Monitor Reviews

We just purchased a set of 4 Uniden DCT 646 phones. We are very happy with their performance and our purchase.

These phones are great. To have three bases around the house where we can pick one up and drop the other is great. They have good range...the only downside is that sometimes you hear your echo back and sound like you're talking through a tin can. If you readjust the phone and hold it a different way, it's fine. Just takes a little getting used to. Also, these are very hard to hold on your shoulder when you need both hands. They're a little small.

Inexpensive multi handset system. Packed with features, we especially like the room monitor, speaker phone on each handset, and direct connect feature (lets you use the phones as walkie-talkies away from your home.)

I have two of these systems in my house, total of 6 phones, and we use Vonage broadband phone service. These phones are PERFECT for us, and integrate nicely with Vonage(or any other phone company with voicemail.) One touch voicemail access, blinking light message indicator, etc.

Truly awesome for the small amount of $ they cost.

On 6/9/06 I ordered this watch. I received the usual emails stating the order had been received and that the order had been shipped. A few days later I received a package with two tape-measures in it that was sent to the wrong address. After emailing Amazon and HRM USA with the infirmation I was informed that the watch was sent again... I have never received the watch, nor the mailing labels to return the shipment that I did receive, bit didn't order.

My advice is to not order anything other than books from amazon, because they don't backup what they are selling

I've owned my Polar A3 for about four years. I bought it from a sports equipment store. I would give it 3.5 stars if I could do so. It has been robust and reliable. It has functioned well over this time and I would recommend the product with a couple of reservations:

1) The battery in the chest strap is not replaceable because Polar wants to sell you a whole new chest strap later with a list price of $39.95 (rather than a $2 battery). Speaking from an ecological or financial perspective this is disappointing. Fortunately for me, the chest strap from my stationary exercise bike works just fine with the Polar A3 so I now use that.
2) When using the A3, the standard display is your current heart rate (clearly shown in large numerals) and above it the upper and lower limits you've set up to cause it to beep when your heartrate moves out of the desired range. You can switch the display to elapsed time, but you cannot (or I have not yet figured out how to) simultaneously display elapsed time and current heartrate, which would be ideal.

I've learned a couple of things as a new user of heart rate monitors:
1) The age-based pre-programmed heart rate range on the A3 was much lower than what my exercise physiologist recommended for me. If you feel you cannot get a proper workout staying within this range (or conversely if it feels like a strain) you should get the help of a professional to determine the right range for you.
2) When you first put the chest strap on and activate the monitor your heart rate sometimes doesn't register or appears erratically high or low. As soon as you start exercising and sweat a little it works fine. To avoid this I wet the underside of the chest strap a little when I put it on. This comment is not specific to this product and applies to any chest strap-type device.
3) I was surprised how high my heart rate was when running and I am very glad I bought a heart rate monitor because otherwise I might have caused myself serious harm and never even known that I was overdoing it. Getting a heart rate monitor is a great idea, especially if you're not young any more.

I have this product and use it at the gym with the elliptical machines and treadmills. Some of these machines at your local gym have an onboard heart rate sensor that will send signals to this watch that will tabulate your target heart rate, with these units, only the watch is needed. On non-computer chipped machines, you'll need to wear the the Polar chest strap that will detect heart rate information to the Polar Wrist Watch. This information will keep you aware of your target heart rate and allow you to work out smarter, not harder, to burn more fat and build more muscle. It's a MUST HAVE for anyone who is trying to stay fit or lose weight! It is programmable, and easy to use. If selected, the watch will sound a beep if your target heart rate falls below what you've programmed, so you can work a little harder to get that rate up.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

This camera is attractive, easy to use, came with almost all accessories and captures high quality pictures in a variety of formats. My nieces and nephews love the attachment that allows you to connect the camera to a tv to play pictures & video. I use it for my work as well, printing images for presentations and advertisements, if you are not a professional but want a quality camera that is affordable I highly recommend it.

I previously owned a Ricoh RDC5300 and liked it very well when I first bought it, but it was showing its age and I started looking for something new in the $200-$250 range. I chose the Nikon 4800 because of the optical zoom and all the other specs looked good on paper, but you never know till you get it in your hands. I bought a brand new one online from the biggest box store in the country. It began getting errors and wouldn't work after 2 days. I decided I didn't want to pay for a new camera and return it for repair when I could get the same thing already remanufactured and pay less. I took the new one back to my local big box store and after a bit of a hassel got most of my money back and learned to never buy online from the big box store. I thought I would give the Nikon one more chance and then I came here and bought the remanufactured Nikon for $50 less than I paid new. I've had it about a month and I am very happy with it. I rated it 5 stars not because it is the best camera in the world, but because I did my homework and it met or exceeded all my expectations. I was suprised how good the flash was on this camera. Indoor pics are excellent compared to my previous camera that I paid more than twice as much for. All the pictures are wonderful. You need to buy an SD card to store the pics and I like to have a USB SD card reader so I can transfer pics to the computer without plugging in the camera. Two things I didn't like about this camera, but knew before I purchased were that while not small it wasn't as big or heavy as I like. I'm sure most people like it smaller and lighter though I would consider it a medium size camera. Second, if you choose to transfer pics from the camera you are on battery power as it doesn't have a power adaptor for the camera. The internal memory only holds a few pictures and must be transferred this way. As I said though, a separate SD card and USB reader is the way to go.

