Samsung Helix XM Satellite Radio Receiver - YXM1Z
Samsung YX-M1Z Helix XM Satellite Radio Receiver and MP3 Player

So after I broke my 2nd IPOD and Apple would do nothing, I swore I would not buy another and then I saw this on sale. I thought well sort of like an ipod, with a twist. XM radio. The unit is easy to work, the built in antenna works well even in the car while you drive. The only thing that is limited is how much you can download into it, but it is still an amazing unit. I use it every day, 8-10 hours at work Mon-Fri and I use it in my car all the time. It is totally worth the money
 
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I recently purchased a new car with XM Radio service included and wanted to continue the experience of their wonderful service when I'm not behind the wheel. The unit was easy to set up and works just about everywhere I've tried it to date. The sound and reception are just great. Its better than any MP3 I've ever owned!
 
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Love this little portable satellite radio! Also have an Ipod but this is so much better. Whenever I hear a song I want to keep, I push a button while it's playing, even if it's near the end of the song, and I have it forever, without paying for it! The screen is big and clear and the sound is excellent. Love it, love it!
 
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Yes it has the regular MP3 capability, but what sets this little rogue product apart is the ability to recieve AND record hours of satallite music for later listening. For the me the randomness of a 'near commercial free' radio program in the genre of my choice, is a superior listening experience to just buying and listening. I set this little device to record new music every night and the next day I have all the latest and greatest for my listening pleasure. I dont need no 'stinkin' ipod.
 
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I love XM Radio. This is a very nice unit but be careful if you plan to use it in your car. There no longer seems to be a car kit available for it. The kit is needed for an external antenna and FM play. I have an auxiliary port for sound and get decent reception from the built in antenna on my commute but I would have purchased a car kit if I could find it. The radio works well in the house and walking around, I set it to record some comedy and music overnight and listen to that at the gym or if reception is bad. With the Buy.com rebate I got, it was a good value. Note: the XM rebate is for new customers only.
 
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Nice bright screen, easy to use, good sound quality. I bought this when there was a nice rebate offer so my out of pocket was pretty low. I have used it for several days constantly and realy enjoy not having to specifically put music on the player. During a recent trip the battery started acting funny (i.e. not charging), but with a simple and supprisingly quick call to Samsung I am told a new battery is on the way. The one downside to be aware of is that I dont think you can easily get a the complete car kit for this anymore, unless you find it on EBAY.
 
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Well I bought the Helix as a secondary XM radio and love it. Everything that comes with it, charger, home kit, antenna etc. is a great value.
 
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I bought the Samsung YX-M1Z Helix about two or three weeks ago, when it was going for $30 bucks on buy.com (with of course, binding rebate to a subscription to XM radio). <br><br> Getting a 1GB Mp3 player with a screen and great battery life already makes it work the $30 bucks. The sound quality is pretty good and the player has treble and bass controls that you can control through the menu. The screen displays all the information you need to know - Battery Life, Mode of Play, Time (of day), Artist, Song title, and it has a song progress bar on the bottom of the screen. Nothing excessive. <br><br> The XM radio is great. What is also great about this gadget is that it allows you to record xm songs from certain artists or different channels - kind of like how radio was recorded on boomboxes with tape players. But a feature that really separates the XM radio from the antiquated feature of the tape recorder is that this gadget separates all the different tracks you've recorded from the channel, so if you record something you don't like, you can go back after you're done recording and delete that particular portion of the recording without messing up any other tracks in your recording session. For example, occasionally between the songs on the xm radio, they play a little tidbit for the channel you're listening to. (EX: You're listening to 90's on 9!) <br><br> Also, a great feature is that XM radio has online listening for their subscribers. It's a great feature but I've had some trouble actually connecting with the streaming music at work. Perhaps because of internet settings or a firewall. I haven't tested it out yet at home. <br><br> My two main criticisms would be the menu navigation system and the Helix as a portable xm player. <br><br> First the menu navigation: Personally, I find it a bit difficult to get used to, since the buttons change depending on what kind of menu you are exploring at the moment. Sometimes none of the five buttons available to me would help me exit the menu so I just revert to switching modes between xm and mp3 player to get back to non-menu status. <br><br> Helix as a portable XM Player: Without the dock connected with the antennae, the XM radio signal strength is erratic. I've tried it out without the antennae indoors, and it hasn't really been a good experience. I haven't tried it out walking around outside, but I can't really imagine it being that much better. It works so much better as an MP3 player when you're indoors and not wanting to have it connected to the dock. <br><br> Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with my purchase. I'm really enjoying both the mp3 and xm functions. There is a bit of room for improvement but for what its worth, I give the Samsung Helix a 8/10. :D
 
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Portable XM is very nice. This generation is much more versatile than the early generations. I bought a car kit separately, and I move the radio from the home kit (included) to the car kit daily. In buildings near windows, I can use the radio separately, since we have terrestrial repeaters locally (not available everywhere). My only complaint is that there are no one-button presets that you can jump to, even with the remote. You have to go to the Favorites or Genre station listing and scroll up or down, or you can try to punch in the individual channel number. This is really dangerous while driving, since your eyes are off the road for several seconds.
 
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The Helix works great, the reception is awesome walking around outside or in the car, but inside you pretty much get no reception (unless you use the home dock) but thats when I switch over to my recorded music. I haven't had a problem with the battery life at all, and its very easy to navigate. I would absolutely suggest getting one.
 
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Purchased the Helix XM radio along with the car kit several weeks ago and have had some time now to play around with it. Overall works pretty well, the price after rebate at the time was very cheap. Reception: I get a great signal with the Home Dock and the car kit/dock (external antenna). Have not used it in standalone mode for live XM except for one time indoors and it could not get a reliable signal...not surprised. The FM transmitter is a bit weak even with gain set to max..it doesn't drift or have static but there is some quality/range loss. For best sound use the line-out into a better modulator or to a direct line-in on your head unit. Acceptable though when the only alternative is BAD FM channels. Battery life: Battery is quick to charge and plays for a long time. I had an issue however with battery drain when off (it would go dead overnight)...so I updated the firmware to version 1.30 and now performance is much better (they claim 11 days in off mode now) Sound quality: Decent when listening to XM (I'd put it at ~92kb MP3 quality), very good with high bitrate WMA or MP3. LOUD volume capability. Earbuds are so-so. Features: Love the programmable record capability, I can grab special programs and various mixes of songs overnight at home, then toss it in my bag and listen in the office, have discovered lots of new artists. Nice file organization system. Form factor is good, looks/feels/performs high quality. Value: After rebate, the player is a great deal (although I see the price has gone up recently). Car kit is a ripoff though, but it's required to activate the internal FM transmitter and to access the line-out signal. This is a second radio in our house so the XM plan is just $6.99/month.
 
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