SIRIUS Stiletto 2 Portable Satellite Radio with MP3 Player

I love this item and I wanted to wait a couple weeks to give my review of the product. I use it everyday and it eliminates all my other mp3 devices.

Here is how a typical day breaks down with the Stiletto 2:
5:00am - work out on treadmill or bike listening to mp3 mixes or sirius through wifi.
7:30am - drive to work, drop the kids off, listen to satellite radio, news or music
8:00am - listen to music all day at work, through mp3 or created playlists; why can't my office get wifi?
12:00am - Walk around downtown listening to satellite radio with the headphone antenna.
4:30pm - Drive home and to pick up the kids, listening to music.
9:30pm - Chill out in bed listening to wifi radio.

Overall, I love this product. Is it expensive? Yes. Are the accessories expensive? Yes. Does it work as advertised? Yes.

There are so many options I like I will highlight a few.
First, I love having the option to listen to the radio through wifi. I think that is awesome.
Second, I like to listen to a lot of different kinds of music and I wouldn't have the patience to search through the 80gb ipod. With sirius, different genres of music are just a click away.
Third, I love that I can walk outside and listen to sirius, a service I have had for two years and haven't been able to take it portable. I go to Missouri football games and I am going to take the Stiletto 2 to the games to listen to the play by play, or to check other games.
Fourth, I love that you can add a micro-sd card. I added a 2gb to expand my music. A bonus feature I discovered is I can play my mp3s in the car now. That was an awesome feature I didn't think about.

I feel the Stiletto 2 is pricey, but for me, it has allowed me to listen to a service I was already paying for in a lot more applications throughout the day!

I'm a Gadget junkie...you name it, I've bought it and tried it, from the latest PC's...HD TV's,, Sling TV, TIVO, HD DVD players, Blu-Ray players,I-Touch, Zune, X-Box 360, PS3, Blackberry, XM radio & Sirius players...etc...etc...etc...

If your looking for he Ultimate portable music device, the Stiletto 2 is the answer...This unit does it all, you need no other portable music device...

First: How much money do you spend on downloading songs???
Possibly hundreds of $ a year? With Stilleto 2 you can download up to 10 hours of indiviual songs from Sirius...and it's no additional cost, just the monthly subscriber fee you're already paying, and you can replay them at any time with the built in memory.

Second: It automatically records the stations you listen to, up to 100 hours, so when your in a no signal area, you can listen to hours & hours & hours of music during this time.

Third: Not only does it have 2GB of built in memory but you can add a Micro SD card to increase your music collection. You can transfer / import music files from your PC...it will replaces youe Zune, Ipod, MP3 player, and using the Yahoo music site (software included) you can purchase music online and continue to add to your colection.

Fourth: It has not only satellite reception capability, but WiFi as well, and both work excellent! So if you have WiFi at home, no need to worry about a Satellite signal, it connects to your Wifi...and if you'e in a free hotsspot...wala, connetion!

Fifth: The reception of a satellite signal is very good even without the antennae earphones...anyone who complains that they can't receive a satellite signal indoors with this unit needs to remember "IT'S SATELLITE", that means you need a clear view of the sky to receive, if you got a roof over you, it will block the signal!!!

The only option I would like to see added is being able to load photos for viewing...

I say BUY IT! You'll throw away every other portable music player you have after you do!

I love Sirius Radio. It's the TiVo of radio. If you are already convinced on getting sirius then there's no other radio to get than this one. You no longer have to sit in your car to finish hearing your favorite song or howardstern. Now you can take it out of the car and walk with it. Looks great and show the score of your favorite teams no matter what channel you are on! Will be even better once MLB is a part of sirius. Easy to use and set-up. My mom loves walking around the house using the internet radio for martha stewart and the classical stations. When you are walking outdoors in an open area you do not need the provided headphones (with antennae). You can use any headphones.

Things to improve: Be able to record the internet radio. Better indoor reception w/out headphones. Be able to play video.

