Aldi portable satellite kit €90 - Thur 22nd May

Zaphod · 16-05-2008 01:30PM #1

Dish looks like 60cm?

http://www.aldi.ie/ie/html/offers/58_5890.htm

celticfc · 16-05-2008 02:45PM

It's 35cm

watty · 16-05-2008 05:17PM

Buy elsewhere.

Tony · 16-05-2008 06:20PM

Disappointing since there stuff up to now has been decent for the price.

wil · 18-05-2008 08:59PM

Looks to be the same one they have sold for the last year just €10 dearer, no difference from that picture. Its 35 x 39cm elliptical.

If you are in Dublin, it works, cant vouch for anywhere else but it definitely works. Actually, yes I can, it works fine in the midlands too.
But I didnt get around to my round trip of Ireland testing it yet.

Saw a black one stuck to outside of a downstairs window of a listed house a few days ago and only I know it, most people probably would't even realise it was a sat dish, probably think its is broadband. So less likely to get a busybody complaint if that is an issue.
The receiver is tiny, looks insignificant but works very well.
By choice I only use the dish for hobby purposes or site surveys/demos for friends (great when you are checking if trees or walls are blocking the signal.
You could hold it in your hands if you are steady enough (a la Diceman;)) and watch Sky then pack it flat into its bag along with receiver and mini lcd TV when done.

The Aldi version dish is actually fairly sturdily built metal construction compared to the somewhat flimsy plastic Lidl equivalent offering. And with a 3 year warranty it's not B-grade as the only other clunky receivers I have seen new at anywhere near similar price retail. It's cheap, it's cheerful, it works.

Buy it, try it, then knock it.

Tony · 18-05-2008 09:31PM

Not all the time it doesn't . Minimum dish size recommended for the Astra 2 satellite in Dublin is 60cm , its 60 for good reason, with this kit watch for picture break up in the rain.

wil wrote: »

If you are in Dublin, it works,

petronius · 19-05-2008 11:32AM

What are the Tevion Receivers like?
Are they the same just rebranded comag as the SL 65 like lidls silvercrest ones.

Do they sell the receivers separately ?

kazzer · 19-05-2008 12:36PM

Could this dish be used to pick up Sky (Astra 2 ?) And possibly be used indoors? (have a great view of the sky through a patio door)

Cheers

Tony · 19-05-2008 01:12PM

Not reliably as per my earlier post.

kazzer wrote: »

Could this dish be used to pick up Sky (Astra 2 ?) And possibly be used indoors? (have a great view of the sky through a patio door)

Cheers

kazzer · 19-05-2008 01:25PM

Hi Tony, what about a slightly bigger/better dish?

Tony · 19-05-2008 01:54PM

yeah a 60cm should work fine outside, in your particular case though the signal will attenuaute through the glass and even more so when it gets wet.

byte · 19-05-2008 07:02PM

If anyone is going to Northern Ireland or is near it, Maplin have a deal of 85cm dish and receiver for £70, which is roughly €90. Don't know if the Irish Maplin stores have an equivalent deal
http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ModuleNo=221295&doy=19m5#overview

TheDriver · 19-05-2008 08:56PM

to be honest, if u own a premises, spend bit more on a decent dish and bracket and u won't be annoyed when the wind starts playnig havoc with your small dish. Also get a freesat box when they become more freely available, much better with an epg and also most people have hd lcds so spending a bit of cash will give you a lot more.

wil · 19-05-2008 11:14PM

TheDriver wrote: »

to be honest, if u own a premises, spend bit more on a decent dish and bracket and u won't be annoyed when the wind starts playnig havoc with your small dish. .

And if you dont?

It's a very broad assumption that everyone who wishes to avail of satellite services should own their own 4 walls and a roof, no other tall structures or trees around and convenient line of sight to Astra2.
Fine for many people living in bungalow bliss in our sparsely populated countryside but in the city it not necessarily so simple.

I know many people, renting or ground floor apartments, or any level in a high rise, etc who despite having some sight of 28.2E may not be in a position to mount a 60cm or larger dish for a multitude of reasons.
Not least of all disapproving landlords, difficulty mounting, lack of funds, an aversion to large disks whatever.
A small dish, despite its albeit significant drawback of poorer reception potential has many important and possibly more significant advantages for some people. Small size, less obvious, less likely to attract attention from disapproving landlords/management companies/spouses.
And as you may be alluding, a small dish has a considerably lower wind loading so does not have the critical sturdy mounting requirements of a larger dish, therefore is much more amenable to be mounted anywhere, even on a window frame as I have seen recently.

So if you simply can not avail of a larger dish, anyone reading so far might assume the general view of this Satelite forum is that you should call NTL?:(

Tony · 20-05-2008 08:29AM

wil wrote: »

Not least of all disapproving landlords, difficulty mounting, lack of funds, an aversion to large disks whatever.
(

If you have a lack funds then wasting money on something that does not work is not a good idea surely.

