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Sony GDM-F520 21" FD Trinitron CRT Monitor

Sony GDM-F520 21" FD Trinitron CRT Monitor

List Price: $1,699.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Greatest
Review: After 5 years of owning a 21" Viewsonic P-815 which I was very pleased with, it burnt out. I opted to try this Sony GDM-F520. I am definatly not used to the 2 horizontal lines (wires) that Sony uses to support the APGrill. They are very annoying and look like defects, probably the worst thing about this monitor. It really bugs me. The text also has a slightly blury effect at the 1600x1200 resolution that I am running at, even after trying to fix it with the controlls. It's not too bad, but not great eaither. The price is really high too. The good things about this monitor are that it's brighter than my viewsonic, has more and better controlls, flat screen, and a smaller depth and footprint. Was it worth twice the price? I would say yes if I couldn't see the horizontal wire shadows and the text were sharper, otherwise, I wish I would have just paid to fix my viewsonic. Yet I give this monitor 4 stars because it's graphics and colors are the best I've ever seen, and I love the high bandwidth (2048x1536 @85Hz!!) This is the first monitor that outperforms my video card, rather than the other way around. High refresh rates are good! I wish it came in standard beige color. I also wish it had an onscreen display of the current refresh rate.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Sony GDM-F520 review
Review: After 5 years of owning a 21" Viewsonic P-815 which I was very pleased with, it burnt out. I opted to try this Sony GDM-F520. I am definatly not used to the 2 horizontal lines (wires) that Sony uses to support the APGrill. They are very annoying and look like defects, probably the worst thing about this monitor. It really bugs me. The text also has a slightly blury effect at the 1600x1200 resolution that I am running at, even after trying to fix it with the controlls. It's not too bad, but not great eaither. The price is really high too. The good things about this monitor are that it's brighter than my viewsonic, has more and better controlls, flat screen, and a smaller depth and footprint. Was it worth twice the price? I would say yes if I couldn't see the horizontal wire shadows and the text were sharper, otherwise, I wish I would have just paid to fix my viewsonic. Yet I give this monitor 4 stars because it's graphics and colors are the best I've ever seen, and I love the high bandwidth (2048x1536 @85Hz!!) This is the first monitor that outperforms my video card, rather than the other way around. High refresh rates are good! I wish it came in standard beige color. I also wish it had an onscreen display of the current refresh rate.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Beautiful
Review: Had it for a year. Perfect and problem free, and it's on almost all the time. Rock solid, sharp, even color. Flawless.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A great monitor, until it goes bad.
Review: I originally had a GDM-F500, which was a great monitor, until it started flickering and becoming blurry. I had it sent in for repair, and after dealing with tech support for weeks, finally got a new monitor, a GDM-F520. Another great monitor, but now this one is developing the same problem. You would think that Sony would have the sense to fix a common problem when they updated the model. Order at your own risk.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Below average, actually worse
Review: I posted this review at other sites as well. I feel obligated to do so. I hope it helps to "warn" consumers a bit. Here goes:

I recently bought a Sony GDM F520. Right after it arrived, I had it returned.It had bad geometry, bad convergence, yellow "stains" at the right side of the screen. So did the second I got. And so did the third I got. Only the third now also has about 15 bad subpixels and an effect at the right side of the screen that looks like condensed water, I dont now how else to describe it. I have tested the screens on multiple systems, so the problem isnt caused by the videocard (tested on 3 systems containing a matrox g400, a Radeon, an asus geforce2 gts ) Sony (The Netherlands) doesn't "see" the things I point out, and say the screens were perfect. Allthough they obviously were not. I am very disappointed about it all. I now still have a faulty screen and no service. Not a screen I would recommend to others. Next time it will be an Eizo for me, or a Mitsubishi / Nec.

With kind regards, Rick (the Netherlands)

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A great monitor when new -- but horribly unreliable
Review: I purchased three of these for my firm, and all had severe focus problems that plagued them within three months. When new, they were beautifully sharp, but they started to "drift" in and out of focus, so badly that text at higher resolutiuons was a mere gray blur.

Sony service has been very reluctant to cure the problem, returning the monitors with the same problem after claiming they were repaired . I would recommend the NEC units instead; we have had good luck with all 5 of the flat 21 inch units we have.

FYI, Sony service is extremely difficult to contact. Plan on spending hours on hold queues, often to be transferred to busy signals or dead lines. This has been consistent over my two months of experience with them. Very dissappointing for such a large company.

By the way, nobody at service can give you a direct line, so you must wade through endless (and changing) teleprompt menus and wait through multiple hold queues (each one at risk of killing you with the busy or dead line) every time you call just to get an intelligent update on your repair orders.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Sony GDM F520 Crème de la crème!!!
Review: If any review written gives the impression that this monitor is otherwise than perfect, there must be something like a bad monday or a bad computer behind it. Connect, turn it on and feel the experience of being in a new world. Super sharp (even text), steady with brilliant colors of any contrast you like. Absolutely perfect flat screen without detectable distortion anywhere on the screen area (if any, very easy to adjust by the complete control system). Using this monitor as the window toward the "real" world, for example outside the cockpit of an airplane in a flight sim, gives you a fantastic sensation of being included in the game. With one single word: PERFECT!!! There is no reason for a price discussion. You get what you pay for! This monitor may represent the upper quality limit for a CRT-type monitor!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Sony GDM-F500
Review: Re two of the above comments, the OSD shows the current refresh rate when you press "menu." And any yellowish areas ("stains") in the corners can be fixed by tweaking the LANDING controls.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Sony GDM-F500
Review: Re two of the above comments, the OSD shows the current refresh rate when you press "menu." And any yellowish areas ("stains") in the corners can be fixed by tweaking the LANDING controls.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Greatest
Review: This monitor has one the best CRT monitor award in more than one magazine. is grille pitch is yet to be challenged and it has good refresh rates at high resolutions. one problem is that there are 2 wavy lines that go down the screen but only some people notice them and most people just ignore them. I recommend that you at least try this out if you are going for a high end CRT.


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