I recently bought the XM portable satellite radio on a trial (14 day) basis. I am not really a "tech" guy and don't have a lot of gadgets. I wanted to try this cause I thought it would be good for the baseball playoffs as well as being able to use it for my approximately one hour commute each way to Chicago for work. Anyway, after about 10 days I realized I had made a big mistake and, fortunately, returned it for a full refund. The problems:
- It is way too big and bulky for just carrying it around like I wanted to. Also, in order to use it you need to have a rather large antenna hooked up and clipped onto your person. This adds to the bulkiness; it looks pretty goofy; and between the antenna wire and the wires for the headphones everything gets all tangled. It is not a very organized way to travel.
- The directions said that the battery life is about 5 to 6 hours (I think). This cannot be true. The few times I took it on the train with me (max 70 minutes of usage time each way)the battery would give out at the end of the day during my commute home. Again, I admittedly am not an expert in these things, but I believe that I was following the directions correctly.
- The satellite feed would cut out from time to time. It is quite frustrating to be listening to a song or game and just have it go dead. Then you feel like an idiot taking your antenna and moving it around hoping to get the feed again.
It did work well when I just had it in one spot (i.e. in my house or at my desk working) but it is really not very practical as a portable device. I enjoyed the XM stations, but until this technology improves significantly, I would not spend my money on this product.
