Customer Reviews

Envision EN-7100E/SI 17" LCD High-Resolution Color Display

5 star:		(68)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Forget about everything you're reading online comparing one LCD montior to another. You need to go visit a computer store and see them. After you do that, your focus will change entirely, literally and figuratively. I was prepared to spend up to $2000 on an LCD monitor and, therefore, price wasn't the issue. After doing my research, I believed I knew what I was after. Thank goodness I was able to see in-person the Envision 17 inch LCD. It was FAR SUPERIOR in performance to every other LCD monitor I saw. I bought it and I couldn't be happier. And this was with the analogue interface and my existing video card, you don't need a DVI interface to get perfection. I'm a high-end user and I've always owned high-end monitors. In fact, I could rarely find one that satisfied my needs except for scarcely available super high-end models. This Envision product changed that however. At any price, its performance is visually the best in my opinion. But when considering its price, it's like an entirely different product all together compared to the other LCD panels available today. I simply couldn't be happier with this product. The warranty, also, is excellent. And as I mentioned earlier, if you've been concerned about whether you need a new DVI card and an LCD monitor with a DVI interface, you can forget about it unless perhaps you do video editing full-time. This Envision LCD monitor, in conjunction with a solid traditional/standard video card (like you probably already have), offers absolutely outstanding crystal-clear rock-solid performaance.

I recently recieved an Envision 7100-si from Amazon.com, and I could not be more pleased with this purchase. I used a 17" CRT prior to this and the difference is night and day.
First, it arrived in perfect condition. There are no dead or stuck pixels - a common occurence with many lcds. The monitor itself is simple, and elegant - the silver frame can go well in either a business or home environment. Setting it up was a snap - literally. All you have to do is attach the monitor to the base!
The plug and play worked perfectly - the monitor was recognized by Windows and installed easily. The auto adjust feature set the display parameters on the monitor perfectly.
Now for the important things - the picture is amazingly clear and crisp - it has never been so easy on my eyes to use microsoft office applications. The only monitor I have found comparable is the Sonys which are catastrophically expensive (that was the other one I was looking at), and so I can't recommend buying those because they are just on par and more expensive with a lesser warranty (See below). The native resolution of 1280*1024 takes a little getting used to, as it makes icons smaller than the typical 1024*768 that many people use. The sharpness of the picture more than makes up for this, though, as well as several options in Windows that allow the user to change the fonts/appearance for maximuum comfort.
The blurring effect that plagues many lcds does not come into play whatsoever with this monitor. I tested it with several dvds, which looked amazing and there was no ghosting. I also fired up several graphically complex and fast paced games (like serious sam, half life, unreal etc...) and did not have any ghosting issues with those or with slower games like Warcraft and Diablo II.
The last thing I would like to mention is Amazon's amazing policy of letting you return anything within 30 days. Thus if a monitor does arrive with dead pixels, they will take it back. I strongly recommend this, because no one wants to open up a monitor and have a stuck pixel for life - beware lower prices at places like Best Buy, Staples et al... because they often will not accept the monitor back either at all or without a 15% restocking fee (unacceptable in my book - the monitor should be flawless on day one or your money back).
Further, Envision has a generous 3 year warranty on parts and labor, and extremel friendly tech support (which I tested before I purchased this monitor - I never waited more than 8 minutes). All in all, this monitor has no drawbacks (even more so when purchased through Amazon and their no questions asked return policy). I highly recommend buying this monitor, or at least trying it out - I don't think you will ever want to go back to CRTs (especially for the price).

After being stunned by its low price, I picked this monitor up last weekend and so far have been very happy with it. Unlike the previous review, I found the in-store display to be quite poor as the shop I visited was displaying 1024x768 images on the 1280x1024 capable monitor. Be sure, if you go to look at it, that you can dink with the settings and make sure its running at the proper resolution. With a small amount of tinkering with the "clock" and "focus" settings it will give a seemingly *perfect* image. Decent contrast, good brightness, no text shadows, no flickering or shimmering. Unfortunately there is one dead pixel on the one I got, but I guess that's not too bad considering. Button layout is pretty sleek, and the monitor is at a good height. I'm happy I didn't buy a 19' crt and am loving my newly freed deskspace. And it looks great under X!

