Weboost Drive X vs Drive Reach Cell Booster - What works better?
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- Опубліковано 13 сер 2021
- Our Winnebago View had the Weboost Drive X OTR with the “baseball bat” style antenna on a spring mount. This antenna was mounted 1ft above the roof and hit trees and other low hanging things (not ideal). It was fantastic to have additional cell coverage on remote trips. However, there were some limitations… it never could reach signal if our phones were offline and often it provided no real increase in speed or assistance. Overall, it was less than impressive.
We installed the Weboost Drive Reach “car version” on our Northstar Liberty truck camper over 1 year ago. This “new cell booster” has twice the power requirement as the old “black” style booster found with the Drive X. This increased power has proven to be a game changer! This unit has a tiny “shark fin” antenna mounted on a 1ft square metal plate (for grounding plane) with a tiny .5 dbi gain vs the previous “baseball bat” antenna yielding 2-4 dbi gain. However, even with the tiny antenna it beats the old booster!
We’ve had numerous situations where the booster has reached cell towers and turned our cell phone from “offline” to enough service to text message. This is a game changer! It has made a noticeable difference in both speed and reach. Still not magic… and doesn’t always help drastically.
Nevertheless, this new Drive Reach is significantly more useful than the old Drive X.
#truckcamper #weboost #overland
Nice, thorough review that is succinct and on-point. It is well filmed too.
Your comment about not wanting to set up anything every time you stop really appeals to me and it is "one" of the reasons I am considering moving away from my FWC. Good job you two.
Really appreciate the encouragement! Glad it was helpful
Exact comparison of what I needed to know! Thank you!! 🤗🙌🏼
Awesome! Glad it was helpful. :)
Six years ago I bought the weBoost home with that box like antenna for the outside. I set it up every time I needed cell service. It worked great most of the time. I recently purchased the weBoost - Drive Reach RV and mounted the weBoosts antenna on my TV antenna . When I need it, all I do is crank up the roofs tv antenna and it sits about a foot above the antenna. I didn't want to mount the antenna where it's always up, I know for sure I would scrape the antenna off going down log roads. LOL The inside transmitter doesn't give out much signal, like yours, I do have to be within a foot or less from the transmitter. Great vid! Subscribed....
Thanks for sharing your experience! Like the idea of using the existing TV antenna for a mount... clever. Drive reach is more functional... but certainly hit and miss for usefulness.
nice idea mounting on tv antenna
Thanks so much!
You bet!
Glad I'm not the only one who found out your phone more or less needs to be directly ontop of the antenna to get any boost. I seriously thought the booster wasn't working after a few days of testing until I put my phone right on top of the antenna. I actually mounted the antenna underneath our countertop assuming it would cover the interior well, ended up having to lay our phone right ontop of the antenna to get any boost. It's fine now that I know that's a limitation, the spot is next to our USB chargers anyways so it works out.
Yep! Works within its limits... thanks for sharing your experience
We have a similar unit in our class B, but can’t easily get an antenna fixed on the roof permanently, because of branches hitting it or grabbing it. But most helpful of all has been having two cell plans- ATT and Verizon. Unfortunately we still have to set up a pole for the antenna but overall this system has helped, especially with the two plans going. It does use a lot of battery power and the red box gets hot.
Good point. Multiple cell providers can be helpful at times. Thanks for sharing!
While a directional antenna requires a bit more tinkering it makes a HUGE difference. As you mentioned, that small thing on your roof generates maybe 1db, while a directional antenna can easily do 10db. More importantly it amplifies both receive and transmit which is also critical especially if you’re at the limit of reception. Finally, a directional antenna also improves separation between the outside antenna and the internal one as well as separation from your phones (which are actively interfering with your outside antenna especially since your camper is made out of wood. So, if you want better internet connectivity in more areas, a directional (no bat style) antenna will make a world of a difference. Might be good having one on hand and use it if all else fails (or you need more throughout to upload a video).
True thing! We just don't like messing with more setup. But I could see the advantage if parking for longer time periods. Thanks for sharing!
T I L
I followed all the guidelines regarding what can cause a WeBoost, not to work.
have the Drive X RV installed on my Class B+ RV. I frequently travel the I-40 corridor which includes varying terrain, and cell phone coverages.
