Monitor Reviews

I didn't want to spend much for a monitor because I was waiting for the prices to drop on the flat monitors. Well, I got what I paid for. The color was great and controls were above average. However, at 8 months, the color fizzled. It became a boat anchor. At least at this price I didn't lose too much money. Wasn't even worth the time and expense to send it in under warranty.

I bought one of these monitors for my old computer that I gave to my Five year old to learn on. I bought one of the cheapest monitors available so If it got broken I wouldnt be out much money. I have to say I am VERY impressed with the quality and ease of use of this monitor. It is no means a high end monitor, but well worth the money spent. This is a good monitor for beginners or childrens computers.

This monitor is way too light (everything appears faded out), and adjusting the contrast and brightness controls don't help. No matter what brightness contrast setting is used, everything is either way too dim & gray or way too light. The monitor's brightness & contrast controls seem to have the exact same function - contrast setting appears to actually be adjusting the brightness and nothing seems to be actually changing the contrast. This will probably be returned soon, unless someone can tell me how to get the correct brightness/contrast setting.

I first noticed this monitor at one of those computer stores where they place all the monitors on the same shelf. This one really stood out for color and very sharp focus. I watch movies and play some games and I haven't noticed any ghosting. The only thing that I wish I could do is rotate the screen for word processing (kind of a minor complaint). Otherwise this is a very good monitor and the price is good for a 19 inch LCD.

I think the TV has good picture quality but the Guide Plus thing [is bad]. It pops up every time you turn on the TV with a remote. Ive looked through every option and I dont think there's a way to prevent this. It's very annoying if you use a different remote and have to go back to the RCA remote every time just to turn the Guide Plus off. Also, It doesnt even work on half of the channels and the guide is a bad layout. It starts with news channels then goes to pay-per-view. You cant list them numerically.

I bought this product not to long ago and it is excellent. First the picture has a great cuality and last of all it is loaded with channels so i strongly recomened it. If you want to know more on this product look it up.

I bought Sceptre product and the quality was not I expected. I contacted their tech support, the customer service was not friendly and not professional.

We absolutely CANNOT get this thing to focus properly. We're not computer experts, however, we are handy w/a computer, and have technological common sense... so you would be remiss to dismiss our opinion as that of the "Joe Next Door" computer owner.

We have followed the directions and trouble shooting directions TO THE "T".... but the only results we can get is a partially in focus/partially out of focus view. If you manage to remove the horizontal and verticial lines so that none appear, as advised in the manual, it still leaves portions of the screen out of focus, so you have to settle on the "lesser of two evils" (which is less important to have in focus).

We've already returned one....and have the same problem with the second one.

We plan on contacting the maker to see if they can offer any better advise than what their manual offers - if we have any luck, we'll gladly edit our opinion to reflect the outcome of our efforts.

Sometimes you just get what you pay for, and that's the bottom line.

The Good ...
Picture & Colour

The Bad ...
Bad Support!!! (Really really bad)
On average malfunctions after 3 months.
Controls are awkward.
Cheap cable connection to video card.
Heavy

Mostly my complaints originate from when I first started dealing with Sony Canada Customer Support (or lack there of it). After my G410R malfunctioned for the third time Sony decided to replace the unit with a new one. They promised me I'd have a new unit by the end of December or early January. Now it's late January and I still haven't heard anything from Sony.

I've tried calling, e-mailing, and writing Sony, but have not received a phone call or mailing back. I received some e-mail response but it only suggested that I phone the support number (doing so I was put on hold for 30min. and then told nothing useful once I get through). A couple of times I was promised they'd call me back to let me know where my replacement monitor was but they never called!

In summary, don't buy a Sony! Nothing Sony! I personally used to love Sony products. Some of the Sony products I own include: an expensive Sony DSC, a Sony Home Entertainment System, a Sony Walkman, a Sony Discman, a Sony portable radio, a 2nd Sony Monitor, and a Sony speaker system. I was planing on buying a Sony portable MP3 player and a Sony Clie, but not anymore! Now they've lost a very loyal customer only because their support is so poor.

Good luck to you if you buy a Sony and you need support. I would suggest just steering clear of it and buy a monitor from a reputable manufacturer such as ViewSonic, Samsung, or NEC.

When I finally get my replacement monitor back from Sony, I'm planning on selling it on eBay and getting something new (obviously not from Sony).

I bought one and about a month later I purchased another one to go along with my dual card. My observations are as follows:

Picture quality is very good, excellent color and brightness.

The first one purchased was manufactured in Dec 2001. Noticed that black text bleeds into the white, meaning that you can see a slight red shadow around the black text. The second one purchased was manufactured in March 2002. The shadow is less visable on this one. There are adjustments that can be made but I have not been able to eliminate it. My viewsonic G810 was worse though. Same problem when using a different computer and graphic card.

Monitors chirps when in power save mode. One manufactured in Dec 2001 is worse than the on in Manufactured in march 2002

Monitor is not perfectly flat. It does bend inward a little. No big deal

Light reflection off the monitor is almost no existant. Turning on a light near it does not affect ability to see the screen images. Big plus.

