Pioneer GEX-XMP3 Portable XM Satellite Radio Receiver w/ Home Kit

5 comments

1. 

   Anonymous on December 21, 2009 at 10:45 pm

   This product does not work – PERIOD. It was IMPOSSIBLE to get a signal and customer service was useless. Refund please!!! I would like to give it 0 stars but Amazon won’t let me!!!

2. 

   Levi on December 22, 2009 at 12:25 am

   The features and size of this unit had me really excited. However, all the features in the world do no good if the sound is so bad that you’ll never use it. I’m NOT talking about reception here- i’m speaking strictly of the quality of the sound when receiving the highest signal reception. It’s not even stereo quality. When i first put the earbuds in and listened i first thought it was just the channel, nope- all channels. Ok, so it must be the settings- went through all the EQ options and some were better than others but none acceptable. Tried my $50 sony earbuds- no better. It was somewhat better when docked and routed through the home stereo and speakers but not much. I really don’t see how they could think people will pay that price for something that sounds so poorly. And i’m not an audiophile. Until just a few weeks ago i’ve survived the last 12 years w/ a cheap aiwa glorified ghetto blaster as a home system. It’s going back.
   

3. 

   Raised by Bears on December 22, 2009 at 2:38 am

   I have been talking with their “customer service” people with nothing to show but frustration but now its anger. Every CS rep refers me to another person and afters hours of wasted time I get to a supervisor who then tells me to call CS. These folks are genius at doing nothing so my only action is to throw this piece of junk in a landfill and buy anything that does not have anything to do with Pioneer.

4. 

   Lugosi on December 22, 2009 at 3:55 am

   The good news is that if you set the XMP3 up to timer record favorite shows, it will come on and record your show even if it’s in the car dock. Once the recording is done, however, it will not turn back off.
   
   This also brings up the unit’s major flaw: The unit will automatically add a fade at the beginning and end of every song. This may be be a nice feature if you’re saving an individual song to add to your on-board playlists; Unfortunately, it’s also extremely annoying if you’re recording something like a three hour countdown show on the 80s channel. There is no way to turn this feature off. I can’t believe someone at Pioneer thought this was a good idea.
   
   When in the car dock, and even with the “line out” set to maximum, I still have to turn the car radio volume up high. That means having to turn it back down if I switch back to the regular FM for some reason. Otherwise I get blasted by the volume.
   
   The car dock does NOT have any presets. The Sirius Stiletto was able to do this with its car dock two years ago. Why couldn’t it also be done with the XMP3? considering the dock retails for almost $70, you’d think it would have been included.
   
   You can add favorite channels, but accessing them is not nearly as easy as with the Inno. The XMP3 requires you to hit the menu button and scroll to the “favorites” option, then click again, then scroll to the favorite channel and click again. Entirely too many steps to access something that should be much simpler to do, especially in a car.
   
   The scroll wheel is not very intuitive. Unless you keep your eyes glued to the screen, you will end up missing your option.
   
   Most of these other issues I could live with, but the fading between songs is a deal killer. I’m taking the unit back.

5. 

   Moe Kermani on December 22, 2009 at 5:03 am

   I ordered this radio to use when I am skiing or biking but the battery is always dead or after 30 minutes the radio stop to work