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SIRIUS Sportster 5 Satellite Radio Receiver with Vehicle Kit | 
 enlarge | Brand: Sirius Satellite Radio
Category: CE
List Price: $169.99
Buy New: $142.23
You Save: $27.76 (16%)
New (27) from $129.32
Avg. Customer Rating:  33 reviews
Color: Gray
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Includes MP3 Player: 0
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 0.6 x 4.5 x 2.5
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
MPN: SP5TK1
Model: SP5TK1
UPC: 884720010521
EAN: 0884720010521
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Features:
| • | Advanced Sirius satellite radio receiver for use in car and home | | • | Easy-to-read, six-line (2.7-inch multicolor) display simultaneously shows channel name and number, category, artist name, song title, time | | • | Game Alert prompts you when favorite sports teams play on Sirius | | • | Instant replay function to pause, rewind, and replay up to 60 minutes of live radio | | • | 90-day warranty |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The Sportster 5 boasts a vivid multi-color display, simple navigation, advanced features and everything you need to enjoy SIRIUS in your vehicle. Optional universal accessory docking kits and audio systems easily allow this radio to be used in your home, boat, office or in other vehicles. FM Transmitter or stereo audio output to connect your vehicle's radio FM preset function - Allows you to store the best FM frequencies in your area for optimum integration with your vehicle's radio 30 presets - Enjoy fast access to your favorite channels S-Seek Alert - So you won't miss your favorite artists, songs and sports One-Touch Jump button - Direct access to local traffic and weather, or your favorite channel Personalized sports ticker - Real-time updates of your favorite sports Rotary Tuning know - Surf channels on the fly Sports Alert - Track your favorite sports team and race driver Parental controls - easily lock and unlock channels Alarm Clock with snooze - Wake up to your favorite channel
Amazon.com Product Description
With a stylish new gun-metal grey finish, the Sportster 5 satellite radio receiver sports a new slim profile while still maintaining the same great features for which the Sportster series is known. Highlights include a large, multicolor, easy-to-read 6-line display, plus a rotary tuning knob for added convenience. The Sportster 5, conveniently transportable between home and car, is easy to use and features Sirius' universal dock for simple installation. Optional universal accessory docking kits and audio systems conveniently allow for use in the home, boat, office, and multiple vehicles. 
The Sportster 5 features a large, easy-to-read 6-line display, and a gun-metal grey finish. View larger. | 
Move your music effortlessly between car, home, or office. | An easy-to-read, six-line, 2.7-inch multi-color display helps keep tabs on the channel name and number, category, artist name, song title, and time simultaneously. The receiver also lets you program up to 30 presets of your favorite streams, as well as search by stream, artist name, song title, or category. And with a quick press of the one-touch jump button, you can instantly switch between traffic and weather reports for your city and any of your preset music, news, or entertainment channels. Other programming details include an S-Seek function that stores your favorite artists and songs and alerts you when one is playing on any of the music channels, direct station tuning via the numeric buttons, and a channel lock option. Time functions include an onscreen clock, alarm, and sleep timer, as well as a program alert that allows the unit to switch to a preprogrammed stream at a selected time. The Sportster 5 really earns its stripes, however, with its variety of enhanced features designed specifically for sports lovers. The Game Alert feature prompts you when your favorite NFL or other sports teams are playing on Sirius. The Game Zone lists all of your favorite teams in one virtual category and lets you select a different team from each of the various sports leagues, including the NFL, NBA, NHL, and college sports. And what sports fan could do without the Sportster's instant replay function, which lets you pause, rewind, and replay 60 minutes of live radio? As soon as you tune to a channel, the receiver automatically begins storing the audio for later playback. The Sportster 5 also includes a built-in FM transmitter that sends Sirius radio programming to your vehicle's FM tuner, so you don't have to make a direct connection to enjoy the full array of channels. Simply set an empty FM frequency on your radio and tune the Sportster 5 to the same frequency. This function also works with other FM tuners, such as the one on your home stereo, but is easily paired with the car thanks to the bundled vehicle kit, which includes everything you need for listening to Sirius while driving. Parents also have control over channels and channel lockout. Measuring just 9.5 x 7.5 x 3 inches, the Sportster 5 weighs a mere 3.7 ounces. About Sirius
Sirius Satellite Radio delivers more than 130 channels of music and programming via crystal clear direct satellite feed. In addition to 69 channels of commercial free music listening, Sirius also delivers 65 channels of sports, news, talk, entertainment, traffic, and weather forecasts. Sirius--the official satellite radio partner of the NFL, NASCAR, and NBA--broadcasts live play-by-play games of the NFL and NBA, as well as live NASCAR races. All Sirius programming is available for a monthly subscription fee. What's in the Box
Sportster 5 satellite radio receiver, remote control, vehicle docking cradle, vehicle power adapter, vehicle antenna, suction cup and vent mounts, FM extender antenna, getting started guide, installation/user's guide, accessory brochure, and programming guide.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 28 more reviews...
