When you installed your tuners and prior to activation - were you able to tune in to all the different channels unhindered?

I've heard that a lot of tuners on the used market are pre-activated and aren't necessarily cancelled until that contract from the previous owner is over.

And it seems i'm a benefactor of such... but i just need to be sure that this is just not a demo period after installation.

 

my mom's tahoe came with xm, and before being activated she could only pick up like 5 stations, don't know if it's like that when you get an after market reciever or not

 

I had like 4 stations before I activated it and now I have 100 ... Pioneer on Pioneer ...

 

Thanks for the responses guys.

Hmm... odd thing is i have all 100 channels and i haven't even gone through the activation process yet.

 

XM out of the box came with that channel 1 thats about XM subscribing and also has random free stations that you can tune in at no cost.

 

Hey soundmike...You may have bought a unit that has not been turned off yet by the previous owner. I say just enjoy it until the person finally noticed that they havent turned it off yet. My friend bought a open box tuner from Best Buy and it was the same thing. Turns out the tuner was a Best Buy demo tuner that was used for the in store demo. He has had XM for almost 7 months and still hasnt paid. Seems Best Buy is still pickin up the tab. Enjoy your XM man, I have had XM since the day it came out and I love it!

 

i was contimplating wether to get Xm or not is it really worth it and how much a month is it??

-J

 

Nismo, that's what i was expecting - but when i started to channel surf i noticed that every channel worked.

JeremyMarkham, just as i thought. I've read of other instances where ECost was selling a good number of refurbished Sony tuners that apparently had multi-year contracts still in effect. I thought it was too good to be true, but i guess it does happen.

2k2whitemaxi , I live in Houston where there are only 2 main "genre's" on radio - Country Music or a lot of blab from the "DJ's" or advertisers.

Nothing against Country but it's just not my thing, and these days it seems like for every hour of programming, 50 minutes of it is either ads or the DJ's talking out of their heads.

For $9.99 (+tax) i get to choose the type of music i want for as long and as much as i want. There are at least 35 commercial-free channels with XM and that alone is worth the cost to me. The other music channels are "promised" to have not more than 5 minutes of commercials/hour, which is not bad at all.

I also figured, i spend more than $12/mo on a single CD where i probably only like a handful of songs on it. So XM just seems like a better choice.

As far as sound quality goes, i was hesitant at first - but after just one day of listening to XM inside the car my doubts were cleared. It's not CD quality by any chance but the signal and clarity is well above and beyond the strongest FM signal i could ever get here in Houston.

On a sliding scale, here's how i would rate XM.

AM Radio - FM Radio - Tape - XM - CD.

In in my ears i still think Sirius has better sound quality (based on my listening comparisons using same equipment at a local store) but in an automotive environment i doubt i'll even hear that difference given the tremendous amount of ambient and road noise once i start rolling.

 

Btw, i also like how i can have reception even inside the garage

 

Where did you put the antenna?

 

It's a whip-type antenna, placed it on the edge between the roof and the rear glass. I can take pics if anyone's interested to see it

 

please take some pics of your install, I would like to see them. Thanks.

 

soundmike, I'd like to take you up on your offer.