The Mohu Leaf 30 TV Antenna is a fairly barebones unpowered antenna that utilizes the same paper-thin rectangular design that can be found on some of the best TV antennas on the market. This design comes with its share of pros (easy setup, not too much clutter) and cons (limited performance, can’t stand on its own). Mohu might not be breaking new ground with this antenna, but it’s more than sufficient for most city dwellers and perhaps even a few buyers in the suburbs with a relatively unobstructed path to the broadcast source.
Design: Basic but effective
You can find a dozen identical versions of this unpowered antenna by doing a quick search for TV antennas online, and not for no reason. It’s a very uncomplicated design, doesn’t take up too much space, and doesn’t have a lot of points of failure. The 9x11.5-inch rectangular antenna surface is thin, pliable, and features two small punch-holes towards the top which can be used to pin the antenna to an appropriate surface. The matte surface is white on one side and black on the other, which could be useful for helping blend the device in with your surroundings. The Mohu Leaf 30 TV Antenna is neither the thickest or the thinnest version of this design that we’ve seen. Some are closer to paper thin and extremely flexible, and others were more rigid. If you need to be able to bend the antenna quite a bit to fit it where you need to, this might not be the right one for you.
Setup: Dead simple
Setup of the Mohu Leaf 30 TV Antenna is as easy as it gets with antennas. Since there is no external power to connect, you only need to worry about connecting the included coaxial cable to the device and to your TV and using the included pins or adhesive tabs to affix the device to a surface. Ease of setup is one of the benefits of a non-amplified antenna such as the Mohu Leaf.
Performance: Acceptable but not incredible
The Mohu Leaf 30 TV Antenna wasn’t the highest performing antenna that I tested, even among similar unpowered antennas. In my channel acquisition test, the Leaf picked up 56 channels on average across all the iterations performed. My apartment is located within city limits and doesn’t provide too much of a challenge for antennas, but I was able to reliably get as many as 76 channels from other devices. Nonetheless, the Leaf still provided a clear picture of all the major network stations without any issue. The only channels that I couldn’t pick up with the Leaf were pretty obscure, such as an audio-only station from a Korean Christian church. I think I’ll be okay without that one.
Range: Fairly limited
The Mohu Leaf 30 TV Antenna is rated, as its name implies, for up to 30 miles of range. This is about what I would expect from an unpowered antenna. This device is clearly designed for buyers who live within close proximity to their local TV broadcast source, and not for those further out into the suburbs and beyond.
Price: Excellent for the performance
Buyers probably wouldn’t be wise to spend more money unless they live a bit further from their signal source and have had trouble with similar antennas in the past. I think that for most people living in cities, the Mohu Leaf 30 TV Antenna should be more than enough.
Mohu Leaf 30 TV Antenna vs Mohu Blade TV Antenna
Mohu also makes the Mohu Blade, a powered antenna with a slightly more unique design for a minor premium of $40. This antenna managed to reliably acquire an average of 69 channels in my tests, a big leap from the performance of the Mohu Leaf 30 TV Antenna. That having been said, the Blade does require a power source, and installation is slightly more cumbersome than that of the Leaf. If I wasn’t having any trouble getting the channels I watch with the Leaf, I probably wouldn’t upgrade to the Blade personally.
