Hot?? VG150 LCD for $300 @ CompUSA

[Cooky]

linky
I believe this model used to cost about $1000 a year or 2 ago. Glad I didn't pick one up then.

$399.99 - 100MIR = 299.99 online only

 

[DonBlack]

I bought one of these a year ago for $275 after rebate.... It's been the only LCD I own that has maintained its value. Nice LCD though...

 

[FPSguy]

It's been the only LCD I own that has maintained its value

My KDS Rad-5 has gone way up in cost since I bought it a year or so ago, which is too bad because I really want to buy another.

Does anyone know what the true response time is on the Viewsonic? There is a press release on Viewsonic's website that claims it is 30ms, but sometimes those numbers are just the rise or just the fall and not the combination of both. The Viewsonic product page for the monitor doesn't say what the response time is, which usually is a bad sign. I note that its DVI cousin, the VG151, has a 40ms response time, though, which I think is too slow.

DonBlack: How is it with fast-action FPS games? With scrolling word processing or Internet pages? Any ghosting?

 

[GetReal]

<< It's been the only LCD I own that has maintained its value

My KDS Rad-5 has gone way up in cost since I bought it a year or so ago, which is too bad because I really want to buy another.

Does anyone know what the true response time is on the Viewsonic? There is a press release on Viewsonic's website that claims it is 30ms, but sometimes those numbers are just the rise or just the fall and not the combination of both. The Viewsonic product page for the monitor doesn't say what the response time is, which usually is a bad sign. I note that its DVI cousin, the VG151, has a 40ms response time, though, which I think is too slow.

DonBlack: How is it with fast-action FPS games? With scrolling word processing or Internet pages? Any ghosting? >>



FPSguy - HeHe unless you obtained your RAD5 via a "five finger dsiscount" you statement make absolutely no sense. The Rad-5 is still one of the lowest priced LCDs on the market with an average street price of $350 before any manufacturer MIR and is about half its street price a year ago so how ha your unit "increased" in value? The RAD5 is OK, but there are better LCDs out there through some of the Dell deals for the money.Some even include DVI connection.

 

[unclebud]

maybe he got it from sam's when it was $262.91
maybe he shops in different areas with different prices accessible to him
maybe he just likes it

 

[FPSguy]

unless you obtained your RAD5 via a "five finger dsiscount" you statement make absolutely no sense

Check it out: I bought it at Office Depot when it was in the low $300's. Now it is freakin $420 there!!! And, I can't find it anywhere reputable for under $350 shipped. Unfortunately just after I bought it at OD they came out with a 20% off coupon AND there was a mfr. rebate, so the final cost was $238 back then. <rant>I told the wife we should buy an extra one because that price was just too good, but she seems to have some kind of magic voodoo veto power that kept me from whipping out the credit card.</rant> If you find one for $350 with a $30 or more mfr. rebate, please let me know as I would be all over it. Bottom line, though, is that if I buy one now I have to pay quite a bit more than I paid back then, and a ton more than if I had gotten one for $238.

Which LCDs at Dell are better? I see that the Planar 15" also has a 25ms response time, and if that gets down around $300 I would be tempted to buy it. Are there any others worth looking at? The Planar PV150 and the KDS Rad-5 are the only ones I can find with a 25ms or lower response time. I am no expert but it seems to me that the total response time is really important. I play Quake III on my Rad-5 and watch DVDs on it and it works like a dream. Once you get above 30ms response time I don't think the response to motion will be fast enough.

Edit: P.S. - The ones on PriceWatch that are under $350 typically are not the Rad-5 but the Rad-5X or 5P or 5Q or something, and surprisingly those models do not have a 25ms response time. Also, some of those low-end PriceWatch vendors can be scary, IMO.

 

[FPSguy]

Dell just changed the price of the Planar PV150 from $415 to $479, so there is another LCD that has gone up in price. What is going on with these things?

 

[Thump553]

Check the rebate terms very, very carefully to make sure buying from CompUSA qualifies. Viewsonic has a well deserved reputation for being quibblers on their rebates.

I bought this monitor last summer for my daughter and got burned by Viewsonic on my $100 rebate. First they changed the terms of the rebate after the sale and claimed purchases from Dell didn't qualify. After the group here got the FTC and lawyers involved, Viewsonic relented. But they still managed to stiff me, claimed (falsely) that they had sent me the rebate check and it was cashed. Never again will I or any organization where I make purchasing decisions buy a Viewsonic product again. I should have known- a year earlier it took months and several calls to shake a measly $20 rebate out of them for a different monitor.

Generally, I strongly suspect that there will be another round of price drops on LCD monitors. Isn't there another generation of LCDs just on the horizon?

EDIT: As I recall, the price last summer would have been $230-260 after rebate.

