Monitor recommendations - for eye strain

cactusj · 28 Apr 2016 at 14:29

Dear all

Some background info:

I currently own 2 monitors - BenQ XL2420T and Dell U2412M - in use for approximately 4 years. This is a double monitor setup.

I use the monitors for long hours - for work and gaming. Last year, my eyes would get fatigued after long hours of use. I realised that for years, the brightness setting has been really high on my monitors. Turning that down has helped. Also, I have invested in Gunnar Optiks glasses to reduce the glare. That has helped a lot too.

I'll soon be getting a new gaming PC and will probably look into new monitors. On that note, can anyone help me with the following:
Are there any recommendations for height adjustable 24 inch monitors that do as much as possible to protect the eyes.

I understand that no monitor can ever be a substitute for regular breaks. I have heard of the BenQ eye care monitor range - but don't know much about it's effectiveness.

Thanks in advance for your help!

wunkley · 28 Apr 2016 at 14:51

Some things that spring to mind are...

Make sure it's not pwm and therefore flicker free backlighting used in the monitor.

Try adding some actual backlighting to the monitor - bias lighting - if you have it located near a wall. I use 6500k led strips on mine. Apart from supposedly helping with eye strain, it looks cool too.

Make sure you have it set up and calibrated properly for your usual lighting conditions. Most people have their monitors set waaaaaaay too bright, which causes strain as you've seen.

Make sure you have text at a comfortable size for your use, screen size and ppi. Consider using Windows scaling to bump it up a bit.

On a side note, if you're looking for new gaming screens, why are you looking at 24 inch panels??? Go bigger my friend, go bigger. I've just bagged the Acer x34 superwide. It's absolutely superb.

cactusj · 28 Apr 2016 at 15:14

wunkley said:
Some things that spring to mind are...

Make sure it's not pwm and therefore flicker free backlighting used in the monitor.

Try adding some actual backlighting to the monitor - bias lighting - if you have it located near a wall. I use 6500k led strips on mine. Apart from supposedly helping with eye strain, it looks cool too.

Make sure you have it set up and calibrated properly for your usual lighting conditions. Most people have their monitors set waaaaaaay too bright, which causes strain as you've seen.

Make sure you have text at a comfortable size for your use, screen size and ppi. Consider using Windows scaling to bump it up a bit.

On a side note, if you're looking for new gaming screens, why are you looking at 24 inch panels??? Go bigger my friend, go bigger. I've just bagged the Acer x34 superwide. It's absolutely superb.

That's really helpful. Thank you.
I am thinking 24 inch because of my office / space / desk setup. I sit quite close to the monitors and seem comfortable with 24 inches. Maybe I need to rethink this...

Rroff · 28 Apr 2016 at 15:16

I found my BenQ XL2420T horrid on the eye didn't realise how glaring it was until I moved onto other monitors* - the backlight seems to have a slight but quite harsh icey blue rather that closer to white hue - was kind of like staring into one of the early ultra bright LEDs before they got a more natural colour out of them.

* I noticed it as I've always had atleast 2 monitors on my desk but didn't realise quite how bad it was until I was no longer using it.

anthony566 · 28 Apr 2016 at 16:18

lighting plays a big part on eye strain ... I used to have my pc in front of a window this was a very bad idea as soon as I moved it so the window was behind me it made a big difference.

fraseredwards · 28 Apr 2016 at 21:34

check the flicker free database on your search, i.e. only choose a monito that has been confirmed to offer flicker free viewing
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/articles/flicker_free_database.htm

cactusj · 29 Apr 2016 at 20:25

Thanks for all of the feedback so far - been really helpful!

gazjam · 29 Apr 2016 at 21:46

Look into a program called f.lux
https://justgetflux.com/

The blue light of monitors was giving me sore eyes and blurred vision (bad monitor habits here) and this helped a LOT.

cactusj · 29 Apr 2016 at 21:52

gazjam said:
Look into a program called f.lux
https://justgetflux.com/

The blue light of monitors was giving me sore eyes and blurred vision (bad monitor habits here) and this helped a LOT.

This is interesting. So after using flux, which changes the colours on the monitor, you noticed a difference within a few weeks?

I have just downloaded it. Are there any particular settings you used?

jak731 · 29 Apr 2016 at 22:10

Having an anti-reflective matte rather than gloss coating helps IMO. I also really notice the difference between a washed out TN panel (which I normally have at work) and a wide colour gamut monitor like an OLED or IPS type panel. Don't know if it's just me but I find it much less fatiguing. HTH

peterwalkley · 30 Apr 2016 at 10:01

As already said, ambient lighting is the first thing to check. Sunlight is my biggest enemy, I have opaque blinds to cut it out.

You must discipline yourself to take regular breaks. It is not just your eyesight that will benefit from getting up and moving around.

I'm a fan of VA panels as my best compromise for work, gaming and extended use. Currently using a very old NEC 24WMGX3 for the work laptop and a samsung 32" for gaming, personal coding and home use. I don't play the twitch style online hyperactive FPS games - just "normal" shooters like Far Cry series, wolfenstein etc. It is fine with those.

Flux is well worth a try for a few days to get used to it. My wife and girls all use it on tablets and other PC's. I didn't get on with it, but have my office setup optimized for me anyway.

Quartz · 30 Apr 2016 at 10:40

peterwalkley said:
You must discipline yourself to take regular breaks. It is not just your eyesight that will benefit from getting up and moving around.

This. A thousand times this.

djkav · 30 Apr 2016 at 13:31

Bigger screens, make the eyes relax.

If your vision changes just a fraction, with small screens, makes your eyes start to strain placing extra stress on the eye muscles. Also, dim diffused lighting behind the monitor to reduce eye strain too. Also, get some eye drops to help rehydrate and relax tired eyes.

I have an eye condition that requires me to wear medically prescribed contact lenses to see. Glasses don't work with my condition. So eye strains, fatigues and migraines are a common daily occurrence for me. I can take my lenses out, but then, i'm severely partially sighted.