Do you use SiriusXM?

paulcb

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I'm considering getting a satellite radio receiver and subscription for use on my motorcycle. I had one in my car back in 2003-2006 but not since then. I considered using my iPhone and their app but it uses too much data for as much as I'll use it, i.e. travel and commuting. There are several existing threads on this but they're pretty old.

So, a few questions...

  1. What do you use for hardware?
  2. What about rain?
  3. Where/how do you mount it?
  4. Anyone BT one with their Sena?
  5. Anything else I'm forgetting?

Thanks,
Paul

Edit: Is streaming free (i.e. no charge for the data used) with the app and a paid subscription? Seems I've seem some mention of this but having a hard time confirming.
 
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Blrfl

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What do you use for hardware?

I used to have an old Sportster Replay that I liked because the controls were big and the display was easy to read. That finally died from heat and exposure to the elements. Now I have a Starmate 8. The newer radios run on 5VDC, which means they run cooler, but you have to have an external supply.

What about rain?
I used baggies on the Sportster.

For the Starmate, I bought a cover. The docks for older radios had a locking pin that kept the radio from popping out; the new ones don't and having this velcroed around everything keeps it all together. You do have to make sure all of your cabling has right-angle plugs for everything to fit inside the case, and you have to route them cleverly to get them out the holes in the back.

Where/how do you mount it?
The docks all have four threaded holes on the back. A RAM-B-238 diamond plate will bolt onto a diagonal pair, and then you can use any other RAM parts to mount it that you want. There are dedicated mounts that bolt onto various things, but the RAM stuff is better. Mine's on the RAM ball mounted in front of the clutch reservoir.

--Mark
 

John OoSTerhuis

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I'm a very early adopter of XM Radio. Currently running a Garmin 550 with the XM 'puck.' Plays through my J&M CB2003. Waterproof. If the ST is moving the XM is playing. Have the car mount also and the units transfer easily. The ST mount is the XM cradle to my Mark Reis ST1100 dash shelf. 100,000+ miles of trouble-free, CD quality sounds. So many channels to chose from, playing coast-to-coast.

Edit: I also bought an AC adapter for the Garmin and can bring the units into the house and plug into my home theatre box. I do have to use the XM extension cable and set the puck close to a window.

John
 
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I have SiriusXM in my car, so I just use the app on my bike. I don't really need another monthly radio fee added to my account.
 
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paulcb

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I have SiriusXM in my car, so I just use the app on my bike. I don't really need another monthly radio fee added to my account.
But, that uses data, as much as a MB/min. Doesn't that go against your monthly data allotment? Also, who's your mobile provider?
 
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paulcb

paulcb

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I'm a very early adopter of XM Radio. Currently running a Garmin 550 with the XM 'puck.' Plays through my J&M CB2003. Waterproof. If the ST is moving the XM is playing. Have the car mount also and the units transfer easily. The ST mount is the XM cradle to my Mark Reis ST1100 dash shelf. 100,000+ miles of trouble-free, CD quality sounds. So many channels to chose from, playing coast-to-coast.

Edit: I also bought an AC adapter for the Garmin and can bring the units into the house and plug into my home theatre box. I do have to use the XM extension cable and set the puck close to a window.

John
Thanks John, but I'm a little confused. On your ST, do you get sat radio from your 550 as well as your car unit?
 
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paulcb

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The docks all have four threaded holes on the back. A RAM-B-238 diamond plate will bolt onto a diagonal pair, and then you can use any other RAM parts to mount it that you want. There are dedicated mounts that bolt onto various things, but the RAM stuff is better. Mine's on the RAM ball mounted in front of the clutch reservoir.

--Mark
Thanks Mark. Mounting to the clutch reservoir is a good option for me. Do the buttons work pretty well through the case?
 

John OoSTerhuis

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Thanks John, but I'm a little confused. On your ST, do you get sat radio from your 550 as well as your car unit?
The Garmim 550 gps and the XM 'puck' are designed to work together. The 550 controls the XM input when the puck is plugged into it. The Garmin came with two cradles, one specifically designed for the motorcycle, the other for a car. I remove the gps and XM puck and mount the gps into its cradle on the car dash. The sat radio output is played on my car's radio via a plain 3.5 stereo cable (aux 'source' ). IINM, there are newer Garmin models that have the XM antenna/hardware/software built right into the gps unit.

John
 
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paulcb

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Got it, thanks John.
 

BakerBoy

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....miles of trouble-free, CD quality sounds...
Interesting, Did they change something? 64kbps (XM's highest transmitted bitrate AFAIK) is below CD quality (CD being typically 1,411kbps). Common MP3 and other digital formats are 128kbps, 192kbps, 256k, or even higher. I personally don't hear the difference above 192 kbps, so that's the rate I rip my CD's to MP3 files.