I usually wouldn't go for the lowest priced product in its catagory, because I see quality as much more important than price. I did my research on the web and decided on a different LCD monitor from a name brand (who's heard of Envision before?) based on the specs. When I got to the store and actually saw 8 various models of LCD screens side by side, this Envision 7100 definitely stood out as one of the top two - and the other good one cost more than twice the price of this. I played with various resolution settings to give each monitor a fair evaluation - native resolution or not, the text on this one is much sharper than the Samsung or even the Sony ones. The color is breathtaking after I tuned it a little brighter than default. I asked the salesperson to play a DVD movie to check out the pixel refresh speed (as it was not listed on the box), and found it more than satisfactory... and did I mention the color was gorgeous?

I've now owned it for two weeks and have no regrets. Best quality! But for this fantastic price, you should also realize what you're NOT getting:
- Only analog input (no digital in, no TV in).
- Viewing angle is slightly narrow horizontally.
- Support arm is permenantly affixed to the back of the LCD, therefore no option of attaching it to a free-moving monitor arm.

Considering the great quality, I think it's worth giving up the few features listed above (which you might find essential - but I have no use for at the moment), and save a few hundred dollars!

Given the price, I really wanted to like this monitor. Unfortunately, I found the text to contain shadows, and working with this display gave me headaches after only a short period. Images looked fine, but text, no matter how big or small, contained shadows and seemed slightly out of focus.

I tested this monitor on three separate machines, a Macintosh G3, an IBM T22 laptop, and a custom built Pentium III box. All support the monitor's native resolution. On all three, the text was shadowy and difficult to scan. No amount of adjusting the display or the display cards (e.g., scan rate) solved the problem. Reading pages of black text on white backgrounds was difficult and made my eyes hurt.

A few general comments: the cord between the power brick and the display is too short to reach the floor. As a result, the power brick must sit on the desktop, taking up some of the very space that the LCD monitor is supposed to free. The lack of a digital input may be an issue for some, but shouldn't be a problem for users who simply want to stroll the Internet and browse documents. The lack of a second input is only an issue for those who need to easily switch the monitor between multiple machines.

The top-mounted control buttons aren't nearly the problem some reviews suggest -- they're very easy to memorize, and since you only use them occasionally, it's nice to have them outside your regular visual range. Like many/most LCDs, this one is noticably brighter at the bottom than at the top. Some Macs (such as the beige G3 minitower, for example), will require an adapter to plug this into your display port. It's not included or sold by Envision, though their tech support answered my email quickly with a concise and accurate answer.

Given the positive reports from others, I'm more than willing to believe that either my machines had mediocre display card technology (though I find it especially difficult to believe for the T22, given the high quality of its own LCD display), or I simply received a bad sample of the Envision monitor. Either way, I'd suggest buying this from a merchant (such as Amazon.com) with a liberal return policy.

GOOD -
1) REASONABLE PRICE
2) GOOD STYLING (ESPECIALLY BLACK AND SILVER COMBINATION)
3) SUPER SHARP IMAGE (OUTSCORE 400:1 CONTRAST MONITORS)
4) AUTOMATIC ADJUSTING (NO NEED TO TOUCH THE MENU / ADJUSTING BUTTON)
5) NO DEAD PIXEL (MAY BE I AM LUCKY)

BAD -
1) NARROW VIEWING ANGLE (ACTUALLY IT'S NOT BAD, IF YOU DON'T WANT OTHER PEOPLE SEE WHAT YOU ARE DOING)
2) THE STAND IS TOO HIGH. (HEIGHT IS NOT ADJUSTABLE)
3) REPONSE A BIT LATE (WELL IT DOESN'T BOTHER ME, BECAUSE I DON'T READ WHEN SCROLLING)
4) THE POWER CORD (FROM MONITOR TO POWER ADAPTER) IS TOO SHORT, I NEED TO TAPE THE ADAPTER UNDER MY DESK RATHER THAN PUT IT ON THE FLOOR)
5) CONFUSING MENU BUTTONS (THERE IS A BUTTON FOR FORWARD BUT NO BACK BUTTON, YOU NEED TO KEEP CIRCLING THE MENU...)

CONCLUSION: BEST BUY FOR [price]RANGE.

