Home > Consumer Reviews > Winegard HD8200U Platinum Series High Definition VHF/UHF TV Antenna

Great product. Am 50-60 miles from the transmitting towers and am geting 95-100% signal. Comes in as good if not better than satellite did. Was relatively easy to assemble. Do have a Wineguard preamp installed. Am very happy with this product and would recommend highly recommend it. Was thinking of going cheaper but am very glad we didn't.

For years we had an RCA VHF/UHF antenna mounted to our chimney, but it came down Easter weekend of 2009 from a tornado. Since several of the Nashville stations had already began broadcasting digitally, we were really enjoying digital TV. For a replacement I decided to try a DB8 from Antennas Direct, but it failed to live up to its reviews (don't get me started). It was only UHF and upper VHF and none of the stations were all that strong.

Well... it's a new day and a new antenna. Got the HD8200U from Amazon and it really sucks! That's a good thing! It sucks in every broadcast station in middle Tennessee. It's pulling in over 10 different stations, most of which are broadcasting with subchannels. I now have 23 different channels/sub-channels to choose.

Part of what makes this antenna work so well is its size. This is a BIG antenna. It's 14' long and over 9' at the widest. But, it was amazingly easy to assemble and install. It is very light weight and well balanced. I installed it myself - took about hour to assemble it and then another hour or so to get it installed. Do not even think about installing it with anything stronger than a breeze. It accepts a 2" pole, but I just used a 1-1/4" top pole from a chain-link fence. Worked great. Oh, this is without any amplifier and it's split to three TVs. Most stations are pegged around 98% signal strength with a couple around 85%

Now that I've gushed over how great it is, let me say a few things that really ticked me off. They're minor, but very annoying. 1) Ordered the antenna and one of the vanes was installed backwards at the factory. It was riveted on so I couldn't correct it. Because of this, it wouldn't lock in to place. Returned it to Amazon and had them ship another. 2) Second antenna was OK, but there were some nuts and bolts missing. Had to make a trip to Home Depot to get what was missing.

At any rate, I'm very pleased with the reception and how easily the installation went. Except for the two problems, it's about as perfect as can be. While this isn't a cheap antenna, it's a whole lot cheaper than paying for cable or satalite each month!

I live 30 miles from Chicago.

Before purchasing this antenna I read all the reviews. Most of the concerns that people seemed to have had nothing to do with the antenna, but actually centered around the flimsy cardboard box it was shipped in. When our antenna arrived the box was loose at both ends and there were a few nuts rolling free in the box that could have very easily fallen out. But we lucked out and everything was there.

By the way - we utilized the super free shipping that Amazon offers. The antenna arrived a couple of days after we ordered it.

We put the antenna in the attic of our two story home. Our home is surrounded by larger houses and lots of very tall trees. We get all our normal channels, plus a few I never knew existed. I was concerned that, with such a powerful antenna, we might pick up too many channels and they would spill over on each other, but since this antenna is very directional, that has not happened.

I am very pleased with this antenna. It feels like I've purchased a lifetime of free reception for the mere cost of about three months of cable TV.

By the way, be careful when exiting your attic. My ladder slipped and I fell out of the attic. But don't worry! I'm okay....just pulled a muscle in my arm while trying to break the fall.

Solid antenna. This is a huge antenna and good for those on the fringe of reception. The seller however, does a poor job of shipping. When the box arrived delivered every large industrial stapled(there were 4) was undone and the box was open. Neeless to say when we went to put it together there were screws and nuts missing. I called the seller and they were apologetic but this is a practice they must have of shipping without taping. We also ordered a tripod from the same seller, same issue, the box was demolished when it arrived and there were screws and nuts missing. They evidently ship items in the boxes the product comes in from the manufacturer and add no additional tape or packaging. I am not sure I would buy from this seller again. Having to chase down small items to put something together is aggrevating to say the least.

We installed this antenna, clamped to chimney, on a five foot mast. Included in our install was a rotor and pre-amp. The channels received compared to our old antenna jumped from 3 to 47 broadcast digital channels. I would certainly buy this product again!