It seems like just yesterday, but two months ago I reviewed the Mohu Leaf, an antenna that picks up the over-the-air (OTA) HDTV signals to give you free television. It’s like the days before cable, but you actually get reception…
… and not just reception… great reception in my experience. I’m going to presume that you’ve seen HDTV before. This antenna gives you the same results that you’d get from your cable box, just without the cable channels and the cable fees. In our bedroom, we don’t have a cable box (the monthly fee gets expensive) so we only get basic channels (known as “in-the-clear” QAM channels), which in my experience is the cable companies’ code, for “all the non-cable channels.” When testing the Mohu Leaf that the company gave me to review, I simply taped the Mohu Leaf to the wall, plugged it in the back of my TV in place of my cable, and selected the option on my television to scan for OTA channels.
Boom, I had 50 crystal clear channels – all the major networks, NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, and CW, plus about 45 channels of home shopping, weather, public access, and people speaking in languages that do not know. We haven’t noticed any difference from what we were getting there before, so the cable sits dangling on the floor.
People have come back to the post saying that they were surprised how good the product was too. Even today, two months after the contest has ended, people still leave comments in an effort to win one. The company was very pleased with the results they’ve gotten from the review. They were so pleased they asked me if I’d give another away. If you haven’t caught by now, the answer was, “Of course, I’d love to.”
So here’s how it’s going to work. Leave a comment between now and Thursday evening (May 26th) at 11:59PM PT if you are interested. Make sure you use a real email address, so I can contact you if you win. Those who give an interesting story on why they want a Mohu, impress me with their set up to cut the cable (as I’ve written about here and here), or anything else interesting and related to getting free television legally may get additional entries over the person who responds with a boring, “I’d like to enter.”
If you aren’t feeling lucky, you can simply buy the Mohu Leaf Indoor HDTV Antenna on Amazon. They previously set up a discount code “lazyman1” for a $4 discount, which may or may not still be active. It’s worth a shot.
Awesome. I was bummed to miss on the first giveaway but I’m happy to have another shot. I honestly was going to buy a Mohu Leaf from Amazon today. Then I read this post. Now I’ll wait until Friday. Season finales are wrapping up (Office, Parks & Rec, SNL) and I don’t see a need for the DVR anymore. So I’m gonna return it to the cable company and go with internet service only. My plan is to use the Mohu Leaf and a streaming Netflix subscription via a Roku box to get my fix. Thanks!
Wow-that is one small antenna. We use a different version indoor/outdoor antenna that is quite ugly and I’d really love to upgrade to this one.
I’d like to win the Mohu leaf to give to my parents who have not been able to afford cable for the last year or so. It’d be nice for them to be able to get a few more channels than what they’re currently getting.
Hi,
I am working on reducing my television costs. Utilizing Hulu, Fancast, the library and OTA… however my OTA reception isn’t very good. I have a pair of rabbit ears that are supposed to handle HDTV OTA, but don’t do it well.
So glad I found this. I entered the first one and have been checking the reviews on Amazon every once and a while and have been amazed how positive they are. We just found out we are moving in 30 days and when we get to our new place we are not getting cable, just OTA and Netflix. Our apartment now includes cable so I was shocked to see the price of it when we would have to pay. I checked Amazon just the other day and saw the Leafs were on backorder, but I’m glad they are back up, even if they are $5 more this time. Thanks for the giveaway, I would have never found out about the Leaf otherwise.
This is totally awesome! For some reason, I missed your previous post about this thing, but I love it. I only get the basic cable package to have network TV (other antennas don’t work in my building – there’s probably asbestos in the walls), but every year Charter tries to double the charge, and when I call to complain, they always say “but you get 28 channels.” OK, but 21 of them are home shopping/infomercial channels!! Thanks for writing such a fantastic blog!
Nice!!! I am tired of paying $120 per month to ATT. I wish I could cut my cable subscription. But my wife likes her shows on Fox, NBC and CBS and will not cooperate.
With Mohu I should be able to convince her to cut cable and contribute that money to the Children’s college fund :P.
My setup would be the Mohu Leaf for OTA channels and Netflix via Wii for other shows. I am also able to connect my laptop directly to my TV – which basically means I will be able to view shows from ITunes / Amazon Video/Hulu/Crackle.
After I save enough Money from cutting Cable, I’d buy either the MAGNAVOX MDR513H/F7 HDD and DVD Recorder or the Channel Master for DVR.
Thanks LazyMan and Mohu for the giveaway!!
Ok, I already have a 55dB RCA amplified antenna (ANT1251). It gets most of the channels, but I find myself constantly readjusting the thing each time I change stations. Ironically, I have the most trouble getting our local NBC station. It used to be the best, clearest channel until NBC decided in their infinite wisdom to move their transmitter about 50 miles north to some small town called San Francisco. Don’t get me started…
Anyhow, the real reason that I want one of these Mohu Leaf antennas is to compare how well a good passive antenna does versus an amplified one. Oh, and last interesting post I wrote about digital TVs was this one. It is just a public service to let people know to periodically rescan for new channels.
