Home > Consumer Reviews > ViewSonic A70f+ 17" CRT Monitor

Most reviews I see read seem like they are written by some professional marketing agent trying to persuade me that they are an average "Joe" writing to extol the virtues of some product. Let me assure you, I am no professional....and I certainly cannot extol the virtues of this monitor. Right out of the box, this monitor had problems. Extreme bowing at both the top and bottom of the picture were more than I could stand. I fiddled with the controls for over an hour trying to eliminate the bowing, but to no avail. On top of that, the CD-ROM included with the monitor caused my PIII HP all kinds of problems. I finally removed the CD software and let the plug & play routine do its thing. That procedure stopped the freezing and quirky mouse problems, but the bowing remains. This one is going back....tomorrow!!!

I bought one. It worked for one year and three months. ViewSonic said too bad when I complained. I had always bought Samsungs and they all are still working. The big mystery is that the warranty is one year in the United States, but it's three years outside the US. What's the reason for that?

Right out of the box this unit screamed cheap. The base, compared to my old A70f monitor, was flimsy and unsteady. The rear section of its swivel base was separate and to be inserted by the user; unfortunately, it was too thin and cheesy to stay in the slot and therefore useless. Fortunately I still had the old, well-made one. That's probably why the base came unassembled -- it was impossible to assemble.

But the monitor is going back anyway, because it also has poor linearity and is impossible to adjust satisfactorily. I apparently got the last one, too, as it arrived yesterday (12/22/04) and is already shown as discontinued today. Thankfully, Amazon has a customer-friendly return policy.