BACKROUND

It's been a while since I've seen an in-depth review on Vader that wasn't centered around somebody trying to make a buck off people here (incoming some down votes right off the bat), so in an attempt to be as thorough as possible I'm guessing this will be a pretty long one. As noted in the title, this is based solely on the use of US and sports channels only over a one year period (with most of the evaluation emphasis placed on where the service stands today, obviously). That's all I watch or personally care about, and I never bothered testing or using anything outside that. So as always, anything below is a direct reflection on that specific experience.

While always open to testing every player method out there, Vader was mostly run on either the latest official Kodi or most current SPMC (always on a fresh install with no backround addons), then latter the APK, on wired 60 then latter upgraded to 100mbps internet (which usually tested out in the 40-90mbps range with IPVanish running in the backround), and through my 2017 Nvidia Shield or Gen 2 Firetv. While I don't consider myself Mr. Tech or anything, I am confident in my researching/tinkering ability enough that any trouble shooting done was both accurate and with every possibility exhausted to best isolate any non-Vader issue.

My viewing times/habits are as follows: Wed - Sat I'd watch maybe an hour or 2 of ESPNs/FOXSPORTSs/MLB/WWE/NESN/NBA/NFL channels in the afternoon before work, then another 3 hours afterwards (usually 11pm est on) with some movie surfing mixed in. Sun - Tues I have completely off, so Vader would be used or running in the backround most of those days (unless I happened to be randomly testing another service). I watch all the UFC and WWE PPVs, plus Red Sox/Celtics games. All in all I'd estimate that this review is based on a couple thousand hours of of using Vader as my primary (and at times only) TV source/service.

SETUP/CUSTOMER SERVICE

If you are reading this post, then you already know buying or especially getting a free trial of Vader is easier then it's ever been. Setup is pretty basic IPTV stuff you find everywhere else nowadays, although their Kodi is a little better/easier then most due to the option to do simple client integration and sort in/out channels groups in-app while doing the initial install. Being somebody that tends to do a lot of re-installs, I find it to be a nice little extra effort touch.

Customer service isn't bad, and with a standard ticket system to report straight to the source issues. I'd say on average they take maybe half a day to respond and/or address issues when possible. That said, it's certainly falling behind what some of the other/newer providers are doing in the form of Discord chat setups. Which is obviously easier and more realistic to do when you are smaller, but still. The other current 2 providers I have use it, and channel issues can/are usually fixed in a matter of minutes there as opposed to that half a day.

EPG

When I first started using Vader they were actually one of the very select few providers that could even offer a mostly populated EPG. That has obviously changed over the last year, but outside the short term hiccups that happen every time the service goes down (more on that latter), I'll still give them thumbs up here. When the service is working I've always found it to be one of the better and more accurate ones out there. Vader also offers it's own program guide through kodi, which works for those who would prefer not to use the simple client setup.

If you plan on using the APK however that EPG, and outside it's ability to accurately populate, is flat out terrible imo. For all the extra polish effort they put into that APK, it's still built on top of the same scrolling nightmare (going down a channel can sometimes set you back 5 or so hours on the timeline, forcing you to then scroll back) almost every other smaller provider out there is defaulting into their APKs. Which serves more as an "it has an EPG!" advertisement point on their end then something that's even remotely ideal for you to actually use on a day-to-day basis. So yeah, considering there are options out there like GearsTV/Mayfair that went the more inventive route, and even an apk like ProgTV managed to fix the scrolling issues...it's a real shame that Vader couldn't/didn't even try to extend beyond a throwaway stance there. They also don't get the same pass on it I'd be willing to give on it with a $5/mo service that only sports a couple thousand subs total either.

CHANNELS/QUALITY/RELIABILITY

Pretty standard to what everybody else if offering as far as US channels go nowadays. Has a separate panel for sporting event listings for the day, which is an additional nice touch. Most feeds are HD quality, although at times you'll run into some random SD feeds mixed in. Picture quality is generally no better or no worse overall then a lot of the other providers out there, which of course can always vary by what specific channel you are making the comparison on. Vader does notably offer 60 FPS streams on some of their feeds though, which when they are working is certainly a nice added bonus.

