Cambium Force 190 and AC Products

Hi All,

I would just like to get an idea if anyone actually likes the Force 190 design.

The reason I ask is because I am not that impressed by the design by using lugs, ball joint and the hose clamp.

I showed this item to my General Manager and he stated if this is the way Cambium is going he will lose confidence in them pretty fast. We love Cambium products but this was a huge downer.

The majority of people I have spoken to have not said anything positive about the design.

In the AC version (please be one) could you guys at Cambium please release a 300mm Dish just like the Force 200/300 design. Hose clamps just straight out suck and so do the ball joint designs IMHO.

Maybe it is just me and my installers that hate the current design but I am hoping it is a greater part of the Cambium community that feel this way so we can get enough feedback here so that it is considered in the future.

We will never be purchasing these in the future if that means anything.

I like the Force 190 design.

The Force 190 design is light weight, takes up less space for shipping and storage, and has the potential for some mounting configurations that aren't possible with the Force 200/300 design (mostly because of the balljoint mount, but also being so light weight and perferated gives it some advantages for tall poles and that type of thing) - and even so, we haven't come across a lot of places where it makes sense to use them instead of just going with a Force 200 (or a 180, when we don't need the extra antenna gain). If it was the same design as the 200, I can't really see a good reason why we would ever use the 190.

I'm curious what your objections are to the 190 design, and what the reason is that you would want a smaller dish (instead of just using the 200/300).

keep in mind the force 190 was meant as a very low cost, better gain solution to the 180.    it wasn't meant to replace the Force 200, or be the standard going forward.   cambium had an outcry for some cheeper options, and they delivered one.       the force 200 is better in essentially everyway, and it also has a price tag to go with that.  the force 300 is an AC wave 2 radio. the sync AP (epmp3000) is pending release, expected 2nd quarter. 

1 Like

Hi Chris,

Thank you for your feedback. Although it was well-received by many customers with its mid-range antenna gain and easy-to-ship foldable design we don't have current plans to release Force190 11ac variant at this point.

Thanks,

Dmitry

Are there plans for an AC Force 180 variant, or is the Force 300 going to be the only AC SM at this point?

Hi Mathew,

Its coming. Please stay tuned.

Dmitry

Thank you for your replies everyone, great to see other opnions and reasonings on this.

We currently use the Force 180 in many low distance PTP links. But the force 190 offers a mid gain solution with a smaller footprint than the Force 200. I prefer the force 200 everywhere but some places it is just not practical. 

Part of the concern was that we have a lot of wind in the area and there is concern with shearing of the lugs that hold the dish together as they already have a slight bit of movement once put together.

The ball join & clamp on the otherhand is a dislike to all our instrallers, they claim they are harder to aim as if not careful when adjusting the vertical you may adjust the horizontal or roll also.  I do like the idea of having a Force 190 option, but with a solid dish.

1 Like

Hi Chris,

Just a hint if you want to add additional structural strength you can add straps or bolts in the wholes(check photo). Although we checked it against the windload(not talking about hurricanes).

1 Like

I'm not seeing a picture for whatever reason.

I like the force 190 for the most part. I do however find it mind boggling that they made it smaller and lighter so you could possibly mount it on smaller lighter mounts then made the hose clamp bracket on it so wide that you can't tighten it down on anything smaller than a regular J-arm without deforming hose clamp bracket... 

So vs the Mimosa equivalent it gets +2 for having the ball adjustment and -2 for the hose clamp bracket design making it unable to securely mount on smaller diameter mounts like - the 1.25" tube on a Laird Wall Mount Bracket

2 Likes

 I read the AC equivalent of the 180 will be named Force 220. Will have same specs as the F300, except using an integrated 16dbi antenna. 

We love the 190.  It ships small goes together easy, seems solid when built and the ball joint clamps nice and tight.  Oh and the performance is good.  The only other devices we've used in the past with a ball joint were the ubiquiti ones and they never seemed to clamp down tight.  Always had a little flop and you could move them out of alignment with a little force.

2 Likes

I re-added the image. All should be OK now

the ball joint and clamp are no no......its make aligning of the dish difficult.

the other thing is the power injector(100baseT)......i like force 200:)

The performance is good, installed it about 4miles link, 180mbps aggregate......on 20mhz 5ghz. nonetheless i love force 200:) looks rigid......force 190 is just an upload of some ubiquitti gear.....

Aligning is a cinch.  You just snug it a bit get your dish aligned and then tighten it down.  Not sure how it could be much easier.  Also it can't do 180mbps aggregate in a 20mhz channel.  Maybe a 40mhz channel.  

The ball joint has been around before ubiquit. First one I remember using it is rf elements.