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Tourer
Posts: 460
| Hello All
I have a 2009 Vision and want to install XM Satelitie radio on it. Is the sound quality worth the expense to have it installed.
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Visionary
Posts: 1350
| I had the 90 day free XM on Anny. I did not renew it. It works fine when out on the highway but not so good under the tree canopy on the roads I prefer to ride. Also they are like any radio just loop the same old songs in days instead of hours. I use my 2nd Gen Ipod. I get the free MP3s from Amazon and what I don't like I delete. But to each their own. |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 1117
Northeast Ohio | I have the vic xm on my bike. Sound quality isn't as good as the ipod and agree with RedRider on the tree canopy statement. I would still recommend it as my 8GB ipod gets old after a while. I also got tired of trying to find songs to rotate in and out.
Are you concerned about the overall expense or just the install expense? If you look on ebay, you can typically pick one of these up for $100 off the price of a new one thru your dealer. If you have a drill and allen wrench set, you can install it yourself. If you don't have the CB, you will need to pick up the communication harness for ~$60 too. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 172
Prescott, Az | My radio & sound are CRAP going thru the CB & headsets, but the Vic XM comes in loud and clear. One of the best things I've added to my bike. On trips, rarely have I had any interrution and, unlike the Ipod, I have a vast supply of stations for sports, music, etc.
Edited by Necktie 2009-12-10 6:12 PM
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Cruiser
Posts: 271
Belding Michigan | I for one love the XM on the bike and I have not had a lot of the fading problem. I know I am Old but I like the Country Oldies and have never found a station that plays the mix I get on XM 10 I have it in car and truck as well. It is great riding from CA to the east coast and back and never having to change the stations. I have fround that Canada and Mexico work also. at least the areas I covered Archie |
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 9
| XM radio is the best! I use XM in my truck, on my Vision and now on my Cross Country. I refuse to deal with local all commercial radio and the fading of FM stations ever 60 miles (or less). I find very few drop outs
On my Vision, I use the auxiliary input to feed the audio from my Zumo which gives me navigation, XM radio, XM Traffic routing and MP3. I added the XM addon to the radio on the Cross Country for convenience. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 173
Prescott Valley, AZ | Anyone out there using the same XM unit on thier Vision and in their cage as well? I wear earbuds usiong an MP3 player a lot and like the lack of wind noise this gives me. I've been toying with the idea of getting a small XM unit that I can use with my stand alone intercom system (MotoCom Riderlink ST-1) or even with the earbuds when riding by myself and yet still be able to use that XM unit in the cage. Anyone doing something similar?? |
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Cruiser
Posts: 74
Winston-Salem, NC | Bearcat,
I have an XM portable that I stick in my pocket and use earbuds. The signal drops out alot, but, you can pre-record up to 10 hours of music when you are at home and have a solid good signal. I then ride and listen to the recorded stuff. As a music venue I think the XM is the best thing to happen to music since the 8 track The channel and music selection is fantastic. I rarely by CD's anymore, just listen to XM. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 173
Prescott Valley, AZ | Thanks, I've thought about the portable unit but had not talked to anyone that used it. The one I looked at had a small antenna. Which model number are you refering to??
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Cruiser
Posts: 74
Winston-Salem, NC | Its Pioneer XMp3...there is also a compact home base unit that you can get for about 150.00. Stick it in the top and play, the sound is great |
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Cruiser
Posts: 113
East Ohio | I use the pioneer inno along with the fm direct, an additional $20 investment, but well worth it, the channels no longer fade in and out, I have a car kit in the cage and another in the side glove box on the vision and swap the radio back and forth, worked extremely well from Ohio to New Mexico
Go Super Steel |
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 17
| I have a Sirious Radio (purchased from Radio Shack). I run it in my truck and on my bike. No problems. Have the lifetime subscription and move it from one to the other when I go. I don't get the same quality of sound that I get from the radio, but it's still a great companion on road. I just turn the volume up a bit more. ;-)
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Tourer
Posts: 447
Northeastern Penna. | It's surely a matter of opinion. My opinion/experience is great with Sirius Satellite on the Vision.
