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Just enough time to get a nice sunburn. I was able to bring my radio out onto the beach and listen to Radio Margaritaville for about 3 hours on a charge (needed to connect a pair of powered speakers of course). The XACT Power Pod is not the most sophisticated and sleek piece of technology you will ever own, but it does the job of letting you take your Sirius receiver away from your home/car. I brought mine to Florida on my last vacation. I have recently purchased the boombox for the XACT so the pod will probably be collecting dust in my closet.Pros: Long listening time per charge, relatively small, good antenna positioning, battery gague.Cons: Unless you want to use it with headphones buy the boombox, a bit pricey.
I use in on the bus and in my office. My office is not near any windows and the reception is very good. I do wish that the battery charge would last a little longer than 3 hours. I live in New York City and I was a little hesitant about buying XS028 Satellite Radio Power Pod Portable Battery Pack. I was pleasantly surprised with the reception. Overall I am very pleased with this product.
Therefore, I needed a portable unit. So, in all, I can at least listen while waiting for my train, but it wasn't worth the price just for that. I take a short trolley ride from my apartment in Philadelphia to a train station, and then a 30-minute train ride to work in the suburbs. Therefore, this unit is largely useless to me.Speaking of "largely," this thing is "portable" in the sense that a bowling ball is portable. And I get ZERO reception at work itself. There's a battery power indicator on the unit, but it doesn't seem terribly accurate. The signal is almost completely lost in north Philadelphia, and is at best sporadic the entire train ride towards Norristown, even with the antenna held by the window.
Its bulkier than the first generation of tape cassette walkmen, and is a bit heavy. On the trolley its great (until I hit the tunnel). I can't keep it in my pocket like my radio walkman, and there's not even a way to clip it to my belt if I were inclined (I'm not). It uses a custom battery that only lasts three hours, but takes 8+ hours to charge. I carried it around in my gym bag. On the train - not good. I wanted a Sirius unit that would allow me to listen on my way to work.
At the train station its great. My options as of today were this unit (for the XTR1 receiver) or the XS043 for the Xact Rego. The XS043 is unacceptable because the antena is built into custom headphones, meaning I'd be forced to use their rather bulky-looking headphones instead of my own, and I've yet to own a pair of headphones that lasted longer then 3-4 months.The reception: In my apartment its great. I'd have been better off with just a home mounting kit (which, with its 20-ft antena, will hopefully let me get a signal at work as well).
but take it to a rural town with no terrestrial antennas and the reception really falls off. The item is a great concept, as in carrying it as a walkman, but the actuallity of carrying it in rural area, it just does not recieve the signal. This unit is great in the big cities. I am hoping the home unit and vehicle unit work better.
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