2. The Unit, Continuted

When inside your car, the SkyFi3 connects to a dock with blue backlit numbered buttons on it for navigation. If you choose not to use these buttons - and I chose not to because they weren't easily clickable and lagged a bit - you can use the included remote, which worked wonderfully. In later models of the SkyFi, Delphi should consider using soft buttons like the ones on the remote.

The SkyFi3 has a lot of features, but unfortunately, they didn't always work. A handful of times, while switching between media sources on the player - XM, Aux., microSD, and internal storage - the unit would freeze entirely. The best solution for this was to let the SkyFi3's battery die and turn it back on again. Thankfully, while not connected to your cars cigarette lighter, the battery would drain in a few hours' time. While in my car though, the unit was always connected to power, so battery life was never a problem. I couldn't figure out why the unit froze, but it seemed like it was a software failure that was happening when I pushed the buttons too quickly to switch between menus. This shouldn't be an issue though, as the last thing anyone should be doing is spending a lot of time trying to click through a menu while driving. Simplicity in media players is important on the road, and that means buttons should be pressed quickly and software/hardware should respond efficiently.

I also found that while listening to MP3s off of the microSD card, I'd sometimes get radio feedback from the player as if I were still connected to the unit through a radio signal. Even after changing away from the FM preset that I used to listen to XM, the static would sometimes continue, although it was not as prevalent as before.

Conclusion Of Delphi SkyFi3

I found the player aesthetically pleasing, and enjoyed the large screen and recording/microSD features. However, the car-dock buttons lagged, and the unit froze four times during a one month period. In terms of XM clarity, the unit worked wonderfully, and I rarely had signal problems except while traveling through heavily wooded areas and over hills. I'd like to see Delphi switch out the cheap-feeling plastic buttons on the car-dock for the rubber ones featured on their remotes and in the Delphi SkyFi2, because they respond more efficiently. (My buddy uses the SkyFi2 in his car.)