4/22 UPDATE - Reloaded has been posting that they are going ahead and removing the TV catchup feature, which drastically alters my overall stated recommendation on this review. Without TV Catchup it's now clearly less of a value then just going with GearsTV (same exact channels) + the amazing Mayfair APK, and an obviously deal breaker if you want/needed that catchup feature.

BACKROUND

This review is based solely on the use of US and sports channels only over a one month period. That's all I watch or personally care about, and didn't bother either using or testing any of the UK/CA content that is offered. So as always, anything below is a direct reflection on that specific experience.

Reloaded was run solely on Kodi 17.6, on a fresh install with no backround addons other then Ares Wizard used to auto set my advanced settings. Internet speeds generally tested out at 75mbps+ with IPVanish running in the backround, and on a wired connection 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-Reloaded 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 Reloaded would be used or running in the backround most of those days. Red Sox/Celtics games and UFC/WWE PPV's are also my specifically targeted sports interests. All in all I'd estimate that this review is based on roughly 100 hours of use as my primary IPTV source (with some Vader Streams and a random cheaper service test sprinkled in here and there when I wasn't using Reloaded).

SETUP/CUSTOMER SERVICE

Setup is standard as far as a Kodi install goes, from their own add source repo and with an auto configuration for your video playback settings. Which on that note, and outside a recently added option to use Reloaded on your iphone ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY8Llwlwd4M&t=176s ), is the only platform it's available on. Some would view this aspect as an overall con, but I don't in this particular instance. Not given the manner in which they implanted the EPG (more on that below), and the simple fact that while stuff like Perfect Player are nice in general "I want options' theory...a clean Kodi install is still the most stable player out there for the android boxes this service is aimed at. So in all reality, and coming out of a provider that caters more then most to the less then tech savy crowd, I'm actually going to score them keep it simple points here on steering people away from the unknowingly self inflicted wounds that tend to come with using subpar player options.

I'd rate customer service as average for a more established provider, with both a facebook group page and their own Discord chat. While having that Discord chat would suggest better then that on paper, i wasn't terribly impressed with it in comparison to what I see going on in some of the other ones I frequent. I mean you will find your basic install help in there, but it's not terrible active and lots of times I see people jump in without any live reps around to answer their questions. In those instance you might get a response back a couple hours latter, or more often not at all.

EPG

Unlike every other m3u provider Reloaded doesn't utilize Kodi's base simple client EPG. Instead it has Mayfair's Pro EPG built in, which is it's own click in program addon and as far as I'm concerned the reigning best IPTV EPG out there right now. Loads fast, scrolls smooth, looks pretty, and can be fully customized. Want the option to easily filter out channels you don't watch? Check. Want the option to completely reorder your channel listings and put your most watched favorites on top? Check. Best of all I only had to do those last 2 things one time total, and it's stayed that way regardless of the load updates ever since. Which actually scored huge points with my girlfriend, and after I had previously gave up on such channel customization with other providers when those changes were just routinely getting reset the next day.

Sporting events are found in it's separate video addon that gets installed with it, and which also houses the straight channel icons if you don't care about having an EPG. There is also a direct link to the mayfair EPG on top if you want to use it from here. I again find it to be both nice looking and different in a good way in both cases. Lot of regular channels are listed with 2 different feeds broken into 720 and 1080 listings (although a lot of times I wouldn't find an actual difference between the two), with a standard what's on next listing underneath and the time left until it starts. The Sports listing layout is my favorite I've seen out of any provider to date, which again breaks them down into 2 separate 720 and 1080 listings. Current clock times and the score are also included, that in itself is obviously a sweet UI perk that stands out.

Unfortunately the video addon section also comes with a very noteworthy bug, in that it has a regular tendency to want to open itself back up when you try to close it. Forcing you to spam the back button a bunch of times to get that back out to stick. It's an annoying bug, and it's been present for a while now (extending far before this review). To note, the Mayfair guide on the other hand never has this issue.

