Home > Consumer Reviews > XACT COMMUNICATIONS XTR3CK Sirius Satellite Plug + Play Receiver and Vehicle Kit

I bought mine 1/8/06 (Bestbuy, $29.95 on sale) and also bought the home kit at the same time ($49.95). Got home, went to the Sirius website, signed up for service and had the sweet sounds of their programming in my home all within 30 minutes.

I opted to utilize the built-in FM transmitter to link to my home theater receiver, and was satisfied with the sound quality. I got lucky with my antenna placement because the window closest to my stereo faces North-West, exactly where it needs to be for reception at my Florida location.

Running the antenna in my car was a bit of a pain, but it was worth the hour I spent installing it. Again, I use the FM link to listen in my car.

As for user features, I must confess to being one of those lazy people that learns a few favorite channels, then uses the remote to directly access them. Over time I may actually read the manual and program the pre-sets.

Overall, I'm very satisfied. The unit fits in my shirt pocket, and I use it every day. I don't understand some of the complaints from the other owners. All I know is that I wanted a cheap unit to listen to Howard in my car & home, and the XTR3CK with the XS052 home kit got it done for $80.00. The bonus of all the rest of the great Sirius music & programming lets me easily justify the monthly subscription.

The pros:
Price - I got the receiver with home kit bundled together for approx $80 at Sam's Club.
Simple - this thing is quite easy to set up.
Pre sets - setting pre-set channels is very easy on this unit. I didn't read the instructions on how to do this ... and I was still able to figure this out ... it was that easy. If I'm not mistaken, you can pre-set up to 30 channels.

The cons:
Display - on sunny day, it can sometimes be difficult to see the display if you have the unit sitting on your dashboard.
Tuner - the rotary dial is very easy and intuitive to use (works like an old time radio) but as another reviewer stated, it's a pain in the rear end to go from a low numbered channel to a high numbered channel manually. Solution? Use the pre-sets!

Summary - I've had this thing set up for about three months now and haven't had any problems. Sound is good - if you use the built in FM transmitter, be sure to choose a channel that is truly not being used. The factory preset is to 88.1FM ... even if there is an existing weak signal on this frequency in your area, choose something else. Once I figured out this 'trick,' sound quality improved dramatically and is now crystal clear.

Well, For those who have had bad luck with the unit, I hope after writing this review, their gremlins don't come to haunt me.

I have owned the unit for a week. Not long I know. I purchased the home kit at the same time as the car unit.

First, The unit is easy to use and the buttons have a very positive actuation point. Not sloppy. Sound quality through the FM tuner to the car stereo is ample for most of us. Directions for use could be better but, like most electronics......... there just seems to be something lost in translation. The car antenna is good and I have not had any dropped signals. As for the home antenna, it should be positioned outside or to the south side of the house near a window seems to work better.

Overall, for the price, a good entry level unit into satellite radio.

The dial on the side, to scroll through the channels at first, I liked. Then, it became cumbersome to flip through 40 channels to get to the kids Disney channel from NPR News. That's what presets are for! The credit card size remote is a cool gadget best left for home use out of the car.

Actually set up the home unit first to actuate the subscription. Yes, this is a subscription service. If you don't know that prior to purchasing ANY radio of this type you shouldn't likely be driving!

I most likely will upgrade to a boom box in the summer.

Super easy to install and use. I was set up with Sirius within 5 minutes of plugging it in.

The kit includes everything you need to do a self-install. Comes with suction cups as well as adhesives for optional unit mounting. The antenna is magnetic and it comes with a weatherguard for any exposed wires. It also has a built in FM transmitter selectable from 87.9 to 107.9 FM MHz range to avoid interference.

Also, the display text flips with a click of a button so you can mount it upsidedown.

I would definately recommend this for its ease-of-use and a low cost.

I did a head to head compaarison with the Sirius Sportster.
The Xact Visor is an inexpensive unit,and is now available at Wal-Mart for $29.00 but has some great qualities.
First in the car,the visor was better at reception than the other unit,and this is with the antenna sitting on the dash only,you will always get some dropouts when going under a bridge,etc but this is normal.
Second,I purchased the boom box for the visor,it is a nice unit itself,and it is sitting in the middle of the living room,with the antenna attached to the back of the box,and working great.
Another Big difference i found is the FM Transmitter,in the Visor it is Awesome,and strong.
In the car it helps overcome interference where the other unit does not.
In the house,i can turn on the Stereo,in the living room,and the radio in the kitchen,and the boom box in the bedroom,and they all pick up the signal from the Xact sitting in the Living room.
Wanted to share my experience from a direct comparison...