Radios Reviews

Whoa...it was broken out of the box. The plastic trim window over the display came off with the protective clear wrap around the music player. I super glued it back on. The whole unit feels cheap and weakly built. The "gun metal" finish scratches *very* easily. The buttons "miss," by that I mean that pressing the next button might trigger the play/pause button instead of next. The menu system is marginal considering the player has 7 buttons on the face. The player has a 2.5MM jack instead of a 3.5MM jack, so now I have to dig up an adapter because it is not mentioned in the item description. I would not have purchased it based on that fact alone. Quite honestly the manufacturer could have easily put a standard jack into the player. I have not had a chance to verify battery life as I just got the package today. There are positives. File transfer is snappy, the screen is easily read, the FM function works well with the right headphones (the headphone cord acts as the antenna.) FM record seems a useless feature, but that is simply my opinion. Voice recording quality is selectable (3 quality settings) and functions well enough to take quick mental notes but it would take you a minute to get there. I bought this for gym use, so I guess I will see how well it goes, but I do consider it disposable at this point due to the poor build quality. There are MUCH better products available for only a few dollars more. I highly recommend finding a different player. My advice: call a friend.

I did not give this 5 stars because I think it's about $25 more then it should be. I already spent more than I probably should have on the S50 (I am very happy with it though!), and the cost for this item is a bit ridiculous to be honest but for me it is very necessary. The quality of the item is good though so I don't feel ripped off.

It does what I thought it would though.. This is because when I spend $100 on something I like to know what I'm buying. The description of this item is very clear. If you don't see something that you want it to do in the description it probably doesn't do it! It does not have an FM tuner, it does not have an eternal speaker, and no matter how much you might want it to, it will not create a Sirius radio signal where you don't have one available!

I have had my S50 for several months now. I am very pleased with quality and style of the radio in my car. The S50 home dock has made me even happier with my Sirius radio purchase. The home dock is well made and sounds fantastic feeding Sirius content into my Bose wave radio. Controls are identical to the car base and it looks awesome, it is in another class from all other home satellite units without moving up to something like a Tivoli. I love it! If you have the S50 in your car and love it, you need this base. The TV is getting jealous of all the time I now spend with my Sirius Radio at home.

"Won't work off any FM frequency."
>> Uhhh, yeah, well, that's because IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO. That's not what it's made for... It's not an FM transmitter like the car kit. If you want to pick it up on FM at home, use the car kit that came with the S50 & buy the $19 power supply at Sirius.com (S50-HPS). Why did you spend $100 on something you knew NOTHING about?

"Won't work on a laptop unless you us [sic] external speakers..."
>> Wow... RTFM! It's designed to be plugged into a home stereo, which, oddly enough, it says in the description. The function of the home kit is to listen through a dedicated connection to a stereo system, sending a much clearer signal than FM.

There are 4 ways to listen to the S50: through your car stereo speakers, with the included car kit; through headphones, with the included ear buds (or any other headphones/ear buds); through your home stereo/home theater system, with the home kit; and through any FM radio, using the included car kit + the extra power supply. It's really not that difficult to understand, if you take the 90 seconds to read what they do.

The S50 Home Kit does *exactly* what it's supposed to do, and it does it perfectly. It includes everything you need to listen to high-quality, digital satellite radio from your S50, plus a few extras: the dock, the power cord, 2 sets of audio cables, a remote (with battery), and an antenna.

I purchased this radio in an attempt to receive a distant FM station. The transmitter is 76 miles from my house, and is in the noncommercial band (88-92 MHZ) which is rather crowded in my area. I am using a directional antenna in my attic, and the station comes in perfectly! This one does better than any FM radio I own. I do not find the bass to be excessive, but I have it about 4" away from the wall on my piano. This is one radio purchase that has proven to be better than expected!

Beautifully tight controls, great rich sound, ability to easily tune stations in. With classical music, in spaces between movements, it's so quiet I think it's turned itself off. It fills the kitchen with sound, and even when cranked all the way up, I hear no distortion. Well worth the price.

This is the best radio I own. Words can't do justice to the sound that comes from this small box. Perhaps a bit too much bass on FM but for AM it adds that nice warm sound. The tuner is very selective and able to pull in distant stations even when there are nearby strong signals. The controls are simple and have zero slop. It's a great value!

I like the good reception; it takes a little bit of pratice to fine tune in radio stations. The stereo earbuds sound cheap; so I recommend buying name brand. Sony headphones really improved the sound quality. The built in speaker sounds cheap, too. The convient neck strap and bet clip make it easily portable. It looks great also. Overall, it's a great value for the money.

I got this radio yesterday, and for 10 bucks it is pretty good. I use this at work, and it has good reception and clarity. If you need a radio on the go, this is pretty good. It needs AAA batteries

I've owned this for about two years now. I don't drive, but I still have the same "navigational issues" that everyone else has. I just wanted a convenient electronic replacement for a bulky paper map and magnetic compass.