CHANNELS/QUALITY/RELIABILITY

Reloaded's channel offering is pretty much exclusive to US content, and in this respect I'd rate it as top notch and at worst equal to anything else I've come across (granted outside the really random stuff everybody offers the more commonly watched stuff nowadays). While they do offer some CA/UK channel listings they also go out of their way to note that neither is supported on their end (with a stated warning that they'll ban you for pestering them in regards to any CA or UK channel related issues).

Picture quality certainly isn't at the top of the IPTV food chain, but is generally no worse as a whole then a lot of the other HD providers out there, and which of course can always vary by what specific channel you are making the provider vs provider comparison on. That said you won't find the selective peak picture quality potential with some channels that you might find with a provider elsewhere. For example, Reloaded doesn't offers any 60fps channels that you'll find on something like Vader Streams (which I'm actually guessing is by design, since cell phone compatibility seems to be a growing angle in Gears/Reloaded's sales pitch). Most feeds are still in HD though, although like pretty much every other provider you will at times run into your SD quality on a less then super popular channel.

What Reloaded does lack in peak picture quality it does make up for in stability imo. Server crashes/downtime are almost non-existent from what I've gathered while keeping tabs over the last half a year, and I never saw one during my one month sub. Overall channel stability as a whole and over an extended period of time (i've subbed in the past with both Gears/Reloaded, who share the same channels) is also probably the best I've ever experienced outside of what Vader used to be 4+ months ago (before it got super popular). None of which is to obviously say that you still won't run into your random drop or buffering of course, or that their ESPN or USA is better then this provider's but yeah...day in/day out consistency counts for a lot in my book, and for my own channel needs I was mostly satisfied with that overall consistency. Reloaded's ability to be relatively stable and remain relatively stable definitely sticks out imo among a lot of other popular great one month and terrible the next providers out there.

I only tested 2 PPV's during my sub: UFC 223 and Wrestlemania this past weekend. Both performed flawlessly in HD under the 1080 listing, with the single exception of one drop during Wrestlemania that was quickly remedied with a simple click back in.

The above nods on stability noted..there are some cons. While I didn't have any real issues with their Celtic game coverage, MLB Extra Innings on the other hand has been roll of the dice bust so far this season. Definitely have gotten mostly super choppy Red Sox game feeds, with a lot of other people in their Discord chat chiming in to state a similar experience. If you care about baseball and are looking to buy Gears/Reloaded for their MLB pay channel coverage in particular...don't.

Secondly and to a much less damning extent, I have at times run into the random situations where a feed's video playback will start getting choppy. Which is fixed immediately by logging in and out of the channel. Not quite sure why this happens but others have confirmed it as well. Going into your settings, then Addons-My Addons-Videoplayer InputStream and turning both those options on made a big difference in making those instances rare though. Haven't seen it in a few days now fwtw.

As far as fixing channels that go down goes, there also seems to be a differing priority depending on on the channel. For instance while I do have the utmost confidence that they aren't going to let their ESPN linger in a bad state (I've seen the owner himself state it as a "good" channel" in his youtube videos), something fairly obscure like NESN can be a completely different story. Which went down the first week I subbed, and still isn't back up to this day. Most outside of Boston fans would probably care less, but for me that sucks and is worthy of general note.

FEATURES/VALUE

CATCHUP - As far as additional features go Reloaded's offering starts and ends here. But in the event catchup is a huge priority on your feature list... THIS is the best and most reliable catchup you are going to find of any provider out there, and nobody else is even remotely close atm.

Unlike everybody else who essentially get more caught up in the paper advertisement value/aspect of their catchup, and ultimately always end up shoving it to the bottom of their priority list when it inevitably breaks due to the pita maintenance that goes into keeping such overextended attempts up/working, Reloaded took a completely different approach to their catchup implantation. They not only made it a priority, but they centered that effort around something that is actually going to work from a the more realistic and user friendly level. Which amounts to a trimmed down and much more easily maintained on a daily basis 24 hour log, that most importantly of all works EVERY SINGLE TIME. Straight up, in all the times I've checked in on Reloaded and through out my entire sub I've never found it not working. Not once. If you want catchup that you can bank is going to work today, tomorrow, or 3 weeks from now... THIS is the only provider option I know of out there that can make the supporting track record claim of offering it atm/imo. Period.

