Pathway X2

Its really not fair to post a raving review after owning the product for only 24 hours, but I want to give my first impressions of this package deal. It came in a big box with no apparent damage and both the satellite and the Wally were brand new unused items. Setup was quick and the activation and Flex program package were painless to setup through Dish customer service. Once the initial setup and programing was completed and paid for I unplugged the Wally and moved the dish over a bit as during the activation process I noticed the signal was at 31 because it was aimed directly at the Chimney on my roof. After plugging the Wally back in it was exactly 11min from plug in to watching TV on the screen. The signal was now at 53. My Dish salesman was great, but you got to listen to them when they start reading the Agreement because the rascal tried to slip the protection charge in there that I did not want. Only time will tell how this system stands up to the riggers of camping but I would highly recommend it to anyone. Servicing your account through myDish is very straight forward as well. Next in line for us will be the DVR activation and possibly the OTA adapter. I will update all this as time permits. For now I just setup the dish on a flat level ground, so I did not purchase the stand for it. *Update 3/26/2018* After leaving the system setup for 3 days, all updates and Channel icons have downloaded. The DVR still gives you only one record at a time while still having to watch what you record, but not a big deal to me, just record stuff in the middle of the day/night and you'll have plenty to watch. I've tested both Eastern and western arc satellites with no problems. *Update 5/13/2018* System still working great, but like Dish says, your external hard drive has to be the powered type or the hard drive will act up and has to be reformatted. Not so with the powered hard drive. DO NOT buy the OTA adapter, it will only pick up About 2/3 the channels your rabbit ears will pick up. IE 72 on rabbit ears for me and only 51 on OTA adapter, and never the all the local channels at the same time.

The Winegard X2 is a great satellite antenna and Amazon's delivery was excellent. I researched different products once I decided to go with DiSH for the "pay as you go" plan for tailgating at college football games. Ordered the Winegard on Sunday night and it was at my door on Tuesday afternoon. Setup was easy (10 mins) but had to spend a little time with DiSH technical service to program the receiver-they were very helpful. The test run is very important before you get to the game or campsite. To get local channels you have to contact DiSH and provide a local address that they link to your account. At the tailgate while everyone else is spending 30+ minutes manually trying to find satellites, the Winegard goes to work and locks in the satellites in about 5 minutes. People walk over to my tailgate to watch it work. The signal and TV (HiDef) quality is fantastic. One watchout, if you place the X2 on your car or truck roof, don't touch the vehicle while it is finding the satellites; even the slightest movement will cause the scan to fail and you have to start over. The X2 is a little larger in diameter than the Tailgater so it requires more cargo room but the larger antenna improves performance. The 2 receiver TV capability is also a very nice feature for big football weekends and Bowl games. Overall, I'm very happy with this product and would highly recommend it.

My last Pathway X2 lasted 8 years. It worked great at temps above 100 deg F and below zero. When it rained or snowed I almost always had good signal. The only time I lost signal was in extremely hard torrential rain. When it finally quit working a week ago I picked up the latest King Tailgater. Now every time we get even a light rain with the Tailgater, we lose signal. I’m returning the Tailgater and buying another Pathway X2. The better performance of the Pathway during weather events is due to the bigger dish size of the Pathway. NOTE - the Pathway X2 is getting hard to find these days. I believe Weingard may be discontinuing these - too bad. Pathway X2 is hands down the best portable automatic dish on the market.

I bought this for our RV two years ago to follow weather as a disaster responder. I love the fact that it gets both eastern arc or western arc satellites. If you want to use two TVs to view separate channels you must use the eastern arc satellites. Local channels are only found on western arc, which is why I give it a 4 rather than a 5 star rating. It's more a criticism of the way DISH has their satellites set rather than the system. Changing local channels when we move our RV is relatively easy. However, some of their phone reps don't know how to do it and they will tell you it can't be done or that they did it when they didn't do anything. When that happens I will either ask for their supervisor or call back and talk to someone else. The set up is simple - set the antenna with the connectors pointing approximately north (precision isn't critical) and the base level. Connect the antenna cable to the antenna and the VIP211 box (mine connects through the satellite connection on the outside of the RV with a second cable from the satellite connector inside the RV to the VIP211). Connect the VIP211 box to the TV with either RCA cables or HDMI cables. Plug it in and turn it on with the TV on whatever input is the satellite system (HDMI or AV). Follow the on screen instruction and let it work. It does take some time to acquire the satellites (5-10 minutes) but not nearly as much time as a point it yourself antenna. Occasionally it will lose the satellites either because of someone moving the antenna standing in front of the antenna or ??? but you just run the connect program from the menu and you are back in business. The system is effective, but does require a fairly clear line of sight to the satellite. I have gotten signal through sparse trees but the loss of signal occurs more frequently the greater the blockage by any obstacle. You can run two TVs from this from a single antenna input if you they are watching the same satellite channel. We run a TV outside and one inside by connecting one TV to the HDMI output of the VIP211 and the other TV is connected to the AV output. This way when we have friends over we don't have to all sit inside to watch the "big game". We also have a hard drive connected to the system to record shows. It is not the DISH network version (the Hopper) but just a regular hard drive connected via USB (they still charge $5 for you to connect it initially). It isn't fast enough to do a good job with HD channels but is very good on SD channels. The playback very nicely with a good picture even on our 50" TV. As I said we have had this system for two years and I would recommend this system, but don't expect it to do things the satellite systems of DISH aren't programmed to do, like getting local channels and multi-tv use on separate channels from a single set of satellites.

