My prior expereince is that XM has better reception, but Sirius has better programing. Which of these products works best with Prius? From what I've read, Vais Tech has problems with both XM and Sirius. Who makes the Toyota XM? Will a Toyota dealer install the Pioneer unit sold by Coastaletech? What do you Prius experts recommend?
:blink: I'm sorry, your words were too small for my screen. Can you adjust them to something I can see?
I can't answer all of your questions, nor can I compare the two services, but I can comment on my own experience as an XM user of several years. XM's reception is fine except when the antenna fails to get a good view of the southern sky -- behind tall buildings, mountains, parking garages, tunnels, etc. I have no reason to believe it's any better or worse than Sirius. XM's programming more than meets my needs. My only disappointment (ever so minor) is NASCAR's move from XM to Sirius this year. In the Prius, I started with an XM Roady. I upgraded to the Vais Tech unit in December and I am very pleased. See this thread for more. Others have bought and installed the Terk unit. See this thread for further. It's less expensive, but displays only 10 characters. The Vais unit displays 16.
I had the dealer install the "Toyota XM kit" in my '07 - the only intereference/static I get is a brief stutter when the southern exposure is blocked (like for a second when rolling out of my garage). I find it amazing that I get good reception even stopped for a light under an east/west overpass near my home. As for content - I'm listening to music & I find plenty of satisfactory choices.
You can also get the XM unit through the PC Shop here: http://priuschat.com/shop/product_info.php/products_id/69
I have Sirius in my 2005 and 2007 Prius. Great reception (except under trees and overpasses) and sound quality. Good breadth and depth of programming. I purchased the "lifetime" package, so no monthly fee. Best of all: no commercials. Greater selection for NPR and PRI. This discussion may be moot now that XM and Sirius are looking to merge because of financial problems.
I've had both services. XM, for me at least, was far more resistant to drop-outs. I had a portable Delco XM unit and it got fine reception with the antenna (temporarily) mounted on the dash, while my Sirius unit, with external antenna on the roof regularly gets dropouts while driving on certain tree-lined streets. But that may have had more to do with the concentration of ground repeaters here. There is only one Sirius repeater locally, while I believe there are many XM repeaters.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(aaf709 @ Feb 26 2007, 03:24 PM) [snapback]396815[/snapback]</div> I'm sure that will be a while. It will take months (or longer) for them just to clear the anti-trust hurdles (with no guarantee of success), not to mention the mechanics of the actual merger.
I have both and find that XM has a larger library of music (not as many repeats) and the reception is incredible compared to Sirius. I vote XM.
