Customer Reviews

Cheetah Mounts 23"-55" Articulating LCD TV Wall Mount Bracket with Full Motion Swing Out Tilt & Swivel Dual Arms for Flat Screen Flat Panel LED Plasma Displays

5 star:		(75)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

The mount arrived on time.
I bought this to hang my Toshiba 52" above the fire place.
The instructions are easy to follow and any and all hardware come with the mount.
My only complaint is the mounting bracket, It could be wider.
The stud's in the wall are wider than 18" (non load bearing wall)
If it came with some sort of "extender" bracket then this unit would be absolutly PERFECT!.

I ended up cutting the sheetrock and added more 2x4 in the wall and put the sheet rock back.(wasn't too bad)
Once it was mounted, I extended the arm and put my weight on it (210lbs) this thing did not budge!
Very sturdy unit, it suprised the heck out of me.
I will buy another one without hesitation as soon as I get another flat TV for my bedroom.

Hope this help's!!!!

Max

I recently bought this Tv wallmount to hang my new 42" Toshiba clearscan 240 LCD. I was admittedly apprehensive about hanging my tv up on the wall, but after reading the reviews on the previous model by Cheetah and hearing the lone review on the newer model of wall mount, I decided to go for the upgraded model.
I am certainly glad that I did! The build quality of this beast of a mount is high, though just like the original mount it's fasteners are somewhat suspect, so I did what other recommended and went out and bought new bolts and jam nuts. (A tiny cost of 45cents for a few heavy duty nuts and bolts)

The assembly was straight forward, instructions easy to follow and it certainly holds up well under even my bodyweight when I tested the strength of it on the wall (didn't budge an inch). The fact that it's rated to hold far more then my tv's 59pounds was certainly a major plus in my mind.

The mounts movements are fluid, easily adjusted and seady when your done positioning it. I've got it hung so that it's positioned in a corner of the room, so as I move around to different area's of the room, such as my gaming desk I just turn it easily to face the desk, or the couch for movies/tv watching.

Don't buy one of these from Best Buy for $300.

Don't pay for someone to install one of these unless you can't operate a drill.

These Cheetah mounts are great. I have one APDAM3B (newer model) & one APDAM2B. They take no more than an hour to install - and that's with finding the studs (I would not mount one of this without standard 16" studs), making sure everything is level, double checking your measurements, etc.

They are extremely versatile (should fit most TV's and most homes) and very sturdy.

My LCD TV's are 40-50 lbs, but I would have no qualms about installing a big 100 lb Plasma.

The instructions are decent, but remember they can't account for every house and every TV.

I have a 46 inch Sanyo LCD TV that weighs a little under 60 pounds that I bought about 2 years or so ago. So it is well within the limits stated by the manufacturer.

That being said - this is overall a very solid TV mount/bracket. I will try to post pictures later, but I am hoping my solutions to some of the problems will help others.

First, I am in a newer house. So the studs are the normal 16 inches apart. My problem is I wanted to mount it on a wall that is between two closet doors. And once I started looking for the studs, it just so happens that there is a stub smack in the middle of that space. The space was about 30.5 inches wide of wall. So the next studs over were where the actual door frame was for each closet. I searched around the internet and found others that a similar problem. So what I did was (my friend's husband came up with this) I cut a piece of 3/4 inch plywood to the size of the bracket part that was supposed to mount to the 2 studs. I spray painted it to match the black bracket. Then we screwed the bracket to the plywood in about 6 different places and then took three extra long bolts (may 2.5 or 3 inches?) and bolted the plywood to the stud. That thing is not going anywhere unless the entire stud comes down. It is VERY solidly attached to the wall. So that is how I solved the "one stud" problem.

The next issue I came across was that one arm on the mount moved fairly easily. It took some force, but I was glad it wasn't too loose or that may be a problem. However, the other arm was so tight that I stood on one side and tried to pull it out with both hands. It would not move. My friend had to try 2 or 3 times with all of his strength to loosen the bolt. Once he finally managed to do that, it was fine. But good grief. It felt like someone had used some kind of pneumatic wrench to tighten that thing!

The last issue I had/have is that once we got everything on the wall and connected, etc., I looked behind the TV at the bracket. Before we mounted it, the entire bracket (the arms) could be pushed all the way back and the bracket would lay pretty flat. Once the TV was on it, you could see the arms leaning a bit at the top. It isn't noticeable when you watch the TV. And if it was, you could compensate by adjusting the tilt of the TV. But I would think that since my TV is less than 60 pounds and this bracket/mount is solid and weighs about 30 pounds itself, it shouldn't show any "sag" (for lack of a better word). So that is concerning because I wonder if it will sag more over time and with use?