Purchased this dish for the RV. I went back and forth between a roof mount and this portable. After being convinced that this was the way to go, I gave it a try. Pros: Price Can hit both Dish arcs (East and West). Can support two receivers when on the East Arc. Very light. Only one cable (power over coax). Cons: Can take a while to align itself. Not really a con since all portables do... Usage: The first trip out with this, I ended up under a tree. The neighbor couldn't get signal. I just used an extra cable 50' and was up and running in 5 minutes! The manual says 50' max, but I was at 100' (since I have 50' from the front of the camper to the ladder where I usually mount it). When not under a tree I mount on a flagpole buddy on the ladder (http://www.modyourrv.com/Satellite-Antenna-Mounts.html). Keeps it high and out of the way. Easy to put up even on top of an eight foot aluminum pole. Last note, it is so easy and looks pretty cool that I had others stop by and ask about it. Even my father-in-law who has a roof mount wants to get one "just in case" they get parked under a tree.

This has been an awesome addition to my camper. I use it with the portable tripod stand and anchor it down up on the roof. I was putting it all on the ground but I was worried that it would grow legs and run off :) It works as it should, automatically searching the sky for the DISH network satellites. The software to do that is on the VIP 211z receiver that I also purchased at the same time as this antenna. The antenna is powered by the receiver. I have it connected with a 25 foot coax cable that came with the receiver. I have very little issues with storms interfering with reception, maybe only once did this happen. One time someone walked in front of it, when I had it set up on the ground, and it lost the picture for a few seconds, I guess you could say that that is sort of like a burglar alarm :) I have not been able to see if it picks up the east coast satellites like it is suppose to and I won't be able to until next year when we venture out to Maine. Also, I have not bought a HDD to hook up to the receiver and use as a DVR. This antenna is suppose to be able to have 2 receivers hookup to it but I think the ability to watch 2 different shows on the 2 different receivers. I will report back when I know more or if I experience any problems.

I bought this after trying to use a full size portable dish. I could never get the full size dish aligned properly. This was easy to get setup, just level the stand, point the handle north, turn on the Wally and it does the rest. Providing of course that it has a clear view of the southern sky. I have only used it a couple of times here at home to make sure everything works with our Keystone travel trailer. The X2 works great when plugged directly into the Wally but not through the trailers entertainment distribution system, Keytv. Many people have had issues with the Keytv, so I'm installing a through the wall coupler to connect to the Wally. If my opinion changes after some real life use, I'll update, but so far I'm happy with it. Edit: I also bought a drum case to store it in. Protec Heavy Ready 16 x 18 (Height x Diameter), Tom (hgt x dia) (HR1618) This case fits really good. Snug around the sides with a couple inches extra in height. I bought the 18x22 first but it was way too big.

When it works it’s pretty good but as we’ve traveled around it’s hit or miss on picking up a good signal. The dual satellite feature has done nothing of notice to improve reception as we traveled from East to West coast so I’m not sure the extra cost for that feature was a good value. Quite a bit of time went into getting it to initially work. Lots and lots of searching and displaying useless information on the TV screen while it tried to acquire the signal. Once I determined that placing the antenna in a different place and if it hadn’t locked in on a signal within 10 minutes trying another location until it final worked. The package bundle which came with easy to connect instructions was priced nicely. The supplied 25’ coax cable will likely not be enough length. Even though they do not recommend lengths greater then 50’ we’ved Successfully used a 100’ cable and often you’ll need most of that length to allow positioning the antenna where it has an acceptable view. Also when it rains or there is moderate to heavy clouds you can forget watching any TV. Also you’ll want to plan extra time in advance to settling down for any TV time to allow for the thing to re-establish it’s line up with the satellite even if the antenna had not been moved. All in all I guess for traveling it’s better then nothing however it can be somewhat frustrating to actually turn on the TV and have it work without 15-20 minute delays and often you simply give up and next time you try well who knows maybe work maybe not. Just don’t have too high of expectations and I suppose you’ll be ok for the amount you spent on the equipment and the no contract pay as you go is a nice option.

works reasonable well BUT sometimes when updating it gets west and east sats mixed up DOES NOT WORK WELL in direct HOT sunlight over all not bad once one gets the two things above sorted out