The 76s isn't the most sensitive GPS I've used by a longshot, and it frequently loses lock in areas with tall buildings. It also takes a long time to get initially locked up (2-3 minutes). This can be very frustrating at times, because I keep having to find large open areas and that can be tough in a downtown area...

My biggest gripe is that it's painfully slow. Entering addresses and street names takes forever; while the lack of a real keyboard doesn't help, and using maps for a dense urban area (SF Bay area) is a contributing factor, the overall slowness of the unit is as least as much to blame. Screen redraws are excruciatingly slow as well; in some cases it can take up to ten seconds to completely redraw. Sometimes it's faster to just get out an old-fashioned paper map instead of trying to struggle with this receiver.

The user interface is awkward, and despite having used it for two years I still have trouble remembering how to do certain things such as creating new named waypoints. The unit uses multiple nested sets of menus and modes, and it can be a challenge keeping track of which modes do what.

The magnetic compass is inaccurate. Each time I use the unit I have to recalibrate it, and even then it seems as if it slowly drifts during use.

It seems to use battery power even when it's turned off. I just plan on replacing the batteries (I use rechargeables) each time I want to use it.

Maybe it's OK for rural use, I can't say. But I'd never recommend this one for use in an urban area; you're much better off getting a paper map instead. Fortunately there are faster units on the market, though I'm surprised at how high the price still is on this one.

I like this GPS and bought mine from Amazon. As with all GPS, the unit has to be able to "see" the satellites - e.g. GPS cannot see the satellites through the metal roof of your car. We get so use to AM/FM radio, we take this for granted. The GA 27 C Garmin antenna works with the GPS 76s and comes with an included suction mount that can be attached to the inside of your windshield in car or aircraft. This is my first GPS - the Garmin controls are intuitive to me. Construction is high quality, great ergonomics -- and great vibes, if you consider that : )

To previous reviewer, Van:
Van - get the antenna for your truck and put on your inside front window - you dont need a roof mount!

GPS units use batteries fast. I dont know how you could use this on a backpacking trip, unless you had a solar charger. You would need a pack mule just to haul your AA batteries. Maybe get a position and turn if off immediately? I used a set of new Duracells on an ~10-hour trip with some backlight use. Im getting the 12V car adapter for use in my car.

Despite that typical GPS stuff that you will find with any/all GPS units, I love the 76s. 4 stars - make it more power efficient & it will be 5, Garmin. Highly recommended!

-E Tak

I highly recommend the 76s for anyone who is spending time in the remote, trackless outdoors. I've become lost a few times in southern Utah, perhaps the most difficult backcountry region in the world. I bought the 76s to record routes in case I need to backtrack to extricate myself from the canyon country, and I've been very impressed with how easy this system is to use. I only have two complaints: I have not been able to get near the 16 hours of battery life that Garmin advertises, even with the backlight off; and I can't get an accurate reading inside my truck, which at times has been more than a headache. Inside my truck the compass tends to freewheel and my route readings become useless. I have attempted to get information from Garmin, but they respond with more questions, and haven't been of much help so far. There are rooftop antenas available for other models, but I don't know of one for the 76s, and Garmin has yet to respond to that query. Overall, I'm happy with what is obviously a well-designed and usable receiver, and just wish that I could get some answers to my technical questions. Another note to drivers: the compass works only when the unit is held almost dead level. Try to find a place in your vehicle to mount the unit so that it is simultaneously level and visable from the driver's seat. I haven't found a good spot yet.

The unit is very solidly built, durable, and has survived two falls already. Garmin says it's waterproof, but Utah isn't a good test for this feature.

I would appreciate any accurate feedback on whether or not a rooftop antena will imrove the compass function...is the compass magnetic, or does it use sattelite data to get oriented? Garmin hasn't answered this question.

this is my 3rd gps unit. I've had 2 others - both Garmin. Frankly, for the price of the TomTom I expected better performance. they claim it has a super bright screen that can be seen in bright light. whoever made that determination was not wearning sunglasses in bright light. the only way to see the screen in these conditions is to take your hands off the handlebars and cup them around the screen. Not real safe. I don't wear a helmet, so I rely totally on the screen for directions. You can forget about it in full sunlight - even at maximum brightness.

The data base of addresses seems extremely limited. it can only locate about 60% of the addresses I try to find. In fact, I used it in my car along side a garmin for about a week. the garmin located every destination I entered. the Ryder could not find several of them. Ocassionally, the Ryder will instruct you to take a turn only to tell you immediately to make a U turn and get back on the original route! this has happened to my several times on interstates. one time it told me to take an exit on an interstate through a major city. it then took me through a couple side streets and eventually put me back on the same interstate i exited from. all this took about 45 extra minutes and lots of city traffic.