Tony · 20-05-2008 12:04PM

biologikal wrote: »

Does this kit not work? Maybe Aldi should be reported to trading standards/whoever for selling stuff that does not work.

Hard one to nail them on as you will get a picture on a dry day with some transponders so the user may just assume its not installed correctly. What works in mainland Europe does not always work here.

pjq · 20-05-2008 05:28PM

Maybe Aldi should be reported to trading standards/whoever for selling stuff that does not work.

To be practical , ALDI's returns policy is so easy , you can try it out and return if not satisfied .

For people looking for value for money , it might be just as well to shop online in Germany and get a dish to meet Irish requirements , it still should not cost much than €100- . Toci ( no english site) have a good receiver for €29 http://www.toci.de/_py_SAT-Technik-Receiver-Comag-ComAG-SL-35/a-73-2-3-4-0-0/ . HM Sat have receivers from €40- and a better selection of dishes http://www.hm-sat-shop.de/antennen-triax/.
pjq
PS I have bought stuff from the above sites without problem , don't have shares in either.

Tony · 20-05-2008 05:58PM

It would be fine if they told people in the adverts that it will not work everywhere and in all weathers.

biologikal wrote: »

Practically, any bigger dish size, and your going to loose the portable aspect of the kit. I'm sure if people are getting the stronger transponders, like the BBCs and ITVs, they'd be happy enough with that as a temporary measure in the evenings while on holiday, catch up on a bit of news or soaps, or whatever.

podgeandrodge · 20-05-2008 06:28PM

No offence but I'm continually hearing that these camper dishes "don't work" or "won't work in the rain" or "won't receive 13E or 19E" etc etc.

I can't explain then why my 35cm dish works fine in all weather. And before I fixed on 28E I tried the other satellites over a few months with equal success. I have a house where a large dish would look ridiculous. If I relied on the advice here I would not have satellite. Instead I tried it out, fixed a simple little bracket (2 inches square) to the wall, attached the dish and job done. (Maplin camper version)

(I'm in Dublin by the way - I'm not vouching for other parts of the country)

byte · 20-05-2008 07:14PM

Well, from my experience here in Donegal, the camping dishes do NOT work in all weather. Astra 2 signals do seem to be a bit stronger further south of the country, so maybe that's why it works OK for you.

Tony · 20-05-2008 07:20PM

If 35cm dishes worked properly i'd be selling and installing them, cheaper and easier to fit. Sky would be selling them too for the same reason, fact is they use 45cm in the Uk and 60cm here.

podgeandrodge · 20-05-2008 07:26PM

Tony wrote: »

If 35cm dishes worked properly i'd be selling and installing them, cheaper and easier to fit. Sky would be selling them too for the same reason, fact is they use 45cm in the Uk and 60cm here.

Maybe the argument is that they work in some locations perfectly well. I don't think it's fair to say "if they worked properly" as it suggests that they are not worth buying. I understand that you have to install a product that will work reliably everywhere, all I'm saying is that there is a niche for this product and when it works it works perfectly well!

Tony · 20-05-2008 07:55PM

Is everyone who buys this product aware of its limitations? I think not as there is nothing informing the customer of the recommended dish size so they can make an informed choice. By niche do you mean in Dublin on a sunny day? Don't mean to doubt your experience but a 35cm dish does not work 100% of the time in Dublin or anywhere else in Ireland. If someone wants to buy a dish that does not work all the time thats fine as long as they are aware of this before buying. As stated previously if 35cm dishes worked in Dublin i'd be fitting them and sky would not bother getting triax to make two dish sizes. In my opinion they are not worth buying which is a real shame as previous systems sold by them offered great value.

podgeandrodge wrote: »

Maybe the argument is that they work in some locations perfectly well. I don't think it's fair to say "if they worked properly" as it suggests that they are not worth buying. I understand that you have to install a product that will work reliably everywhere, all I'm saying is that there is a niche for this product and when it works it works perfectly well!

pjq · 20-05-2008 08:21PM

What I don't understand is why Lidl and Aldi continually offer us portable Sat systems ? Surely they have saturated the "Portable Sat" market in Ireland .
Maybe I'm wrong , possibly the neighbours are heading off to the great Irish (east coast) outdoors to watch UTV in a tent at the weekend ,,, and not letting on . Maybe you can put them to another use???
pjq

Tony · 20-05-2008 10:30PM

Its an expensive Wok perhaps

pjq wrote: »

Maybe you can put them to another use???
pjq

stevethesatguy · 21-05-2008 09:00AM

I have to agree with Tony, from my experience the small dishes will work even as far west as Mayo BUT they will rust away to nothing in a few years and the wall bracket is so flimsey that the dish will surely move in a strong wind, had a occasion last november where i had to remove an aldi dish from a wall as the wall bracket had bent in the wind the previous night, on the PLUS side if you want to experiment, if you are new to the sat scene or you just love Aldi and Lidl then go on buy the kit , have some fun, but do not expect it to last too long, its not a lot of money for a perceived complete satellite tv system and sure if its for a caravan or holiday home and you get 5 weekends or 2 weeks away with the kids and it keeps them entertained and stops the missus moaning about the fact that she cannot see eastenders, well then its all good, assuming you can find the satellite?

watty · 21-05-2008 09:03AM

podgeandrodge wrote: »

No offence but I'm continually hearing that these camper dishes "don't work" or "won't work in the rain" or "won't receive 13E or 19E" etc etc.