 My first experience with Satellite. Read on. May 11, 2008
53 out of 55 found this review helpful
OK.
So after all of the hype surrounding satellite radio I decided to "pimp out" my Sebring by adding SIRIUS to it. In order not to look ghetto as well as match my existing deck I decided to pick one of these up and subscribe.
First, I'll review the device. Then, I'll review the service. Basically, good news then bad news.
The device itself has a very small form factor which I found very appealing. It comes with a mini dock which essentially powers the device and routes its audio and antenna signal. Know that you'll be doing quite a bit of wiring if you do this yourself - I would recommend professional installation unless you're comfortable doing your own car installation stuff. There are 3, possibly 4, wires that you'll be dealing with:
- The CLA (cigarette lighter adapter)
- The satellite antenna
- The FM antenna extender (only needed if you choose that option)
- The line out (only needed if you choose that option)
Now, if all of these ports were in the back of the dock next to each other this wouldn't be so bad, but instead they're on either side. That's a lot of cables to have hanging out, which is why I recommend professional install if you're not comfortable. I decided to do it myself and, to get set up with the "basic" quality which is wireless FM (it's decent, but nothing to write home about) with neat wiring took me about 45 minutes, give or take. That's including mounting (which I'll get to in a moment).
SIRIUS recommends using line out/line in if at all possible. Newer decks have this jack, but some older pre-2004 likely do not, or if they do, it's a proprietary connector that might not work with the Sportster 5. I have the Kenwood MP735U and it works just fine. I found the cable at Circuit City ($24!!!) and it worked like a charm. Took some doing and even more neat wiring, but I did get it to work. I will admit, using the line out spanks the smoke out of the wireless FM or FM modulation options; it's near CD quality, especially on the Jazz and Classical stations. Again, you can use wireless FM and it will sound "okay", but line out will give you the absolute best quality possible; you just have to do another cable.
Mounting the unit has a number of options as well - one of which is not available depending on what state you're in. California, for example, has Draconian laws about vehicles; you can't have anything stuck to the front windshield. Ironically this is the easiest way to mount the device, as the suction cup works extremely well, and you just attach the device to the metal arm and adjust. If you have this option and don't mind the device up in the window, I recommend doing this. I have an old Chrysler CD changer indash not being used; a trip to Home Depot for a $.49 angle bracket did the trick - attached it to the dock with a single screw, then slipped the other end into the CD slot and like magic, it's solid and looks great right underneath the deck. I suppose I could have hard installed it with another screw or two, but I'd rather not.
All said and done the initial hardware investment came to roughly $200. Keep in mind that SIRIUS has cheaper devices that don't look nearly as good. The downside to the devices is the cigarette lighter adapter. In fact the documentation explicitly forbids a direct power tap. This is so disheartening I can't even describe it. I have to keep unplugging it when I turn the car off so it doesn't suck the battery dry. Why can't you have the option of tapping it into the player's alternate power line so it turns on with the player? I'm absolutely mystified at this oversight.
Now, the service. Oh, this will be fun.
The quality of the audio? Stellar. Never heard anything like it except on digital TV's music channels.
The quality of everything else? Horrid. Where do I begin...
- The activation/customer service phone # has extremely long wait times. it took me a total of 5 hours across 10 different phone calls to reach someone who could help me. Do the math.