The signal loss under canopies is so rare, it certainly offsets listening to the mundane am/fm stations-who listens to them anymore. I also do the mp3 alternative, great as well. Bottom line,
You need the tunes while cruising! Remember - Rock N Roll never dies ! Oh, a little smooth jazz helps too ! |
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Cruiser
Posts: 62
Des Moines | I like having the XM on the bike. Clear signal 99% of the time. Being from Iowa, I know how bad it sucks to end up out in the middle of nowhere with nothing but talk radio and hog reports. This way the wife and I can pick a channel and ride without having to do the "find a decent station" button dance every half hour. |
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Tourer
Posts: 423
northwest florida | I bought a Slacker radio early this year and really like it. check into it. www.slacker.com I like the format and tons of different music . I plug it in through the AUX input. works like a charm. |
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Tourer
Posts: 301
Buffalo Grove,Ill | To the point, YES its worth it ! |
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Tourer
Posts: 460
Centennial, CO | there are a lot of people saying yes and no. In all seriousness, it will totally depend on what you're doing. I ride long and short distance. The short, I listen to local stations (classic rock and country) and love them. But when I am out of shot of good signal (and we all know how well the radio doesn't work...heh heh), I use XM and LOVE IT!
If you have the 2720 or 2820 GPS on the bike, another thought is to buy the GXM30. I use it through my GPS and couldn't be happier. The only issue is if you want to take it to the car, you have to take the GPS AND the GXM...kind of a PITA and not worth the time. But again, I don't need it in the car. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 238
SF Bay Area | I took a different route... I use my iphone and stream Pandora. My phone lives atop my console most of the time, so I can access all the controls and apps (like my navigation). Am very happy with the sound quality and programming. Free, yo. |
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Tourer
Posts: 550
Tacoma, WA | My experience with XM is that the trees make it cut out all the time. NOT for me. I can't see paying for a service I am not getting. iPod is the way to go for LOTS of uninterrupted music.------Metalguy |
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Cruiser
Posts: 238
SF Bay Area | metalguy - 2010-01-15 9:08 AM
My experience with XM is that the trees make it cut out all the time. NOT for me. I can't see paying for a service I am not getting. iPod is the way to go for LOTS of uninterrupted music.------Metalguy
'xactly. WHen I can't stream Pandora, I have a few thousand tunes on my iphone, all excellent quality. Setting the player to shuffle keeps it interesting. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 189
Baltimore, Md | I also do the XM through the Garmin GPS, which is cheaper than Victory and just as functional except for the preset dash buttons. The signal does occasionally drop out in heavy tree cover, but not so much that I wouldn't do it over. And on the open road and long trips, it's a pure joy to have. I also get the weather/traffic with it and they display on the Garmin screen. Highly recommended. |
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 6
| anyone have a picture as to where the xm radio antenna mounts? |
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Cruiser
Posts: 216
Danville, CA | XM works great for me!!! I love it. No major problems..Sound quality is not as good as Ipod but very very good and alot better than FM radio. I also recommend Hawg Wiried AMP and speakers if you really want to go big. Expensive, but custom made for motorcycles and crystal clear sound. Hawg Wired is in northern CA and has excellent customer service and support.. Call them direct and chat and ask questions and they will set you straight.. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 62
Des Moines | Robbrutus - the Victory XM antenna mounts on the dash under the windshield with the wire running down under where the shield goes down. The antenna itself is mounted on a velcro patch to hold it in place but allow you to move it for cleaning. I don't have a picture of it, but that should give you an idea. |
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Tourer
Posts: 554
2 mi from Jim Beam n KY | I have Sirius on Blackberry as well as Pandora. I prefer Pandora. I listen a lot while at work. when I hit the 40 free hours limit on Pandora, I switch to Sirius.
As for actual mobile Sirius devices, they have two antennas. the square, boxy one and the round, low profile disk. The round disk vastly out performs the boxy one!! If you're using Sirius try the disk! I don't know about the XM antennas.