The screens (maps) have limited usability. for example, if you want to zoom in or out on a route or map, you can only do so for about 15 seconds before the unit zooms back to a predetermined level. you can't determine your own zoom level. at times, i like to see the route on a larger scale, especially when travelling on interstates.

The voice prompts don't tell you when you've gone off route or when it is recalculating the route. there is some screen activity during recalculation, but not real noticeable

There is no screen warning about an upcoming turn. on the garmin, the screen flashes to a very close view of the intersection and turn, the ryder slightly zooms in but nothing that is attention getting.

I ride a Harley, so with the wind noise and the loud pipes, you can forget about using the headset - totally useless.

One of the things that attracted me to the unit initially was their claim to have scenic routes for the unit. The website says they are "coming soon." so much for that selling point.

On the plus side, it does appear to be waterproof.

All in all, I think this is a very poor unit even for cars, not to mention motorcycles. If i had it to do over again, i wouldn't even consider this unit and I'm probably going to be selling mine and buying a Garmin again. VERY, VERY DISAPPOINTED!!!

I am an owner of a Tom Tom Go 300 and have been nothing short of satisfied with it. I got word that Tom Tom was coming out with a motorcycle specific model and I was foaming at the mouth for it but then I saw the price $1,000+ WOW! Well needless to say I skipped on buying one. Well low and behold there is a store here called GB and they had a promotional sale and the units were going for 399.00 Euro. Even with the conversion rate of 1 Euro = $1.20 it was still $200.00 cheaper than anything I saw anywhere online. So I snatched it up. My biggest concern was the ability to transfer it from the bike to a vehicle since my wife who lives in Germany claimed stake on the 300. Also I had to make sure the maps for the 300 were compatible with it, which they are. I did a search online and nowhere was there a vehicle mount. I then went straight to Tom Tom and there it was! So for an additional $45.00 I got the mount which is very similiar to the 300 and volia! The unit itself is very very sturdy. I did run into one problem when starting it for the first time. It completely locked up on me and I had to let its batteries run all the way down. Luckily with this unit it comes with a wall charger and I was able to charge it back up and it started and booted with no problems. The interface is almost identical to the other Go products and the navigation is spot on. Tooling around Europe, esp for us Americans, can be an adventure beyond adventure but the software takes almost all (nothing is 100%) uncertainity from navigating. The mounting system I used worked pretty well. The tape used to circle your handle bars snapped several times and this led to some small frustration but in the end it worked as described. I did crack one of the mounts, it comes with but in the end I didn't need it and it comes with three for different mounts. The wireless system works well with a full face helmet and at 100% volume, which I think you will need regardless, worked well. I do have a European Nolan helmet that is designed to accept an array of different communication systems with bluetooth capability so I will probably upgrade to one of those and utilize it in place of the one which came with it. All in all I highly recommend this unit esp for the price I paid for it.

Installation was a snap. Took less than a half hour. Moving it from the bike to the car is a nice touch. You have to use the bluetooth headset for the car also but so what...with the car stereo blastin if you didn't have a headset you'd never hear it anyway! With it plugged into one ear you can't help but hear it. I'm COMPLETELY happy with mine! Only drawback is showing it off to everyone that sees it and wants a demo.

"The service from this vendor is horrible. My account was charged in May of this year and as of 6/26/06 have not received anything. First they said they need to make a model change. I was fine with the model change but never got the product. I sent many...notes to Nicholas Nasti but he has been unable to fix the problem. Recently I have been unable to contact them with notes or telephone."

I just purchased these in part due to the relatively decent reviews and for the rechargeable aspect, features and brand-name. Took them out to test and really not pleased with the performance. In Florida so mountains and hills are not a major influence in the performance evalution. Also, it was perfect weather. I'm not in an area with high rise buildings, rather outside of town in a mostly residential area. At one mile they began crackling severely with static. At just over a mile-they became non-audible...only the call feature worked. By 1.5 miles-forget it. Full charge, no mountains, no hills, no tall buildings, nothing but a few tree's. Now, I did NOT expect anything near the claimed 14 miles, not even half that. I did expect somewhere between 2-4 mile range in perfect weather...nowhere even near it. On the other hand, the rechargeable aspect is nice, the car adaptor is a great little touch but for the price difference-they barely outperformed the $20 set I purchased as toys for my neice/nephew. Disappointing

These radios rock.
I've been reading all the reviews of different radios for sale and have seen that most radios get .5 to 1.5 mile range max.
Well I put these radios to the test and set one on vox mode to trasmit automatically when exposed to voice. Specifically, I put one radio next to my tv and tuned to the weather channel as they do the most talking (no pun intended...lol).
I then drove off and set my trip meter to zero on my car. Drove in pretty much a straight line on a major street near my house.
Hoping for at least a 1.5 mile range, I was blown away when the radio finally dropped off after 4.2 miles from home.
Not flat land either. Two overpasses, a large forest preserve, numerous homes and buildings and 3 small hills!
Get these radios! You won't regret it!!!