Channel Master Flatenna 35 review: Cutting the cord has never been simpler

If you've shopped for an indoor antenna in the past few years you've likely come across the Mohu Leaf. It's a flat square antenna you can bung up anywhere -- a window, wall or the side of an entertainment unit. Its simple design has spawned a crowd of imitators which, in the case of Channel Master Flatenna 35, is able to do a similar job for a lot less. At 10 bucks, the Flatenna a no-brainer.

8.5

Channel Master Flatenna 35

The Good

The Channel Master Flatenna is a solid antenna at an incredibly low price. It outperforms more expensive designs in both the number of channels it can pick up and the strength of the signal.

The Bad

The antenna has a short, non-replaceable cable. There are no fasteners included in the box.

The Bottom Line

With its super simple design and strong performance the Channel Master Flatenna 35 is the ultimate gateway drug to cutting the cord.

Despite its on-the-nose "flatizza" name, the Channel Master is actually a likable piece of equipment. It's remarkably simple: a flexible sheet of plastic with a captive coaxial cable trailing from the bottom. The sheet itself is quite light, but add in the cable and it comes in at three ounces, while the antenna portion measures 13x9 inches.

Sadly, the coaxial cable is quite short at about six foot long, so if you need more length you'll need to spend another $10 on a male-female coaxial extension cable or adapter.

Unlike some of the competitors, there's no adhesives or fasteners in the box so you'll need some poster putty to attach it to a window or wall.

Given its budget nature, it turned in a very surprising performance. It managed to outperform several of the more expensive models, including those with signal-boosting amplifiers.

It may not have pulled in the most channels in either of our two test locations (Manhattan and Long Island) but it had one of the highest number of watchable stations among our "problem channels" -- five out of a possible 11. (The most any antenna managed was seven.) The Channel Master performed similarly to one of our other favorites, the Antennas Direct ClearStream Eclipse, which also got five watchable channels.

If you just want to test the over-the-air waters and don't want to spend a lot of money, we can think of no better way to do it than with the Channel Master Flatenna 35.

See how the Channel Master fared in our cord-cutters guide to indoor antennas here.