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

Ok, I don't have the RoadyXT "yet", but I do have the Roady2 and originally had the first Roady model. And I have to say that I was most satisfied with both units, and with the XM service in general. There are some people that will NEVER be happy with anything - give 'em $100 and they'll complain that gas costs 1/3 of it. :| So, don't believe the negativity you hear in reviews of this product (e.g., Early Adopter (Denver, CO USA)). From everything I've experienced (I don't own one, but I've used one quite often and will be purchasing one in the next few days), this unit is great. Yes, there are things that are less-than-stellar about it - for example, using the FM transmitter is irritating sometimes, especially if you're travelling interstate and going through town after town. Frequencies will change, thus making you switch the transmitter station. But that isn't uncommon to ANY device using an FM transmitter; so again, don't believe the negativity. The buttons on this unit are small, yes, so having a remote will work much better than trying to use the buttons on the unit itself. But is that so crazy? Your eyes should be on the road, not on the unit for more than 2 secs to see a song title or something to that effect. And the whole notion of having to do some "difficult installation" in your car...you don't. I performed an "installation" in my car, just b/c I didn't want wires hanging about all around the radio. But if you don't mind it, don't think twice about an installation. And if you DO decide to "install" it, there are NUMEROUS places to find out how to remove the radio dash cover long enough to slide wires behind it - www.xmfan.com, www.xm411.com to name a couple; there are countless numbers of people more than happy to help give you advice about using the radio and "installing" it.

So again - if you're just looking for the next gadget to let you down b/c nothing seems to satisfy you, then don't waste your time with the RoadyXT, or waste XM's service reps' time trying to appease or convince you of its worth. If, however, you want a great product and a great service (especially considering the inane garbage free radio offers), then consider this product. I don't think you'll regret it.

Just bought this incredible little gem during the Boxing day sales.What can I say , other than completely outstanding!I live in Miramichi, New Brunswick Canada and the selection of decent radio is non existent. I originally drove to the city Moncton to get to the closest retail store that sells satellite radio...150 Kms away. I installed the unit in my car in the parking lot immediately after purchasing it,(10 mins total) wrote down the activation # and went back into Future Shop to use their computer to activate my service at XM online( I really didn't want to be subjected to the garbage on the radio for the drive home ...all 5 stations worth!. The XM subscription was 12.99 per month which you can buy in quarterly installments if you wish ,so only 40$ for 3 months to start.Normally there is a 15$ one time activation fee,but due to the promotion XM had for its service being available now in Canada finally, it was waived if you activated before Dec 31st.
Regardless, a real pittance compared to what you get!.My service was activated within 10 mins of leaving the store. Well let me tell you ,I was completely blown away by the scope and quality of selection available.I went from Jazz to Rock to Classic radio and BBC news with pristine reception the entire drive home,which I might add seemed more like 30 mins than 90 that it actually takes. I was quite honestly disappointed when I got home that I couldn't continue to explore the stations more ...so of course I sat in my driveway for at least another hour when i pulled in, my neighbours already consider me odd so this wasn't out of the ordinary I guess.
Anyway after getting inside and reading the instruction manual I only then noticed that there was a home docking kit for the Roady as well. Needless to say I phoned Future Shop back and asked if there were any in stock, the salesperson said there were only 2 left til mid Jan, he was instructed to hold onto 1 until the next morning under penalty of death.I drove back again the next morning to pick it up. The built in FM transmitter is incredible!!! I just plug the Roady onto its cradle, tune in the antenna, set the roady freq to 88.3 or whatever unused freq there might be and bang, perfect reception and clarity coming from every stereo in the house! At first I assumed the Roady would have to be within inches or feet of the receiver for it to pick up, I then went to the kitchen and turned on the stereo there, voila again perfect. The bedroom , the basement gym and then the unattached garage all perfect. By this time I was beyond impressed ,but of course I am always curious to see the limitations of my toys.Next experiment was to get in my car and tune the car stereo to 88.3 ,about a block away I finally lost the reception.I even screwed with my uncles head who lives 5 houses over, I told him to turn on and tune in his stereo to the same, then asked him to pick whatever genre of music he wanted and I would make it play from his stereo..It was pretty funny after I switched through 4 different satellite stations to his exact requests. Anyway in closing it is fantastic, don't even consider buying without the home kit as it is pretty dumb to pay 13$ a month only to have in the car. Anyone who writes in saying they are unsatisfied with it is probably fairly dim to begin with and is not calibrating the antenna or unit properly. P.s I realize on the website that the home antenna should be placed in a window with a southern exposure for optimal reception , but oddly enough out here at least it appears to be west for me..it has a signal strength bar level built in that shows you how good your signal is as you move the antenna around.. so it really is idiot proof...just be patient with getting the signal for a minute or 2 then no problem.

