This is a review about Rainier Satellites new product, the Mighty Mini big dish mover. I ordered
the standard model, mmbdt-s. It replaces their Pansat AP-600 I was using. The AP-600 has served
me well, and still works fine. Though being the kind of guy that likes to be on the cutting edge
of technology I needed to check out Rainier's latest achievement.

Unboxing the Mighty Mini I was surprised at size of the unit. Anyone who used trackers back in
the day were always greeted with a large boxy unit, this is not the case here. The Mighty Mini
is slender but long. Its height is approximately a half inch taller than Rainiers D9865
receiver. Don't let the small size fool you this thing has some serious guts. Sitting next to
the D9865 it takes up less space than the 4DTV or an analog IRD's did. This is great since it
easily fits in rack space you had allocated for a IRD such as the 4DTV. You don't need to spend
hours figuring out where you're going to install it. I can see Rainier did their homework with
the units sizing making it a great match for your entertainment center and to work nicely
alongside their D9865 receiver.

Hooking up the unit is simple. As with most mover installs you have four wires. Two heavy wires
for the motor itself and two for the sensor. I use Rainiers 36 inch Venture actuator with my 10
foot Winegard dish. Venture uses the most common reed sensor.  So four wires are only needed.
The paperwork states the unit can work with all three type of sensors. Reed, hall effect and
optical. There's a 5 volt terminal for 5 wire optical setup, something you don't see usually.
It's great Rainier made this option available without additional accessories required.

The terminals on the rear are spring clip type for easy connection. I would recommend stripping
your wires down to get some clean strands then twist them well before inserting them. If you
want to go that extra mile and know how to solder, tinning the leads will keep the strands
together. This is what I do. Make sure your connections are firmly seated inside the spring
clips. The top center and right are for motor 1 and 2. The bottom center and right are for your
reed sensor. The other two terminals top right supplies 5 volts for optical sensors. Bottom
right is ground for your shield or drain wire if needed. From my experience, this may or may not
be required. Sometimes counting accuracy is better with it connected or disconnected. Your
mileage may vary. My past installs of movers always works better without the drain wire
connected. This too was the case with the Mighty Mini. Some claim to connect the drain wire at
the actuator itself. I never needed to. Your install could be different. Do whatever works best
for you. At this point I stress double checking your connections to make sure you have no stray
strands shorting or touching what they shouldn't. If when you try to move your the dish first
time the dish goes the wrong way all you need to do is reverse M1 and M2.

The next step I did was to go out to the dish and remove the cover at the actuator itself. I
recommended to clean up the connections there if it's been a while. Clip the wires strip and
twist the strands then reconnect them. This can go a long way with avoiding electrical problems
because of dirty connections. Make sure nothing is shorting or any stray strands are showing.

The following step is very important so don't ignore it. You will need to set your mechanical
limit switches at your actuator if not done already. Rainier includes instructions for the
Venture actuator with the Mighty Mini. You can use this as a guide or contact your arm
manufacturer for specific instructions. The reason this step is so important is because you
don't want your dish driven into a wall, ground etc. It's better to be safe than sorry. 
To set the mechanical limits go to the mighty mini plug it in and power it up. Using the arrow
keys on the bottom of the remote press them to see if the dish moves, and in the right direction
with the corresponding arrows. East (right) West (left) is what I used. If it works backwards
reverse M1 and M2 on the Mighty Mini. If you get a E2 error or something else you have something
connected wrong. Recheck all connections and try again.  At this point the dish should be
moving. Move the dish to where you want your east and west travel to stop, then set the cam
inside the actuator motor to disconnect the electric. Once your satisfied button up the cover
and make sure its weather tight.

It was now time to come inside and begin programming the mover. Move your dish to the west till
it stops. Now perform a reset of the unit. This is performed by pushing the reset button on the
remote and holding. A countdown will commence. 10.. 9.. 8.. etc .... 2 .. 1 then two dashes will
show. This shows the reset was successful. This flushes the internal counter and wipes any old
or corrupt data Rainier's tech support told me. Power off the Mighty Mini with the remote then
on again, a small zero will show on the display. The first satellite I wanted in there was 133
west. I entered into my D9865 to the parameters for EWTN as shown on lyngsat. Then slowly moved
the dish to the east till I got a lock. I then bumped the dish east and west for maximum signal quality.
It was now time to store Galaxy 15, 133 west in the mover. To do this you press and
hold store for 2 seconds the display on the unit rotates to the right, press a key 1 to 32 to
store. I picked 1 for 133 west. The 1 flashed then went steady. This told me It was successfully
stored.  I then proceeded to the east using the same method for all the satellites I needed. 131
was 2, 127 was 3, 125 was 4 and so on. Once I got to 87 west I was done programming since I
don't need anything east  of that. If you want to you can continue till all 32 direct presets
are full.