As the subject states, I really wanted this to work.

For those who read through my review, I want to make it clear that I am a Sirius fan. I've had a Sirius satellite radio in my car for two years now and I cannot imagine driving around without it.

Last year I accepted a new job that puts me on the train every day instead of in the car for my morning commute. I've missed my satellite radio since then so for the last few months, I've had my eye on the Stiletto. I decided to wait for the Stiletto 2, and I finally took the plunge over the weekend.

Out of the box, the radio looks very attractive and fits perfectly in my hand. The large display is colorful, bright, and easy to read and navigate. The controls are very easy to operate. Overall, a very intuitive design.

The radio is feature packed. You can import your own music into the device via included software. In my opinion, there is plenty of space for stored content out of the box (about 100 hours worth) and I think that will acommodate most people. For those of us with large music and audio book libraries, the added micro-SD card slot is a nice touch. Another feature was wireless connectivity. Some claimed they had problems with frequent disconnects. I didn't have this problem.

Activation was pretty simple, however I couldn't grab a signal indoors, I needed to stand outside on the front porch to complete the activation and the initial download of the channels. I was hoping this wasn't going to be a typical problem, as I even had the antenna headset plugged in. By the way, I've heard rumblings about the Altec Lansing headphones being uncomfortable and I would have to agree. I think Sirius could have made a better choice in headphones, since they seem to be a requirement for this device to get any kind of a signal.

Now, on to reception. Let me make it perfectly clear that I live in the outer suburbs of Chicago. I live near a small city called Crystal Lake, and although is not very close to downtown Chicago, I wouldn't consider myself as living in the "boondocks" either. I also want to make it clear that I purchased this radio so I could listen to it on the train. Those of us who have long train commutes would appreciate having such ability to listen to their iPod or satellite radio. And since my commute is up to 1.5 hours each way (up to 3 hours round trip commute) one could see how I would become excited about bringing my Sirius programming with me on the train.

When I first put the headphones on and fired up the unit, I was standing in the depot after having just finished mixing my coffee. No signal. Okay, so I walked outside and with a cloudless sky, I was able to get two bars and I was able to listen to the radio. I walked across the tracks and went to one of the open-air shelters (it was a particularly cold day and there are warmers installed overhead in the shelter.) As soon as I entered the shelter, I lost signal. Huh, okay. I decided to test it. I walked out of the shelter and received signal again. I walked around and although uninterrupted, I walked under a tree and the signal was interrupted. I started to become discouraged.

So, the train arrived and I boarded, selected a window seat and settled in. I was very disappointed (heartbroken, would be a better term) that I could not get a signal for pretty much the entire train ride. I tried moving the headphone wire closer to the window, I tried leaning my head closer to the window, tried holding the unit closer to the window, but the screen continuously displayed "Acquiring Signal." It was only when we were a couple miles from downtown that I was able to get a signal, but I attribute this to retransmitters that I hear people talking about.

I realized the same results on the way home. I tried it again the next day, this time sitting on the upper row of seats but to no avail. Since this purchase was primarily for entertainment while on the long train commute, I have decided to return the radio. I suppose I'll look into XMs option or just get an iPod. I will keep a sharp eye out for future offerings from Sirius and XM. I haven't given up on my quest to bring satellite radio with me where ever I go.

I give this product two stars, for the added features and well designed menues and navigation. It's too bad that I couldn't use it for its intended purpose, hence the deduction of three stars.

I HAVE HAD THE STILETTO 2 FOR SEVERAL WEEKS AND AM STILL LEARNING ABOUT IT. IT HAS MET ALL MY EXPECTATIONS AND MORE. TO ME IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO CHANGE STATIONS BUT THE REMOTE CONTROLL "CLICKER" THAT I RECEIVED IN THE AUTOMOBILE MOUNTING PACKAGE (OPTIONAL PURCHASE) HAS MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD. THEY SHOULD SELL THAT THING WITH THE UNIT.