Customer Reviews

Bell'O FP-4850HG High Gloss Black Flat Panel Mounting System

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought this at Circuit City, to go with my new Sony Bravia S-Series KDL-40S4100 40-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV. I was assured that it was universal and would work perfectly well with the TV I bought; apparently the sales rep had no clue what he was talking about.

First off, the assembly instructions are terrible, and the mounting instructions are even worse. It comes with far more pieces than you'll use, and the instructions are often vague about which pieces are which. I ended up having to backtrack during the assembly process (not much, but enough to be annoying) a few times, which meant disassembling something after realizing I had done it incorrectly.

The mounting instructions, because they are "universal," are ambiguous and confusing. You get literally no visual cues about which pieces to use. It says things like, "Determine which piece is appropriate for your TV," and then moves on to the next step. I don't know how we're meant to determine which parts are appropriate, since the included parts aren't listed or labeled. I ended up having to use trial and error to determine which of the many types of screws and brackets I'd need to use. I only actually needed two brackets and a handful of screws, out of the dozens of pieces in the assembly kit.

This could be forgiven if the mounting kit were truly universal. It's not. Although my TV is now mounted, the mounting bracket juts out in front of all my connection ports. Two HDMI ports, the VGA port, and all the composite ports are rendered practically useless by this piece. There's a space of about two inches between the bracket and the ports, so some connectors have just enough room to fit, but others (like a VGA cable) don't. And for the ones that do fit, I have to insert them at an angle, coming into the port with a swooping motion. Once they're in, I'm scared to try to pull them out for fear of damaging the ports, since it's impossible to pull them straight out. The only other option is to unmount the TV and remove the bracket every time you want to plug in or unplug a device, and you may find remounting impossible once you plug in certain devices.

(This could, of course, be Sony's not-so-subtle hint that you should buy one of their mounting brackets instead of something like this. But I'm not aware of a stand/shelving unit combo made by Sony, and I don't want my TV mounted to the wall.)

The stand itself is a little wobbly once you've got it all assembled. This is true even without a TV mounted on it. Not only do the back feet not hit the ground, but the glass shelves are attached by a single screw at the center in the back. The rubber stoppers don't do much to keep them in place if you accidentally bump into the unit (or if, say, you have cats that like to jump on all your furniture).

Dense instructions and flimsiness aside, this thing does what it's supposed to do. It'll mount a wide range of TVs, and it has shelves for your other devices. But the idea of a universal mount, it seems to me, is not practical, and I wish I'd bought a non mounting unit and just used the base stand that came with my TV. Either do that or use a wall mount. There is no advantage to having your TV mounted on one of these things.

* High gloss black goes perfectly with many current TVs and components
* Smart design offers ample space for components, good viewing height
* Easy assembly with minimal tools
* Strong frame gives little distortion when moving or mounting. With heavy screens, you may wish to leave out spacers on top mounting bracket to align screen closer to vertical.
* Mounting bracket provides some height adjustment of screen, depending on location of mounting sites on your TV. Plenty of hardware provided for different mounting options.

Pros:
- Looks nice and shiny.
- Center through-holes help hide to some degree the cabling mess I because of many pieces of equipment.

Cons:
- "Universal" hold pieces did not fit perfectly into my Samsung LCD HDTV. Although the TV is hanging there, the screws did not go that fat into the TV's back holes, so I have a fear that after some months, the TV will fall off!! Yikes!
- Pricy, although, the quality is good. For $100 less you could find similar products. But the ones I saw did not have a "quality" feel to them. I may have been wrong.

Having read previous reviews about assembly, I followed the step by step directions and had no problems. I did, however, have my daughter help to keep components aligned, but one could use the box to support the vertical support while attaching the shelves if human help is not available.

product is very sturdy and comes with all the hardware you need,instruction also very easy to use. I highly recommend it

Great product. The hardest thing about assembling this item is the unpacking and that was very easy. All the hardware plus comes with this product to insure immediate assembly and mounting of the different size flat panel TVs as advertised. My only criticism is the lack of cover to hide all the equipment cables and surge protector that end up on the floor behind the unit. A little more thought in design would have made this unit perfect. Looks great and the shinny piano finish (high gloss black) gives this beautifully designed piece the look that it deserves.

This company Bell'O designs these stands which are very contemporary and elegant. I have mounted my new Samsung LN46A750 and it fits perfect. Here is my review:

Pros:
-Very easy to assemble. Mostly by one person. You might need some support in assembling the bottom pieces to the main stand.
- Looks fantastic and blends in perfect with the contemporary style.
- Steel & glasses are scratch resistant
- Cable management system consists of two metallic covers on the main frame pillar to hide cables. Long cable might still stick out from bottom. Not a big deal though.
- The TV mounting instructions are helpful and a lot of different hardware is provided to mount TVs of various sizes depending on their VESA specification (mounting configuration/hole spacing at back)

Cons:
- A bit heavy to carry/move alone. Take precaution while moving around in house.

I will be checking my mounted tv for stability & safety for a few days to make sure, it does not slip down. ( don't have to do it really)

You have figure out the best fit mounting and hardware yourself.

The delivery time at Amazon is 1 to 2 months, so I had to cancel my order. You can get it from other online stores at a cheaper price( even with shipping & taxes included) and get it in 2-3 days.

Very nice looking and very attractive. During time i received, some parts were missing and Amazon used very poor shipping company. Box was damaged at one end and there were some minor scratch found on glass but besides this i love this product.

I bought this stand to 'float' my 46" sony lcd. the tv fits perfectly and looks great!

I will highly recommend this stand over any other.

Amazon has the best prices and quick shipping.

Look at this fellows amazon considers this the low item price but in all actuality it is just a ploy to get you to possibly buy ths and other reatiler is charging 275 and up and maybe 25.00 for shipping and handeling bt now these people are selling it for 190+ 99.99 for shipping probably to keep amazon from making any money or to sway people to them to buy threw them as far as i am concerned this is just down right trickery and deceat..

SHAME ON THESE PEOPLE SHAME SHAME SHAMESHAME SHAME SHAME