 

[JJordan]

Dang It ! I ordered this monitor Yesterday from Dell and it had already shipped before I saw this deal. Dell is NOT one of the merchants on the rebate CompUSA is specifically listed. Dell won't Price Match or anything on the deal.

Edit: I guess after tax and shipping from CompUSA and waiting who knows how long for the rebate it is only $20 less than the Dell purchase, so I do not feel QUITE so bad

 

[IronChefM]

<< EDIT: As I recall, the price last summer would have been $230-260 after rebate. >>



About two weeks ago, price was $235 after rebate. I just got it and I'm in love with LCD screens. I don't think I could go back to my 19 CRT.

 

[broadwayblue]

if you have an amex card that still have bvg you can get this lcd for $226 right now until the end of may.

 

[Lattiz]

<<
Edit: P.S. - The ones on PriceWatch that are under $350 typically are not the Rad-5 but the Rad-5X or 5P or 5Q or something, and surprisingly those models do not have a 25ms response time. Also, some of those low-end PriceWatch vendors can be scary, IMO. >>



I was under the impression all of the Rad-5 series LCDs shared the same internals but with different design/stands. Can anyone clarify on this?

Thanks,

 

[FPSguy]

I was under the impression all of the Rad-5 series LCDs shared the same internals but with different design/stands. Can anyone clarify on this?

They don't seem to. If you look at www.kdsusa.com, the 5x, for instance, has lower brightness than the 5 and 5q. I e-mailed KDS and asked them what the response time was for each of their 5 series monitors, and only the Rad-5 has a 25ms response time (the others are higher).

 

[Cooky]

I was going to pick one up but after reading someone's post about the slow response time on VG150 I'm hesitating...
How's 30ms on VG150 compared to 25ms on KDS Rad5 and others?? Is there a whole lot difference??

The response time only matters in gaming and video playing right?? I suppose if I use it for other purposes I'll be fine??

 

[Lauzy]

I love my kds rad5. I played cS on it just fine, but you may be more picky. you're right fpsguy, prices for the rad-5 did go up since around christmas 2001 when I got mine for $280 after rebate. I wanted to get another one too.

 

[FPSguy]

Cooky: If it's really 30ms, then this is a good deal and I wouldn't let the difference between 25ms and 30ms stop you, especially if you aren't using it for fast-action games that much. The problem is, sometimes companies only quote the pixel rise rate or fall rate, but not the combination of the two. I don't understand it all that well (there is an explanation of it here -- go to the heading "Pixel Response Rates"), but I think that if you divide 1000 by the combined rise and fall rate, you get the maximum frames per second under the worst case scenario. If I'm right about that, then a 25ms response time means 40 FPS, and a 30ms response time means 33.33 FPS. By way of contrast, American TV (non-high-definition) is 29.97 FPS. So for me, 30ms is the maximum acceptable response time and 25ms is better.

If anyone has a better or different understanding, I'd love to hear it. I have no background in this area and only know what I have read (so, I could easily be wrong). I still can't figure out how FiringSquad calculated 24 FPS from a 40ms response time.

 

[FPSguy]

For those who may be curious, I e-mailed Viewsonic and asked them what the response time is on this monitor. They responded that it is 40ms.

 

[kbaxter]

So, here's a question for those of you that already own the VG150:

The spec page shows resolution at 1024x768 at 60 Hz

Is that the best it can do? And, if so, is refresh different for LCD's? That would kill me on a CRT monitor!!

Comments welcome.....

:Q

 

[Cooky]

So ViewSonic told FPSguy the response time is 40ms in the email.....weird see I called ViewSonic and they told me it's 27ms on the phone...
Over the phone I also asked why they don't put the information on the spec sheet on the website, so that people won't call or email them about it and they'll have less workload and the guy's attitute was like "it's your problem, not mine" which really pissed me off!!

Does anyone know what the response time is for sure??
In the
PressRelease
it's 30ms,
In the email to FPSguy it's 40ms and on the phone I was told 27ms....

 

[Foghorn]

Refresh rate is NOT an issue with LCD's. There is no "Flicker" to deal with, so it's like looking at a 100 hz refresh on a CRT.

 

[Foghorn]

I have this monitor and love it. It's plenty fast, no perceptible "lag", even in fast paced shooters.

 

[FPSguy]

Does anyone know what the response time is for sure??

You might try calling back and asking for the engineering department (M-F), they should have better information. If the CSR tells you they have the information in front of them and won't connect you to engineering, ask them what the breakdown is between the rise time and the fall time. I did that once with another company and the CSR said they would have to check with engineering and then came back and said their numbers had been incorrect and the rise time and fall time added up to a higher response time than they had originally quoted me.