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I paid £139 + £12 delivery, which at the time was an unbelievably low price for a 19" TFT screen. The average price for other brands for this size was still around the £200 - 250 mark.
I have had a quick scan round (July 07) and the prices are still roughly the same ranging from £135 - ... Read review
Advantages: Superb quality and after sales service Disadvantages: I am yet to find any!!
Introduction
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I purchased my monitor in January 2007 new from E-bay. At first I was somewhat sceptical of both the product and the warranty being offered as I had never heard of the brand. However being in desperate need of a replacement, (My old one had a loosing argument with the stairs) I
decided to take the plunge. My reasoning was that if the product turned ... ...had Paypal to fall back on as safeguard if I needed a refund.
My expectations
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As I had never heard of the Digimate brand, I approached my purchase with some scepticism. The decision was based upon a "In need and on a budget" basis. I expected to receive an average product with a mediocre display, with a view to updating ... more
Introduction <><><><><><><>
I purchased my monitor in January 2007 new from E-bay. At first I was somewhat sceptical of both the product and the warranty being offered as I had never heard of the brand. However being in desperate need of a replacement, (My old one had a loosing argument with the stairs) I decided to take the plunge. My reasoning was that if the product turned out to be a piece of scrap, I at least had Paypal to fall back on as safeguard if I needed a refund.
My expectations <><><><><><><><><>
As I had never heard of the Digimate brand, I approached my purchase with some scepticism. The decision was based upon a "In need and on a budget" basis. I expected to receive an average product with a mediocre display, with a view to updating again when funds were more readily available.
My realisation <><><><><><><><>
My expectations of the monitor were very happily unfounded. To my amazement the quality of the display is absolutely astounding. I have noticed that with some LCD displays the picture quality tends to be either fairly dull, or has a somewhat washed out appearance, almost as though it is slightly out of focus. In contrast to this the Digimate display is in a word "Superb!" Picture clarity is very sharp and well defined. The brightness of the screen is again very very good. I have my PC located by a window. What is pleasantly surprising is how well the screen retains it's clarity even in direct light.
Selling Features <><><><><><><><><>
The two features that attracted me to the brand was A- the price and B- the two year warranty offered. I paid £139 + £12 delivery, which at the time was an unbelievably low price for a 19" TFT screen. The average price for other brands for this size was still around the £200 - 250 mark. I have had a quick scan round (July 07) and the prices are still roughly the same ranging from £135 - £159.
Other useful attributes are the built in speakers. Although not by any means a substitute for multimedia speakers, they are of a slightly higher standard than you normally get with monitor speakers. The sound quality is very reasonable without any tinniness. To further enhance the picture quality, if you have a higher spec graphics card, the monitor has DVi input.
Access to all the cable connections is very good with no awkward angles or covers. This is one the points I had never even thought of until I connected another brand of monitor up for a friend. To say the least, because of the cable entry access, connecting it up would be a lot easier if you had a broken wrist. Thankfully connecting my Digimate up is a 2 minute job.
It may seem like a trivial point, but I have also found the design of the stand to be also very good. With some monitors, the swivel point for adjusting the angle of view can be a hard struggle to adjust. The Digimate stand makes adjustment very easy with the monitor simply gliding to your required angle. On the back of the monitor there are four pre-drilled mounting points so if preferred it can be fitted to a standard LCD wall bracket.
Warranty <><><><><>
Digimate offer with their monitors a 2 year return to base warranty. Registration for this is very simple and done on-line. At the back of the product is a silver scratch off panel with a unique warranty number. Once registered this number can be used to track any service work, date of purchase, warranty information, product information, serial number etc. all on-line via Digimate's web site.
After Sales Service <><><><><><><><><>
This is one area of a purchase that we all hope we will never need to experience. In March 2007 after throwing a tennis ball in the house (As you do!!) I hit the bottom of the monitor casing which caused the bottom 1/3 of the display to cease working. I decided to try my luck with the warranty and phoned Digimate to report a fault, conveniently missing out the part where it had a ball bounced off it. As the warranty is on a return to manufacturer basis I had expected to have to pay to send it back. To my amazement, Digimate once again exceeded my expectations by sending a courier NEXT DAY to collect the monitor without me incurring any costs. The turn around time was very good. 7 days after picking up the monitor, I had an e-mail to contact the service department to arrange re-delivery. When I contacted them I was informed that the repair had been carried out and asked when would suit me best for delivery. Once again next day delivery via courier was offered. I found this to be a superb service with my monitor being collected and returned within the space of 8 days including the weekend. Even more impressive was that this was done with the convenience of door to door collection and delivery. I have returned items to the likes of Curry's in the past and waited nearly 3 weeks and then had to pick it up myself.
(A good tip here is never throw balls indoors, not only do you run the risk damaging items, but it will also incur one hell of an ear bending from the other half!!)
Summary <><><><><><>
I am usually a believer in the saying "You get what you pay for". Both the product and the after sales car offered by Digimate in my opinion somewhat fly in the face of this prophecy. I would most definitely recommend not only this particular model (which is excellent value for money in itself) but also Digimate as a brand!
Specification <><><><><><><>
Panel Size: 19”TFT (Active Matrix) Resolution: 1280*1024(SXGA) Pixel Pitch: 0.294 x 0.294mm Display Colors: 16.7M Brightness (cd/m2): 250cd/m2 Contrast Ratio: 700:1 Scan Frequency: H:30- 79 KHz V:56-75Hz Response time: 12ms Viewing Angle, H/V: 160°/150° OSD language: English , German,French, Italian,Spaish , T. / S.Chinese, Japanese Input Signal: DVI-D, VGA ( D -sub 15pin) Internal Speaker: Built-in stereo speakers Power Supply: Input AC 100~240V 50~60Hz Power Consumption: Max 42W, Standby 3W Net Weight: 6.73kg
