The Wilson antennas of today are
not the Wilson antennas 20 years ago that was innovating and producing the high-quality antennas that you came to love.
Over the last decade, Wilson antennas and
the rights to purchase them have been bought and sold three different times to
large corporations. As you can probably guess their only concern is the bottom
line and as a result quality of the product drops considerably.
By contrast, Stryker
is a smaller company and much more similar to that of Wilson when they first
started out. Being a smaller company with less known name quality and
word-of-mouth play a much bigger role in
selling the product. As a result, the
company is held to a higher standard, and they can’t skimp or cut corners.
A common problem on the Wilson magnetic mount antennas of
today is filling up with water and corrosion inside the coil. Another issue has
been the magnets falling off or collects coming out of the base of the antenna.
The Stryker magnetic mount antennas as this is been explained to me are made in a different
factory than the Wilson products and seem to have more care in final assembly.
You also might have noticed that many of the models of antennas Wilson once
offered have been discontinued such as the longer shaft Wilson 2000 and 5000
trucker antennas. One thing that makes the Stryker trucker stand out is the
fact that you get the five and 10-inch
shaft included in the package.
It certainly is true that Stryker does not offer as many
antennas as Wilson or K 40 which, by the way,
are on by the same corporation. Stryker light Galaxy radios seem to focus on
building a quality product that might be a little more expensive but is well
worth it in terms of longevity and dependability. Some of the other Stryker
models like the SR-955 HP are an excellent
example of high-end well-built products that are
offered at competitive prices.
Sadly while cutting costs and quality suffering, Wilson only offers a one-year
warranty on their antennas. Stryker antennas included a two-year warranty, and they
are very flexible as I have a friend who just sent back three-year-old SR-5K CB
antenna and it was promptly replaced and
shipped back to my friend at no cost. That kind
of customer service makes me believe that they are focused on building
better products.
Now don’t get me wrong Wilson is a great design CB antenna
and I ran one for 20 years and had excellent
luck. It wasn’t Intel I replaced my aging Wilson 5000 with a newer model that I
experienced any trouble from the product. At that time, I became educated regarding the sale of Wilson to several
corporations one of which had filed bankruptcy. The problem I had might have
simply been an issue with the new owners
not being extremely familiar with the product they are manufacturing and thus
didn’t know what to look for when checking quality.