Now came the fun part seeing how accurate it is. I told the Mighty Mini to go to
preset 2, 131 west. This was done simply by pressing the number 2 key on the remote. The unit
clicked and the dish started moving to the west as indicated by the 4 lines moving to the right
on the display. I confirmed by eyeballing the dish itself. The unit stopped and the number 2
appeared. I told the D9865 to acquire my preset for NESN. It was a success and checked my
quality. The number was high and steady so she accurately returned to what I stored. NESN
started playing with a Red Sox game showing. Before becoming too involved in the game I decided
to check to see that all my programmed satellites were targeted well. I was happy to see they
were. I stepped through them one at a time pulling up the Rainier channels checking quality.
That told me the Mighty Mini is accurate.  If I ever need to touch a satellite position up
(which can happen from time to time I seen over the years) all I need to do is bump the
dish position to peak the quality number and resave that preset.

One nice feature of the Mighty Mini is if for some reason you need to stop the dish in mid
travel just hit any preset key. This will abort movement. To continue just hit the desired key
you want.

All in all I'm very satisfied with the Mighty Mini. Rainier has a winner here. I sent Rainier a
copy of my review before posting here at DR Sats forum. They asked me if they could use it to
help advertise the Might Mini. I told them sure, anything to help you guys out. I want to see
Rainier succeed. They are the underdog doing it right trying to make it work with many
adversities from what I would call jealous children of the web  doing all type of mean things to
stop them from succeeding. In spite of this Rainier continues to grow. Something to be said for
doing things right. I commend Rainier for all the hours of hours of hard work they put in. I
wish them continued success and I tell all I can about my good experiences with Rainier. Best of
luck Rainier with the future and continued success.

I see Rainier posted my review on their news page, that great! http://www.info.rainiersatellite.net/

Been braving the weather this weekend getting the core electronics package installed at the dish. Should have all the outside work done today. Then we can get it interfaced with the Mighty Mini and the 9865.

Finally got the time to do the comparison review of the Mighty Mini heavy duty mover from Rainier Satellite.

I originally purchased the Mighty Mini standard duty and wrote a review about in this thread. It works great and I'm very satisfied with Rainier's new product. Being the kind of guy though that likes to be on the cutting edge of technology, when Rainier started selling the HD version I needed to get one.

I live in northern Minnesota with a 10 foot mesh dish. The winters get pretty brutal up here so I need to know my dish will move in sub zero weather with heavy snow loads. I never experienced any problems with my 4DTV or the old Toshiba TRX 2200 I had before that so I want to keep it that way. I've read the horror stories about the G boxes, V boxes and the clones sold by others not working well in cold climates. I was never impressed by the ASC1 mover. Although the seller claims its suppose to be good It's got its share of bad reports with the dish running away by itself, accuracy problems and general headaches that never get resolved I decided long ago to stay away from it. I originally purchased the Pansat AP-600 from Rainier and it served me well even in the cold weather.

I suggest before you go on please read my review (at the top of this thread) of the standard duty to familiarize yourself with the Mighty Mini in general. Now to the Mighty Mini SD vs Mighty Mini HD comparison. Hooking up the HD version and programming it was simple since I was familiar with the product.  The HD looks and connects the same as the SD. The HD weighs more than the SD, I attribute this to its extra circuitry it has.

After I got it connected up and programmed in the satellites I started to put it through its paces. The first thing I noticed was the HD moves the dish slightly faster than the SD did. I operates very smooth without any jerking in fact smoother than the SD. It accuracy is great it lands perfect on every satellite every time. It's definitely doing an excellent job.

A few points worth mentioning about the HD version over the SD version. The HD offers high amperage PPPT circuit, M1 and M2 surge suppression, high amperage inrush current protection, thermal shutdown with automatic reset, filtered motor circuit clean power output  and more (see Rainier's website).  It's well worth the extra few dollars just to get these features alone that aren't available with any other currently sold movers such as the v box or asc1.

If you looking for the ultimate dish mover sold today you need to grab the Mighty Mini. If you want extra reassurance its going to work flawless under adverse conditions or have a larger dish go for the HD. 
 
No matter which version you choose SD or HD you can't go wrong with the new Mighty Mini line of big dish positioner's from Rainier.

Another winner, thanks Rainier.   

I talked to Rainier the other day. They're going to be adding more new products to the store, and more great cable channels and packages. They also said a new website is in the works where we can sign in and get special perks as Rainier subscribers.

Yes Rainier has great plans in the works for this year. New hardware products are coming to enhance your television viewing choices, more big name cable networks are launching, and a great new interactive website will be going live soon.

More about channels, many ask us about this. Rainier is currently testing many new networks you'll be able to subscribe to in the near future. Were waiting on launch approval for the public. Once completed they will be added to our Variety pak and others. Many of these networks have been asked for and are coming to fruition. Big dish subscription programming is making a comeback. Rainier satellite is pleased were able to make it reality.

We appreciate all the support we've gotten from the good folks to keep the big dish alive. While many free to air networks continue to scramble or leave c band, Rainier promises to bring you more subscription channels for less cost than competing providers to fill the void.

If you have any questions about Rainier Satellite please call us at 509-486-4137.