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 23
Stony Mountain, MB Canada | I am currently using a Sirus Starmate 5 mounted under my Tour Tech GPS, I plugged it directly into the Auxillery input cord in the left hand storage compartment on my 2009 Vision. The problem I am having is with the plug in on the docking station for the satellite antenna, it looses the conection for the antenna. This is the third docking station that I went through with this problem. Does anyone have any suggestions? I would like to stay with Sirus as I have 3 radios on my subscription. I don't know if there is a better docking station out there that can take the viberation of the bike or if there is a Sirus equivelant to the permanent XM model part # 2876115 that I could install and use my Sirus subscription instead of getting a new XM subscription just for my Vision? |
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Tourer
Posts: 495
Carrollton, TX | I have the Victory Vision XM radio installed on my Vision and it works awesome. It gets great reception and the full integration with the electronics is awesome. It is a little bit more money but worth it. You can take one of your Sirus subscriptions and move it to the Vision XM radio as Sirus and XM are the same now. It is easy and you will have great Sirus – XM radio reception and reliability. I listen to either my XM or iPod all the time. |
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Visionary
Posts: 3773
Pittsburgh, PA | Hey Spock are u sure u can more a Sirius subscription over to cm? I ask as I have both and when I asked to get a discount they said it couldn't be done at this time because by law they were still considered two different companies.?? |
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Cruiser
Posts: 284
mansfield, MA United States | I have the Zumo 550 GPS/XM. I wired it into the stereo by splicing into my ipod cable and installing a stereo jack. I like the setup because it mutes the radio when I have a command from the gps. I know its XM but I have traffic nav on it too. I love that because I travel thro the city often and it tells me if there is a backup in traffic or a accident. And it routs me around it. I did the lifetime subscription because its on the antenna not the radio. If I get a new bike I can leave the GPS on this one and just take the antenna. It works grate! I did a 9 day trip to Nova Scotia and never changed the channel!! |
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Cruiser
Posts: 228
| nealwirgau - 2010-08-23 8:56 AM
I am currently using a Sirus Starmate 5 mounted under my Tour Tech GPS, I plugged it directly into the Auxillery input cord in the left hand storage compartment on my 2009 Vision. The problem I am having is with the plug in on the docking station for the satellite antenna, it looses the conection for the antenna. This is the third docking station that I went through with this problem. Does anyone have any suggestions? I would like to stay with Sirus as I have 3 radios on my subscription. I don't know if there is a better docking station out there that can take the viberation of the bike or if there is a Sirus equivelant to the permanent XM model part # 2876115 that I could install and use my Sirus subscription instead of getting a new XM subscription just for my Vision? I have used a Starmate V on my Vision for approx. a year/12K miles with no problems. It is mounted on the center console using the windshield mount included in the kit. I am using the suction cup for mounting and it very rarely comes loose from the console. I have the wires on the left side of the console inside black flexible plastic wire loom available at any auto parts store. As to the sound quality it is much better than the AM/FM radio which is a cruel joke in my opinion. It's reception in rural areas is almost non existent. With the Starmate antenna puck mounted on top of the dash reception only cuts out under gas station canopies and parking garages.
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Tourer
Posts: 495
Carrollton, TX | Arkainzeye - 2010-08-23 10:00 AM Hey Spock are u sure u can more a Sirius subscription over to cm? I ask as I have both and when I asked to get a discount they said it couldn't be done at this time because by law they were still considered two different companies.?? I think you can now. I know I have access to all the Sirus and XM channels now. I'd check but a friend of mine had a truck with XM and traded the truck in for a new one that had Sirus and his same membership worked on the Sirus unit. |
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 23
Stony Mountain, MB Canada | The suction cup mount you are using probably absorbs enough of the viberation from the bike that it doesn't affect the plug on the docking station for the antenna.
I can't use that method of mounting it, as I have my GPS mounted in the factory position between the ignition key and the radio display with a sustom mount that raises the GPS up high enough to tuck the Sirus radio underneath it. I have it set up so you can't take the Sirus head off the docking station without removing the GPS out of it's mount, to try and deter theft when I am parked at a hotel for the night.
I think I have the problem solved now, I took a new docking station and a new antenna to a dealer for 2 way radios that I deal with for my work and they are going to cut the antenna lead wire down to 3 feet in length and then hard wire and solder it into the docking station.
I will know how it will work after my next ride to see if that will cure all of the problems that I have been having. |
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Is XM radio worth installing on my vision (Sound Quality)