I fully attribute my lack of consumer debt to never having cable (ok, maybe not fully, but still…), but since the switch to digital, my OTA reception is hideously spotty, to the point that I am considering becoming a Comcast slave. So winning the antenna would be another strike against the Comcast empire!
Also, I just looked, and if anybody is planning to order one, they are $5 less if you order directly from Mohu’s website instead of Amazon.
Good find Jennifer on the cheaper price. Previously, GoMohu redirected its customers to Amazon to buy the product.
I am a 99er and needed to cut my overhead. Getting rid of the digital cable tv was an easy decision. I have a laptop hooked up to my main tv with an eyegato and a terk antenna. I am constantly f**king with the thing. I have a monoprice on the second tv and that is also barely doing it. Kept the broadband and between hulu, netflix and other streaming sources (CBS, Comedy Central, TVLAND), I can keep myself entertained. I would love to try this antenna. If for nothing else, to be able to get CBS News Sunday Morning. They just don’t stream that.
I’m working towards a television room setup similar to this one pictured here: http://xbmc.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/5.jpg and the flatter the component, the better it would appear against the component wall.
I cut the cable a year ago. I just couldn’t see paying over $100.00 to view the 6 – 10 channels that I enjoy watching. Add to that, the fact that more and more TV is becoming Reality TV and I just couldn’t justify the cost any more. I wanted to put up an Antenna, but my location is such that using a conventional OTA HDTV antenna was going to cost me $150.00 plus installation on my roof. So right now, other than iTunes and the like, I am TVless. I sure would like this antenna though, I miss the local news.
I’d love to win one. I’m sick of Comcast.
I’d love to win this. Right now we have traditional cable, but I watch almost all of my TV shows on Hulu.
I cannot convince my husband to give up cable since he loves ESPN. Is there any good way to get ESPN without cable/satellite?
Hi! I was definitely very excited when I heard about this contraption and the contest last time around, so thanks for giving us another shot! My wife and I are trying to keep the costs down but “splurge” on paying for Netflix because we love the access to the streaming of shows and movies. We have been frustrated though with trying to stay current on shows that are airing now. For me also, it is the NBA playoffs and I can only follow the games when TNT or ESPN offers live streaming from their websites.
I’m tired of cable costs and would love to try this. It seems too good to be true.
I’d love to win one! I currently pay $20.00 a month for the same channels. I live in an apartment and my reception with the antennae I bought is horrible! I went back to basic channels with the cable company for $20.00 so I could watch some TV (my son was VERY happy). This antennea would allow me to be rid of that monthly fee! I currently use Netflix streaming (with 1 disc at a time) to supplement our availablility.
I’d be very interested in trying out the Mohu Leaf–ever since I read about it here a few months ago it has seemed very interesting.
Although I’d love to cut the cable to reduce expenses, I work in cable television, so it probably doesn’t send a great message if I don’t subscribe to my employer’s networks. That said, there is a ton of programming that I probably couldn’t live without, but I guess you never know until you explore alternatives like the Mohu Leaf.
Thanks!
I was a Time Warner cable slave. our blog and others has given me the courage and direction to free myself. I no longer have a cable bill, I no longer have their telephone charge and I am working on finding a less expensive internet option. I use the laptop connected to the big screen for Netflix and Hulu and all is fine except for one thing… I just assumed the “HDTV” antennas would do what they say. I am between 2 major hubs and I only get 5 intermittent TV signals. While it does not bother me, my spouse has given me an ultimatum. She needs the local channels, or else! Help me please, award me the antenna, save my marriage (OK its not quite that bad)!
So, my parents have a beautiful Samsung 42″ HDTV and no cable. They rely on . . . rabbit ears!
I would give this to them IN A HEARTBEAT if I won. They are my parents and deserve the best!
And if I don’t win, that’s ok too. I hope the winner gets to enjoy a fantastic product.
I cut cable at the beginning of the year but I can’t watch much tv because my rabbit ears don’t pull in a very good signal.
Like Nick above said, I hate to pay for the cable especially during the summer when we watch virtually nothing on TV. I hate paying for television.
I’m actually unhooking my cable box to turn is as we speak. After my cable bill jumped from 85 to 125 this month. After trying the normal trick to catch the next promo Comcast informed me they couldn’t do anything since I was already on “promotion”. Apparently the one i signed up for raises $20 every 4 months. I give up. I’ve got a media computer with boxee and mlb.tv and I’m hoping thats enough for now. I’ll need to look into one of these boxes anyway once football comes on.
I am in the process of weighing my options to get rid of Sat, I would love to see if this works in Canada very well. TV fees are ridiculous and getting worse
We travel a lot in our 5th wheel RV. We often dry camp or stay at places without cable. We spent last winter in Quartzsite, AZ where a popular topic among all the RVers is television reception. What antenna are you using, where is it pointed,how many channels can you get, etc. etc. We’d love to try this antenna and show it off to everyone!