I have seen virtually NO increase in performance on a VZW iPhone 8.
There are many factors for performance on these units... installation is a big factor. Antenna location and type, separation between internal and external antennas, phone proximity to internal antenna. We will set our phone on the internal antenna for best results. But it does vary a lot. And certain situations there is no benefit. Others it can make phone actually work. Hope that helps!
Hi there! Hoping you might be able to help with my Weboost? It works great but as you know, you can't go more than a few feet from the interior antenna or it will stop working. We use our Weboost mainly at our cabin. Do you know if it is possible to set up either a router or a repeater type system with the Weboost in order to get more distance from the interior antenna? Thank much for any info you can share. Rich W.
So true! It is a limitation for the weboost. You might check out mobilemusthave dot com. They have different router type products. Most require additional data plans and a SIM card for the router. Router may be able to plug into the booster...
We use a Verizon Jetpack and place it by the webmaster antenna... it gives wifi internet throughout the camper.
It can start becoming expensive quickly so really need to decide how important connectivity is! :)
@@TruckCamper Thanks for the info. Looks like I'll need to do a bit more research....hoping some type of repeater system can work since the cell signal is already coming into our cabin that our cell phones can pick up. Thanks again!
You should look into a HAM radio setup for communication. If you're in the back country a lot it's going to be more reliable and doesn't depend on infrastructure that could go down or can get saturated.
Yes. I do have HAM license. Great method for long range communications. We do carry a handheld radio. But realistically we would likely use our MTB bikes to ride out of areas if needed. Getting help in remote locations is difficult. Thanks for watching and sharing
What’s the mapping software your using?
We've used Backcountry Navigator Pro, Gaia, Onxoffroad. And Google maps.
What road is that in death valley at 1:50???
Hanaupah Canyon: ua-cam.com/video/xbQJWhh0cPA/v-deo.html
Why is it a fashion statement for overlanders to have these antennas but functional for you?
Most overlanders geek out on gear more than actually traveling and using equipment. More of a "look at all the cool stuff I have". I'm sure not everyone is in that category but most... same with the roof tents.
the otr has a much better inside antenna. you want the weboost with the mountable antenna thos magnetic car antennas are the worst...
Bigger internal antenna doesn't work for us. Not enough distance separation from external (gets reverb amplification). The car magnetic antenna works extremely well. Better than the larger trucker antenna. Mostly due to the higher power output of the Drive X. I don't want to setup antennas and we need a low profile for tree branches. It works very well compared to the Original Weboost with the big antenna. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks again Peter will all the helpful information. Personally, I'm not going to bother with any of this...If I could throw the phone into a river as I'm driving down the road, I would. I actually like it when I get "no service"...mainly because I won't be distracted by the thing. The world will wait...
Also, I know what you mean with all these campers with antenna all over the place. I reckon they either work on the road or just can't sleep at night without their hand held dopamine hit. Have you seen the Elon Musk satellites flying overhead? It's downright freaky but they say you'll end up with superior service just about anywhere when it's all fired up.
Totally hear you on that!! Haha These boosters come well become obsolete in the future with these new technologies... interesting times!
If you ever need help and you don't have service, you'll see why people are buying boosters. Especially for adventurous people, being able to have a signal is life saving.
What you're saying about where the phone has to be placed with respect to the inside antenna doesn't match what other reviewers and WeBoost themselves are saying. They're saying it needs to be within 3ft,but not next to it. What's the difference?
There are multiple interior antennas. The longer range ones can cause reverberating between exterior and interior. We used the larger one in our previous RV... however even that the gain dropped past 6". Essentially the benefit becomes less and less the further the distance. The small candy bar antenna we have requires the phone to be on top of it for maximum effectiveness. Do your own testing. But that is our experience for several years usage
That has been our experience too. We put a phone on the antenna and turn the hotspot on the pone then use laptops and ipads on wifi
@@TruckCamper
Too dam expensive
Not cheap but handy at times
We have had the Drive x for years, it is great, thinking about getting the new reach unit.
@@stevemevers3936 It is more powerful. :)