The above said, it's also worthy of note that sporting events that don't air on standard channels aren't included in their catchup. How much having their 5 star catchup is worth to you is also going to factor heavily into their value appeal as well, since at $18.50/mo Reloaded is a fairly expensive one stream per account service. That isn't offering any additional extras or discounted bundle plans worthy of note either.

Some might note the lack of VOD as a con here, but honestly for a provider that is already forcing the most basic of Kodi familiarity on you there is really no reason anybody shouldn't be going that route for those needs imo. Skip what essentially amounts to the middle man, go straight to the source by installing an addon like Incursion/Neptune Rising (or Gaia if you want torrents and/or that highest quality 4k stuff), and never look back. Buying a cheap $4/mo Real Debrid account on top of that removes all limitations and absolutely smokes any possible VOD section somebody can offer anyway.

CONCLUSSION

Quick story. Last week I go over to my friend's house to show him Reloaded's catchup firsthand, who also happens to be a serial IPTV buyer who is constantly chasing down anything advertising a high bitrate. So afterwards we start watching a basketball game while Reloaded was still on the TV, which plays flawlessly for an hour at a pretty solid 720p. After that a commercial comes on, and he wants to switch and show me his current provider of choice. Which indeed was showing the show at a higher bitrate then Reloaded was, but was also buffering for a couple seconds like clockwork every 1 or 2 minutes. Nothing terrible, but enough that it was still annoying me. After about 30minutes of this I ask him to switch it back so we can watch the ending buffer free, and he doesn't want to because the buffering doesn't bother him if it means being able to watch something with a slightly less pixelated picture. Moral to that story - different strokes for different folks I guess.

Anyway, I'm going to start by giving Reloaded and the Gears team some props here for being different, and taking more of a specialization approach then most providers do. Even if it means they won't potentially appeal to a broader customer base, which a lot of providers seem to care more about then actually keeping their service as a whole easier maintained and more stable in the long term. Their dev team is also top of the food chain imo, at least in terms of putting out stuff that simply works and appeals more to actual everyday use on the user end. Especially for the less tech savy crowd. If something is crap (like say the EPG everybody else is throwing in their APK nowadays for the sake of claiming it has one) they either put something better out with a lot of extra polish on it, or just don't put it out period. I respect that.

So on that note and taking into account Reloaded's fairly high price tag, I'm ultimately split on what my recommendation here actually is. There is a lot appeal here for those that insist on only buying/using one provider, especially if you want/need the catchup aspect. In those instances, or if you are say looking for a set and forget option for your parents, it's a BUY . Again and as noted earlier, at least on the condition that you don't give a crap about baseball.

If total pricetag cost is a consideration, and/or you don't have an issue running 2 or 3 different providers, it's more of a YMMV . Personally I don't mind running running a bunch of different providers or switching around to each's own channel when one goes bad, and with some pretty decent $5/mo stuff popping up lately you are looking at the potential alternative of spending that $18.50 on 2 services instead of one. Plus in my specific case, the crappy MLB coverage basically cancels out the otherwise strong desire to keep the catchup. I just watch too much baseball to not stay better covered. But...my girlfriend can't seem to live without catchup, so for her and my own desire not to hear about it not working while using something else I'll probably end up going ahead with the resub. Unless somebody wants to make and regularly update a kodi addon for soaps, in which case you'll earn my undying gratitude.

Official purchase site - https://hostingbrosreloaded.com/acc/cart.php

Reseller I used who takes Paypal (who also raised his price to $20/mo since then) - https://srmronline.com/whmcs/

Discord - https://discord.gg/Gw3FFfZ