Just released: weBoost Drive Sleek 470135 cell signal booster

Components of the new weBoost Sleek

weBoost Drive Sleek typical installation

Wilson Electronics, headquartered in St. George, Utah, just released their new in-vehicle cell phone signal booster that improves the cell signal in your car.

With the new Sleek, it’s “out with the old and in with the new.” The new weBoost Drive Sleek (470135) is a significant upgrade from the old Drive-S Sleek (470107). The cell phone cradle and outside antenna have both been changed, and cell signal booster has been added as a separate unit from the cradle.

Wilson Electronics did not hold back on the new Sleek and it shows. Its new features include:

• A shark-fin style exterior magnet mount antenna.
• A cradle large enough to hold even the new iPhone X or Samsung Galaxy Note 8 with a case.
• A magnetic vent mount to simplify attaching the cradle to your car’s interior.
• A small, compact booster housing that can be hidden almost anywhere in the car.
• New cabling to handle larger vehicles and trucks.

The cradle

weBoost Drive Sleek cradle

The cradle is the broadcast antenna, and it sits against the back of your cell phone. Your phone must be in the cradle for the cell signal booster to operate correctly.

The first thing I did when I took the Sleek out of the box was to slide my new Samsung Galaxy Note 8 into the cradle. Not only did it fit, but it fit well, and it was also easy to remove. The new cradle grabs the cell phone from the top and bottom rather than the sides, as the old Sleek did. I think the new method is greatly superior.

The 4G cell signal booster

weBoost Drive Sleek signal booster

The inclusion of a separate cell signal booster is also a drastic change from the previous Sleek: The old Sleek had the booster enclosed in the cradle itself, which made the cradle thick and clunky. The new Sleek has the booster as a separate unit that looks like a an oversized Tootsie Roll.

The nice thing about the booster is that it can be easily concealed in many places in your vehicle. The cradle is connected to the cell signal booster by 4 feet of thin RG174 cable and 15 feet of more robust RG58 cable; that’s enough cable to allow you to place the booster in the trunk or cargo area of your vehicle, far from the dash-mounted cradle.

Outside mag-mount antenna

weBoost Drive Sleek mag-mount antenna

Overall, I really like the new look of the outside 4G magnet-mount antenna. Its modern “shark-fin” look should compliment most cars. The only thing I would change is the red stripe that circles the base of the antenna: It may clash with the color of your car. The roof antenna should have been all black, in my opinion.

The outside antenna connects to the booster with 6 feet of RG174 cable. The cable is thin, so you can run it inside, under the door frame weather molding, to the booster.

Connectors

weBoost Drive Sleek connector (left) and an SMA connector (right)

I like the new weBoost Drive Sleek a lot, with one exception: the connectors. Wilson Electronics went with a new push-to-click connector design (I don’t know the type yet) rather than the industry-standard SMA connectors used on all their other recent mobile cell phone boosters.

This will make using third-party antennas more challenging; you’ll need an adapter to connect your antenna’s SMA connector to weBoost’s connector. These connectors don’t even exist yet, so it will take some time for the market to respond—if it responds at all.