Good refresh rates even when set to higher resolutions.

You can work for hours and your eyes do not get tired because it is flat. Got headaches with Viewsonic G810.

Monitor is deep. Make sure you have room to accomodate.

Prefer have two 19" rather one 21". More screen real estate and with dual card you can view two documents without flipping through max an min of windows.

this high a price is not worth the TV. they just don't match. it is a good tv, the glare is minimized, the picture is clear, but it is the same as other TV's of this type, but for $250 more. Be a smart shopper and look around, like i should have

I bought this TV in a store while it was playing the same DVD that several other competitive TV brands were playing... all the TVs were pretty good, but only the Sony was consistently sharp in all colors, tones and lighting conditions of footage shown.

I thought about spending the extra $400 for a 36", but a tape measure revealed that the extra diagonal 4" translated to only 1.5" in additional width and since I was going to be watching a lot of letter boxed movies via DVD, the width was more important than the height... not to mention, the 32" is more affordable!

I have a truck and had the guys at the retail store put it in my truck and I drove home with it... the thing was so heavy, I literally couldn't slide the box one inch along the smooth surface of the truck bed. My best friend's husband came over and nearly broke his back moving it. Getting the white glove delivery as described here on Amazon is well worth the extra $99. The guy who moved it for me estimated that the TV weighs about 250lbs. This is not something you want to attempt to move unless you do it professionally. The sides are slick and there is nothing to grab, so even 2 people moving it doesn't make it much easier.

The only reason I gave this TV 4 stars instead of 5 is because of the enormous dimensions when compared to other 32" TVs. The TV is almost 26" deep and too big to fit in 99% of armoirs designed to accomodate 32" TVs. There is a raw furniture place here in town and even though they do custom work, I still had to get the armoir for a 36" TV to accomodate the depth of this set, leaving a lot of empty space on each side of the set. Perhaps it's the depth and weight that make this set so superior in picture quality... I really don't know, but it's inconvenient to accomodate. It's a big TV but not one you'd want to place directly on the floor like a "big screen"/rear-projection set.

If you're debating between a 27" and a 32", there is simply no comparison. You can have a group of friends over to watch movies on the big set without having people move their chairs closer and closer to the set to make out what's going on. I sit back about 12' away from this set and it is crystal clear. DVDs look awesome on it. The picture is clear enough to be entertaining to my dogs who watch nature shows all day long... they are typically sitting down and staring at the set, waiting to bark at the next animal that walks, crawls or flies across the screen.

This monitor never worked, all i saw was a black screen...piece of junk!

I have been using the monitor for the last 2 months, and it works great. The controls on the front panel are slightly more difficult to use than other monitors I've used in the past, but there are many useful features that can be accessed just from the front panel, such as displaying the actual refresh rate.

The only negative comment I have is that when the monitor is in sleep mode, occasionally it turns itself on for a few seconds and then goes back to sleep. When it does this, one hears the clicking sound associated with a monitor turning itself on or changing resolution modes--it sounds like a relay switching on and off. I did not have this issue with my previous monitor on the same computer when the old monitor went into sleep mode.

The options for resolution and refresh rate are exceptional for a monitor at the price I paid, and the picture quality is excellent. Overall I am happy with my purchase.

I have had this monitor for over 2 years. It's reliable, but the display quality leaves a lot to be desired. There's terrible moire that's hard to get rid of and the edges and corners never look right. I have played with all the buttons until my finger tips started to hurt. I went with NEC's reputation and bought the monitor sight unseen, a decision I have regretted ever since.

When shopping for my new monitor I had trouble finding reviews for this model. Even so, I went out on a limb and bought it because NEC typically makes good products. I'm quite pleased with my purchase. The text and graphics on this monitor are crisp and bright, much more so than I was expecting for a shadow masked monitor. The edges are a little dimmer than the center, and when you view the monitor from a sharp angle the edges seem to disappear. This is not abnormal though, even on much more expensive monitors that I've used.

I would say this unit is equally as good as the Samsung 955DF, but it's cheaper. That's the main reason I bought the monitor. Good price ... because of the price and the quality of the picture, I've rated the monitor 4 out of 5 stars. It could be better, but not for this money!

apparently, manufacturing quality is spotty on this product, because my 95F is great. My 95F has sharp graphics & text, and no edge distortions; I did need to use the on-screen controls to adjust things, but that seems to be a normal thing these days. I normally run it at 1280x1024 @85hz, and 9pt text is clear and easy to read. It worked fine with my Powerbook G3 and NT/98 boxes

I bought this pedometer and I usually read all reviews on amazon before I buy things. I don't know if nobody had reviewed it when I purchased it or what because I would not have bought it with all those bad reviews. Anyway...I have not had accurate readings with this pedometer. It might be because I run with it instead of walk but even when trying to test it around the house walking it does not seem acurate. I have also e-mailed the company several times from their web site with no response yet. I also agree with it being hard to open the cover. when you are running and want to look at your progress it is almost impossible to open the cover without messing up the reading (That is inaccurate anyway so what does it matter)

I really am pleased with my purchase of this pedometer. Anyone purchasing one has to first realize that it is just a gadget, it won't help you lose weight, unless YOU do the workout! What it's done for me is motivate me to walk more steps each day and to make a good portion of those steps at a brisker pace. I've been wearing mine for about 3 weeks now, increased my speed and my steps and have lost 8 lbs. already. Great motivational tool for me. Only drawback is the pulse feature, it's sometimes hard to get it to read the pulse.

