This antenna is pretty decent for the price. It does perform fairly well, I was able to talk up to ~1.5 miles away on the open road (measured using Google Earth and two separate vehicles) and receive from maybe 2 to 3 miles away (some trucks I could hear before I could talk to them, even though they were running barefoot) so the performance is pretty decent. The build quality is very nice, the plastic feels durable, the whip is made of stainless steel and painted black, the antenna is flexible, but has a base and a mid load coil. the actual plastic base where you insert the antenna ALSO has a coil in it, in addition to the one visible on the antenna. This is what dampens the effectiveness of this antenna to poor performance ranges. The antenna comes tuned for channel 1. I have two of these antennas and BOTH where tuned for channel 1 out of the box. You will HAVE to cut about 1/2 inch of the antenna (good luck) before you get the antenna tuned for channel 20. It does tune fairly easy though. Once tuned, I received SWR readings of 1.6 on channel 1, 1.8 on channel 40, and 1.2 on channel 20. Cutting this 1/8 in SS whip is no laughing matter. Use bolt cutters. Good, bolt cutters. It actually damaged my cheaper bolt cutters, rendering them useless. As for the power handling capability. This antenna should not be used on amplified CB radios or used with linear amplifiers. The base load coil (the one in the plastic at the very bottom, not the visible one on the whip) will get warm and you will feel it mildly warm if you touch it after transmitting for 30 or so seconds. It may say 100 watts, and it does handle that much, but you will not actually get that much radiated power because you're going to be losing half if not more of that power to heat and dielectric loss because of the cheap base load coil. If you go over 100 watts, you're playing a game of "when do I want to short my antenna". I deducted two stars for the heat problem even when just using a CB that swings a little large. Yes, you're better CB radios that may swing ~18 or so watts will actually heat this antenna pretty good. For kicks I tested it with a 12 watt dead key and swing of 50 watts, and it sure did get hot. Thermometer read about 90 degrees Fahrenheit, with surrounding air at 55 degrees, at night. You have been warned. Besides the fact that the base load coil is markedly cheap and hardly handles 100 watts safely, the construction quality is excellent, the plastics do not feel cheap, the whip feels sturdy, the coax is 18 feet long, RG-58/U flexible, the PL-259 plug on the end is decent quality. Easy to tune, easy to use. The magnet holds strong even going 75 MPH. Not ugly, and easily hidden. However, get the Wilson Little Wil if you can, it can actually handle more power, and doesn't get warm, plus, it works about 200% better than this one and is only an extra foot and a few inches of antenna length.
