The Best Indoor TV Antennas, According to Our Readers

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Photo: Mohu

Your Top Pick: Mohu Leaf 30 | $37 | Amazon

From the outset, I knew finding an indoor antenna for my NYC apartment would be a challenge when this Co-op question eluded readers at the start of the week. Yet despite the impracticality of such a request, readers, you delivered. But before I present to you the best TV antennas as suggested by commenters here on The Inventory, I must admit a failing of my own. The TV in my apartment, the 65" Vizio M-Series Quantum you should ABSOLUTELY buy at this price–like wow I paid more on Black Friday—does not require a tuner adapter, so those recommendations are useless to me now (sorry!).

That said, for anyone who first needs a tuner adapter in order to start watching broadcast TV from the comfort of your home again, Kinja user SteveCZ prescribes SiliconDust’s HDHomeRun channel tuner. “Install an app on your smart TV, plug the ‘box’ into your router, and anywhere that has WiFi, you can watch OTA TV.” Sounds easy enough, especially if, as Out of many, one pointed out, you have an older M-series model dating back to 2016 or 2017. While Vizio has since rectified the issue, it’s true that at one time the built-in tuners were omitted. “Check the year it was manufactured,” he added. “But think as long as you have the coaxial input in the back, you are all set.”

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Another commenter, janai, advised checking the FCC website’s reception maps before shelling out for a shiny new toy, tempting an impulse buy as it might be at this price range. On a related note, in my original post, I mentioned the Aukey TV antenna offhand after seeing considerable referral traffic from a Kinja Deals of the Day post last week.

BeauBurnside, a fellow New Yorker and potential neighbor of mine, spoke from experience when they said, “It is an inexpensive antenna, and works fairly well, and I would imagine that in a less urban environment, it would be quite adequate. In NYC, however, I get about 70% of the broadcast channels that I should normally expect. For New York City, this is probably as good as it will get for any antenna.”

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After sifting through copious banter around how much indoor TV antennas suck and how I probably shouldn’t buy one at all, these were the top picks that made the cut, according to our readers. Have another product to highlight we may have missed? I’m all ears, err, eyes! Let me know in the comments below.

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Mohu Leaf 30 | $37 | Amazon

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Graphic: Gabe Carey

I bought a Mohu Leaf 30 quite a while ago. It’s been a great antenna. I get the major networks, and some “extras” in the digital channels. I think there are about 30 channels total that I receive.

I’m located in the Seattle area.

You can purchase their products from the Mohu website, or you can find them on Amazon- Dumpster Baby

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RCA Yagi | $40 | Amazon

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Image: RCA

Technically it is an outdoor antenna, but I have it installed in my attic. Comes with an easy-to-use app to help you align it to the channels you want—basically a compass, so you just set your phone on the antenna, move it until the app tells you to stop, et voilá: OTA HD channels.

I’m 40 miles (rural) from the closest broadcast towers and still pick up 40+ channels.

I have it paired with an HDHomeRun so I can watch local sports wherever I may roam. - Jägs

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XFTREE TV Antenna | $27 | Amazon

Image for article titled The Best Indoor TV Antennas, According to Our Readers
Graphic: Gabe Carey

This antenna has a 200-mile range and is cheaper than other suggestions. I’m so glad I found this one and it works like a charm. - darkcloud14

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GE UltraPro | $17 | Amazon

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Image: GE

These GE rabbit ears outperformed about 10 other antennas in my extensive testing. It has VHF elements to pick up channel 7-13 (important as some channels are moving back to VHF during the repack). This even outperformed a Clearstream 2Max, a much higher dollar Antenna (though to be fair, that’s supposed to be an outdoor antenna). - shabadage

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