XM2Go Personal Satellite Radio

[piperpilot]

I got an XM2Go Personal Satellite Radio for Christmas and I must say that, after a couple of hours of frustration getting it set up, it's a very cool, extremely mobile device. I have an interior office and can't receive broadcast radio. With the XM and its docking cradle and satellite antenna, I am able to listen to the radio with no problem. What's even better is that I can listen to commercial-free radio and keep up with my favorite cable news networks during the day. Granted, I work in Washington, DC where XM is based so I would expect there to be decent coverage here, but even at home in the far, far suburbs, I have managed to get decent reception although not in a terribly convenient spot. One feature I have not managed to get working is the FM transmitter that allows you to listen to XM content through any FM radio. I want to transmit content through my Bose Wave Radio System but even if I place the Bose and the XM2Go right next to each other I can't get the XM content to play through the Bose. Puzzling. I'm not giving up on it though. I just need more time to tinker with it. If anyone else has one of these devices, I would be interested in getting your thoughts about it.

[Jerry Raia]

I just got one of these things also. It is great. I was impressed that every conceivable accessory came with it too.
The FM feature works great for me in the car. Did you change the broadcast frequency on the MyFi unit?

[piperpilot]

I have been using 88.3 for the frequency. Have you tried the FM transmitter while the device is in the home cradle? I tried to transmit XM content through my Bose Wave Radio, but the FM transmitter will only work if the MyFi is not cradled. I had to go to Radio Shack and buy a long cable to connect the MyFi to the Bose because the battery life on the MyFi is not as good as my trusty old iPaq. The other problem I have had is the lack of accessories for the device. I want to buy an extra home antenna, cradle, AC adapter and remote for my office. And a nice Vaja case would be great too. Just the vagaries of being an early adopter, I suppose.

[Jerry Raia]

I haven't tried that. I suspect it knows what base it is on and will not transmit when on the home cradle. It transmits fine in the car cradle. Speaking of the battery. My charge indicator never shows more than 1/2 charged. I followed the manual suggestion and ran the battery dead and then fully charged it. Still doesn't get past 1/2. However it seems to be a good battery as it plays for hours after the indicator shows dead battery. Xm says they don't know what the problem is and i can either live with it or return it. I'm curious if anyone else has seen this issue.

[piperpilot]

The initial charge took FOREVER. It took so long that I thought it was defective. For the most part, I have run it on AC. I used it on battery yesterday while out doing yard work and it worked fine for about an hour and a half, then the battery meter suddenly dropped from full to nothing. I cradled it and charged it overnight. It has been fine ever since.

[Jerry Raia]

I wonder if my battery is suspect as the unit works fine. My battery lasted about 5.5 hours after being fully charged. Have you gotten that much or more out of it?

[piperpilot]

Wow, that's great! My only experience was the hour and a half yesterday. I have the day off tomorrow, so I will give it a good work out and let you know how mine fared.

[Jerry Raia]

What I did to test mine is just have it record a station for me overnight on the battery. When I woke up it was dead but it had recorded 5.5 hours.

[Jerry Raia]

After having used this for a few months my only criticism would be that the functions are not too intuitively available. Too many buttons, most look the same. Some work plugged into certain adaptors then don't in others. They should look at Sony who usually gets that part of it pretty right.

Just please don't ever even think about memory sticks XM...PLEASE!!!