I can't explain then why my 35cm dish works fine in all weather. And before I fixed on 28E I tried the other satellites over a few months with equal success. I have a house where a large dish would look ridiculous. If I relied on the advice here I would not have satellite. Instead I tried it out, fixed a simple little bracket (2 inches square) to the wall, attached the dish and job done. (Maplin camper version)

(I'm in Dublin by the way - I'm not vouching for other parts of the country)

Google Fresnel zones.

You could find your dish does not work for any Eurobird channels and some Astra channels in Light drizzle two streets away.

The signal coverage even well into the coverage can have "bumps" of better and worse signal. However I doubt you have checked every channel in typical rain with a typical spread of LNBs.

While I'll defend the right of people to have a different opinion, if you continue to push a technically dubious solution (fact, not opinon), you'll get an infraction or even a temp band for trolling.

The 3 or 4 technically qualified people who posted on this are not making this stuff up to make life hard for Aldi/Maplin/Lidl but to protect the public from wasting money.

Tony · 21-05-2008 09:20AM

But surely the dishes you installed previously were bigger than 35cm?

stevethesatguy wrote: »

I have to agree with Tony, from my experience the small dishes will work even as far west as Mayo

stevethesatguy · 21-05-2008 10:23AM

yes bigger than 35cm, struggled on a few 43cm that people had brought back from the UK with them, never got all the channels but did get most but then again thats what i do , if a DIY person is going to try and install a 35cm dish then i hope they have a lot of spare time and do not have a firey temper because as we all known aligning a sat dish can be a stressful business, i would strongly recommend avoiding this "special offer" and if you really want a complete sat system then save up a few more quid and buy a decent one , i do think that people have realised this though as the last time Aldi had this offer on the stuff was stacked up high for weeks with very few takers, on the bright side though i will definitely be getting calls in a week or so from frustrated men who 3 weeks later are still looking for the BBC on ASTRA 1? and the second set of lads will be calling around November / December looking for a new satellite dish to be installed because the "special offer one" keeps moving in the wind, point is save pennys now and it will cost you pounds later or save your hard earned cash now and buy yourself something that will last years in a couple months or so.

podgeandrodge · 21-05-2008 11:20AM

watty wrote: »

While I'll defend the right of people to have a different opinion, if you continue to push a technically dubious solution (fact, not opinon), you'll get an infraction or even a temp band for trolling.

Sorry Watty. But I think it's a bit harsh of you to accuse me of trolling. I am not pushing any solution, just stating my experience of the dish.

I certainly haven't pushed the dish anymore than other posters who haven't been so accused.

wil wrote: »

If you are in Dublin, it works, cant vouch for anywhere else but it definitely works. Actually, yes I can, it works fine in the midlands too.
The receiver is tiny, looks insignificant but works very well.

It's cheap, it's cheerful, it works.

Buy it, try it, then knock it.
So if you simply can not avail of a larger dish, anyone reading so far might assume the general view of this Satelite forum is that you should call NTL?:([/

podgeandrodge wrote: »

(I'm in Dublin by the way - I'm not vouching for other parts of the country)

I understand that you have to install a product that will work reliably everywhere, all I'm saying is that there is a niche for this product and when it works it works perfectly well

stevethesatguy wrote: »

if you are new to the sat scene or you just love Aldi and Lidl then go on buy the kit , have some fun, but do not expect it to last too long, its not a lot of money for a perceived complete satellite tv system and sure if its for a caravan or holiday home and you get 5 weekends or 2 weeks away with the kids and it keeps them entertained and stops the missus moaning about the fact that she cannot see eastenders, well then its all good, assuming you can find the satellite?

I'm the first to acknowledge that I'm only a novice and am not suggesting that the experts are wrong. I'd be quite surprised if any other poster on this thread thought I was trolling. But if they did, apologies.

watty · 21-05-2008 11:57AM

I'm NOT accusing you of trolling

I'm suggesting any further posts extolling the wok would be construed as trolling.

Same applies to ANYONE else that REPEATEDLY claims this is a good idea or works perfectly well. It doesn't.

It's only advantages are it is small and easier to find a satellite with (the bigger and better a dish is, the harder to actually find anything, hence BIG telescopes have little ones to help you point it

)

Aldi portable satellite kit €90 - Thur 22nd May

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