I just purchased a Pioneer AVIC-N4 to go with the new audio system in my truck.
This radio (Pioneer calls it a "DVD, multimedia, AV navigation server." There're not just radios anymore.)
has a number of features that I'm not sure I need or want, let alone will ever use.
I purchased this unit because I wanted the navigation feature. When it arrived, I started looking at all the things it is capable of doing.
I figure if I decide to use any or all of these features, it would be easier to install them now while I have the interior of my truck torn apart.
As opposed to adding them at some later date. I was just wondering if any of you have/use satellite radio in your car? If so, are you happy with it?
Why did you get it in the first place? Is it preforming as you expected? What are the pros and cons if any?

I'm specifically looking at "XM satellite radio with NAV traffic." Sounds like a nice feature to have. To someone like me that's retired,
I'm not sure how useful the traffic feature would be though. As I understand it, currently this setup checks traffic reports in about 25 MAJOR cities.
L.A., New York, Miami, Chicago, etc. and spots problems and automatically routes you around them.
Perhaps in the future as they add more cities, it will be useful to me. At the moment however, I have my doubts.

Satellite radio is another feature I'm not sure I'd have much use for. On occasion I'll listen to some "talk" radio, on local stations.
I never listen to any type of sport program on the radio. I might on occasion listen to an all news station if I had it. Fox, CNN, etc.
Probably 90% of my listening at the moment, while in the truck, is music. Most of that is from CD's. I have a 12 CD changer as part of the system.
Being surrounded by mountains, FM radio reception in this area is only fair. I'm looking at an initial cost of $215 plus $13-17 per month or so for something I may or may not use.
When you combine the cost with the fact that whenever the weather gets bad you lose the signal, something I found out when I had satellite TV,
I'm wondering if it's worth the cost.

So what do you guys think. If you have XM (or Sirius) radio, what do you think of it? Is it worth the cost?

Nice write up. I have XM and love it. But I do alot of driving. If you use the radio alot go for it. Especially if you have to deal with poor reception out there.

When are those two services going to merge. XM and Sirius?

__________________

This is some stuff I've found on the subject on other web sites. Don't know how much is fact and how much is conjecture.

"Its official. My XM rep told me at work you'll see this happen by the end of 07.
No big changes though unless you want changes.
For instance, if you have XM and you want Sirius channels you can add them a la carte.
Choose what channels you want and you pay a little more for that service.
Kind of like cable TV."

SO:

1) Rates will remain the same
2) You will keep your main provider. If you have XM, you still have XM with no changes.
UNLESS: You want to add channels to your XM receiver that only Sirius now offers. (and vice versa I assume.)
3)You will be charged accordingly in a bracket with how many channels you want.
4)ALL Sirius and XM receivers made will be able to handle this change. No need to upgrade to new receiver is necessary.
5)If you prepaid service your prepayment will go unchanged.

My understand is that even though they advertise "commercial free." XM is not commercial free.
All or most of the "talk" channels, sports, news, etc have commercial interruptions. MOST of the MUSIC channels are commercial free.

OK, it's been a week since I originally posted this question. Judging by the lack of response,
I assume most, if not all of you do not own any sort of Satellite Radio.
Thanks for your response badassstang, but "I love it" really didn't answer my question.
I wanted to know WHY you loved it. What makes it worth the $10 to $13 per month you're paying for it.

So I decided to go to the XM web page and do some research. I subscribed to a 3 day "free trial" on line.
It allowed me to listen to 80-90 of the 170+ channels they broadcast.
Frankly I WAS NOT impressed. What you get for your $10 to $13 per month is about 70-75 music channels.
Probably 2/3 of which I would never listen to. Punk, rap, etc. Not saying there's anything wrong with that stuff,
just that the chances of my listening to it are slim and nil.

Then there are about 20-25 sports channels. Again, something I will probably NEVER listen to.
MAYBE an occasional ball game during the world series or super bowl play offs if I happen to be in the truck during the game.
The all news channels are something I would listen to from time to time. The talk shows I listened to were a waste of time.
I listened to 3 different shows for about an hour. One guy spent about 20 minutes trying to impress his audience with a collection of 4 letter words.
I stopped doing, being impressed by, that sort of stuff when I was 12.
Then I listened to 3 guys spend about 20 minutes or so discussing the pros and cons of having sex as soon as you wake up in the morning.
The third show was so mind numbing I can't even remember what was talked about, even though it's barely been 24 hours since I listened to it.

So today I went into my I-tunes program. I found out that I have over 1800 songs (that I actually like and listen to) on over 130 CD's.
That's over 120 hours of uninterrupted music.

So instead of spending $13 per month on XM, I'll spend it on the CD's of my choice.
That's will buy me about 25 new CD's per year.

I have Sirius Radio on my new Taurus and i am happy with the results.Ford gave me 6 months free with the car purchase and i bought an additional 3 yrs because i got a good discount and i will not have to worry about the merger [with XM] and future $ increases. The price of the Sirius radio was only $195.00 on the MSRP sticker. There is very little difference betweenXM and Sirius and soon they will merge as one company.The only drawback is the loss of the signal when driving through a tunnel or under an overpass[very brief]. I listen to the Sinatra ,Jazz Cafe,Coffee House,Pure Jazz,Classic Rock,CNN,FOX and Bloomberg. I live in Az. and i do a lot of driving through the deserts.I also have an I POD hookup and a 6 disc CD player. I would say that about 50% of the channels on the Sirius are junk[to my ears]. I got the monthly service for $10.00 with a 3 yr subscription.