CitronC230K_03

I ordered my Sirius unit at Penske Mercedes-Benz today. Though my car is still in the body shop for another week I went ahead and ordered the Sirius unit anyhow since they are available. I priced other units as aftermarket and though the dealership cost me $800, i like the fact I can use my steering wheel controls and it displays thru my COMAND. Just need to get it installed now.

c230pete

so you can get sirius radio and not have it affect the look of the dash from the dealer with warranty??

CitronC230K_03

Yes! I have the brochure at home on it I got from the dealership when i ordered it. I'm not sure about C Class non-COMAND units, but the E-Class Radio has Sat radio capabilities as well as S Class. The COMAND Units are compatable with it and you operate it thru the COMAND. I will scan the brochure tonight when I get off of work and post it. I talked to the dealer this morning at they are charging 2 hours labor for the install. I'm really excited. I was going to get XM and have it in the ashtray, but I don't want to void my extended 7yr/100k mile warranty also I want to be able to control it through my COMAND. I'll post the borchure tonight.

Buellwinkle

Pete, you don't have to have satelite radio affect the look of your dash. The XM Roady can easily fit in the ashtray with minimal work. I put mine in the cubby below the radio because I like it to be prominent but I had a sat receiver in the ashtray before. No warranty issues that I could imagine as it uses antenna adapters for the FM mod and a 12V tap off the harness, nothing that can't be undone if you run into a problem. About $200 and portable from car to car or to home. As for Sirius, someone did put an Audiovox PnP in their ashtray but it's not easy, it's big.

I did see the MB Sirius unit at C-Spot with the current cassette radio but it was goofy to operate. The display can only handle about 8 characters and you can only see one item at a time (catagory, station name, song name or artist) and toggling through all 4 just to see one item is annoying, I know because I had to do it with my Pioneer unit and it's very distracting when driving. With Comand or the E radio it's a lot better and I can see spending the dough, but not with the standard radio.

CitronC230K_03

to each his own. i like the fact that i can use it thru my COMAND. i dont care about the cost, i want the function of my COMAND.

c class 279

Me too! Post that pic!

c230pete

Thanks for that info....I think i'll start investigating this more, and possibly get xm....although I wonder which is better

c230pete

can someone maybe post a pic of what the roady looks like in the ashtray? thanks a mil!

CitronC230K_03

im not saying xm is better than sirius. what im looking for is function with my original equipment without having to install other components. i know that the mb sirius is another component but i want to use parts that wont void my warranty which i bought the extended 7yr/100k warranty and dont want to void it at all. i know $1000 after install is very pricey but its getting me what i want. sorry i didnt post pics of the brochure last night, i didnt get home til late last night. i will scan and upload the brochure tonight.

Buellwinkle

I have pics of the Roady in my S-10, the C230 in the ashtray, the cubby below the radio and the cubholder area (looks the cleanest) as well as an old pic of my Pioneer XM in the ashtray (hated it because of the 1 line display and crappy fm mod) and put them in the gallery on my website, www.Buellwinkle.com click on the thumbnail to see a larger pic. Can't post pics on this forum, sorry.

As for which is better, XM or Sirius, I had both at the same time and they both have channels that I liked more on one than the other so it's truly hard to chose unless you really have to have certain channels. They both have commercial free music channels but Sirius has more chatty DJ's, some like that, some don't. I did have more reception problems on Sirius than XM at different times of the day because Sirius is in orbit around the earth and XM is geo-stationary. Sirius has 3 satelites but each is only exposed to one spot on earth for 8 hours so in reality you have 1 visible satelite, possibly 2 for a period of time and XM has 2 above the U.S. only. For me the real decision came down to equipment, the Roady is at least half the size of the smallest Sirius plug and play unit and has some cool feature like the ability to change backlighting to 7 different colors and the antenna is tiny, about 1 1/2" square and I have it velcro'ed to my hatch cover.

I know the cleanest way is to get the built in Sirius receiver, it's just out of my price/value realm and I enjoy the portability of the Roady as I use it in 3 different cars, the 4th has a Delphi Skyfi.

CitronC230K_03

Here are pics of the brochure. Notice on the first page there is a C-Coupe. You can tell from the dash instrument cluster.

Here are pages 1-4 of the Mercedes-Benz Sirius Brochure.

CitronC230K_03

Here are pages 5 - 8 of the brochure.

