An available home kit lets you play the SKYFi3 through your home stereo to take full advantage of XM Satellite Radio.
The SKYFi3 also makes a great radio in the house. While you do lose the ability to mount the radio horizontally because of the home cradle, all of the other functions are fully operable. There are no buttons on the cradle, but all functions can be accessed and controlled through the included wireless remote.
I was impressed with the range of the included indoor/outdoor XM antenna. When I first set up the radio and turned it on, I had not yet run the antenna over to the window. Everything was still sitting on top of my entertainment center, about 10 feet from the nearest window. The SKYFi3 immediately received a strong signal, and there was no need for me to try to tuck the wire around the floorboard all the way across the room. The signal never faded, and I got great sound through my stereo's auxiliary input.
For fantastic sound and efficient design, the SKYFi3 Bose kit is tough to beat.
The Bose kit includes a SKYFi3 radio, as well as everything you need to connect it to your Bose Wave music system (not included).
There's also an available SKYFi3 kit that gives you a direct connection to a Bose® Wave® Music System. The kit includes a SKYFi3 radio, home dock, wire management hub, indoor antenna, power adapter, and a remote that controls both the SKYFi3 and the Bose Wave radio. There is no denying the excellent sound quality of the Wave, but I was very impressed with the depth and fullness of XM music through the radio. Being a compressed format, satellite radio can sometimes leave you wanting a little more. But with the Bose setup, everything sounded rich and well-rounded. Connecting everything is extremely easy, and the included remote was great. I'm not a huge fan of the smaller credit-card sized remotes included with the Bose radio, so it was nice to have a remote with some substance when controlling everything. Button layout is intuitive, and Delphi even includes overlays for Wave radios with and without CD players.
A portable kit for the SKYFi3 enables you to receive a live XM signal when you're out and about on foot. The kit includes a special pair of headphones with a built in antenna and an armband. Again, I first tested the reception of the unit inside my home, and I was blown away again by the range of the antenna. I was expecting little-to-no signal anywhere indoors, and a shoddy signal at best outside. I was wrong. Reception was strong and clear anywhere within 8 feet of a window when inside, and outside was spot-on almost everywhere. The armband was a nice addition, and I was able to keep my hands free to do yard work and other tasks without worrying about the SKYFi3 taking a fatal plunge out of a pocket or accidentally bumping it if it was on my belt.
The wearable kit features special headphones with a built-in antenna, making the SKYFi3 a true portable satellite radio. Reception was surprisingly good, though the ear pieces turned into torture devices after a few minutes of use.
Not only was live reception very good, but I was able to play the songs I had recorded on a MicroSD card. These cards are super small, hold up to 500 songs each, and are easy to pop in the SKYFi3's integrated port. I really appreciated this feature, as it meant I didn't have to bring the SKYFi3 into my house every time I wanted to add new songs to the memory.
My only complaint with portable use is that the headphones get pretty uncomfortable if worn for more than a few minutes. The hard plastic ear pieces really dig into your head, and the bulky size gets a little cumbersome after a while. Battery life is also limited, but at 90 minutes, it's tough to drain it in one shot.
