I was already planning on writing this review when Fred ran across a pertinent article on Yahoo Finance entitled “Cable subscribers flee, but is Internet to blame?“ In our case, the answer is a resounding “Yes!” as we ditched our high monthly bills for the free-over-the-airwaves HDTV paired with our Netflix account and Hulu.
And we don’t miss cable at all. But that’s a post for another day. Today’s post is all about the Clearstream 4 Ultra Long Range HDTV Antenna we purchased as part of our money-saving plan.
I spent two days researching HDTV antennas online before deciding on this one. For its quality, it comes at a great price (around $100 with free shipping on Amazon at the time of this writing) and is simple to assemble and install.
THE PROS:
- Strong Reputation – This review is one of hundreds online for this particular antenna. And with all the reviews, the net feedback is overwhelmingly positive. You can buy with confidence. It’s a good product.
- Reception Range – up to 65 miles (most antennas with this range cost significantly more). Designed for post-2009 UHF DTV frequencies.
- Ease of Assembly & Installation - the instructions, complete with step-by-step pictures are easy to follow. It takes less that 5 minutes to put together. Mounting it in the attic and running the cable down to our family room took a little longer (about an hour) but was a very straightforward process.
- Availability – All the sellers I checked had Clearstream 4 Antennas in-stock. We received ours in under a week.
- Light-weight, Reasonably Sized – Fit through our attic entrance easily and weighed only a little over 5 pounds assembled.
- Solid, Consistent Performance – As is true of all antennas of this kind, signals come in stronger at night than during the day. But even during peak daytime hours, we rarely lose signal and always get it right back when it does “blip” for a second.
THE CONS:
- Mounting Mast Not Included/Specified – In fairness, where you’re planning to mount it affects what you need. But wherever it goes, it’s going to need a mast. I found that masts are not readily available at every hardware store (so we used a long PVC pipe, ourselves). I would have appreciated a recommendation included in the instructions that came with the antenna.
- Performs better with an amplifier (not included) – We have opted to pass on the amp. We get 15 channels without it, and that’s enough for us. But we could get more than double that if we invented in a digital amplifier/signal booster.
SUMMARY:
The Clearstream 4 Ultra Long Range HDTV Antenna is a great buy. It performs better than most if not all the others in its price range. It’s easy to assemble and install. And after a month of use, we’ve been very, very happy with its performance.
PRICE AND WHERE-TO-BUY:
The Clearstream 4 Ultra Long Range HDTV Antenna is available at Amazon for about $100. You can also purchase it at Antennas Direct in a bundle that includes an amplifier, 100′ cable and a j-mount (under $250). Other retailers include Target, Best Buy and Buy.com.
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