Home » Delphi SKYFi XM Satellite Radio Review Delphi SKYFi Pros: First successful Plug-and-Play. Sleek exterior. Cons: Not as many features as the other Plug-and-Plays. More expensive docking kits ($59-$69) compared to Sirius ($29-$49). Display tends to blur easily; not easy to read across a room. Overall: This unit is sleek, and does the job. It does not come with all the bells and whistles of newer receivers, and the docking stations are expensive, but it still is very reliable without a history of breaking.   The Delphi SKYFi was released by XM in September 2002. It was the first good Plug-and-Play, and is currently one of the most successful. With beautiful curves, and an easy to use interface, it looks hot. But, as the saying goes, don't judge electronics by their shell. Like a lot of electronics more than a year old, this is starting to become obsolete pretty quickly. I had the XM SKYFi for a brief period in September 2003. Over that time, I did several tests with it, but in the end I opted to return it and keep my Kenwood Here2Anywhere, mostly because I preferred Sirius' music over XM's. Display & buttons The button setup of this unit is awesome. It is easy to use and very intuitive. In fact, Audiovox and Clarion have copied the setup for their own Plug-and-Play units. The display, however, leaves much to be desired. Using a red display that is a little smaller than the one on the Audiovox PNP2, it does not look at good as the Audiovox's. When looking at an angle, the display washes out easily (washing out is when text/background go to one color), and when there is sun glare, the display is almost impossible to read unless you are looking at it straight on. Viewing it from afar is hard as well. When the title/artist is in large display mode, it moves fast and the letters are thin so they cannot be read from more than 10-12 feet away. I hope that when XM redesigns the SKYFi, they make a better display as well. Other features The SKYFi offers some small features. There is a 10 song memory, although it just stores the names, and will not alert you when they are playing again. You can see what is playing on other XM channels before switching. Unlike other Plug-and-Plays, there is a preset band named Direct, which lets you enter the channel number instead of going to that choice every time. In terms of the docking kits, the car kit is nice, as it is very thin, unlike the Audiovox. The antenna on the new car kits is very small but powerful. The home kit is sturdy with a strong base. Both boomboxes available for the SKYFi are on this website. The features are lacking compared to the Delphi Roady and especially the new Sirius PNPs like the Clarion or the Audiovox PNP2: The new Sirius PNPs offer a very crisp screen that does not easily wash out. The Skyfi display is very hard to read in direct sunlight The SKYFi does not offer S-Seek/TuneSelect, which alerts you when a favorite song comes on any of the music stations No fully-functioning clock/alarm clock Only one default font choice The SKYFi can only display 16 characters for title and artist names (standard for all XM receivers), compared to 36 for the Sirius receivers The display does not automatically dim based on the ambient light, unlike the new Sirius receivers But while some features are lacking, the nice part about XM products are the wide range of accessories available for them. The SKYFi offers several cool things, including a waterproof cover for motorcycles and a portable kit. Summary The Delphi SKYFi is an adequate unit. While it is lacking in features compared to the Sirius Plug-and-Plays, and the cheaper XM Roady, it still has a small size, and is one of the only Plug-and-Play's available for XM right now. User Reviews No user reviews have been submitted. Do you own this radio? Please share your opinion and write a review. Top of page
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