Is the Firestik any better than an off-brand CB antenna?

 

mabey u should read into it and find out for yourself that it is like 100 times better and is adjustable.

 

You pay for what you get

 

My CB antenna base broke.

I think it must have had a growing fracture in the base because my antenna fell off and slid down my hood when on a part of the trail that did not have branches to snag it. I thought it just came unscrewed until I looked at the broken part. I think it was one of the previous times that it hit something pretty hard. Or maybe it was just all the flexing from highway travel.

Anyhow, I just got off the phone with Firestik and they are discontinuing the foldable swivel mounts like the one I have on my 1994 4Runner. The rep basically said that they want all of their mounts to be as robust as the rest of the line. He also mentioned that people kept putting antennas on it that were longer than the manufacturer stated was OK.

The part has a 1 year warranty and they require the part to be sent in with the receipt as most companies do. I called to make sure it would be covered and Rick, one of the guys there, offered to just send a replacement part out.

It's so nice to deal with a company that let's their employees think. After talking with me on the phone, trying to help me come up with a future option to avoid the same problem, he offered to just send out the replacement part no charge. I love the fact that there's less time until I get it fixed, that a real person that actually works at the company here in the USA picked up the phone with no hold time, actually made a decision, and that I don't have to go through the money wasting hassle to ship a broken part.

What a great thing to deal with a company that is well known for their high quality antennas and then to have great customer service too. Sooo nice.

 

With a Firestick, I always run a spring on the base. This helps to reduce the stress of the rather stiff antenna as it bends back and forth. I like the FS antennas because they have a really heavy coating over the wires and the wires are pretty good size. I have an off-brand antenna on my other rig and it just has a very fine wire wound on the fiberglass core and I would think one good scrape on a tree branch or parking garage ceiling and it would be toast. I have abused the FS antennas I have had and they take it in stride.

 

yeah that's a good idea.

I have a firestik spring on mine too. I was really surprised to see that the mount actually broke. I think if I did not have the spring on it the antenna/base would have been toast long long ago. I appreciate the suggestion! Ditto on the heavy coating. I think the antennas are built very well. I think firestik is a great choice.

 

Yep.......I run a heavy duty spring on my firestick