Dish playmaker vs. tailgator

It only does the Western arc just like the tailgater, if our Tailgater quits I will go with the Pathway X2, bigger dish and Western arc.

Denny

The Playmaker is was Winegard used to call the X1. Nice to see they gave it a name! I like the quality of the Winegard products better than the King Dome versions. Operationally they are very similar.

have been thinking the X2 also.
we will be on Oregon coast for 3 months. does the OTA antenna work, or is X2 really needed

Does OTA work where? OTA is very good when you are close enough to the TV towers and it doesn't work at all when you are not. Oregon Coast will likely be a mixed bag.

And now back to the original subject.

Denny, you say it only does western arc, but then say you would buy it if yours fails. if I travel east, would I need an eastern arc unit also.

Western arc satellites are also available from the east coast (except for the most northern latitudes in the mountains) so any of the X2 or Playmaker units will work. I had a Pathway X1 for Dish and it worked in upstate NY. I currently have a Carryout G2+ so I can get either Dish or DirecTV and it works along the east coast with Western arc sats.

bbaker2001 wrote:
Denny, you say it only does western arc, but then say you would buy it if yours fails. if I travel east, would I need an eastern arc unit also.

I would buy the Pathway X2 if my Tailgater fails because it has a bigger dish and it will do both East and West arcs, we go east every few years and have had some problems with the Western arc only setup for locals.

Any of the Dish automatic setups will receive locals if you call and change them so OTA aren't needed. We haven't used our OTA antenna for years but because of the East and Western arcs we sometime don't get HD locals but have always managed to get SD. There has been a few times I had to tell them I was somewhere else to change spot beams.

I will add that we've had our Tailgater for 5 years with no problems, I just think the X2 would be a better fit. We also use it 7 to 9 months out of the year.

Denny

thanks

jpmihalk wrote:
Western arc satellites are also available from the east coast (except for the most northern latitudes in the mountains) {snip}

A minor quibble with your statement: Eastern arc is also necessary in the South Florida region (Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Key West, etc.) -- not only because of the reception angle on the satellites, but also because their local stations are only carried on the Eastern arc birds.

AFAIK, there are some other local areas that are in the same situation as SFL on their spot beam coverage. If you're going to be snowbirding along the East Coast, you might want to confirm this before you decide on a dish.