel entry mode, and auxiliary input mode for connection to the line-in jack (1/8" or 3.5mm stereo). When assigning a favorite channel to 1 of the 10 buttons, press the button very briefly. Don't hold it down. Again, cold weather may have complicated this for me when I first tried to do it. The FM transmitter - which is in the car cradle, not the radio (the radio must be inserted into the car cradle in order to broadcast to your car stereo) - didn't work for me. I got terrible static all the time. I bought an Audiovox XM-FM antenna adapter for under 30 that was worth every penny. Just get one of these and do it. I required an antenna adapter because my car stereo has a Volkswagen style antenna connection. The unit also plays MP3 and WMA files on MicroSD cards, but it does not recognize high capacity SD cards (cards bigger than 2GB).Customer Review: Don't buy this model unless you plan to buy its Wearable Kits too.
Summary: 1 Stars
I have been XM customer for four years and bought this Skyfi3 receiver in May 2009. It turns out to be a major disappointment to me, because to listen to XM live programming you must BOTH plug the radio in its cradle (at home or in the car) AND the cradle HAS TO be plugged into a power outlet, even the radio's battery is fully charged. If you are in the car, the car key must be in "power on" position or must have your engine turned on.
Unless you plan to purchase its Wearable Kits or an Antenna Headphones, which costs as much as the radio itself, you can't use it outdoors or anywhere without a cradle and power outlet.
I can't imagin another product with this kind of redundancy - it totally negates any benefit of its compact size, light weight, and battery life (Why would it even need a battery if one has always to plug it into power outlet? Thirty years ago I was at least able to carry a bulky transistor radio anywhere I went, but not this one in the 21st. century!)
Other less critical issues include its menu system, which is utterly confusing and unintuitive to navigate. In addition, every time I start my car, the radio turns on automatically even I don't intend to use it. It sometimes would "forgot" preset FM frequency, so I have to reset it again and again in order to listen to it via car stereos.
Comparing to my old XM2Go radio (not mention iphone, ipod, Black Jack, and even my LCD TV), I found this unit a lot more time-consuming to navigate through its various functions. I have to say its designers and marketers still live in the stone age, at least their minds do.
I wouldn't recommend this product to anyone.
P.S. If your unit locks up (it will happen once in a few days), just press at the same time both "mode" key in the front and "volume+" key at the side.
Customer Review: Delphi = Junk
Summary: 1 Stars
I got this radio for my birthday in August 2007. It worked great for two months, then the antenna jack failed and I had to sent it back for a replacement. The replacemet lasted for a week before the same problem occurred. The second replacement came broken- it was a refurbished radio (I had originally bought a new one, call me crazy but I think that when a new product breaks under warranty it should be replaced with a new product) with more than 200 songs already loaded, not that I could listen to any of them because as I said, it came broken. My third replacement was also a refurbished radio, with ten songs loaded on to it, it never picked up a signal.
Now it's February, 2008. This time I called American Express, and was told to send the whole thing back and they would arrange a refund. I did, and two days later I got an angry call from Delphi- they want to know why I didn't go through "proper procedures" and "give them a chance to honor the warranty." I told them that I had no interest in getting replacement radios until the warranty expired and would NEVER do business with Delphi ever again.
Oh, besides the constant breaking down, all of the negative comments already here are spot on- the screen freezes, the buttons are unresponsive, the unit hates the cold (I like to take walks, if it's under forty degrees this unit will NOT function properly) you get a constant "No Signal" or "Check Antenna" signal (check it for WHAT? I think Delphi wants you to jam the thing into the unit till it breaks,) etc. etc.
Avoid this unit, and you'll avoid big-time headaches and frustration.
I ordered the Samsung Helix yesterday- my niece got one for Christmas 2006 and hasn't had one issue with it as yet. I wish I had forked over a little more money for that one.