As far as overall channel stability as a whole goes, if you asked me this 3+ months ago I'd of said nobody could touch them. Before the army of resellers and endless amount of free running trials moved in it really was that good, and as a result the reputation it earned during that time period still carries over into a lot of what you read about it today. Unfortunately and once you strip any outdated evaluation data or fanboy type loyalty away...that was then and this is now though.

Today, and even giving them a huge passing overlook on the week long melt down a little ways back...Vader is simply pretty average as far as channel stability goes for a major provider on a good day and has been so for a fairly extended period of time now. Or more specifically and after being massively oversold over the last few months (not that they or the people pushing their resellers credits are obviously going to own up to that), it's basically back to entering what amounts to be a roll of the dice sweepstakes field of contenders on which one is going to perform the best on any given month. With the current and short term odds of them coming up the best this or next month not trending in their favor atm.

Overall I've seen more glitchy channel feeds and random buffering over the last 2 months then I had the previous 10 total. Once being a major strong point for me as my most watched channel, ESPN stability for example has fallen off quite a bit. To a point I basically stopped using it recently in favor of my backup provider's more stable feed. In another example and as I've been typing this, I had to give up on the USA channel while watching WWE Raw a minute ago after backround server issues kept discounting the feed. Instances of video feedback not matching up with the audio on random channels pop up as well, which in my experience always take multi attempts to fix before they get squared away for more then a day or 2. None of which is to say Vader doesn't have it's good days mind you, because it does. It's just that stringing them together for notable periods of time has gotten a lot more rare then it used to be. On a more positive note I've probably had more overall luck with movie channels (less so lately, but not any worse then elsewhere) on Vader then I have with other services, and which is worthy of note since a lot of others providers tend to struggle with them even under the best of times.

Can't honestly comment on recent PPV's, as I've been using other stuff for those since the stability issues started (a lot of that has to do with me wanting to stress test different providers as well), but prior to that I will go on record to state that Vader rarely let me down in the previous 10 months. With the exception of maybe two total UFC/WWE PPV's it always served to be an adequate experience for me.

As far as server stability and keeping them up goes, it's been a full circle ride for me. I made a review 45 days after I first tried Vader, and listed it's tendency to go down a lot back then as my primary cons. Then it got better and stayed that way right up until we started seeing Vader have a huge influx of resellers pushing out as many subs/trials as they possible could, capping off with one of them even paying the biggest Kodi reviewer on Youtube to make a way over-the-top "this service never ever buffers!" guarantee. Since then it's back to being notably spotty, even as far as IPTV goes. In essence Vader is basically under a constant state of maintenance waiting to happen, and the expectation that it will frequently be going down or presenting you with channel issues needs to be accounted for in any purchase decision.

FEATURES/VALUE

APK - As critical as I was with Vader's decision to complete cop out on it's EPG, and as skeptical as I may have been with it's early usability, I'm giving them an overall plus on this. A lot of other work went into it, and it shows in the extra polish you won't find with a lot of other APK's out there. Being both visually appealing, especially as far as the VOD layout goes, and easy enough that my tech challenged mother surprised me by figured it out with only one simple run through. Overall channel stability has also come a long way, to a point I'd honestly can't tell a difference anymore when using it as a player compared to something like SPMC. Which in the world of comparative APKs is a major plus imo. If you don't mind the crappy EPG it's definitely the way to go while using the service atm/imo, regardless of it's beta tag. Two months back I thought it was the worst.

VOD - I don't personally use or have a need for it myself, but my friends/family all seem to love it. Flipping through it now there is a ton of tv show and movie content, including a decent library of 4k. My girlfriend also just noted that out of any service I've tried, which is pretty much everything, she's liked Vader's VOD the best.