I read lots of reviews before I bought this pedometer. The pedometer I had was awful, and I wanted to find one that worked really well. The PE316PM got some great reviews from customers on several web sites, so I bought it. I have now used this model daily for over a year, and I love it! I would recommend it to anyone. If you set the motion sensitivity adjustment properly it is almost always dead-on accurate. Walk 100 steps, and it reads 100 steps. It has never been wrong by more than 1 step, plus or minus. Any inaccuracies experienced by other users are probably due to not setting the motion sensitivity (VERY IMPORTANT), not entering their personal weight (their HONEST weight) and stride measurement settings, or not wearing it properly. The instructions tell you how to do this, but you do have to READ the instructions carefully! The instructions indicate that there is a metric model as well as the one with miles and pounds, so the person complaining about the wrong type of measurements simply bought the wrong model. (That's not the pedometer's fault.) The instructions also tell you how to open the cover, which is easy enough to do if you use two hands as you are told to do. I'm glad it has a tight cover because my previous pedometer's cover constantly fell open while I was walking and then didn't count the steps I took when it was open. (A very easy-to-open cover is not necessarily a good feature!) The pulse meter works as well as any other pulse meter I've ever used, but it sometimes takes a couple of tries to get it to read the pulse. I find varying the position and pressure of my finger usually solves that problem.

My pedometer has accidentally fallen on the floor several times, and it fell in water once. There was no damage to the plastic casing, even when if fell on a hard surface. (This can, however, turn off the display, and require resetting it. But this rarely happens.) It still works perfectly even after these accidents, and I put sticky-back Velcro inside the clip to make it hold better on my thin exercise clothing. It hasn't fallen off my waist since then.

I really like this pedometer. It has made a big difference in my exercise program. It is very compelling to see the number of steps go up and up as you walk farther and farther. It makes you want to keep walking to go on to the next round number, so you walk farther than you would otherwise. (You won't stop at 9,345 steps... you'll go on to 10,000. It's like wanting to see your car's odometer change to the next thousand miles.)

If you read the instructions carefully and set everything properly (including the motion sensitivity), then you should find this pedometer to be an excellent buy for the money. At under $20, if it has a problem after a couple of years, it's easy to just buy a new one. $10 a year to maintain your health is certainly worth it! I'm a very satisfied customer.

I will admit I wasn't expecting that great of quality from this low-end machine (purchased at Target for around $50<br /> However, my low expectations were not met. <br /> <br /> The biggest issue is that in order to hear the people singing you need to turn their volume to Max and have the echo in the middle. Another issue is that you need to sing very close to the microphones in order for it to pick up your voice (the unit came with one; we purchased one extra and had same issue with both). This causes the sound to get quite distorted. I would also agree with the person who indicated 5 watts does not provide enough power. But for the kids playing in the front room it was sufficient.<br /> <br /> The kids love singing so they don't seem to mind. We didn't have any of the other issues described. Yes, it only comes with 1 CD with a few sample songs, but I believe it was clearly labeled on the box and for this price what do you expect?<br /> <br /> We only had one other technical issue with a CD we purchased in that one song didn't play right.<br /> <br /> In summary, I would recommend reading some of the reviews on higher-priced models and see if you get a better bang for your buck.

I plan on returning the unit I purchased at the local Target. My main complaint is that the voice on the cd overpowers the live singer and that was no way to turn it down even tho the booklet of instruction which came with it indicated there was one.

Counter points:
:
(1) compact, (2) light weight, (3) easy to carry to picnic and hook up to ac/dc inverter, (4) not expensive at least than $70.00, (5) also come with a lyric screen and a mic and a cassette player/recorder., (6) the mic picks up voice pretty well, no need to turn the mic volume all the way to here the singer's own voice., (7) echo, active voice control work well, (8) hooking to TV screen is easy or to other audio systems is easy too.
:
(1) The 5 watts output is apparently too little. In open picnic area, you need a better one with at least 10 watts output.
(2) If you sing along the songs and if you sing too loud or with high pitch, the CD+G player sudden pauses for a few seconds, perhaps to avoid resonance effect.
(3) It only comes with one mic., some other system by Memorex comes with 2 mics.
(4) Sound quality is only so-so.
(5) No DVD or VCD format, only CD+G or CD or CD-RW
Recommendation: buy only for under $60.00 on sale, or for kids for singing in a small room or even in a compact car.