Need quick help! - Sirius question

[Flyboy909]

Ok, so I'm leaving on a mini tour this Thurs and yesterday while stowing my Sirius Starmate ST1, I dropped it and...

So trying to replace it quickely, locally is becoming a bit of a problem. What I'm looking for is another Starmate or the Streamer GT, which is the same radio. These have the flip up/down toggle channel selector which I find very handy with gloves on. These radios also have volume up/down buttons on the side. I can get one online, but not in time.

I use a standard RAM ball mount attached to the mounting clip that comes with the radio (it has the standard RAM hole pattern in it already).

Do any of the current crop of Sirius radios I'm likely to find at the local box store have ...
1) easily accessible volume (buttons)
2) a mounting plate I can attach the RAM ball to. The new ones seem to all use the docking thing which won't work for me.

Thanks for any info...

 

[PizzaHog]

WalMart? RadioShack? CircuitCity? They carry Sirius, but I don't know if they carry the model you're looking for.

PH

 

[Flyboy909]

What I'm afraid when I go out tonight to scout around is that what I'll find will all be packaged or shrinkwrapped, and I will not be about to look at the back for mounting info, or how the volume works. I tried researching for specs but can't find this info.

 

[Blrfl]

As far as I know, the ST1/SGT is the only radio Sirius has ever made with an external volume control. Everything since has had a setting in one of the menus to adjust the level. I've had my Sportster Replay plugged into my Autocom for the last year and have only ever needed to adjust the volume once. If I want silence, I hit the pause button or shut it off.

Everything Sirius makes has the AMPS hole pattern on the back, although on a lot of models it's rotated 90 degrees and some mounting plates will block the connectors on cradle-based models. I don't know if they've fixed that problem yet.

--Mark

 

[Maura]

I had the same problem, and discovered the great little original starmate is not available, and the alternatives are inferior for MC use. The starmate accepted 12 v direct, all the others seem to need an inversion to 5 v, and now all models require docking station. The original starmate was very easy to operate on a bike.

I abandoned the ram mount, and mounted the new radio and docking station under the dash shelf with the mount provided, on the left side. I put the excess wire of the antenna under the cowl. I got the stratus, because it was the cheapest.

Maura

 

[Blrfl]

I had the same problem, and discovered the great little original starmate is not available, and the alternatives are inferior for MC use.

I originally intended to mount my ST1 on the bike but decided I wasn't going to like the repeated connect/disconnect cycles on the connectors when I moved it to the thing with too many wheels. (Now it does full-time duty in my wife's car.)

The starmate accepted 12 v direct, all the others seem to need an inversion to 5 v...

Everything prior to the third-generation Starmate/Sportster ran on 12V and converted to 5V internally. The result is a lot of heat, which makes keeping the radios covered in the rain a bit of a problem. That said, my Sportster Replay hasn't died of it yet, but the display does become hard to read at higher temperatures.

BTW, these guys have Streamer GTs for sale darn near free. I've bought accessories from them and thety were great.

Seriously, if you have to change radios try the Sportster Replay. Mine's very easy to operate with gloves on.

--Mark

 

[Blrfl]

I think I will be upgrading over the winter to the Stratus receiver. It does require the universal dock, but that meets my needs.

Do let us know how that works out from a mechanical standpoint. I haven't seen any of the new universal dock radios up close and am curious how well the dock supports the radio. On the older ones, I liked the idea that the radio had dock on three sides.

--Mark

 

[PizzaHog]

I originally intended to mount my ST1 on the bike but decided I wasn't going to like the repeated connect/disconnect cycles on the connectors when I moved it to the thing with too many wheels. (Now it does full-time duty in my wife's car.)



Everything prior to the third-generation Starmate/Sportster ran on 12V and converted to 5V internally. The result is a lot of heat, which makes keeping the radios covered in the rain a bit of a problem. That said, my Sportster Replay hasn't died of it yet, but the display does become hard to read at higher temperatures.

BTW, these guys have Streamer GTs for sale darn near free. I've bought accessories from them and thety were great.

Seriously, if you have to change radios try the Sportster Replay. Mine's very easy to operate with gloves on.

--Mark

I just purchased a Streamer GT at the link blrfl posted. Came out to ~$40 after shipping.

Having pr w/the $20 rebate link - but it's still pretty cheap.

I'll post as things develop...

 

[Flyboy909]

Flyboy... please let us know what you have done to solve your problem. We have hijacked your thread a little.

I had actually bought a Streamer GT from the link Mark listed a few weeks ago for my wife's BMW...wish I had known, would of ordered 2.

I went all over locally last night...not surprising, I wasn't able to find one. I talked to a salesman at bestbuy about the docking cradle and his opinion was that it wasn't robust enough for motorcycle use, he said there was just 2 little plastic clips that held in the radio. If anyone can dispute this and is using the cradle on a bike - let us know.

My not so elegant solution - what I want is the Streamer gt...cheap, I have the mounts already, and works well on the bike. Since I couldn't get one delivered by tomorrow, I bought a INv at wallyworld for $28. The back clip from my broken starmate with the ram ball attached just happens to fit the width of the INv perfectly, but doesnt clip to anything. I used 2 plastic wire ties to secure the radio to the clip. Power is from the accessory plug inside my left pocket, so that changes out easily. If it works well maybe I'll try to fashion a better mount, if not I'll return it when we get back next Monday and order the Streamer.