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KDS, the worst monitor manufacteur ever

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KDS definitely does not make high quality monitors. However, they seem pretty reliable most of the time. As well, they do have on of the best RMA programs I have ever seen. Me and a friend of mine have the same VS-195e. I've had mine for around 3 years now. I have never had any problems with it. The image quality is a little sub-par, but I got it for cheap when 19 inchers were still expensive and it does the job at 1280x1024. So, yeah, they are a little cheap, but you can get your bad ones replaced easily and you save a lot of money. =)
 
I have the 19inch xflat and I think it is beautiful at all resolutions. none of the blurriness others complain of at hi res....

I may take it back and get a refurb dell trinitron though... not sure...

 
I have a VS-195e at home and it's been great for 2-3 years. Never one problem.

My friend got their old equivalent (AV?) to their current XF line. He's had zero problems for over a year now.

I ALWAYS reecommend KDS monitors. Cornerstone as well.

amish
 
I've only owned one KDS monitor (a 17" VS-7e) and I had no problems with it for the 3 years that I had it. I would certainly buy another one based upon how well it performed.
 
I've had a 7e on my server for about 2 years and a 7i (I think) on my mom's pc for about 2 years also. Both run just fine. Not as pretty as my 21" Sony flatscreen, of course.
 
I had tons of problems with my 17" KDS monitor. Would just keep shutting off on me when I first would turn it on. It was only 2 years old tops when I had to junk it.
 
on a side note, ive heard that while the picture quality is awsome, sony reliability is crap... thats whats making me hesitate on getting a sony refurb (19inch trinitron)... however I can get a refurb sony with a 1 year warranty for 149$ + shipping... a new one would cost me 400 - 800$
 
I've had KDS displays for awhile now.

My first one was an AV-7T. That went out in 1 year. The refurb to replace it started going bad after 8 months afterwards. I'm on the 3rd refurb with still no issues (*knock on wood*). Too bad the 3 yr warranty's expired already.

The only saving grace to this is that I reside in So. Cal; close enough to Will Call RMA the monitor for replacement. Their customer service for RMA are more than happy to help, though. When I initially asked for Will Call RMA, they were more than helpful in doing so. Too bad the ONLY day to do Will Call RMA is on Fridays from 9 am-12 pm.
 
I took back 4 KDS 19" trinitrons before I gave up on them. Brown patches in the corners. Uneven brightness.
Quality control is tenuous. Then again, I bought a 17" trinitron for a computer I built for someone and it's still going strong after 18 months.

Mac
 
I've used KDS monitors for years and have been more than pleased. The one time I had to deal with an RMA everything went great. I found the customer service first rate.
 
Korean companies have always been accused of having poor quality computer products. However, Samsung is REALLY shaking things up, especially their domination in the LCD market.
 
I have to agree with josphII. I purchased a KDS VS-21e about 3 & 1/2 years ago. The only reason I considered the KDS was my work bought about 15 VS-195's. The 195 set at my desk seemed to have a slightly above average picture for a "Budget monitor". At the time I had been shopping for a 21" monitor but was put off by the prices. The VS-21e was one of the cheapest 21" monitors available at the time. I found out later why that was. About 9 months after I bought the VS-21e I started having problems. The unit would degauss randomly, on it's own. Finally after a few months of this it died. I was told later that it was likely a power supply problem. The refurbished unit they sent me to replace my NEW unit was a dog! I had nothing but problems with it and ended up RMAing it back within 2 weeks! The third unit they sent me was new, to their credit. This unit worked well until it was 6 months out of warranty. The unit started making static discharge noises followed by a black screen. The power button would not work and the unit had to be reset by unplugging it. Best Buy said it was a power transformer problem. SURPRISE!

Also most of the VS-195's we have at work, including my old one now have a "greenish" tint to the screen. I tried to correct this using the TINT options to now avail. I swapped mine for a Dell that was on somebody else's desk. Surprisingly though, only 2 or 3 have failed since we bought the lot of them.

For the guys that already own a KDS monitor I want you to know that I hope it lasts for 10+ years! But, for guys looking to buy you need to be aware that KDS does have a problem and I would never purchase another one!
 
Originally posted by: CurtCold
ViewSonic all the way baby!
Click to expand...

I think I'll agree with that - I love my Nokia monitor, and I saw that Nokia sold its monitor division to Viewsonic. 🙂
As for KDS, they are a bit weird; when I worked for a PC-servicing place, we built a few large batches of PC's, and one school had KDS monitors. They had serious focus irregularities. Almost 80% of them were out of focus when first powered on; they got better after about 10 minutes, but there still were about 2 per classroom of 30 that I set up, that were completely blurred, or else the colors weren't aligning properly. The way someone I was working with talked, there had been lots of problems with KDS monitors before, and the place I was working for was considering dropping the brand completely.
 
Originally posted by: Whitedog
I agree KDS are low quality monitors... we were buying them for our company a few years ago and did get many many bad ones... right out of the box.

