Tuesday, Jun 12, 2012 at 10:58
Hi Geo,
The sloping ground question is probably the most common question that I get asked. I actually stock both the tripod & stable base models (which are both SatPlus products) so my opinion is certainly not bias.
The tripod model is without a doubt the best setup if you are going to be spending a lot of time on sloping ground but it will add an extra 10 minutes to your setup time and 5 minutes to your pack-up time. The question I ask to most people is if you are caravaning generally speaking you need to find a flat spot to setup your van so there is likely to be a flat spot to put your dish also.
If you are using the stable base model and the ground slopes you can chock on side if you need to and instead of pegging it down simply put something heavy (like the stabilizer bars from your van) across the top of the base to hold it in place.
To give you an idea of the difference in ease of use - my 8 year old son can setup the stable base model (MiniMax system) and align it with the satellite but he cannot setup the tripod model.
The other advantage of the tripod model is that you have the option to pull the dish off the tripod and mount it on your caravan A-frame which you cannot do with the stable base model because the dish is fixed to the base and doesn't have the necessary mounting points to mount it to a pole.
I would sell 10 of the stable base models (MiniMax systems) for every one tripod mounted dish.
In relation to the heavy duty travel bag I'm pretty sure that this is a standard item that most distributors supply with their kits (I know that I do and SatPlus do). These are a necessity not just for convenience but for protection of the dish. If you are travelling 700k's over corrugations I would be very careful how you pack the dish in the bag as the dish will definitely dint if you have objects bouncing up and down on it (like cables or satellite finder).
So in summary, there are pros and cons of both models but for easy of use alone it is hard to go past the MiniMax stable base model.
I hope this helps.
Regards
Paul
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