Once I activated the Roady™ to receive the XM programming (a fairly simple process in itself), all I had to do was look at the XM programming guide and press the right combination from the 10 tuning buttons located along the bottom of the Roady™. There wasn’t much else I needed to learn, although there are other features you may enjoy.
You have options to change your display, which by the way is clear and informative. You have a button to save song information. You have 3 preset banks to save your favorite streams. There’s another button to scroll through programming categories.
Then there’s a “Tuning Wheel”. This little bugger is recessed into the top right corner of the Roady and it lets you scroll through channel or menu options.
The Tuning Wheel does a lot. You can use it to preview the XM channel lineup without leaving the stream you’re listening too. If you’re scanning around and you see something you like, press the wheel inward and the Roady™ changes to it. Otherwise, release the Tuning Wheel and nothing occurs. You can also tune directly to a channel with the wheel or select a channel by using the wheel in conjunction with the category keys.
I'm a little disappointed in the design of the Tuning Wheel, though. Maybe it’s me, but my finger has a hard time grabbing the outside edge of the wheel. For design reasons it was recessed into the corner to blend with the circular curve. Personally, I think it should protrude further outwards to make it easier to grasp with the surface of your finger.
Other slick features include and Auto-On feature that automatically turns the unit on when you start up your vehicle and Auto-Off which shuts off the Roady automatically 60, 120, or 180 minutes after it’s been turned on.
The Roady™ also has something called “TuneSelect” which let’s you select favorite songs as you hear them and be alerted when they play on another stream. When the Roady senses the song’s presence somewhere else in the system, you are alerted and then given the option to switch to that stream.
With the Roady™, you can also save up to 15 instances of artist and song information for later recall.
The XM Roady™ retails for about $120 dollars and it has a very small footprint, so it’s easy to install even if you don’t have much room in your car. You can also customize the color of the display screen to better match your vehicle or you visual taste.
The Roady™ comes with an power adapter to provide power from your lighter plus a plug-in cassette adapter that connects from the Roady to your in-dash radio.
Incidentally, I discovered something that may save you a little time and trouble. If you already have a portable Sirius Satellite Radio unit in your vehicle and either add or switch to XM, the antennas are interchangeable. Just unplug the antenna cord from your Sirius unit and plug it into the Roady.
The Roady™ is quick to install, easy to activate and affordably priced. It’s a great way to start experiencing satellite radio.
