Customer Reviews

Atdec TH-30-50-RW Rotating Wall Mount

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I'm using this mount to hang a 50" LG 50PX950 Plasma TV, which weighs approx 67 lbs.

I purchased this wall mount because it was the only rotating mount I could find for a 50" TV. Installation was pretty easy; the included allen key slipped out of the screws for which it was intended very easily, but using my own allen key worked fine. Wall-mounting hardware seems very sturdy: because of where I want it placed, I opted for mounting it to a wall stud using two screws in the center of the wall plate (the manual recommends 4 screws at the ends of the wall plate but allows for up to 80 lbs in the two-screw configuration) and it feels rock solid.

The mount features a wall plate with a v-shaped groove, and a TV-back plate with a v-shaped plate that slips into the groove on the wall plate, making hanging and removing the TV pretty simple. The TV-back plate features a ball-and-socket configuration so that you have one point controlling pan, tilt, and rotation. The tension is adjusted via a hex nut on the back of the joint, which is inaccessable while the TV is hanging from the wall. Thus, you have to take the TV down, rotate the nut, re-hang it, test it, and repeat until satisfied. This can be quite tedious, especially when hanging a 50" TV and thus requiring two people.

The manual says you can set the tension so that you achieve "effortless adjustment" of the TV position, but I haven't had this experience. Even with minute adjustments, the joint is either too tight, requiring quite a bit of effort to adjust, or it's too loose, which allows the TV sag until the bottom rests against the wall (and on my particular TV model, this puts pressure on the cables in the back). Erring on the side of caution, I adjusted it on the tight side, and at that point the mount worked fine as long as I set its position and left it there. But as soon as I rotated it 90 degrees counter-clockwise into a portrait configuration, I could feel the tension loosen considerably. After rotating it back, and some time later rotating it again into portrait configuration, it again sagged until the TV bottom hit the wall, as it was now too loose to maintain its position. I re-tightened the adjustment screw (with the help of my roommate), and re-hung the TV, only to have the exact same experience two rotations later.

I contacted Atdec customer support through their website. I must say, they were very quick and informative with their help. After verifying that the mount was properly assembled (the tension is provided by a series of concave washers which, if out-of-order, could obviously cause problems), they suggested replacing the lock washer and trying a lock-nut in place of the provided standard nut, or trying some Loctite adhesive. Sadly, none of these remedied the problem, at which point they suggested I return it for a different model.

So, the upshot: as a static mount (ie, one that you set and forget) this product is fine; it seems quite sturdy and the installation was very easy. However, the rotation (the feature for which I bought it) simply does not work without overly frequent unmounting, adjustment, and re-mounting. Perhaps it would work better with a smaller display, but the mount's specifications state it should support up to 187 lbs, so I think it's reasonable to expect it to function well with a 67 lb display attached.

We had a common problem: a large, good looking custom TV/stereo cabinet built for a 26" tube TV. With this Atdec rotating mount, combined with heavy full-extension drawer slides, we were able to vertically mount a 46" flattie in the same space, behind the original doors, and pull it out and rotate it to watch. When not being viewed, the TV can be put away, which makes Mrs. Bruce happy. It's very secure, strong, and easy to mount, adjust, and use. The Allen wrench machine screws that come with it are bad, and you should buy hex head screws at a hardware store for assembly.