Just got the XM Direct kit, I must say I am very happy with it thus far. Works thru the factory headunit, all presets, steering wheel controls, and such work. The install took about 20 minutes or so, and is completely hidden- save for the tiny XM antenna on the roof (fits behind the main antenna).

Sound quality is excellent, the signal quality is good- I do notice a few more drops vs. my XM antenna I had on my previous car (a Terk), but certainly nothing to complain about...

Not cheap @ $300, but very clean and good sound quality... If your thinking about XM, I'd suggest this. You can (in theory) use the integrated Sirius/FM mini antenna with it, but I'm not sure how the signal quality would be. XM and Sirius do use different frequencies, but are in the same (general) spectrum- or at least thats my understanding (DID, any wisdom to give on this???)...

 

hi,

so, the blitzsafe adapter makes it possible to work the xm channels through the stock hk headunit? no need for a roady or skyfi receiver?

regards,
eric

 

Eric- Correct. The Xm Direct kit (got it from Radios & More, excellent service- free OVERNIGHT shipping :smile: If my Archos dies, and I get an I-Pod, then I'll be completely "iced" out :smile:

 

Once the Blitzsafe and XM Direct were installed, how did you activiate XM?
Thanks,
SMKKVK

 

You need the code from the unit, I got the "family pack" (2 radios, 1 for home/office and 1 for the car :smile: Tune on the unit to "channel 0", write down the code. The radio ID is also on the unit you installed, and on the box.

You have to options, call the 1-800 number, or go to xmradio.com to activate. I think it's cheaper to activate online. It takes 15 minutes to a couple of hours to activate, mine activated from the web within 5 minutes :smile:

 

800 # is 1-800-XMRADIO

 

What info is availble through the stock radio? Also what exactly can you change using the steering wheel?

To elaborate on the first request, does it show station #, artist, song and station description?

Thanks!

 

>>Just got the XM Direct kit, I must say I am very happy with it thus far. Works thru the factory head unit, all presets, steering wheel controls, and such work. The install took about 20 minutes or so, and is completely hidden- save for the tiny XM antenna on the roof (fits behind the main antenna).
>>
----------
Zfxr,

For clarification, is just purchasing this kit from http://www.radiosandmore.com/prod_de...R-D-001-BMW101 enough to install in my 03, i.e. no blitsafe converter or is the blackbox which is pictured the blitsafe unit?

Also, I see the "notes" section states the harness for vehicles with a changer. I don't have the CD changer, is this issue. Or, is this for connection into one of the connectors in the boot on the LH side?

I'm ready to make this purchase as my wife's new Audi came with the three month XM free trial. I believe she's going to go with it and if we have a 2nd car, aka the MINI, then there is better XM price.

Thanks,

 

The XM Direct comes with the XM receiver, magnetic antenna and the interface smart adaptor. The part number 100 is for cars without CD changers, and the 101 is for cars with the changer. It has the "pass though" capability so you can still use the changer. It is a plug and play setup, it only takes about 20 minutes to install it on the mini.

 

That is the kit I got, as mentioned above, it comes with everything in a box.

As far as control, the left rocker button controls preset up/down, the middle button does nothing. On the right, the rocker is volume and the middle still cycles through the inputs. Works basically like the AM/FM or CD portions of the radio. From the up/down buttons on the radio itself, you can manually step through the channels and the 2 unmarked buttons on the far right of the preset buttons cycle through the 3 banks of presets and rotate the display through the channel name, the artist, the title and the channel number. The are marked as SAT and INF on the display above them.

 

Thanks for your personal confirmation that this kit is the way to go, not to mention it beats the BMW cost of $500+ w/o a dealer install.
SMKKVK

 

has anyone actually installed one of these who has NAV and gotten the head unit to read out the channels and nfo...if so how????????

 

>>As far as control, the left rocker button controls preset up/down

Just out of curiosity, if you hold the up/down buttons, does it let you scan through/change channels one at a time (like how holding it in radio mode does seek, which I discovered recently by accident)?

 

>>>>As far as control, the left rocker button controls preset up/down
>>
>>Just out of curiosity, if you hold the up/down buttons, does it let you scan through/change channels one at a time (like how holding it in radio mode does seek, which I discovered recently by accident)?

I just checked during lunch and yes, holding the left up/down button does manually tune. It scrolls through pretty slowly (maybe one per .5 second or so) for the first 5, then speeds up.