My first digital camera was a 3 megapixel sony and it took great pics but lacked a good zoom. This camera has it all!

I purchased a LVM-42W2 in April (2006) and had the issue where it locks up and you have to unplug the unit to get it to turn back on. When this unit locks up, the power button on the remote and on the side of the monitor will not turn it on. It usually happens when it has been turned off for 4 or more hours (but not always). In April I paid $2400 for this monitor. In June (2006) I saw the price drop to $1500 so I decided to try it again. I figured the issue may have been resolved. WRONG!!!

The only thing that had changed was that Westinghouse Tech Support now admitted there was an issue. They say the monitor needs a firmware (software) upgrade. They put me on this magic list to get one. They say they are using a third party (IAI) who will come to my home and install the upgrade. Only issue is, how? There is no service port on this thing. When I asked how it would be done, even the Westinghouse Tech Support did not know. Two and then three weeks went by, no call from IAI.

I decided to return the monitor before my 30 day return policy had passed. Westinghouse Tech Support impressed me...at first. They always answer the phone and have an English speaking person to talk with. Unfortunately, they could not facilitate this magical firmware upgrade before my 30 days were up. I suspect even if there is a way to upgrade the firmware, it may not fix the problem. Buyers beware!

Has anyone out there received one of these firmware upgrades? The rumor is you need version 1.19 or higher to fix the power issue. When I called Westinghouse to confirm the version that would fix the issue, they did not even know. My first one was running version 1.11 and my second one was running version 1.16. Both had the lock-up issue.

I would also like to know how the firmware upgrade is done? Do they have a way of using one of the inputs (DVI or HDMI) to upload the upgrade through? Or, do they have to open the back of the TV up and replace a chip or an entire board? Again, Westinghouse Tech Support did not know how this would be done either. They just put my name on that very long list to receive an upgrade. A month has passed and still no call!!!

Another issue I found was with NVIDIA video cards and the DVI input. Apparently the good folks at Westinghouse only tested this monitor with ATI video cards. So, there is a known issue with NVIDIA cards using the DVI input. You can't display 1920x1080 using the DVI and an NVIDIA video card. I also had an issue doing 1920x1080 with an Intel video card on the RGB input, but I upgraded the video driver and that issue was fixed.

This is a wonderful monitor. Excellent picture quality and very good value, but you can be sure that the set will lock up at least twice a week. Then you'll have to unplug it from the power outlet and re-plug it. I called Westinghouse and they said to plug it into a UPS. I bought a $129.00 UPS with automatic voltage regulator and the monitor is the only thing plugged into the UPS. It still locks up. Now Westinghouse is saying to unplug it and leave it unplugged for at least five minutes to see if the problem resolves itself. Let's see.

If you don't mind paying $2,000.00 for a monitor that needs to be unplugged a couple of times a week to be used, then this is a good buy. Beware, however.

I wonder what long term repercusions will there be from having to regularly unplug the set.

I am very happy with the Picture quality in analog, digital, and HD, the remote and menu could be better, but will use my Harmony 880 anyway.

To fix the Power Lock-up issue call (866) 287-5555 - Westinghouse Technical Support.

Inform them that you are having a "Power Lock-up" issue with your set and that your current Firmware is 1.xx. Tell them you have read that the latest Firmware 1.19 corrects this issue and that you would like to be updated to the latest Firmware.

They will take your information and have someone contact you from one of their Third-Party support organizations (such as IAI) to arrange a time to comout to you check out the set and perform the upgrade.

I received this watch as a Christmas present in 2005. I have been using it for the past 6 months (average 2x per week). I spotted this exact watch but with yellowish straps at an expo from Polar after I got my watch for only 2 weeks and was diligent about keeping it clean, but to no avail, it turned yellowish after about 2 months and now it just looks dirty and old, the face is still the original "ice blue". If you are thinking about this watch, buy the black one.

After I started using it, I wished I went with another model since this one doesn't store any previous data. I track all my runs and sometimes I forget to record before my next run and I lose all my previous data once I press "start". In addition, it doesn't have a stopwatch. Once you press stop, it thinks you're done with your workout instead of just a pause or break so you can't track your actual total workout time. I just let it run even when I am at stoplights or water break. If lap feature is important, go with another model. Another complaint about this watch is that there's no backlight. I have to wait till I run under a street light to see my data. The data sheet said it has a backlight but I can't manage to find it.

Today both the buttons cracked and fell off my watch. Now it's useless.

I still have the most basic model from Polar (bought in 2000 and it's discontinued) that only monitors my HR and that thing still works because there's no buttons to push. Polar makes good HR monitor and I would still buy another one from them. Just not this one.

Works great, easy to set up, and transmits your heart rate to gym equipment. I love the calories burned feature of the monitor, it validated something I've long suspected - the elliptical machines at my gym overestimate calories burned by approximately 30% and the treadmills underestimate by almost 40%... I WAS actually running very hard!

