advice for buying a secondhand monitor

[udonoogen]

besides obvious stuff like scratches on the screen? im supposed to buy this CRT from this guy tomorrow and want to make sure everything is a-okay. thanks!

Don

edit: its a samsung 955DF. specs are pretty good. are there any color/contrast tests you guys recommend? there seem to be plenty on google.

 

[DurocShark]

Hello Don, it's Don! 😛

If the monitor is cheap enough, I wouldn't even sweat scratches. You can peel the coating off the screen, leaving a nice, shiny tube. Of course, glare becomes an issue, but if you're in a dark room all the time....

Listen for buzzing or humming.
Set the display to the highest setting the monitor/PC can handle. See if there's any distortion or wiggling, particularly at the edges.
Set the display to the setting you'll be using it at. Same inspection.
Smell for burning or other strange odors.
Make sure the OSD (On Screen Display) functions work as they should.
Check the cable pins. If they've been bent you may have problems down the road.

All I can think of at the moment...

 

[OulOat]

Resolution/refresh rates. Burn-in. The buzzing.

 

[nageov3t]

the buzzing. don't forget high-pitched whistling.

might want to check and see if the edges wave or not, and if there are any blacked-out panels.

 

[Bassyhead]

make sure the color appears ok and its not fuzzy

 

[udonoogen]

Originally posted by: Bassyhead
make sure the color appears ok and its not fuzzy

how

 

[episodic]

Originally posted by: udonoogen
besides obvious stuff like scratches on the screen? im supposed to buy this CRT from this guy tomorrow and want to make sure everything is a-okay. thanks!

Don

edit: its a samsung 955DF. specs are pretty good. are there any color/contrast tests you guys recommend? there seem to be plenty on google.

I bought a 19 inch Sony monitor from a guy selling me his computer. I did not know about the monitor, I was buying his computer to resell (he was selling a P4 1.6 loaded gateway in great shape for 100$, i sold it for 250$), but I digress.

He had the monitor sitting on the floor, and I could not help notice it looked like it was in good shape. I asked him about it, he said yea it worked fine but he heard that you could not sale used monitors easily. Thinking quickly I toled em I'd take it off his hands for another 10$ enough to dispose of it if I had to (haha) . . . took it home hooked it up and it was a pure flat trinitron in excellent shape. Still sitting here a year later as my main monitor. . .

 

[dxkj]

Originally posted by: buyer262000

Originally posted by: udonoogen
besides obvious stuff like scratches on the screen? im supposed to buy this CRT from this guy tomorrow and want to make sure everything is a-okay. thanks!

Don

edit: its a samsung 955DF. specs are pretty good. are there any color/contrast tests you guys recommend? there seem to be plenty on google.

I bought a 19 inch Sony monitor from a guy selling me his computer. I did not know about the monitor, I was buying his computer to resell (he was selling a P4 1.6 loaded gateway in great shape for 100$, i sold it for 250$), but I digress.

He had the monitor sitting on the floor, and I could not help notice it looked like it was in good shape. I asked him about it, he said yea it worked fine but he heard that you could not sale used monitors easily. Thinking quickly I toled em I'd take it off his hands for another 10$ enough to dispose of it if I had to (haha) . . . took it home hooked it up and it was a pure flat trinitron in excellent shape. Still sitting here a year later as my main monitor. . .

lol, ouch? meanie!

 

[udonoogen]

serious some guys just dont know. there's this guy selling his perfect condition BLACK dell p1110 on craigslist for $80. he thinks it is 19 inches. if i had a car i'd go get THAT one instead. too bad he's not local to me. i gave the clueless guy a heads up though.