Monitor arms

I am in need of 3 monitor arms. I would like them to be flexible with positioning with the ability to rotate. Going to be using these with 2x2007fp and 1x3007wfphc.

The tricky one is the 30". List of arms with adjustable height/depth/tilt/rotate I've found that can hold around 25 or more pounds:

Peerless LCT-101:
18" vertical, 23" reach
http://www.ergodirect.com/product_info.php?products_id=14509
$175 shipped from buy.com
$166 shipped from Dell

Workrite SA1000(SwingArm, appears to be the same as LCT-101):
23" vertical, 23" reach
http://www.workriteergo.com/products/productmain.asp?famID=85
found a review that says it works well with a 3007fpw:
http://www.ergodirect.com/product_info.php?products_id=14041
~$200 with 9% off with live cashback from csn supply:
http://www.csnsupply.com/Workrite-Ergonomics-SA1000-WR1364.html#ReviewHeader
~$210 shipped with a wall mount option from:
http://www.thehumansolution.com/workrite-swingarm.html

Workrite SA1500
23" vertical 30" reach
$266.04 shipped from:
http://www.thehumansolution.com/workrite-swingarm.html
$254.40 shipped from:
http://www.ergodirect.com/shopping_cart.php

Chief:
KCG110 dual arm, single monitor:
13" vertical, 20" reach
http://www.chiefmfg.com/productdetail.aspx?MountID=10
review mentions using with Dell 30":
http://accessories.dell.com/sna/PopupProductDetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&cs=04&sku=A0645307&price=230

KCB110 triple arm, single monitor:
13" vertical, 26" reach
http://www.chiefmfg.com/productdetail.aspx?MountID=8


Innovative Office Products 7500-1500:
18" vertical, 27" reach
video:
http://www.lcdarms.com/products/LCD_Radial_Arms/7500.html
The standard mount supports both wall and desk mounting.

7500-500 2 - 13 lbs
7500-800 6 - 21 lbs
7500-1000 8 - 27 lbs
7500-1500 13.5 - 44 lbs

(specifically mentioned as supporting 30" cinema display):
http://www.lcdarms.com/lcd_monitor_arms.php
recommended by a rep for 3007wfp and lp3065 here:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1110847&pp=20&page=31
28 lb monitor:
http://www.lcdarms.com/knowledgebase/print.php?ID=84
$236.04 shipped from provantage
$227 shipped from onsale.com


Innovative 7000:
16" vertical, 24" reach
http://www.lcdarms.com/products/LCD_Radial_Arms/7000.html

7000-500 4 - 14.5 lbs
7000-800 9 - 24 lbs
7000-1000 12 - 29 lbs

7000-1000:
$169 from:
http://www.opentip.com/Electronics-Computers/Lcd-Arm-Flexible-Flat-Panel-Radial-Arm-p-116754.html
$160 shipped, 6" heigh extension for $45, and they take paypal from:
http://www.innovativeessentials.com/product_info.php?products_id=259
also $160 here(another storefront for innovativeessentials I think):
http://www.ergospecialist.com/24-radial-lcd-arm-p-713.html

The pricing is probably dated, I put together the list a few months ago.

I ended up buying a 7000-1000 from ergospecialist for my 30"(LP3065), I'm pretty sure it was just drop shipped from the manufacturer. And I bought 2 used IBM arms that are an OEM of the 7000-800 for 2 lighter monitors(LP2475w, and 2343BWX). Reasons were price, and the fact that the Innovative Office Products arms include mounting hardware that works for either desk or wall mounting. The other arms all had mounts that only worked on a desk, or only worked on a wall, but not both.

I've since also purchased a used 7500-1500 and moved the 30" to it, and I plan to move the LP2475w to the 7000-1000, and use the freed up 7000-800 for a second 2343BWX.

If you don't need on the fly height adjustment you can probably save a lot of money, especially if you go with a wall mounted arm. The gas spring and associated hardware is what pushes all these arms up over $100.

I've been looking at arms as well.

There's also the ESI Kalibur
23.75" reach, 33 lbs
http://www.esiergo.com/products/monitorsolutions/KALIBUR.asp

Very nice list. Some of these mounts are freakin expensive!

90% of the monitor arms listed above look like Ergotron/3M; which cost much less.

Take that ESI, for instance. Looks like this: http://www.ergotron.com/Products/tabid/65/PRDID/248/language/en-US/default.aspx

and I just bought mine for $230 through Amazon.

Here's a review of Ergotron products from a programmer's stand point. The reviews about 2 years old, but the contents are still valid. And the products have beeen improved since.

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000959.html

In my research Ergotron was lacking support for 25+ pound/30" monitors.

They do have the MX, but it has significantly less range of motion compared to all of the above arms. 5" height, ~16" depth, but with the center offset for a good bit of the range.

I've been on the hunt to for my 30' HP
Finding one that supports the weight (my screen alone is 21.9 lbs) and does portrait as well as landscape is tough
Sanus has 1 so does Chief

roberta said:

I've been on the hunt to for my 30' HP
Finding one that supports the weight (my screen alone is 21.9 lbs) and does portrait as well as landscape is tough
Sanus has 1 so does Chief

Click to expand...