I'm sorry I didn't get this months ago...

Love this hr monitor. Easy to set and allows me to get the most out of my workouts. It is also very rewarding to see the calorie burn at the end of each workout. It asks for your height, weight and gender, and calories burned are predicated upon your specific data, rendering it much more reliable than estimates from most pedometers and gym equipment. My personal trainer recommended this brand (this is what she owns as well), and although you may see flashier, more attractive monitors, they will not be as reliable or user-friendly.

This is my first HR monitor and I honestly don't know how I got by without one before! Very easy to use, dependable, and certainly the price is right compared to others I've seen.

This is my third monitor and I've never been disappointed by the Polar products. The sub $40 street price makes it a 'must buy' even for the weekend workout warrior. One minor complaint - the band is too short and too difficult to fasten.

The Polar FS1 Heart Rate Monitor Watch is very easy to set up and use. The face is easy to read while running.

I bought viewsonic VA902B last month. It was working fine since I bought but today, it is broken. I called the customer service/technical support about what happened and told me to return it to where I purchase. So, I called Office Depot where I purchased the monitor but told me they only have 14 days return or exchange policy. I called the customer service/technical support back but the waiting period was to long so I call back again tomorrow.

Viewsonic has many lines of products, including those that are professional, graphic-oriented, and a basic line. I have been a ViewSonic fan for many years....in fact I did not even consider another brand when purchasing this monitor. However, when you purchase this, remember that YOU ARE BUYING THE BASIC LINE OF PRODUCT!

I got this monitor as a replacement for my Viewsonic GS790 19" graphic crt monitor. This monitor displayed beautiful colors, but it still was heavy, bulky, and had a few geometry issues. LCDs were getting cheap so I decided I'd try one.

After using this monitor for a few months, I've noticed some problems with it. The reviewer who said that this monitor has a greenish tint is correct. I have done many graphic design projects, and I noticed in a grayscale image had a definite green tint to it. I tried many color settings on the monitor, and this was apparent even on the sRGB setting.

However, the most annoying part of this monitor is when I browse the internet. Certain characters appeared greenish and the text did not look consistent in color at all. I was able to remedy this by using the custom color setting, opening a webpage, and turning down the green level until it disappeared from the text. I then turned down the other colors so they would be at the same level as the green.

It is a bright monitor, but you can see a decent amount of light bleedthrough on a black screen. This isn't terribly important if you're doing office work, you might find it annoying if you look at dark images or watch movies.

Looking back, I wish that I had saved my money and purchased a higher quality monitor. Readers - if you are a graphic designer and color accuracy is important to you - you may wish to look at another monitor. It's not completely unusable for graphic design, but it's certainly not the best. Portrait mode is highly useful for graphic designers - I found this out after trying another monitor for a project. If you are a graphic designer on a limited budget, you should save your money and buyer a better ViewSonic product that has better image quality and more physical adjustments.

This monitor is not amazing, it doesn't have the best picture in the world, and it most certainly DOES NOT prove that LCDs are just as good as CRT monitors.

We bought 3 of these and every one has dead pixels. It's not a ton, but one monitor has three that are red in the center of the screen, and other has a few that are bright green in the corner. Not a huge deal, but there are some in all 3.

Why settle for less, when you can get a brand new original Panasonic or Samsung 42 inch plasma TV for Free! I got mine from this web site: nocost4u.info/plasma-tv

This space age fish aquarium returns the drab old fish
tank to the energetic 1960's, where strange colors mix
with odd shapes, forming a hypnotic level of
intensity. Holds 15 gallons of blue water in the tank,
comes with a compressor unit to clean out the fungus
and even has a splendid "light castle" addition that
can be placed near the bottom. Fish are hypnotized by
the glass and by the electrified moon beams that
emanate from the corners. Do not use near drunks or
near baseball parks or where tapping blind men are to
be found.

I have had this TV for quite some time now, bought at another retailer. It is a good TV with many different options for inputs. It does not display HDTV though so you may want to think twice before buying an LCD that is not HD capable.

It is a good second TV though. Mostly I use it in my main TV room so that my XBox 360 can be played while the rest of the family is watching the main TV.

I've had this about 5 weeks to regulate the intensity of my exercise workout -- roller skating in a rink. It displays only the pulse rate, making it simple to interpret the big numerals on the wrist watch.
After two workout sessions, I was moderating my exertions to within the acceptable range on my own, only occasionally looking at the watch.
According to the supplied age/pulse-rate/intensity-zone chart, I had been working out too hard previously. Now it's very easy for me to stay within a safe range.

I bought this Polar unit to replace my previous one which gave up the ghost after 5 years. I selected this simple unit to avoid 'featuritis'.

The Polar B1 is easy to put on and the chest strap is comfortable. It sometimes takes a couple of "wettings" of the chest part with water to get the watch part pulse to read out.The area where a few drops of water goes could be better labled.
But the digital readout is large size and easy to read and it does what it says it will.
I am very satisfied-I like staying in my training rate and not getting my pulse too high.
Chris E.