Date:         Fri, 25 Feb 2005 21:46:22 -0500
Reply-To:     caverat <caverat@COMCAST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         caverat <caverat@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      RE - way OT - re: Sirius radio promo code
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

"The next generation of tuner from Sirius is the StarMate ST1 "

"This brings the net price back to $109"

FYI - for anyone thinking about taking advantage of the latest promo code offering and wondering which unit to get, I'd like to pass on a few things to think about:

1.  It is my understanding that the generation of chipset in the StarMate and all other recent tuners including the Sportster is what is referred to as the 2.5 version.  Version 3.0 chipset radios aren't coming out until later this year.  I believe that the satellite radio guts of all of the 2.5 tuners are the same, but the packaging around them changes with manufacturers.  I don't know if one manufacturer's unit runs cooler than another due to more heat vents or things like that or has some issues that other's don't.  The Sportster is the latest radio that Radio Shack just started selling.  They sold out of all of their Orbiter model at Christmas, which was a bigger unit.  The StarMate is smaller than the Sportster.  I'm pretty sure that all of the latest units from Clarion, JVC, Audiovox, Blaupunkt, Sanyo, as well as the Sportster and Starmate are 2.5 generation chipsets.

2. The $109 coupon deal is good compared to retail, but it is not the same as the promo code since it is only for the radio and car kit.  The $99 promo code includes the car and home kits plus the radio.  The radio plus car kit promo code deal is $49.  The promo code deal is still less than half the price and is current generation equipment.  

3. If you are thinking about a boombox, one is currently available for the Sportster.  I don't know if one is going to be made for the StarMate.  It probably will, but not all of these plug-and-play units have a boombox option.  JVC, Audiovox, Clarion, and the Sportster do; Blaupunkt and Sanyo not now and probably never; StarMate not now, maybe later.

And OT even more, If Sirius airs this commercial, it will probably get some real attention and might not be on long.  You certainly won't see it in early prime time.  I don't know where this came from, and it may have been a rejected concept from some ad firm: 

http://www.joeytomatoes.com/siriusradionormalradio05.htm

For those who are wondering, I get no material benefit at all from passing information on about these offers I occasionally hear about.  I've gotten all of my radios for free from offers like this, and would rather listmembers who are interested in a satellite radio save some money for their vanagon.

caverat

89 westy