And what others say about the built in bubble level... VERY true. It is way off. Do not trust it for sure. I had two levels of my own and the built in level. My two levels were dead on - both showed really close to perfectly level, where-as the bubble in the built in level was way over to one side.

Otherwise, this is a superb mount! I will try to take pictures soon and post. It works perfectly for what I needed and for the space I had to work with.

And those of you who are thinking "how did she put a 46 inch TV between two doors that are only 30.5 inches apart?" One of the closets is the hot water heater. So that really never gets opened. The other is a game closet. I do open that one often. But because this bracket has the articulating arms and you can swivel it, there is PLENTY of room to just pull the TV out a bit and open the door. It is perfect for me!

If you want to ask questions, please do. And I will try to help or explain what I can. I also put a wall shelf unit for the other TV apparatus like the DVD player, cable box, Nintendo, etc. When I get the chance I will review that unit (because I also bought it off of Amazon) and then post the link in case anyone is interested.

I subtracted a star because of the arm that was almost impossible to loosen and because there is a bit of sag in the bracket now that it is on the wall with the TV on it. I would have given 4.5 stars if that were possible.

Mount seems to be very sturdy. Only issue so far is that the level which is built on to the mount is NOT actually square! Do not use the level on the mount to align it.

I got the Cheetah Mount APDAM3B and it works great (and it showed up on my doorstep in about 3 days). I got it to mount my 46" LCD Samsung above my fireplace. It was pretty easy to center because it had multiple holes for wherever you found studs, then you could slide the tv left and right until it was center and tighten the screws. The only problem I had was; when I was tightening the last screw I did a little too much and the head broke off, so I had to take out all the screws and move them up an inch (luckily it came with an extra screw). I recommend 1) drilling small pilot hole, 2) screwing straight in (not at a downward angle like I do for everything else) and 3) as soon as it touches the metal mount STOP. I was able to hang it by myself, but it weights like 20 - 30 pounds so if help is available use it.

The mount came crooked out of the box. The brackets that mount to the wall were not aligned with the plate that mount to the TV, so if installed as is, the TV would not be level, even if mounted levelly.

So with a bit of force, I shifted it back in alignment so It would not be crooked and mounted it on the wall perfectly level. However once I put the TV on it (a 47" LED, big but not really heavy), it shifted back to crooked and the TV was not level anymore...

Ultimately I had to carefully loosen and tighten various bolts on the mount to try and force it to be level, with only marginal success. It is now much more straight then it came out of the box, but it is still slightly off.

This is probably a quality control issue, mixed with poor design. I was one of the un-lucky ones.

Should have spent a little more and bought the $100 one from Costco.

Having designed and installed custom home theater system for more than a decade, I was a bit apprehensive about this particular mount. Many mounts I have encountered over the years
tend to bend under the weight of the panel ( especially single arm items) however there is nothing cheap about the mount ( except the price), it installed easily and looks absolutely magnificent on the wall hold my 55 inch LED.

not sure if it is the way the mount is designed or maybe i was just unlucky. but when i took the mount out of the box, it was very noticeably crooked. the mount plate that attaches to the wall did not align with the mount plate that goes behind the TV. if mounted, would cause my TV to sit crooked. I emailed the manufactures with no response! so i return!!

Cheetah replaced the original mount I ordered (APDAM2B) with this new improved version. Here's my story and review which I posted on the original purchase...

I ordered this mount for a summer home we are remodeling. When it arrived I noticed right away that the TV mounting bracket was not square with the wall bracket. Since I had read that other purchasers had this same problem I called Cheetah to discuss the issue and to make certain they would refund my money if the mount did not perform properly once it was installed to compensate for the out-of-level condition. I also wanted assurances that they would extend their warranty since my contractor was 4 weeks behind and we would not be installing the TV right away.



I was dealing with Adam in their customer service department. Adam could tell that I was apprehensive about the manufacturing flaw in the mount. He quickly informed me that they had a newer generation of the mount that allowed for rotational adjustment of the TV mounting plate and strongly suggested that I exchange the mount for the newer version. I agreed, he sent me a return label and in two days I had the new mount.

The new mount is very similar to the first one - a little lighter, has a built in level plus a separate level and includes every possible piece of hardware for attaching the mount to a wall with 16" studs. I believe the quality to be first rate.

Last week I installed the mount and hung my 42" Vizio LCD TV. It worked perfectly. When I first looked at the mount I thought it might be overkill for my 37 lb. TV, but when you get the TV 20 inches or more from the wall you really need the strength to keep everything steady and sturdy. I would not recommend skimping on size.

Cheetah has surpassed my expectations - especially when you consider the mount was $200 less than Sanus and Omni. I highly recommend this company and in particular their Customer Service person Adam.