Is skyfi3 XM any good?

mcf57

Member
Dec 5, 2008
174
1
18
I own several SIRIUS radios, but am possibly interested in the skyfi3 XM unit (for a lifetime sub) since it appears to have an AUX port on it (in car cradle) that I am mainly interested in. It would be my first XM radio & I see that it has several other features I am interested in; compact, pause/RW/FF features, recording and internal storage for my own collection. Few questions about it though:

  • How has the reliability of these units been? Or is it pretty new to really know just yet?
  • Is the FM transmitter any good or is one of those weak post FCC mandate type ones?
  • Can a home adapter/cradle of some kind be purchased for this model somehow?
  • Is this one also 'best of SIRIUS' compatible?
  • Does it have the 'sport ticker' feature I have seen on some other XM units?
 

Smort

New Member
Nov 6, 2008
6
0
1
I own several SIRIUS radios, but am possibly interested in the skyfi3 XM unit (for a lifetime sub) since it appears to have an AUX port on it (in car cradle) that I am mainly interested in. It would be my first XM radio & I see that it has several other features I am interested in; compact, pause/RW/FF features, recording and internal storage for my own collection. Few questions about it though:

  • How has the reliability of these units been? Or is it pretty new to really know just yet?
  • Is the FM transmitter any good or is one of those weak post FCC mandate type ones?
  • Can a home adapter/cradle of some kind be purchased for this model somehow?
  • Is this one also 'best of SIRIUS' compatible?
  • Does it have the 'sport ticker' feature I have seen on some other XM units?

Is the SkyFi3 any good? Yes, it's good, but not great.

How was the reliability? It would lock up 2-3 times a week, requiring a reboot. Annoying but not fatal. Also, the SkyFi3 has been out 2 or 3 years, so it's not new. I stopped using mine about a year ago.

I didn't really try the FM transmitter since I used my radio AUX jack, but I understand it's not the good one.

A home cradle is available. I found a few online sites that offered them.

It is Best of Sirius compatible because ALL XM radios are.

Sports Ticker and Stock Ticker available.

FYI, the internal storage is pretty meager, but there's a slot in the top to add your own mini SD card. That helps, but it slows down start up because it scans it EVERY TIME.

Over all I give it 3 stars out of 5.

I hope this helps.
 

mcf57

Member
Dec 5, 2008
174
1
18
How much is the SD card capacity capable of? I have a 8GB one, but maybe that is too large for an older model like this? I use it in a Sansa mp3 player, but only with modified firmware (Rockbox) and wonder if its the same here with the SkyFi3