Best Buy Essentials Ultra-Thin Amplified HDTV Antenna review

The Best Buy Essentials Amplified Ultra-Thin Indoor HDTV Antenna exists for those who like the idea of live TV, but who don't want to spend money on cable or an advanced antenna. It's cheap, simply-designed, and very easy to install.

This is actually the top model in Best Buy's house-brand Essentials antenna line, sitting above a 35-mile unamplified version and a more compact 30-mile multidirectional model. It's marketed with a 50-mile maximum range and supports both VHF and UHF.

The question, of course, is whether you're losing much by going for a Best Buy Essentials model, or if you should upgrade to a more expensive antenna. I've been using the Best Buy Essentials Ultra-Thin Amplified HDTV Antenna to find out how it ranks among the best TV antennas.

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Best Buy Essentials Ultra-Thin Amplified HDTV Antenna review: Price and availability

One of the biggest advantages of this antenna, of course, is its price. At just $25, it's cheaper than the majority of other antennas out there, including those from companies like Channel Master.

That said, it's not quite as available as other models, since it's Best Buy's in-house brand that makes it. You'll only really be able to get it from Best Buy itself, so don't waste your time looking for it at Walmart or Amazon.

Best Buy Essentials Ultra-Thin Amplified HDTV Antenna review: Design and setup

There was once a time when these ultra-thin antennas were somewhat of a novelty, but that has changed over the years, and they're now much more common. So common, apparently, that you can get one for as low as $25.

The antenna can be mounted to a window or placed on a stand, which is included in the box. As for the mounting pins to attach it to a surface, you'll actually get two small pins that can be inserted into a wall, along with adhesive to attach the antenna to a window. Basically, no matter how you want to set it up, you should have everything you need in the box.

You can also decide whether you want it to blend into your wall or not. There's a white side and a black side. So if you want it to blend into white paint, you can leave the white side of the antenna exposed.

The antenna comes with a permanently attached 8-foot coaxial cable, along with the amplifier, which looks kind of like an adapter, and an AC power adapter that you plug into the amplifier. Again, it's everything you'll need to get started. That said, if you need more than 8 feet of cable, you'll need to buy a coaxial extension cable, as again, this one is permanently attached to the antenna.

Setting up the antenna is very simple. Either mount it to a wall or attach it to the included base. Then connect the antenna's cable to the amplifier, the amplifier to your TV, and the power adapter to the amplifier. The whole process will only take a few minutes, unless, like me, your TV is mounted to the wall and you have to figure out how to access the antenna input port.

Best Buy Essentials Ultra-Thin Amplified HDTV Antenna review: Performance and reception

The antenna can receive both VHF-high and UHF broadcasts, and the amplifier is rated for 16dB of gain. What that means is that, in decent conditions, you should be able to reach broadcast towers up to 25 miles or so — though don't necessarily expect that if you live in a more mountainous or dense environment. Best Buy markets the antenna as supporting a range of up to 50 miles, but it's unlikely you'll hit a range quite that high unless you luck out with the conditions around you.

That said, the amplifier can strengthen low or moderate strength signals to allow you to get more usable stations in your area. This can actually be a double-edged sword, though. While it amplifies signal, it also amplifies noise — so it might appear that you have access to lots of channels when you first scan for them, but in reality, many of them will be too noisy to actually watch. When I first scanned on my TV, I was told that the TV had found 50 channels. But I'd estimate that maybe 20 of those were actually watchable.

You can, of course, try scanning for channels without the amplifier connected. In fact, it's definitely worth trying to do this. Without the amplifier, I found that I only got 16 channels, and again, only around half of them were actually watchable in terms of quality. That's compared to the 50 channels I got with the amplifier.

It's worth noting that I got a much better signal and more channels with only slightly more expensive antenna models. The Channel Master FLATenna 35 picked up 83 channels with noticeably better signal quality. That's not to mention the fact that the FLATenna comes with a longer detachable cable, which makes it easier to position the antenna for better reception. That said, when I added an extension to the Best Buy model, I got similar results, so positioning isn’t everything.

The fact is that this is a budget antenna, and its flat design can limit some of the kinds of broadcasts that it can receive. That's not unexpected. There's a reason some people buy more expensive antennas that mount to a roof instead of using one of these. But if you're simply looking for something that's easy to set up so that you can see what kinds of channels you have decently close to you, this antenna will work perfectly fine. Just don't expect it to work miracles.

Best Buy Essentials Ultra-Thin Amplified HDTV Antenna review: Verdict

If you're 15 to 20 miles from your local towers and have somewhere to mount it near a window, you'll probably be happy with the Best Buy Essentials Amplified Ultra-Thin Indoor HDTV Antenna .

That said, it is really worth checking how close you are to local towers before you decide whether to buy this one or something more powerful. You can do that at a website like this one. It’s also worth considering upgrading to a slightly more expensive model, like the Channel Master FLATenna 35, which I also tested recently and found to pick up many more channels at a much higher quality.

If you are in a rural location, you are probably better served by something slightly more advanced. But if you live close enough to broadcast towers and watch something basic and easy to use, this one should do the job.