- Activation/CS reps are clearly stressed over something. I talked to two who were just blatantly rude; one who had no idea what she was talking about, the other a guy who claimed he'd been "...working at SIRIUS for over 3 years and" knew what he was talking about. Funny - since he had no idea that you can't activate with invoice billing on the website (more on that later).
- SIRIUS and Circuit City have some type of conglomeration going on to force you to call to activate. CC offers a "prepaid subscription card" which is supposed to offset the initial charges (more on that later) to get service. Well that's all good and everything except the card cannot be used on the website even though the website acknowledges the card and its value. It says "cannot be redeemed". An Asst. Manager at CC informed me that calling was the only way to redeem the card. Had I known that, I wouldn't have bought that particular card, but a regular gift card that I could use on the web. Because of the aforementioned long hold times, it was a nightmare to do this simple task. The girl even told me "you should be able to use it on the web" - the other idiot claimed "you're just doing something wrong".
- Too much personal information required to sign up. Why do you care what type of car I have? All that should be needed is a credit card (if you choose that payment method) and my address/name. If it's for purposes of theft recovery, that's up to me, the buyer, to deal with that. Which I do - in my auto insurance plan.
- Website will authorize your credit card without activating an account for you. That's money you can't touch until they feel like releasing it - which could be 2 weeks.
- Inability to just sign up for an account without giving billing information and/or buying a device. Why can't I just establish the account and then pay for it? Why force me to buy the deck in order to get service established? If I wanted DirecTV and didn't have it, I call them and activate, and then the hardware comes...not the other way around.
- Website forces you to put in a credit card. You can't do invoice billing as an option. Why not? Because they know every customer would just do that and then they would be getting free service for that month grace.
- Website does not allow you to select month-to-month billing as an option, and by default it hides the quarterly and 6-month options (which would obviously be the more popular for newbies like myself).
- Telephone IVR can't hear properly. I tried to activate through the automated system and it just couldn't understand the letters "D", "I", "O", "N". That's it, and I don't know how many times the chick said "sorry?"
- No trial offered (I'm talking about in-car installation). Why can't I just buy a unit from a store that offers returns, activate a 14-day trial period with a credit card, and then return and cancel if I hate it? Because then they'd have high turnover due to buyers remorse (which I had at one point due to the above issues)
- $15 activation fee which is not disclosed on the hardware documentation. You don't find out about this until you go to the website or you talk to an agent. It should be clearly disclosed on the packaging of the device since you'd be forced to pay that fee by activating the device - not at the very last minute when you're putting in your credit card. On top of that, it's blatantly mob-ish of them to charge: an activation fee, a monthly fee, fee for the hardware, etc etc etc. They already get money from the subscription - remove the activation fee already or annualize it across the subscription.
So class, in summary: The customer service is screwed up, and in order to activate properly and get the best billing options, you need to call customer service (which did I mention is screwed up?). DO NOT activate over the web if you're using a gift card. I guarantee you, you will get frustrated.
The quality of the product is top notch. The ability to see who's playing before you select the station is excellent, and the high resolution of this screen makes navigating stations quick and easy. The audio sounds upper class if you're using the line out jack, and setup is not that difficult if you know what you're doing. Once you get past activations you should be smooth. It's just that phase that causes headaches.
Best Sirius Sportster Yet! December 4, 2007
22 out of 24 found this review helpful
I upgraded to the Sportster 5 from the SIRIUS ST4-TK1 Starmate 4 Plug-and-Play Satellite Radio Receiver with Car Kit. I have to say the new Sportster 5 is the best radio they have released and far superior to the Starmate 4.
Sound quality is comparable between the two units. I choose not to use the FM modulator. I'm in the DC area and there are far too many strong radio stations. Plus, using the auxiliary jack provides all-around better audio quality.
The big improvement for this generation is the color display added to this very thin radio. Very nice looking and customizable for basic text and background colors. Text is clear and the screen provides plenty of information on the 6-line display. Makes a huge difference on legibility. The multi-color display also allows Sirius to display more text information without appearing to clutter the screen as much.
One of the innovations I particularly like is the "game-ticker" feature that has been added in addition to "game alert". The ticker places the score for your favorite game on the main display of the Sportster in color, regardless of whether you are tuned to the sports channel or not. So, you can monitor your game scores while listening to music.