[...]No annoying DJs or commercials or the same crappy six songs played every hour like on most commercial airwaves radio stations. XM brings deeper cuts and much longer playlists. We're discovering songs and artists we'd never hear in the marketing driven soulless commercial world monopolized by Cox and Clearchannel owning most the markets ramming the same stupid songs only a troglodyte would enjoy.

But hey, this is a review of the actual Delphi roady. First Amazon's end of things was seemless and perfect as ever, that's why Amazon is far and away the best shopping experience of any online store, hands down. When we got the unit we couldn't believe something so small (easily fits in my hand) could be that feature packed. Setting it up, as others have mentioned, is a bit frustrating through XM's automated system but 15 minutes later we were activated and listening to many channels of great varied music.

It should be noted we bought the home kit for the stereo, which was the first experience, that sounds great and made our tuner obsolete instantly, other than NPR there's nothing to listen to on conventional radio anyways. The car set up was rather effortless but like others point out mouting the antenna is a pain. It's not as big a deal as some reviewers made out though. We simply ran the wire down to the floorboards, under the seats to the back, up the rear piller and put the little manget end on the roof closing the wire in the rubber gasket to the liftgate to the RAV4. Viola. Music to go!

At first it's a bit intoxicating with all the channels making it hard to drive trying to see "oh, who's this, wow they're good" but over time you get better at glancing from the road to the display. It's a small unit so the buttons are a bit small but very easy to press and use even with bigger fingers. The only gripe, and it's not worth removing a star at all, is the display can't show you the station, the artist, and the song all at the same time. Your only options are artist and song, station and song, or station and artist. So if you're on a station and want to find out what great song you're listening to you have to reach over and hit the "Disp"(lay) button, it's an extra step. Other than that it's a very readable display with a bunch of choices in color illumination.

This is a great unit, highly recommended, as is XM. Ditch your normal radio and open your ears, XM rules!

My husband gave me this Roady for a Christmas present last year, and I have enjoyed it so much that I'm buying one for my mother-in-law for Christmas this year!

I'd say the set-up is easy. Here's how it works ... the Roady has an antenna (flat, rectangular, magnetic) that receives the XM signal. You place it physically close in proximity to your car antenna on the body of your car and the XM signal is transmitted to the car antenna and through your FM radio. All you have to do is coordinate the receiver and your radio to the same station. Setup this way takes 5 minutes or less. Another option is to have the Roady professionally installed (hardwired) into your car. Next, you call XM to set up your subscription, and about an hour later the receiver is picking up the XM signal and you're good to go.

Reception is super, even in the rural south where cell phone signals are poor! I drive 2 hours a day between home and work and always run out of a station's coverage area. It is so great to be able to listen to a station or show for the entire commute. And there is wide variety of programming ... something for everyone ... pop, alternative, country, christian, latin, classical, jazz, broadway, oldies, tons of news/sports/weather channels, even comedy.

I would definitely recommend this product! There's just a couple of reasons I rated the Roady 4 stars instead of 5. All the wires connecting to the receiver are messy, cumbersome, and tend to tangle. And I didn't like the mounting options either. You can clip the receiver to the car's air vents, but it totally blocks the flow of air. The alternative is mounting with double-sided tape. The performance more than makes up for these minor irritants; I love my Roady and am sure you will too!

The RoadyXT was very easy to install, is easy to use and has greatly improved the daily commute. I installed the magnetic antenna on the roof near the passenger side front corner so that it would be as close as possible to my antenna. It took a few hours to get the antenna wired (through the door seal, along the dashboard) but is well worth the effort.

A quick way to find a good station to use for the built-in FM transmitter is your stereo's scan function; watch for the biggest gap and choose a frequency in the middle of that gap. The sound quality is as good as FM.