originalstarlit

Well, you guys shamed me into it. When my dealer had installed the standard XM antenna, I did not love it, but you made me hate it. So I talked them into installing the new mini Terk that I would supply. Here are the before and after photos on page 3 & 4.

Comments?

new http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/616176/4
old http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/616176/3

bigcozz

Hey the Mini Terk is nice do you know if there are any onglass that work? if not do you think it was a tough install and would you reccomend it. I just ordered the kit from nissan and i wanted to see if it would work with an on glass. If not i might get the TERK like you. How much did the dealer charge to put it in.

originalstarlit

The dealer did the swap free of charge for I complained of the install of the older antenna. It had the flat conduit strap that would not stay properly tucked under the weaterstrip of the window.

The installation of the mini was a snap for them for my XM receiver is under the rear deck, accessible by removing just one piece of trim in the trunk. One thing that was missing from my original purchase was the SP adapter that is needed for any receiver with duel inputs (the mini is singular). When they were done with the swap, it did not work and a call to the Terk hotline yielded the bad news. The adapter costs as much as the antenna!!!

Rather than going back with the last piece, I put it on myself. (5 minutes) Since that is all I did, I cannot judge the difficulty of the wire run. By the way, a glass mount is not needed to avoid drilling; the mini is magnetic (very magnetic).

The reception with the mini is just as good if not better than the old Clarion. I personally think it is the most attractive antenna on the road at this time.

jrussell915

I guess I'm one of the few that really don't mind the look of the standard XM antenna.

What I would like better is the "shark fin" look of some of the Saabs' and Audis' antennas.

Spunko

much, much better looking... no more bulk.

bigcozz, i have this mini also and installed it myself. it's a snap, as it is magnetic and just clanks right on to the roof. running the wire is a bit tedious, but when you get a good system going, it goes quick. i used a putty knife to hold back the rubber seal and a large paperclip to shove the wire down in there. took me about 15 - 20 minutes to do it. the hardest part was pulling off the plastic trim running down the left side of the rear window. i was scared i was going to break it when pulling it off, but it holds up fine.

bigcozz

I just found out that the new nissan kit come with the mini in the box so my dealer says....... I will see when i pick up tommorow. RUSSS I agree i love the BMW sharkfin look.

viguera

iTrader: (1)

Where are you picking it up from and who's doing your setup? I'm thinking of adding XM to my car and I'd rather have a pro do it -- unless they want an arm and a leg...

BTW, I have an XM Roady in my other car, and the mini antenna that came with it works just great on the rear deck inside the car... no reception problems at all. I would assume you can get better reception outside of the car, but if I can avoid having the thing out there, I'll go for that instead.

Has anybody tried mounting the antenna inside the car on the back shelf instead of on the roof?

04SEelite

I have a Roady in my Elite, and a Roady2 in my wife's '03 Altima SE, both with the antenna on the back deck - reception is great! XM staff told me that as long as the antenna has a 45degree view to the sky from all angles (in Nebraska - could be different where you are as the XM satellites are stationary) that it should be OK to mount inside.

viguera

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the info... when I get around to getting the XM tuner for the Maxima I'll put the antenna on the rear deck... it's a lot simpler to install, that's for sure.

bigcozz

I will definately try the rear deck first to see how the quality. As for the install I will have my friend at the car stereo place wher i did my TVs dvd etc do the install with the nissan directions. I will probablly have it installed by next week can wait to see how it works.

viguera

iTrader: (1)

Cool... let me know. Where did you get the parts anyway? I've seen a couple of places with the tuner varying from $299 to $380.

Let me know how it works out with the install and if you have some pictures. If your friend does out-of-shop work or you want to recommend him after your install, let me know and I'll go check him out when I'm ready to get mine done.

HypeMaker

I want to get XM, but my car doesnt have the prewire cable. Where do i go to find that? I dont want to have to go through my dealer but i guess i will have to if there arent any other places that sell it.

bigcozz

I got my XM kit and installed it in about 30 minutes I have the se Elite so i just slapped the box in hooked up the three sets of cable ( DIN, HARNESS, Ant) I then neatly positioned the ant in my rear deck grounded the XM tuner box to the body of the car and turned the badboy on. I called up XM and got my three free months. I really like the programming but I am a little dissapointed with the display options. You hae to push theradio controll button to display the artist. And you cant even display the track. Anyone know how to make it work like the regular radio when RDS is on and the track and title scroll? Let me know otherwise I give XM an A+ so far becaus ethere is great variety and alot of uncensored stuff. I cant wait for O&A to come on this fall. I will keep you posted as far as signal in upstate NY thise weekend when i go on a 200 mile drive.

originalstarlit

I'm not sure what you mean by no track displayed. That term to me is for CD playback; can you elaborate?
My XM is set to default to the name of the station. If I push the control button, it will then display the name of the station on line one, artist on two, and title of song on three. Of coursre there is the 10 character limit.

viguera

iTrader: (1)

Excellent. How much did the tuner cost and do you have any pictures of the setup? I was planning to have someone else do it for me, but if it's that easy then I might try and swing it myself...

That's one of the things that I like about the Roady... you can have station & song, or station & artist, or artist & song display on the same screen, plus it has a bunch of presets plus the ability to save songs and notify you when they come on. It sounds like the Max XM tuner does a good job of integrating into the head unit, but as far as options it's a pretty basic one. Kind of sucks considering how much they're asking for it...

bigcozz

Origional where do you get three line? I only have 1 line on my se elite with NAVI..... What do you have running

originalstarlit

Bigcozz, I'm an SL without Navi but with the Bose system. My display defaults to one line in Sat mode everytime I turn it on. This one line is customizable from the standand XM station number. I choose to have this one line name the station. Example, The 70's.

After the station has loaded, if you push the tune/channel **** on the right just once, it will show the optional three lines I spoke about. (Pushing the **** too early will enter into sound adjustment mode.) The display will not stay in this 3 line mode which is annoying. As soon as the radio is tuned off, it goes back to default.