Customer Reviews

ViewSonic VP171B 17" LCD Monitor

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

For me, buying an LCD flat panel was revolutionary. For far too long I had an old fashioned monitor dominating my home office. Something so big that throwing it away may well have brought about an unnecessary hernia operation. What a joy to unpack the ViewSonic. As someone who does a lot of word processing, I treasure this monitor's ability to spin so that it can be seen from both portrait and landscape. Seeing the entire page you are writing is such a simple idea, yet in 20 years of computing, entirely original to me. The software is one-click installation and designed for techophones such as myself. To pass back and forth between portrait and landscape, you literally just turn the screen, right click, pick the angle, and there it is. Whole process takes less than five seconds. The colors also seem strong and accurate, fine definition. Money well worth spending.

It's a Beautiful Monitor, and once you set it up correctly it's one of the best available on the market for the money. I love this monitor now; but it wasn't always that way. The first week I owned it, I was frustrated a lot; It was always either too light or too dark. The factory presets are lousy. But after a lot of tweeking, I got it just right. Now I can't live without it. The colors are rich, movies and games look fantastic, and all the added space on my desk is wonderful.

I loved this monitor, it had beautiful color and resolution every thing that I need for working on video editing. That is until it just went black in the middle of my project due in three days! How could something held in such high respect be so lacking of quality. I took every step to ensure this monitor wouldn't burn out any time soon. It never sat on, never was left to burn the image, and always dusted and kept clean.

Honestly, just to be fair I am sure I got one out of 500 that break. However I have to pay shipping to get it to Viewsonic for warranty repair/replacement; that is not good service. Then after three seperate emails I am not told how long it will take to get it back and that if I want an express exchange to get one immediately, I am told they will have to put an authorization on my card for the retail amount of the monitor.

Still no word from them on return time estimate. I would have to fear what the other person says about warranty service and hope that the $3000 computer I used this with doesn't sit and waste in the time that it will take to be back at work again.

We shall see, however I would not recommend this monitor nor would I buy another after my initial experience with it and the company.

This monitor is such a significant improvement over my old CRT that I decided to get another one for my second computer. The main differences are in the brightness and contrast. After working on my main comp with this LCD, and then going back to my second comp that has the CRT, it seemed as if the CRT had a dull gray haze cast over it, even at maximum brightness. It's funny how I never noticed it before. But, not just in my house, the CRT's where I work (different brands and sizes) also seem dull and lifeless now.

The base is very stable, which is good because even though the monitor has a thin screen, it still has some heft to it. Pivot function works great. It even has a built in cord organizer in the back of the stand to keep things out of the way while you pivot. The height adjustment is some kind of pneumatic mechanism; you don't have to force any levers or twist any knobs, just raise or lower the screen to where you want it and it says put! One more thing, I looked over both monitors very carefully with a MAGNIFYING glass and found no dead or stuck pixels. Of course, your results may vary, but I am very happy with these monitors! I highly recommend!

This monitor is amazing, very bright, sharp and has a stunning colors, I recieved with no dead or stuck pixels.
I have the best results with DVI-D connection.
It play games with no problems like my old ctr (that was a concern for my children).
I love the pivot feature is excelent for internet and word processing.
Another nice thing is the monitor comes out of the package ready to plug to the video card and the power outlet, you are in bussiness in a moment and the power supply is in the base.
This is very strong choice for anyone looking for a LCD, realy worth the money and maybe more.

Picture is very nice, clear, smooth, and bright. I certainly don't miss my old CRT. The stand it comes with is the best I've come across yet. It adjusts for hight, pan (left/right), and tilt(forward/back) without much effort and nothing to tighten/loosen to get it to stay put. It'll rotate 90 degrees as well but haven't found a use for that yet. I use mine for gaming, movies/tv, photo work, and regular BS. Much easier on the eyes and doesn't ghost when the action moves fast. While I would love it even more if it had a higher resolution that 1280x1040, I'll never go back to CRT's to get it.

No dead pixals yet (X fingers) but then again all LCD get them sooner or later. It's been in operation since Feb 2004.

This is the best monitor out there, the features packed into it such as 2 analog inputs, 1 dvi input, portrait and landscape screen rotation, sliding telescopic stand (not like Dell's which only "pops" from low to high) and the clarity and crispness of the images could not be beat. I shopped around for months before making the leap to LCD, and after bringing home (and then returning) monitors from Dell, Sharp and Samsung - on every level, Viewsonic's VP171B is the best.

When the price dropped to $519 on Amazon, I decided to replace all my CRTs, I BOUGHT 3 OF THEM!

After turning on this LCD, all I can say is wow. It is absolutely stunning. One red pixel near the lateral edge. The 16ms refresh time, pivot function, and simply outstanding picture makes this well worth the money.

I've owned this monitor for about 8+ years now and today it finally died (backlight went out). 8+ Years is pretty good for an lcd with a ccfl backlight, unlike gateway/acer monitors which fail after a year. I would definitely buy another Viewsonic again. Good picture, and very solid.

It's probably a little late to say this now, but I found this, which was my first LCD monitor, to be very disappointing. At first I loved it, it was a state-of-the-art 17" LCD when I got it new, no dead pixels, just great. But after six months it started having random fritzing-out issues. Very likely a bad capacitor in the internal power supply. I was never satisfied with dealing with ViewSonic warranty service, and I have since moved on, but I just happened across the reviews here and wanted to give my two cents as another very disillusioned ViewSonic customer.