We cut out basic cable about 2 years ago and went with ultra super low (not even a packaged offered on their website) cable for about 12$ month…getting only about 14 really clear stations, Brighthouse must have thought they were giving something away and decided to raise that same next to nothing package to 25$ a month. Bottom line-I would love to cut them off all together-Please help me!
i would love to win one for my son and daughter-in-law. they had one of those converter boxes to get the local broadcast stations that used to come thru the air but the box broke. his work is erratic and she was out of work for awhile and just started a new job. they bought a condo and need to cut corners in order to pay the mortgage and paying for cable doesn’t fit into their budget. so my winning the antenna would be a big help to them since even the most basic cable is very expensive in this area. thank you.
Just sold our old house and in a rental to conserve until we can buy our own. Please help me pull in all the channels my old rabbit ears from Analog 25 years ago wont get!
I am very interested in winning this product. I’ve purchased an HDTV antenna a few years back for around $60 at Walmart. At the time, I did not have cable and I lived in the center of a large city – so its not like it should have been hard to pick up a TV signal like you might expect if you lived 75+ miles away from the city. Amazingly, I only got 1 channel with it. I was very disappointed.
Now, I live about 50 miles away from the city. I am very interested to try this product out. I have a good feeling.
I have a basic cable package and would love to get rid of it. Have been reading every blog concerning ota atenna. Most of them are pretty ugly. Mohu looks great and almost invisible. My income is around $1000 per month and any expense I can eliminate is a gift to me.
I’d love a better antenna than the rabbit ears I’m using now. I’ve been cable-free for about 4 years, and while the ears work most of the time, it would be nice to have less signal-loss.
After a busy few months I thought I’d chime in wiht my Leaf experience. (I received the first one given away, thanks again!)
This antenna is doing one channel better than than my roof mounted antenna. It isn’t a great improvement there. But where it does excel is the ease of installation. I hung the Leaf on a wall in the attic in all of about 2 minutes. I spent about 3 hours on a 30 foot ladder installing and adjusting the old outdoor antenna.
Neither antenna picks up a low powered station about 30 miles away (which I attribute to non-antenna issues). Considering all the time I put in setting up the old antenna, the Leaf wins hands-down.
The only thing, and this is probably all mental, but with its thin design, even though the Leaf is omni-directional, I can’t help but want to point it like a directional antenna, which you can’t do as it mounts flush to a wall.
I have Dish Network, but I would give it a couple I know that can’t afford cable.
We have free cable at the apartment we currently rent but we will be moving next month and there will be no free cable in the new apartment. I’m thinking a combination of Netflix and OTA TV with this antenna would be a good replacement for cable.
I want to cut my cable and switch to an over the air antenna, but I am nervous about spending money for equipment that might not work because of our location. If I won the Mohu Leaf, it would allow me to test the over the air set up with out risking any money. Funds are tight in our household so winning would be awesome.
With a four month old baby in the house, my husband and I have been giving a lot of thought to what kind of behavior we want to model for our children as they grow up. One of the behaviors we want to cut out is excessive tv watching, which we hope will lead to more quality family time, reading time, playing outside time, etc. Winning the Mohu Leaf would give us motivation and excitement to move forward with canceling our cable and adjusting our lifestyle to spend our “free” time doing more productive things while still watching the shows we like most, in moderation.
I don’t live close to any “major” cities, they are all at least 250 miles away. I would be interested in finding out how many channels I can actually receive with this cool looking antenna. Thanks for the chance to maybe find out!!
I’m not trying to get a freebie, and I think I missed the deadline anywhow. But by shear coincidence, I finally hooked up my Mohu Leaf wiht our new HDTV this morning. At first, the reception was questionable (the major network stations were “freezing up”). After running down to the local Shack and getting a 12′ extension coax cable with a connector, I have the Mohu hanging on an outside wall – courtesy of double sided tape (for durability and aesthetics). All I can say is, between the Mohu Leaf and our internet connection, Time Warner will be getting a “Dear John” call tomorrow – I relish that moment.
I would love to have this but I think I missed the deadline. I’ve been out of work for 3 1/2 years now and have no cable, can only pick up 2 clear stations and 2 fuzzy ones with my antenna.
Thank you all for your interest in the Mohu Leaf. Since its initial debut in early March – we’ve been hard pressed to keep them in stock.
We are very proud of its unique design and it’s exceptional performance – and would love to see each of you realize the benefit of such a small and simple yet high performing antenna.
You can receive $4 off of a Leaf purchase on Amazon.com using the “lazyman1” promo code.
Please do not hesitate to contact Mohu support if you have installation questions or issues – we are happy to help (www.gomohu.com)
Please be on the lookout for our very unique attic mount version for homes further from the towers – which will be released in the coming months.
Hail to the Cord Cutters!!
The Mohu Team
Raleigh, NC
Nice. I’ve talked to Mark via a customer service request, and he’s been very helpful (and speedy).
I haven’t ordered my Mohu yet, but just logged into Amazon to try. FYI, that promo code posted by Mark has already expired.