I had XM at one time and did like their few HD channels that were better than 64kbps, but XM didn't provide HD for the channels I liked, and they weren't able to tailor their data stream bitrates for individual users, so I cancelled. Today, I get in rental cars frequently and the tinny low-bitrate sound of Serius XM is a bit putoff for me.

:shrug1:

(Sorry for the hijack Paul)
 

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Do the buttons work pretty well through the case?
The buttons on the Starmate are smaller, but they do "okay."

I haven't found a need to do this yet, but if you wanted to have a bigger area to mash for individual presets, you could put the same channel in pairs of adjacent buttons.

--Mark
 

Blrfl

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Interesting, Did they change something? ... Today, I get in rental cars frequently and the tinny low-bitrate sound of Serius XM is a bit putoff for me.
Same as it ever was. I had a standalone Sirius receiver in my previous car that I used to swap with the bike. My current car has an XM receiver built in and a free, three-month trial. It wasn't until I got around to stuffing a USB stick in the dash that I got over being disappointed with the stereo. :)

The Sirius side of the system has always been technically superior to XM, but XM had a huge marketing head start.

--Mark
 
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But, that uses data, as much as a MB/min. Doesn't that go against your monthly data allotment? Also, who's your mobile provider?
I've got AT&at, and yes it uses my plan data. But I'm on a 15gb family plan and I'm lucky if I use 5gb in a month, so I'm not worried about overages and such. AT&T is actually going to eliminate overage charges, and just throttle the user down to 2G speeds instead.
 

wjbertrand

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I'm considering getting a satellite radio receiver and subscription for use on my motorcycle. I had one in my car back in 2003-2006 but not since then. I considered using my iPhone and their app but it uses too much data for as much as I'll use it, i.e. travel and commuting. There are several existing threads on this but they're pretty old.

So, a few questions...

  1. What do you use for hardware?
  2. What about rain?
  3. Where/how do you mount it?
  4. Anyone BT one with their Sena?
  5. Anything else I'm forgetting?

Thanks,
Paul

Edit: Is streaming free (i.e. no charge for the data used) with the app and a paid subscription? Seems I've seem some mention of this but having a hard time confirming.
1. Zumo 550 with Garmin GXM-30 radio puck. I hardwire feed the output into my Starcom1 Advance audio input via the supplied Starcom1 MUS cable
2. The no worries the Garmin set up is water proof
3. GPS is Ram Mounted to handlebar/top triple clamp. GXM-30 is either on the dash shelf or mounted to an adapter plate that fits behind the GPS cradle.
4. No BT with Senna but I have my iPhone BT linked through the zumo and then hardwired to the Starcom to take and place calls
5. The added XM Navtraffic subscription is handy for weather and traffic alerts.
 
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I use Sirius XM on my bike and it comes thru my IPhone. My wife has Sirius in her car and she also has it for when she is on her computer and that includes the IPhone. I try to ride 200 to 400 miles a week and data charges have never gone over or come close to our limit. I was very concerned about going over. When my wife was in dispute with Sirius about renewal fees and told them it was to expensive, she just turned it off. I had to find another source for radio. Apple has many free radio apps for the IPhone that also do not burn up data. Sirius called her back in about two weeks and offered her the same plan as before. So I now have Sirius and about a dozen other station as backup for my listening.

Remember you can not put the IPhone in a plastic case or cover or a tank bag while the screen is on. The phone will have a heat stroke and will shut down so an open phone mount is a must. And keep a zip lock around for the rain.
 

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Like John Oo, I was a really early XM user. I've still got my old Garmin Streetpilot 2730 and XM puck, fed into my Starcom Advance system. I've moved the system to several different bikes now, from a dash shelf on my '98 ST1100, then to a dash shelf on the VSTrom 1000, and now to a ram handlebar mount on my current ride, the GSX1250FA. On the first two bikes I had the 2730 MC mount screwed to a dash shelf adapter made by Dick Seng, now the same adapter is screwed to a RAM plate. I've actually got two different 2730's, because the screen crapped out on one of them and I bought a second one. When the screen crapped out on that one after several years, I replaced the touch screens on both of them. Good as new now.

So basically the same setup as several others. I transfer the 2730 to my pickup truck and use it when I'm taking trips there because the truck is old and doesn't have an audio input on the sound system, and the 2730 can output on FM frequencies. For my car I have an Onyx car/home receiver which is usually used in my work room at home.
 

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So I have a 550 with the XM30 antenna and it just quit working on my way home from the BRG. I contacted Garmin and they pretty much said too bad. They offered me 20% off a new unit so I asked which ones had Xm of course the only one that did was a 665 which is also obsolete. But the Nav part of the 550 still works. So I am going to try using my phone on my trip to FLSTOC next week. I hope it works if not I will just use the phone for playing mp3's. I do enjoy having music on the bike.
 
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