I recently reviewed the
Mohu Sky HDTV antenna for Amazon, with my review posted
here. I know that some of us are using (or are thinking about using) over-the-air television, and I thought that some of you might get some value out of this. I've included the review below. The video just supplements the review.
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To set the stage for my experience, I've been using over-the-air (OTA) for my television viewing for over a decade at my house. I'm quite familiar with where the broadcast towers are and how to set up antennas, and everything that I'll discuss below is specific to digital broadcasts since 2009. I live in a location where signal strength for most channels are weak, requiring a rooftop-style antenna in conjunction with an amp/preamp (I live in the "shadow" of a mountain ridge). Two stations that I want are broadcast from towers with a ~75-degree angle between them. I was excited to try out this Sky HDTV antenna due to the claims that it's multi-directional and does not need to be pointed.
In a nutshell, this antenna works well when pointed, has a pretty small form factor, is lightweight, and has a built-in preamp with an included inline amplifier. Those are all great things. In my case, though, it is no more multi-directional than the "directional" antennas that I currently use. If I point it towards one of the towers mentioned above, I get great reception on those stations, but I get zero signal strength from the tower that is 75 degrees away. Same is true if I point it at the other tower. If I point it in between the towers, I partially get one tower but not the other. Like I said, I live in a challenging location, but I think it goes to show that this isn't the silver bullet of antennas that will pull in stations off-axis almost as well as it does on-axis. I think that it relies on strong signals to overcome its directionality, and I just don't have that at my house.
I originally thought that this antenna was a rip-off at the current price of $170, but the more that I thought about it, that was way too harsh. While it's not the best value out there for my needs, it is comparible to some other choices in performance and price while providing a much easier to work with (and visually appealing) form factor. The ease of installation and small form factor are BIG pluses and might just be worth the extra money to you...if you'll get the reception that you want. As a general note on any antenna, it's all about location, location, location. An antenna that gets zero reception as you hold it near your TV to initially check it out ("hey, is this thing worth mounting?") just might get you nearly 100% signal strength when mounted outside (which is true for multiple antennas that I've tried, including this one). So, please don't judge an antenna before giving it a fair chance by being mounted in a good location.
To hopefully help you as you search for antennas, here's what I've used and how this Sky antenna compares:
(*) My first outdoor antenna setup was a Channel Master 4228 antenna (~$100) in conjunction with a Channel Master CM-7777 amp/preamp (~$70) (older versions of what you can buy these days). Same total price as this antenna, about the same performance at my house (although the Channel Master could partially get both towers when pointed in between them and is a bit better), BUT this antenna is _significantly_ smaller and easier to install. I cannot stress that enough. That 4228 antenna is by no means small, and lugging it up a ladder and trying to get it mounted wasn't fun. This antenna is amazingly simple to carry around and mount. It was also visually obtrusive (which is why I ultimately replaced it to be nice to my neighbors). So, between the two, I'd choose this Sky antenna every time.
(*) My current rig, which consists of two RCA ANT751R antennas ($100 total, $50/each) and the Channel Master CM-7777 ($70). One antenna points at one tower, and the other antenna at the second tower. That's how I get both of them. Again, the same total price. This antenna works just as well as one of the RCAs combined with the Channel Master. So, if I only needed one antenna to begin with (and maybe that's all you need), I'd be looking at $120 for the RCA/Channel Master setup versus $170 for this. This antenna is more attractive and slightly easier to install, so it might be worth the extra money to you. However, I need two antennas, so the dual-RCA setup trumps this antenna all day long. One of the benefits of the CM-7777 amp/preamp is that you can plug more than one antenna into it (using a combiner), whereas this antenna has a built-in preamp and an inline amp that might only work on one unit, so I don't know if you could very easily combine two of these antennas together.
(*) Something that I tried in between the first two systems listed above, which was a Monoprice Indoor/Outdoor antenna with built-in preamp and inline amp ($20). Oh, baby. Here's the ringer. This antenna is amazingly small and worked surprisingly well at my house when I mounted it up where my other antennas are now (they weren't there when I put the Monoprice one up). Like the large CM 4228, it could also partially pull in both towers when pointed in between (but not well enough for a consistent signal), and could pull in one of the towers just fine. Where it fell short was that it couldn't get more than ~50% signal on the other tower even when pointed right at it, and that reception would decline in bad weather and cause signal dropouts. If I only wanted stations from the one tower that the Monoprice antenna could get, that antenna would be the absolute clear winner. For the other tower, though, this Sky antenna would crush it because it gets much better signal strength. One other thing about the Monoprice antenna is that it has (or at least had when I bought one) a really flimsy and poor mounting arm - that thing would move all over when a breeze came through, and the arm pulled out of the mounting foot pretty quickly because it was held in with adhesive. Pretty junky mounting arm, but the antenna can be mounted to a different fixture.
Soooo...here are my conclusions and recommendations:
(*) If the signals around you are fairly strong, this antenna will likely work fine and appear "multi-directional." However, if your signals are strong (or if you don't know and are just starting out), you might want to first try the Monoprice $20 antenna. Or, try any number of inexpensive antennas. One of the towers near me is strong enough that I can plug an antenna that was for an RF remote control (it has a coax plug attached to a thin, ~6-inch long rod) into my TV and get those stations just fine. You might not need much depending on where you live.
(*) If the signals around you are fairly weak but the towers are virtually in one direction from your place, this antenna will probably work great for you. However, the Monoprice one might, too. So, you might want to first try the less expensive one. If you don't want to risk having to mount another antenna if the Monoprice one isn't good enough, then go for this one. It works great in one direction at my place.
(*) If the signals around you are weak and the towers are in multiple directions, this antenna might not fair too well. It sure didn't in my case. If you're in that same boat, I'll say that I've been very happy with the dual-RCA antenna system with the Channel Master amp/preamp at my house. They pull in the stations very, very well - but they are definitely directional antennas. One alone doesn't work any better than this antenna, but two beat it hands down and costs the same amount. I definitely recommend the RCA antennas in general, and especially if you want stations from weak towers in two directions.