Catchup - Constantly broken, and outside a temporary bandaid fix attempt that didn't work maybe 6 month back remains that way to this day. The official explanation at the time was that it was a tedious process that had to be manually done on each channel, which in turn likely explains why they essentially waved the white flag on it shortly after. Bottomline - Count yourself extremely lucky if that it manages to work one day out of the week, and on the specific day/channel you actually need it. For all intents and purposes though, and as far as you the consumer is concerned in every day use, Vader does not offer catchup/timeshift in a working state. Regardless what the guy trying to make a few bucks off and who probably isn't actually using the service himself tells you otherwise.

Multi Room Support - THIS is Vader's main selling point, what the current hype is built around, and the feather in it's cap appeal it holds over every other more commonly known provider. It's also the reason a lot of people do and will continue to cling to an optimistic outlook, regardless what's going on around them, since any alternative reality isn't offering a known quantity service at $15/mo that offers 3 simultaneous connections. Most push over $20/mo for just 2, if they even offer a discounted rate on the second at all. When the service is working, this alone makes Vader a great value that just simply isn't matched anywhere else.

CONCLUSSION

As harsh as some of the above may have come across, it's always important to keep into perspective that the grass is hardly ever a sea of green on the other side. They all have channel stability issues at one time or another too, even if the server crashes are not nearly as often. As well as what it is you are actually buying here, and the behind the scene financial risk vs reward decisions that are going into something that isn't legal. Vader wasn't the first or won't be the last to oversell their service, and which in reality is ultimately the end game goal of pretty much every provider out there. So in that respect...I actually can't bring myself to personally fault them for that. Especially when I did get 8 or so months of great TV out of them.

That said, for me and ironically enough Vader's current situation is a lot like where I had Smoothstreams pegged a year ago (which at the time and as the it service then earned me no shortage of down votes and angry PMs for pointing this out in vader's favor. I was even offered money twice to take down my review on it lol). A great surface value service on the outside that people didn't want to see was already showing it's internal age after making a lot of money, and one that was settling in to more of a coasting by state on that and it's past reputation then anything else. Which was content to keep things "good enough", but past the point where one can expect to see any real movement forward again. Or more specifically, if you are buying Vader right now and expecting the same amazing experience you've heard about elsewhere...you are about 4 months late to that party. Like Smoothstreams or Fab and their massive pushes before it, Vader isn't going to be something that completely fixes itself or gets notably better then where it currently stands overnight. Regardless how much any of us want it to as a $15 for 3 connects value. It's going to be a slow and drawn out climb, aided by the current overload issue solving itself when enough people move on to the next it thing that emerges. At which point and only after the same thing that happened with Vader happens to them, the potential window for Vader to once again separate themselves opens back up. So goes the current endless circle of IPTV, and always surrounding reality where the very best of what IPTV has to offer is found in a situation that sees you a step or 2 ahead of the masses.

So on that note it gets YMMV recommendation from me, and only on the firm condition that you are buying another provider to run along side it. As I pointed out earlier Vader still has it's good days, even if they don't peak as high in reliability as they used to, and if you are willing to switch around when needed it might still have a rotational place place. At least until alternative services like Epic/Ace/Fab/Flawless/ect can go more then a month or 2 without people showing up in mass here to complain about them as well. For those that aren't willing to buy a second provider, it's a firm DON'T BUY though. Especially right now and if you are trying to cut legit cable and sell your household on it as an alternative. Trust me, the constant instability of Vader's servers and the headaches that morph out of that just aren't worth it. I'm as cheap/frugal as they come, but even I caved recently and bought both my girlfriend (who never shut up about the CBS feed or the broken catchup) and mother (who routinely got confused any time I tried to install 2 different services. "i thought I only needed to click on these icons...") new provider setups. $33/mo total, each only one line, and on top of what i already pay. Sucks, but the new lack of constant complaining after the last month or so was worth every penny.