I had been investigating flat panel displays for over a year when I stumbled upon the Envision line. I was leaning toward ViewSonic but after reading up on Envision and discovering that they had won several awards I decided to give them serious consideration. After seeing them locally in stores and finding them aggressively priced I made my decision. I was moving from a 19" DELL CRT which was a real space hog in my small home office. Initially was going to go to a 15" unit due to price but ultimately decided upon the 17" since it provided equivalent viewing area with my 19" CRT AND I found a great price I could justify. I have had the unit for 4 days now and I am extrememly pleased with the quality and resolution - not to mention it takes up so much less space. In some of the local chains it was [higher] but I bought it for considerably less @ Amazon (w/free ship and no tax I might add) ... I highly recommend it (usage is important so FYI, I am not a big time "gamer" - my usage is primarily basic MS Office type apps, Quicken and web surfing and some low level gaming so if you're a big time gamer I can't comment on its applicability for that).

I've had my two Envision 17 inch monitors for just over a week now. I was a little worried about bad pixels based on the reviews. I'm happy to say both displays look great. I replaced two heavy 19" CRT's with these lightweight monitors. My desk is much less cluttered and they are much easier on my eyes. You will be pleasantly surprised when they arrive in small lightweight boxes. They do look best when driven with a quality video card at 1280 X 1024, 32 bit color resolution and 75 hz refresh. Using XP turn on the cleartype technology and you will have a great looking display for a great price.

This was, simply put, the best purchase I've made in quite some time. I wish I had read some of the other reviews before buying it, however, as it would have saved me a couple days of concern over having not gone with a "big-name" (and more expensive) product.

The picture quality is stellar. I had ghosting issues early on, but, as did another reviewer, discovered that a video extension cable was the real culprit. I got rid of that and ... *whammo*. It's like looking at a painting. And I am extremely particular about video display, in general. I stare at these things for 12 hours a day, on average. A refresh rate on a CRT monitor of less than 85Hz gives me a headache. I almost always go with top-brand equipment, but just decided to take a chance in this case, knowing that I could always return it. No way that's gonna happen now -- this thing is mine!

I have nothing but good words to say. It's thin, it's light, and it works the way you'd really want it to. I have none of the problematic pixels other reviewers have reported. One thing to be aware of, though: Make sure you change your refresh rate to 75 or 60Hz BEFORE you plug it in. Doing so may save you from a world of woe. Also, I can't comment on the durability of the product, as mine is still quite new.

My wife and I both have PCs in our respective home offices. We upgraded our monitors to size 17" about 4 years ago: she with a Nokia 447E and I with a Panasonic S17. We were happy with these monitors, but they were bulky and getting older, so we decided to upgrade again: this time to 17" LCD monitors (about an inch diagonally larger picture than 17" CRT pictures).

I began checking out all available LCD monitors online, reading the editorial and user reviews for each. Price was a consideration, especially since we were planning to buy two of them, but our prime motivator was to get the best value for our money. We listed the attributes we wanted in our new monitors and I matched that to a list of the available LCDs, then pared the list down to five monitors that would best satisfy our desires. My final list included the Envision 7100e, which was the lowest-priced monitor of the five.

My wife and I compared and discussed the specifications of the listed monitors. We were concerned that we might be giving too much credence to the 7100e because of its lower cost (in some cases several hundreds of dollars lower) than the other listed monitors. Additionally, we were not sure the 7100e would have a high quality, esthetically pleasing appearance when viewed on our desktops, and we were concerned about "dead" pixels. I checked some of the local computer stores and none of them had the 7100e in stock. We decided the 7100e represented the best value, but ordered only one monitor so we could evaluate it before ordering another.

Our 7100e arrived and I quickly set it up with my PC. Setup time took less than 10 minutes from box to complete installation including hookup, driver installation, and a change from 800 x 800 to 1024 x 768 resolution. The Auto Setup mode made setup a cinch. The result is an attractive, quality monitor with a bright, sharp, flawless appearing display that rivals those of our previous CRT monitors. This monitor exceeds our expectations and is SUPERB! We quickly ordered a second 7100e and it is equally as good as the first one. We encountered no "dead" pixels on either monitor. The Envision 7100e is a winner on almost any desktop!