TechTraveler: Satellite radio goes off-road with ONIX 400

By Howard Wolinsky

Millions of American travelers already know XM, the satellite radio, is fun to take on the road.

As the miles pass, they listen to music from their favorite era (from the ’40s through the ’90s) or favorite format (country, bluegrass, soul rock, Latin, world, blues). They tune into Major League Baseball along with news, talk radio, comedy and kids channels.

Now, in a first, XM has teamed up with Bushnell Outdoor Products to make satellite radio offerings available off-road with another popular technology, GPS, along with real-time weather data.

The new ONIX 400 is aimed at outdoorslovers who not only want to track their trails as they go hiking, camping, fishing or hunting, but also want to stay on top of the weather reports and tune into to the soundtracks of their lives on XM.

The ONIX 400 is slightly larger than other outdoor GPS devices — as opposed to GPS for finding addresses in the city. It is a handsome unit with a large, 3.5-inch LCD display so you can follow the storm systems as they move around the country, focusing on your current location or on one where you are heading.

When I first tried XM years ago, I griped that I couldn’t receive the signal in the urban jungles or on my commuter train. But XM has continued to improve reception.

With the exception of some interference from passing trains, I pulled in The Village just fine on a northbound train heading to downtown Chicago. I even got decent reception deep inside a cavernous downtown athletic club, not far from the seven-story climbing wall. I’ve also had good XM reception near Jasper Pulaski State Fish and Wildlife Area in rural Indiana, after watching the migration of sandhill cranes.

XM NavWeather provides current weather conditions and multi-day forecasts based on weather monitoring stations across the country. You pick up the weather report on demand, when you want and need it.

NavWeather features Threat Matrix to follow rain, hail, tornado and storm warnings. I used the device to get updates on an early spring snowstorm that was threatening the Midwest.

The ruggedized device, which is simple to navigate, aims to improve travel safety and awareness of weather threats.

While the radio is playing, you can split the screen to view the weather data. The device also enables users to combine the weather information with aerial and satellite photos and topography maps.

And good news for avid sports fans: While you’re camping in the middle of nowhere, you can switch on the ONIX 400 and check the enhanced scoreboard for stats and scores. XM and Bushnell have a home run with ONIX 400.

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