The difference in the portable and the travler , besides being able to get out From under trees and rain fade on small reflector portables is in the tuners abilities .
The Wally tuner in particular , opens up a second tuner inside with the travler. with a added hard drive , It allows you to record/ watch two program channels at a time ...4 if you purchase and attach the over the air dongle.
The travler also allows you to use the “Hopper” 16 tuner home receiver should you want to. It doesn’t work with any dome portable . the travler also allows you you use multiple independent tuners that can be totally independent of Each other. Domes don’t offer that independent tuning. As they are locked to just one satellite at a time and Dish uses 3