# Professional Satellite Meters



## John Williams (Oct 5, 2011)

Wanted to have a discussion about professional satellite meters. 

I had an Acutrac 22 Pro MKII for years and it was a great meter. It recently died on me and I wanted to replace it with one that could identify satellites and such. I was looking at a Birdog because another satellite dealer I know uses one and it seemed nice, although he complains about the complexity of it sometimes (hooking up to PC, etc...). After looking around, I decided to try out a Maxpeak SAM - it seemed to do everything I wanted and had all the features I was looking for. 
I ordered one from a place in Miami, FL (some might know this online site) for $399. They sent me a used meter that was already registered to someone else - I couldn't use the meter because I was locked out (couldn't register it). The company apologized, told me to ship the meter back to them, and they would reimburse me for the shipping. They then sold me on a Maxpeak OTM900 (MAX TRACKER), they said it was an updated version of the SAM and that all these other meters would be obsolete soon that didn't do DVB-S2. Sounded like a bunch of B.S. to me but it was a brand new meter that just came out and it was cheaper.
So I was credited the difference on the meter (they did NOT reimburse me for my shipping back). I got the OTM900 in and began testing it out. 1) This meter is not very sensitive. It only shows signal level in whole dB's, my Acutrac showed a lot more resolution and was easier to line up dishes perfectly. Had to do a lot more dithering with the OTM900. 2) It only holds 20 sat locations in memory. Once I downloaded all the DishNetwork and DirecTV satillietes I needed, I used all 20 locations. This didn't really matter much because of 3) The meter will NOT!!! identify any satellites. I tried a DirecTV SWM, Directv AU9, and an old Dish500; even with the dishes perfectly lined up, the meter would not identify any type of satellite in any mode.
The purchasing company didn't return emails this time and emailing Maxpeak only got a reply of "I should contact the company I purchased from". When I sent an email back asking "does this mean there is someting wrong with the meter?" ... no reply.
As of right now, I have a $400 meter that does what a $70 could do - scratch that, the $70 DIGISAT III PRO has better resolution and can gives info about current draw, etc.... I do not recommend buying a Maxpeak product, unless someone on here has a much better positive experience with the product.


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## matt (Jan 12, 2010)

Super Buddy FTW! $200 off craigslist.


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## John Williams (Oct 5, 2011)

Hi Matt,
Could you describe your experience with the Super Buddy (i.e responsiveness, reliability, battery life, etc...). 
Also, I just noticed Applied Instruments makes a Super Buddy 29 now - it can power SWM directly. That's cool and a big plus for installers. The pricing on the Super Buddy's are certainly on the higher side however ($679-$699). But worth it?

Nothing like that on Craig's list around here. Matter of fact, the Craig's list here is always full of way over priced junk.


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## west99999 (May 12, 2007)

If you setup an account with Perfect 10 you can get much better prices for meters and such. The Birddog Ultra is what I use and paid less than $500 for it. It does everything a Superbuddy 29 does (powers swm, wildblue, etc...) and is much more user friendly IMO.


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## matt (Jan 12, 2010)

I'm just a hobbyist but I like the battery life, it's very responsive, and it has power reading in dBm. Mine doesn't have the power supply for SWM, it's the hardware rev. right before that. It's very reliable and seems to be built very tough.


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## Scott in FL (Mar 18, 2008)

John, sorry to hear about your problems with the company in Miami. I assume you bought this using a credit card. You can write or call your credit card company and dispute it (might even be able to do it online). Just give them the details: they didn't send you the new, unused meter you ordered, and you have tried to work with them to correct the problem but they no longer respond.


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## sadoun (May 29, 2002)

John,

I would stay away from that meter. It's not worth it as your experience have shown.

For a professional installer who wants no hassle to do the job and move on to the next job, I would recommend the Super Body 29 as well. It has proven itself to be the most reliable meter we have ever sold. To top this, it is made in the USA and the engineers at AI know what they are doing. The tech support is excellent as well. Bottom line, don't waste your time and money on other meters if you are a professional and doing this for a living.

Here is a link to all the meters we carry.
http://sadoun.com/Sat/Order/Signal-Meters.htm


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## satman40 (Feb 2, 2004)

Birddog is a good meter, check ebay..$125.00...

All Star, is that Jeff....


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## Annihilator31 (Nov 21, 2006)

I have been using a Birdog for years now and I love it. It's not complicated at all. I also have the Directv AIM meter and I hate that. So stick with a Birdog!


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