On the downside it would be nice if you could choose a greater variety of display colors and different background images. Also, the menu and memory buttons are a bit cramped around the tuning knob and need to be spread out. But, this is a distinct improvement over previous models.
Note: Current radios are selling from various vendors for less than $160 w/o a rebate.
 Decent December 31, 2007
14 out of 16 found this review helpful
This radio is ok, but it seems that you have to warm up the unit before the display will work. I'm not sure the optimal operating temperature, but you would think that they would avoid using liquid crystal display for a unit that's designed to stay in your car. I've found that simply warming up the unit isn't enough, nor is turning it off/on. You have to remove it from the car docking station, then warm it up, then re-attach it to the dock before the color display will function. I suppose in the summer this won't be a problem, but if you live in a climate where the temperature gets below 40 degrees, your display might have this problem. If you take the unit inside with you every night, you can avoid this I guess. I don't have a home dock so I leave mine in the car.
Also, I noticed that this unit doesn't go as low as previous units on the FM transmission scale. My previous unit was set to 87.9 because that is the only station in my area that doesn't have programming. The Sportster 5 only goes as low as 88.1. Now I can't get a clear channel and my truck's in-dash radio has no external auxiliary sound jack, so I'm screwed. I'll need to pay for a professional to wire the unit to my in-dash radio. Take this into account when you calculate the total cost of ownership.
Other than those two issues, I'm pretty happy with the unit so far. Hopefully it won't break after about 2 years of ownership like my last Sirius receiver.
Update 11/19/08:
After my song notifications started acting up, I sent my reciever back to Sirius Warranty Support, they sent me 4 different radios (each time I sent back) before I got one that seems to work ok. This one doesn't have the problem with the cold. I also spent about $50 to get the parts I needed to hard-wire the radio to my truck antenea. It works great now.
 Sirius Sportser 5 Radio February 24, 2008
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
I bought this radio for my wife so she could relive the 70's. She is thrilled with it. Since she is not a techno geek- i.e. the controls need to be pretty straightforward, I wanted something that she would feel comfortable using. Otherwise, it would end up gathering dust on a shelf.
The Sportser 5 has the right balance of features and simplicity. She loves the display showing the Band, Title, and year. She also likes the radio display's ability to change colors. I set up the preset buttons for her, but she has the Sirius channel guide and has no problems finding the stations she wants.
I was able to hook up the car kit in just a few minutes. It works great for her. I bought a cassete adapter, which I like better than going through the FM Car Radio.
I also bought the boombox for her so she can use the radio around the house. It is working perfectly both in the car and at home.
Decent Unit, Poor Customer Service December 3, 2007
9 out of 12 found this review helpful
UPDATE: The turnaround of the customer service was faster than what they told me. Might have something to do with numerous phone calls with customer care supervisors. As of now, they probably have the item in stock. So I would give the item 4 stars. Also the contrast and brightness act funny when left under the sun, but still works..
I got the radio 1,5 months ago and it died on me when I unplugged it from the power without turning the unit off for the first time. Warranty service told me I should have turned off the unit before unplugging it. However, my car provides constant power thru the lighter output. On the other hand, I know many cars don't do that and the power shuts off when the engine is turned off (thus if you don't turn off the unit before shutting off the engine, yours might burn too). Since that doesn't sound very possible, the reason why the unit completely dead cannot be what they told me it is (Mine might be a lemon in this case). Anyhow, the warranty service said they will ship a new one out in 24 to 48 hours, when I called 3 days later, they said it was back-ordered and won't be shipped until 2,5 more weeks and they didn't offer anything to have a temporary replacement.
I am not sure if that's a common problem or not but it died on me when I unplugged it.
Other than that, the unit is easy to operate, the remote is very handy, most of the screen colors are useful (you cannot read the titles on some color schemes), FM radio reception is working fine (but it also depends on the quality of your radio that's installed in your car, I'd say hard-wire the unit if you have the means).
Sirius advertises the radio as "100% commercial free" music, but beware, the entertainment channels (actually anything other than the music channels) are full of commercial that drives me nuts.
If you are spending a little too much time in your car, this radio is fine, but the customer service isn't.
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