Tailgater Dish - Pros & Cons
 

Considering a Tailgater. How does it work, what all is needed (equipment) and can you pay as you go or are we stuck with a contract?

We use our Coach a hand full of times a year plus we have a Park Model in a seasonal site. Cable there is lame at best.

Is it worth the money?


John & Janine
Pazzo the Maltese
2014 Georgetown 328 TSF
2013 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon (Toad)

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Much talked about subject here. Google the threads on it.

Too broad of a question, really, for an easy answer.

To me there are no Cons

No contract, pay as you go on a monthly basis or
If you have Dish at home just take one of your receivers with you at no extra charge.

It does need a clear view of the southern sky, no trees. a good App on your smart phone will tell you where the Sat's are located so you can avoid the trees

it needs no extra cables to work just plug the coax cable up to it and turn everything on and follow the on screen menu

The tailgater dish will only work with the VIP211 or the Wally. If you have the Hopper system you will need a manual dish to set up for this system to work. The VIP211/Wally controls the tailgater dish for aiming it.
I had bought a Dish Hopper to put in my park model/ home up north and to have it in my RV while traveling home. Only to find out I needed to buy another receiver if I wanted the tailgater.:crying:

Went this way last year works well as long as you have a clear shot of the sky, no trees or heavy clouds.

Bought the whole system off of Amazon, dish, coax and the box along with a tripod which I suggest so that you can place the dish where you are clear of trees.

https://www.forestriverforums.com/for...cture16180.jpg

As posted above we have the month to month so no contract.

If I am unsure which way is south I use a lensatic compass to point it out.

I do use a gallon jug of water hung with a rubber bungee cord to stabilize the tripod.

Had Tailgater 2 years. Disappointing for year round camping. Better as a tailgating device. Went to Pathway X2 and no issues for last 2 years.

I agree. We had a tailgater at first, and while it usually worked, it did not received a very strong signal - I think the antenna inside must be pretty small. Definitely had trouble with even the smallest tree branch, and sometimes in a heavy rain. We sold it on eBay, and got the Pathway X2. It is a much more robust unit, and must have a better antenna inside because (when I ran them side by side) it gets a 75% strong signal. It will also support two receivers if you need to .....

The purchased the equipment, and the month to month deal with Dish has worked out well. We have found that contacting them through their chat room instead of phoning when you need changes or something works much better. Those overseas guys write much better English than they speak.

Dish Tailgater
 

Used one for 4 years up till past Oct when switched to Direct due Dish bill getting so high. Live in Ga and have used it on both coast from north to south and only stayed in one park where could not get at least one sat of the 3 and there was a tall mt right behind the rv. Most of time got all 3 sat and very easy to get set up and viewing. When making reservations ask for area where not a lot of trees and most camp grounds will work with you. Only drawbacks to Dish is have to have special receiver, 211 or wally, and thus can not just used one out of the house while gone and adds an additional 7 dollars to bill even if you purchase the receiver. The other is can watch on 2 different tvs with the newer models but both shows must be on the same sat, cannot be on one of the different of the 3 sats. Other than that loved it till Dish would not negotiate price till after had cancelled it. Now use Direct with manual dish and hopper receiver out of the house. After getting used to setting up dish also very happy with it and you can watch any channel of any different tv, not limited as with Dish Tailgater. Good luck and hope helped a little

Two schools of thought. We have had our Wineguard pathway 2 for about a year and have been full timing it for seven years.

1) The models "2" allow to view two TVs (one is the main signal the other is a repeater of the main signal) Yes I know there are three signals. Our Pathway 2 will search either southwest or southeast (if trees are obstructing one of them. All signals are in the southern hemisphere.

2) If your considering it, do it.

Smartphones have software apps that assist in finding where your three signals are in the sky. I use the Sat Finder Lite.

Initially I ran the signal out of the converter box into the external inlet to my RV but your limited to that signal only. Now with the P-2 we run coaxial cables through the sliders (living room and bedroom).

Try it you'll like it.

I have the Winegard X2 with Dish pay as you go service. The X2 once set up and connected to your television will seek and search out the satellites on its own. It gets excellent reception as long as nothing is blocking its view of the sky.

I have had the tailgater since 2012. As far north as Mass, as far south west as Arizona and south to the Keys. Heavy rain was only time lost signal. Even worked in W. Virginia in Cass with no cell service. Liked it so good, dropped Comcast at home and went to dish. We are out every month so don't stop serv.

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Hey gang. Great information everyone has shared with us. We found a used Tailgater with a VIP 211 receiver for $225. Guy sold his Coach and now selling this. Says it was only used 5 times.

We are considering it.


John & Janine
Pazzo the Maltese
2014 Georgetown 328 TSF
2013 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon (Toad)

Sent from my iPhone using Forest River Forums

if you don't buy it , I will!

sounds good, give it a try...:thumbsup:

Pay attention! The "month to month" service I signed up for disappeared around month three. Then Dish started charging me $5/month when I wasn't using their service. Dish also jumped the monthly fee almost $15! I've spoken with lots of other RVers who had the same thing happen to them (this was back in mid-2014). My experience is that Dish can NOT be trusted.

We spend the summer in Key West May to October. So we bought the Dish Tailgater, with the 211 receiver. Great until it rains, light rain is not too bad, anything more we get outages. I would prefer cable, but we camp on the Navy base, no other options, just Dish or Direct. So we do the Dish Pay As You Go, for the months we are there.

Pay attention? Really? There are lots of us that have had nothing but great service from Dish for years. Sorry you had a bad experience, but I believe you are the exception, not the rule.

We have used our tailgater all over the country with great success. We are looking at trading it for a new king model with 2 outputs so we don't have to move the receiver and coax from inside to outside all the time. We already have multiple receivers as we now have Dish at home also.

That is a great deal!!! Test it out if possible and buy it!

Agreed. We have used ours for four summers from Maine to California and 34 states in between.


2010 F250 5.4L 3.73
2011 Flagstaff 831FKBSS
Equal-i-zer 4pt 12K

Have X2 and carry extra receiver from home. Use the Find Sat Lite app to help position antenna in general sky access site. Setup is a few minutes. X2 has larger reception area, has almost no fade during rain. Dish has a rv tech support, you have to ask for once you get tech support on line. Used them once, they were helpful.

Have to agree, going on 9 years. If your going to have problems with Dish wait until DTV, or Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, Time Warner, or a whole host of others gets done with the shell games LOL.

Jmsx2, just make sure the receiver is a purchased receiver when buying used and not a leased one as well as having a free and clean billing history. Plenty of people get left holding the bag with used receivers. A 211K can be had from an authorized seller for less than $90.





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