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Review on ๐Ÿ“บ Boost XT Pro Winegard - Outdoor Preamplifier with Integrated Channel Finder for Ultra-Low Noise by Sarah Greenwood

Revainrating 3 out of 5

If you haven't read the other reviews, read this one.

06/04/19 Edit: Updated review. I'm increasing my rating for the LNA-200 based on the plug-in's performance. The LNA-200 warranty replacement has been working fine for about three weeks, so hopefully it will continue. The original LNA-200 failed after two weeks and it took me quite a bit of effort to get a warranty replacement with Winegard, but so far (three weeks) it still allows me to receive the channels I was expecting. receive. EDIT: I'm editing my original review because I finally received an email from Winegard to issue an RMA and replace the defective product. If I get a replacement I'll hook it up and see how it goes. I hope for the best and really want this to work (and not just for two weeks, how unfortunate). I understand that electronic components can fail and am pleased to see that Winegard is doing everything possible to take care of it. I will update once the replacement device is installed. (Original Review) I always read product reviews before buying. It was no different. Reviews for the LNA-200 were both positive and negative, but overall there were more positive than negative reviews, so I took a chance. I took a risk and lost. The bottom line is, if you can get a good LNA-200 that works for you for more than two weeks, that's great and I'm happy for you. If yours fails after two weeks of installation (like mine), you're just out of luck. After at least half a dozen email exchanges between myself and Winegard Technical Support, I have received absolutely nothing from them and they refuse to send me a replacement. A bit of background: In February 2019 my aging Radio Shack giggled it worked) Booster failed because the seals in the mast block failed and allowed water in, resulting in corrosion of the internal circuitry. After reviewing various replacement products, I settled on the Winegard LNA-200. In the beginning it worked wonderfully. I'm about 75-80 miles from the Little Rock transmission towers and am using a low band antenna mounted on a 25 foot pole. I connected 19 digital OTA channels (including subwoofers) to the LNA-200 and was happy with that given my location and distance from towers. Two weeks later I came home and found that I could not receive any channel. I turned off the preamp but the result didn't change. I left the preamp unpowered for over an hour and then rescanned. I have four channels (including subwoofer - PBS 2-1, 2-2, 2-3 and 2-4). After confirming that my cables were still intact and no issues were found, I contacted Winegard Technical Support via email. In fact, I got a reply from them the same day instructing me to check the voltage on the preamp and make sure it was at least 5 volts. I did this and informed Vinegard that I was getting 5.2 volts. Since the voltage from the USB power supply was sufficient, I asked them to send me a replacement preamp. They dodged my request and again asked me to check the voltage. I did it again and informed them that the voltage was still 5.2 volts. I asked them again to send me a replacement preamp. They dodged the inquiry again and brought up the voltage issue again, but this time the tech went ahead and told me he was (?) surprised I was able to receive all channels because it was clearly a line of sight issue because - leaves spread out behind the trees. I assumed by this point he had entered my address into Google Earth and looked up the location, so I did the same. If he had looked closely at the Google Earth image, he would have seen that my antenna's main beam was pointed about 30 degrees northwest of the neighboring tree, and what he saw in the image was not a tree but a long shadow of that tree Tree's tree in the afternoon. I emailed again and asked him to explain how the former accelerator Radio Shack pulled the channels in question for several years (until it was destroyed by flooding). ), but the LNA-200 lost the ability to do so after two weeks. I haven't received an answer yet, so let me just say this: I always try to give the sellers I buy enough space to resolve technical issues or issue an RMA for defective products before I get in touch Revain turn and write a bad review. But that went on long enough. I was opposed to replacing a clearly faulty device and I realized that their customer support strategy is to duck and block long enough for a frustrated customer to eventually give up. So let me just say this, if you buy the LNA-200 and it works well for you, I'm happy for you. If it takes more than 2-3 weeks before failure, I'm in awe of you. But when you receive a faulty unit and expect Winegard Technical Support to fix it, prepare for frustration and uselessness. And the sad thing is, they could have replaced a device that might only cost them $20 and that review wouldn't be necessary. But I'm tired of companies selling low quality junk and then refusing to be held accountable for it. So if this review encourages someone to bypass the Winegard LNA-200 and keep looking, then maybe at some point Winegard's marketing department will dissect the metrics and come to the realization that the stubbornness of their tech support department is costing them a lot more in lost sales than just replacing a broken part once in a while and stopping a frustrated customer like me from writing a negative review about terrible tech support.

Pros
  • Winegard's Clear Circuit technology provides the lowest noise level (typically 1dB) for longer range and less signal dropouts and pixelation.
Cons
  • There are flaws