I've had a VS-21 for four years now and it still looks great... though about two years ago it begin to appear very DARK when I first turned it on. It takes about 20 minutes for it to warm up to full brightness (still like this, but I can live with it)


MAG on the other hand is/was the Worst monitors on the planet! :|

hehe
Click to expand...

the vs-7p i currently have also has the brightness problem you describe. this started happening about 6 weeks ago (after 6mo of owning the monitor). i guess i should have taken that as a warning of more serious problems to come. it doesnt take 20min to get to full brightness, only about 1 min, but thats a big difference considering it used to turn on and be up and running with a perfect picture in like 1s.
 
The only saving grace to this is that I reside in So. Cal; close enough to Will Call RMA the monitor for replacement. Their customer service for RMA are more than happy to help, though. When I initially asked for Will Call RMA, they were more than helpful in doing so. Too bad the ONLY day to do Will Call RMA is on Fridays from 9 am-12 pm.
Click to expand...

Rankor, could I get some more info on this? I live in So. Cal too and my refurb monitor of the VS195e is about to go bad (theres like a stupid horizontal line about an inch wide that keeps flickering on the bottom half of my screen). My first VS195E went haywire on me after about 8 months and now the refurb is acting up after about maybe 5 months. What is Will Call RMA and how much does it cost? I want to minimize the costs of replacing my monitor because if i have to pay in full, it might just be better being spent toward a new LCD. Thanks
 
Originally posted by: WannaZO6
Originally posted by: Dreadogg
I have KDS 19 inch that has had zero problems for me. Lets see what others have to say about this.
Click to expand...


Same here. I've had my VS-190i for about a year and a half without problems.
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I concqure. i have the 19in XF-9e. X-Flat moddel. got it from wally world for 180$ its sweet for me. Absoutly no probs. i tweeked the color a lil but thats normal for any moniter. runnin a dual set up. and it looks ALOT better then teh viewsonic 17in i have also. also looks better then my friends 17in trinitron from dell, and my brothers 19in trinatron he got with his computer. i beleive its a sony
 
Ive had my Xflat XF 9B for less than a week now, and its starting to not hold its settings (like screen adjustments are a little off when I turn it on) even after warm up.

Im pretty sure im going to return it and get a trinitron from merkortech, refurbed.
 
Just thought I'd mention that 17 and 19 CRT monitors can generate a lot heat which can get trapped inside the monitor. Overtime the solider will melt and run and cause a short. They make quiet cooling fans that can reduce the inside temps by as much as 30 degrees.


I highly recommend adding a cooling fan to your CRT....it will last a lot longer if you do.
 
Originally posted by: Mrburns2007
Just thought I'd mention that 17 and 19 CRT monitors can generate a lot heat which can get trapped inside the monitor. Overtime the solider will melt and run and cause a short. They make quiet cooling fans that can reduce the inside temps by as much as 30 degrees.


I highly recommend adding a cooling fan to your CRT....it will last a lot longer if you do.
Click to expand...

In my 20 years of being in the monitor business, I have never, not once ever seen or heard of solder melting and causing a short. I have seen poor soldering where solder balls are left on the PCB and cause a short, but melting never!

What you all do not realized is unlike many electronic devices, Monitor assembly and alignment is mostly a manual process. Since humans do most of the aligning, variation is inevitable. For example: The training of the operator adjusting convergence varies person to person. For the most part when you purchase a monitor or any other electronic device, what you are really buying is the company that sold it to you. Most of the big brand names don?t even do the physical manufacturing anymore.

For example: KDS no longer manufactures their own CRT monitors, they are now made by Sampo. Not that this is a bad thing, KDS closed their own monitor lines under a reorganization about a year or two ago. This is when they dropped the line that used the Sony Trinitron CRT?s, because Sampo started doing the manufacturing for them.
 
Originally posted by: Gosharkss
Originally posted by: Mrburns2007
Just thought I'd mention that 17 and 19 CRT monitors can generate a lot heat which can get trapped inside the monitor. Overtime the solider will melt and run and cause a short. They make quiet cooling fans that can reduce the inside temps by as much as 30 degrees.


I highly recommend adding a cooling fan to your CRT....it will last a lot longer if you do.
Click to expand...

In my 20 years of being in the monitor business, I have never, not once ever seen or heard of solder melting and causing a short. I have seen poor soldering where solder balls are left on the PCB and cause a short, but melting never!

What you all do not realized is unlike many electronic devices, Monitor assembly and alignment is mostly a manual process. Since humans do most of the aligning, variation is inevitable. For example: The training of the operator adjusting convergence varies person to person. For the most part when you purchase a monitor or any other electronic device, what you are really buying is the company that sold it to you. Most of the big brand names don?t even do the physical manufacturing anymore.

For example: KDS no longer manufactures their own CRT monitors, they are now made by Sampo. Not that this is a bad thing, KDS closed their own monitor lines under a reorganization about a year or two ago. This is when they dropped the line that used the Sony Trinitron CRT?s, because Sampo started doing the manufacturing for them.
Click to expand...

I agree, Jim. That's just silly!

amish 🙂
 
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