Home > Consumer Reviews > Delphi SA10035 Roady XM Satellite Radio Receiver

First of let me state that I have been seriously considering XM radio for about a year and a half now.

When I first started researching the service I was put off by the high entry level costs just to get going. By that I am referring to the Tuner... the Main CD/Radio player..antenna installation etc. By the time I was finished adding everything up I was looking at about 800 to 900 dollars.

So I just stopped thinking about it until last November when Delphi released the Roady their all in one receiver. Let me tell you, this little silver bullet is everything and more than I expected.

It comes packaged with everything you need to have XM radio up and running in literally minutes. The package includes a cassette adapter for those of you that have that seldom used device in your car or truck.

For those of you who can't utilize that feature you can use a FM wireless adapter that is included for free currently through July 2004 through many retailers.

The sound quality for the Roady will vary depending on which method you choose for connecting. There are four ways of connecting this to your system the first being the best and so on.

1. Direct Connect--Will require you purchasing an adapter cable a PIE cable or Blitzsafe cable, if your head unit has an AUX input. Most newer cars have an aux or cd changer input. My Toyota has one and the cable can be had online for about $70.00

2.Cassette Adapter-- Sound quality is very good just a bit below Direct Connect in my honest opinion

3.FM Modulator-- Good sound

4.Wireless FM Modulator Good sound as well may be better in some areas than others

The portability of the unit is another big selling point to me on this item. I purchased through www.xmradio.com a home kit which comes with an antenna, power supply, stand,RCA cables, for $28.00 delivered.

The only reason I am giving it 4 stars instead of 5 is the connectors and connector location on the side of the unit. I take my in and out of my car frequently and the connectors seem a bit flimsy, although in all fairnesss I have had no problems yet.

My costs incurred are less than $150.00 for home/car so that to me equals an unbelievable value.

When you get right down to it it is a no brainer..... this unit is the best bang for the buck out there right now for Satellite Radio.

The radio is pretty slick - albeit I had to swap it once due to the first unit being defective.

However - beware. The free wireless adapter that XM.com advertises is not honored by amazon.com. You're supposed to get it "instantly" with a purchase at most retailers (both brick and mortar and online). Amazon doesn't ship it and there's no form to fill out on the site to get it by mail-in. SO, while the price is attractive at amazon, you need to weigh the fact that you're not getting the $30 freebie that you can get by going somewhere else. The savings don't make up for the omission.

My wife bought the Roady for me for my birthday in anticipation of a three-week motorcycle tour through the West.
I had it installed by Sean Franklin of Cyclegadgets.com, using a Hoon mounting bracket that secures the Roady to the top of the brake fluid reservoir on the right side of the handlebars of my '03 BMW K1200GT. The mount has a little platform where the magnetic-based antenna sits and the power source is hard-wired into the bike's accessory plug.
I use custom molded in-ear monitors made for me by an audiologist, so they deliver stereo sound while acting as earplugs to block much of the external wind noise.
Sean initially thought I would need to run the Roady signal through a radio or a Boostaroo amplifier. However, when I plugged my in-ear monitors into the Roady I was surprised to discover the signal was actually a bit too loud. As a consequence, I'm running an in-line volume control between the Roady and the monitors to back the volume off a bit. You can also use the "menu" button to access an output volume control.
I'm writing this from a friend's home in Alma, Colo., some 10,680 feet above sea level, having spent two days on the road from my home in Indiana.
I've made this ride many times, but this was the most pleasant ever, thanks to the Roady and XM satellite radio. The best way I can think of to describe the sound quality is "ear candy." The traffic/weather channel for St. Louis helped me avoid delays and the incredibly diverse music and talk offerings kept me from being bored at any point during the 1,300-mile journey.
The Weather Channel forecasts were especially nice to have, since weather is a major issue for long-haul motorcycle touring.
At my age (59 next week), I need reading glasses for close-in small reading, but I found the Roady display was quite easy to read without my glasses. Likewise, the controls are easy to work with a gloved hand.
(The unit comes with three sets of decorative trim - red, blue and silver faceplates and edging. I found the edging wouldn't stay put and interfered with my operation of the channel selector knob in the upper right corner of the unit, so I removed the edging.)
Cyclegadgets.com also has a rain cover for the Roady. Also, the unit is easy to unplug and stow in a tank bag, saddlebag or pocket if you're worried about rain or theft while you're away from the bike.
I expected to lose the satellite signal coming up U.S. 24 through the canyons from Colorado Springs, but it never faltered. About the only time I dropped the signal was under a gas station awning.
During the few pre-trip days that I had the Roady, I used it in the car and my wife immediately became an XM convert, so I expect there's another Roady in our future once I return home. Fortunately, XM has a family plan that lets you add units to your account for an additional $6.99/unit instead of the base monthly rate of $9.99.
The Roady is more compact than the Delphi SkyFi and way smaller than the Sirius receiver I watched a mechanic install on a Gold Wing.
Prior to the Roady, I'd used a Sony MiniDisc player with several hours of MP3 music I recorded from my collection. I ended up carring the player and maybe 20 discs, which took up a lot of space in my tank bag. I left that all behind on this trip.
XM gives me access to a nearly infinite variety of music, including a lot of new stuff I would never hear otherwise.
So, if you're a touring motorcyclist looking for a way to ease the tedium of hours on the superslab, the Roady may be the answer for you too.
***********************************************
July 27, 2004:
I just returned from my 6,000-mile motorcycle ride through the West and have some observations to add.
I got caught in a rainstorm in southern Idaho and couldn't pull over before the Roady got a little wet. The moisture caused the buttons to stop working. The good news is that once I got beyond the rain into hot, dry desert air, it dried out quickly and returned to normal functioning with no apparent ill effects.
Loss of signal was very rare - sometimes when a large semitrailer truck was close enough to block the line-of-sight angle to the satellite and when in a deep canyon or a tunnel. (I missed a couple of minutes of the long version of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida while going through Glenwood Canyon and its tunnel system on I-70.)
Among the details I found useful was the "tune select" feature: When you hear a song you think you'd like to hear again, you can select it by pressing the little wheel in the upper right corner. That puts it into memory and the next time it's played on any of the music channels, the unit will beep and ask if you want to switch to that channel. You can ignore it, or press the wheel to go hear your song.
If you hear a new song that you'd like to know more about later, press the "memory" button and it will memorize the artist and title - a handy feature since it's kinda dangerous to be scribbling notes on a motorcycle at 70 mph.
The original Roady is being blown out at discount prices now, since the Roady2 is coming out. The units are physically identical - the only difference I can discern from the promotional material is:
1. The Roady2 has an built-in FM modulator that puts out a signal your car radio can receive, eliminating the need for a separate modulator. Even so, hardwiring or the cassette adaptor deliver better results, and
2. The Roady2 has a personalized stock ticker that will display up to 20 stock quotes.
Those features are pretty much irrelevant to the way I use the Roady, but you might find one or both worth waiting for the Roady2.

This is a great system. My wife installed XM in her car, and I was so envious I went out and purchaced a Roady. The second XM subscription was less expensive on XM's family plan. I'm looking for excuses to go for rides in my car so I can listen to the XM.

(Note to the reviewer who only gets five stations--you need to subscribe before you receive all 200. Otherwise you get a random sample every time you turn the radio on.)

This is a great product. I have been using the Roady for about a week. Great price, easy to install, free FM modulator, and now a home kit is avilable at XMradio.com.

I wasn't sure if XM was worthwhile, but the low cost of the Roady convinced me to try the service. I love it. I should have done this much sooner.