If you missed it up above, I've been happy with my HP LP3065 on both the 7000-1000 and 7500-1500 arms.

They do rotate(i.e. portrait to landscape), but there are no set stopping points, it's a continuous 360+ degrees. There's a lot of friction on the rotation axis, so it's hard to move it less than 10 degrees or so. I.e. once you've applied enough pressure to get it moving it keeps moving a bit. I usually end up rocking back and forth 3-5 times or so before I get it looking level enough.

If you changed orientation occasionally they'd be perfectly fine. But if you wanted to change orientation multiple times a day it might become annoying.

Also, I just received a Peerless LCT-101 arm, I haven't mounted a display on it yet. It has a ball joint for rotation/tilt, instead of 2 separate axes. But it's still similar to the 7xxx arms in that there are no set points. You either have to overcome a good bit of friction, like the 7xxx, or you can loosen up some screws on the back to make it easier to turn. But again, I don't think you'd want to switch orientation multiple times a day.

An additional note on the LCT-101, you probably could wall mount it pretty easily using just the L bracket+pedestal from the desk mount hardware. The underdesk L bracket sets further back than the desktop pedestal, so it can sit flat up against the wall. It won't be as nice looking as a "real" wall mount though And I'll probably end up drilling a hole or 2 in it, since the existing 4 holes are all on the bottom half the of L bracket.

My desk sits in the middle of the room so wall mounts are out
I like the Peerless LCT-101 arm ball joint looks to be more fluid which is always a plus and the right price 158.23 gas strut to boot
Post how you like it when you set it up and how much desk clearence you have in portrait mode
Thanks

Why are these arms so expensive? Are they really worth it compared to the normal monitor stand?

@vjcsmoke
They have to be strong, as in REALLY strong. Normal stands that come with your monitor uses only a single wide metal plate. Scrimping on the material would be like holding a barbecue stick horizontally with a two pound weight on the end.

For me, the reason i'm looking for one is to have the ability to rotate my monitor between portrait and landscape. I do a lot of reading (CBR's and Acrobat) and portrait would really help a lot.

The thing i'm concerned about is that when i'm typing particularly fast, the monitor vibrates just a bit. I'm worried that putting it on an extended arm that's attached at the other end of the desk would amplify those vibrations. Imagine playing NFS with your Momo wheel and the vibrations making your screen shake while you drive.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1273248 may be an option for some of you. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260435908586 is a recent appearance on eBay. It says it's rated for 22 pounds and 14-22". However, those two specs don't really match up, as the 23" Samsung I just got is 10 pounds and the 24" Asus I was looking at was 12 pounds. There probably aren't a whole lot of 22 pound, 22" LCDs around... As you can see in the other thread, people are using these with 28" LCDs at least.

Sly said:

@vjcsmoke
They have to be strong, as in REALLY strong. Normal stands that come with your monitor uses only a single wide metal plate. Scrimping on the material would be like holding a barbecue stick horizontally with a two pound weight on the end.

Click to expand...

But how do these really expensive mounts compare to the cheaper mounts from Monoprice? Are they that much better? Do you know if the monoprice ones are decent enough, or what faults they have?

leetpyro said:

But how do these really expensive mounts compare to the cheaper mounts from Monoprice? Are they that much better? Do you know if the monoprice ones are decent enough, or what faults they have?

Click to expand...

Pretty much all the cheap mounts lack gas springs. Which makes height adjustment, if available at all, a much more involved process, especially for heavier displays. You really need 3-4 hands, 2 to hold the monitor up, and 1-2 to muck with the height adjustment hardware. The cheaper mounts also tend to have less freedom of movement than the expensive mounts.

I think the main reason the expensive mounts are more expensive is lack of demand, which requires the manufacturers to recover the fixed costs from a smaller population. If demand ever picked up I don't see any reason they couldn't fall into the $50-$100 range.

The main advantage of a monitor arm is freeing up desk space, as you add monitors you free up even more space. The other big advantage is more flexability when it comes to positioning them, which also gets more important as you add more displays.

So I'd say for single monitor setups arms are rarely worth it, unless desk space is at a premium. Once you get to 3 monitors, you're losing an awful lot of work space if you don't use arms, or your desk doesn't have a raised monitor shelf.

stewartjm said:

Pretty much all the cheap mounts lack gas springs. Which makes height adjustment, if available at all, a much more involved process, especially for heavier displays. You really need 3-4 hands, 2 to hold the monitor up, and 1-2 to muck with the height adjustment hardware. The cheaper mounts also tend to have less freedom of movement than the expensive mounts.

I think the main reason the expensive mounts are more expensive is lack of demand, which requires the manufacturers to recover the fixed costs from a smaller population. If demand ever picked up I don't see any reason they couldn't fall into the $50-$100 range.

The main advantage of a monitor arm is freeing up desk space, as you add monitors you free up even more space. The other big advantage is more flexability when it comes to positioning them, which also gets more important as you add more displays.

So I'd say for single monitor setups arms are rarely worth it, unless desk space is at a premium. Once you get to 3 monitors, you're losing an awful lot of work space if you don't use arms, or your desk doesn't have a raised monitor shelf.

Click to expand...

Okay, that helps a lot. Thanks for the info!