Delphi's SkyFi2: Even More Music to Shake Sticks At! [Archive]

Neil Enns

02-15-2005, 06:00 PM

<img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/media/users/303/neile_jan_18_skyfi_angle.jpg" /> Product Category: Audio Manufacturer: Delphi Service Provider: <a href="http://www.xmradio.com/">XM Radio</a> Where to Buy: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0006JJNXU/jasondunn-20">Amazon.com</a> Price: $126.00 USD for the SkyFi2, $69.95 for car kit, $9.95 activation fee, and $9.95/month for service System Requirements: An additional home or car kit (or both), and subscription to XM satellite radio service Pros:<li>30 minute buffer for quick replay of music; <li>TuneSelect helps you find your favourite songs; <li>The screen is much, much, much better.Cons:<li>TuneSelect has some quirks; <li>Some little changes from the previous version are annoying to existing users.Summary: Back in September I posted <a href="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/articles.php?action=expand,6032">a review</a> of the Delphi SkyFi unit for XM Satellite Radio. It quickly became the workhorse for audio in my car while driving around, and pretty much put an end to my listening to FM radio. Since then Delphi's released version two of the unit, the SkyFi2. Is the new unit worth an upgrade for existing users? Do its nifty new features like a 30 minute song buffer work well, or are they just flashy add-ons? Read the rest of this review to find out!<!> <PAGEBREAK> Overview The SkyFi2 is, as its name suggests, the next version of the original SkyFi unit from Delphi. They've kept the same shape and roughly the same size, and all previous SkyFi accessories are compatible with the new unit. This was handy for me as I was able to re-use all the existing wiring I'd tucked into my car for the original unit. <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/media/users/303/neile_jan_18_skyfi_screen.jpg" /> Figure 1: The new screen at night. It's no longer orange to match my car, but you sure can see the display clearly! Even though the size is roughly the same, Delphi's managed to cram in a bunch of new features. Most notable are a vastly improved display (you can finally see it in the sun, which was a major problem with the original SkyFi), the addition of a 30 minute buffer, and an integrated FM transmitter. Along with the major new features are a host of other little changes, like an additional 10 presets, stock quotes and sports scores, TuneSelect, and channel scan. It Ain't TiVo, But It's Still Useful I've read several blurbs online that describe the 30 minute buffer as "TiVo" functionality. This isn't exactly accurate. A TiVo searches out for your favourite shows and tapes them behind the scenes so you always have a long list of programming at the ready. The 30 minute buffer in the SkyFi2 is just that: a buffer. It spools whatever you're actively listening to in the background, much like a TiVo spools live TV. It doesn't seek out stuff you like (or might like) and queue it up in the background from other channels. Along with the buffer are three new buttons that allow you to skip backwards song-by-song, pause, and skip forward. Note the "song-by-song" comment: because XM radio broadcasts all the song information along with the audio stream you don't have to "rewind" to find the start of a specific song you heard. Instead you just whack the "back" button and jump back one song at a time until you find the one you're looking for. When I first installed the SkyFi2 I figured the buffer was nothing more than a gimmick. I really couldn't see why it would be useful when it didn't look around in the background for other stuff to record. I was doubly-doubtful when I discovered the buffer is cleared every time the unit is turned off (i.e. every time I turn the car off). But over the course of a couple of months I was pleasantly surprised: I use the back and pause features quite a bit. Sometimes my wife and I will start chatting and a song will come on that I want to hear. I just whack pause and we can have our conversation, and then listen later. More often though a Kelly Clarkson song comes on and I want to hear it more than once. When the song's over I just hit back and voila: instant repeat (much to my wife's dismay!). <PAGEBREAK> Keeping Tabs on Your Favourite Tunes Another big new feature in the SkyFi2 is the addition of TuneSelect. It lets you store a list of up to 20 artists or song titles, and then actively scans across all the channels for that music. When it finds one a soft beep is played, the song's information is displayed on screen, and you can press the big "XM" button to instantly jump to the song. This is a nice way to keep tabs on your favourite artists, especially when they play on multiple channels. For example, my wife has Paul Simon in the list and the SkyFi2 will often find deep cuts playing on channels that aren't in our normal preset list. While the TuneSelect feature is nifty, it has a few quirks that prevent it from being perfect. The biggest issue is that it doesn't consistently find songs. I will often be flipping around my preset list and come across one of my TuneSelect artists on the air, but the SkyFi2 didn't notify me. The other problem is that the beep that alerts you to a new song doesn't play through the line out. Instead, it comes directly from the unit. This means if you have a song playing really loud (for example, <a href="http://media.bmgonline.com/rcarecords.com/kelly_clarkson/video/since_u_been_gone_300.asx">Since You've Been Gone</a> by <a href="http://www.kellyclarksonweb.com/">Ms Clarkson </a>) you'll miss the beep. The last big issue with TuneSelect is how you add songs to the list. Actually adding the artist/song is very easy: when a song or artist you like is playing you press and hold the big "XM" button for two seconds. But at this point you have no way to select whether the artist name or song name is added. You actually have to set this preference beforehand deep in the menu, which pretty much limits you to adding by artist or by song, but not both. When you're driving around it's simply too hard to dig into the menu to change between the two methods and add the song. <PAGEBREAK> Other Odds and Ends The SkyFi2 has a host of other little changes that are a blessing or a curse, depending on the change. The addition of an integrated FM transmitter is useful for people who don't have another way to get the audio into their car stereo. I have a line in on my car, but when we were back home for Christmas I used the SkyFi2 in our rental car and the transmitter worked great. In the menu I selected an FM frequency that was free on the local airwaves, and the audio was beamed through just fine. The audio quality was, as you might expect, not as good as with line in, but it was still quite acceptable. The stock ticker and sports scores are, well, just there. I don't find them particularly useful, and other than setting up one stock I haven't used them much. I did note that the sports scores menu did not have a listing for WNBA scores. Hopefully that can be changed over-the-air, and will be updated when the new WNBA season starts. In my August review I lamented the lack of a scan function that would pause on each channel for a few seconds before moving to the next. The SkyFi2 adds this functionality, but in a way that makes it completely useless: the scan function is overloaded on the same key you use to bring up a list of channels by category. I use the category list all the time to see everything that's playing on my preset channels. If you want to make the button behave as a scan button you have to go all the way into the menu to change its behaviour. It's an incredibly frustrating design decision, and it means I never use scan even though it's something I really wanted in the first version. A nice improvement from the old unit is the ability for the SkyFi2 to power on with the car. This is a vast improvement over the previous version, and even though it's a small change really goes a long way to improving in-car usability. They've also given a perceived performance boost to the unit by allowing it to flip to a station and display track information before it's actually started to play the audio. The older version wouldn't display the track info until the music came on. This change is a real win when you're flipping quickly between your presets. The only other nit I have to pick is how Delphi changed the scroll behaviour for lists. In the original version the lists by channel category would wrap. When you had your 10 preset channels up you could keep pressing "down" and eventually see what was playing on all 10 channels. The new version stops at the 10th item. So if you're listening to preset 5, and want to see what's on the other presets, you have to scroll down to 10 then all the way back up to 1. This is maddening, especially while driving, as it's extra attention you have to pay to the unit instead of staying focused on the road. Conclusion I love my new SkyFi2. There's no doubt that the new features and changes make it a significant improvement over the first version. People new to XM radio should absolutely grab this unit over its predecessor, and the SkyFi2 is a very tempting upgrade for owners of the older unit. The 30 minute buffer and TuneSelect (even with its minor glitches) are well worth the price of admission!