Buellwinkle

Nice brochure. Here's a pic of a Sirius Kenwood setup in the astray of a E class but it would probably work in a C. One thing with Sirius, many times they have F&F type promotions where they give you the hardware for free.




The Roady in the C ashtray for comparison

CitronC230K_03

Buellwinkle,
I like the setup you have with your XM in your ashtray. I like that look and the fact that you can conceal the unit by closing the ashtry while the unit is still inside. I think and if I had the stock h/u that is the way to go. Since I'm using COMAND I want to untilize it. I realize a huge price difference but for me I think it works.

Buellwinkle

Definitely, for Comand, the Sirius unit is great, just that most of us don't have Comand. Actually I tried the ashtray install and don't like it, it's a hard place to reach and see but looks cool. I just posted the pic for Pete that asked for it. Mine is mounted just below the radio where I can easily see it and change stations every 30 seconds, afterall, there's 100 stations and my commute is only 30 minutes, that's about 20 seconds per station not counting the 30 or so local traffic and weather stations.

CitronC230K_03

thanks for the pics buell. i definatley like the idea of sat radio. my brother just had it reinstalled into his GTI he bought last year. he had it in the car he had before that. i have been driving his car since mine is in the shop and really like the sat radio. ive never really played with it all that much until this last week and then aboslutley fell in love with it and now i have to have it. my commute to work is only about 10min at most but i drive my car alot for personal use.

breastroker

Buellwinkle,
How good are the traffic reports? Because I go on at least 3-4 different freeways to/from work each day, I need better traffic reports than what they are providing. I listen to 980, traffic on the ones, then switch to 1070 traffic every 5 minutes. But both suck. If I just got one good traffic report early in my drive, I could switch to some music for a change..

Days like today I just switch on some good tunes, every freeway was SLOW.

Why are they talking about Sirus and Comand? What advantages does it have?

I know I have an aux input, am ordering it ( cables) soon.
Thanks, see you at C Spot.

mbtech208

That's exactly what I do. Before I leave my driveway, I still and listen to the 5-minute traffic report, and work around that.

Buellwinkle

The best for pre-drive info is to subscribe to sigalert.com , it's about $20/yr and gives you anticipated travel timings based on different routes you chose and current traffic. For free you can look at the traffic maps, see the accidents and webcams where they have them.

As for XM channel 222 vs. KNX or 980, it's only traffic and weather so you don't have to wait for it, no commercials and the entire traffic and weather loop lasts about 2-3 minutes so it's much quicker than turning to an all news station.

breastroker

Can you let me hear 222 at C Spot?

mbtech208

I feel bad for the announcers on XM traffic and weather. Having to read the same things over and over again for hours, especially at 3 or 4 am when the roads are empty. The sound quality of those channels is pretty poor too, they all sound like they have colds.

CitronC230K_03

well i'm dumping the MB Sirius thing. I was told that its a six month delay for C-Coupes and dont want to wait. I got my money back from the dealership today and now I'm deadset on getting sat radio.

Buell-
You said you have the Sirius Shuttle. It will fit in the ashtray. I don't want to remove the unit, once its installed then thats that. also i want to be able to close the ashtray. if the Sirius shuttle wont fit then im gonna get the XM SkyFi. either way im gonna get sat radio. I like the look of the shuttle. havent used either one so i dont know which is easier. never listened to XM but my brother has sirius and i like it.

biggest incentive in the long run, $1000 thru dealer installed and that if it does come out in 6 months, and $300 at the most for an aftermarket installed, and i can have it now.

mbtech208

I enjoy my XM, from what I hear it's a toss-up between XM and Sirius. If you go with XM and want it to fit in your ashtray, get the Roady instead of the SkyFi. I have the SkyFi in my car and it's mounted next to the radio on a bracket, but it is too big to fit in the ashtray, the Roady is much smaller.

CitronC230K_03

https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...ight=satellite

i like the way the SkyFi looks over the roady and if i remove the tray it will fit from what ive read and seen. here's a link of someone who placed a SkyFi in the ashtray. now i want to know, does anyone know if i can run it thru the Aux input of my COMAND without having it plug into the glovebox but instead somehow splicing it thru the back. does anyone know if this is do-able?

mbtech208

Oh that's cool, I thought for sure it would be too big to fit in the ashtray. Insert foot into mouth:o