The BenQ EW2420: Too good to be true?

spazmochad said:
So I bought an EW2420 last week and just thought I'd let you know my experience.

The monitor was for my bro as an xmas present to replace his 19" Hans.G from 2006. Knowing there might be issues I decided to test it in case of backlight bleed and dead pixels.

I have to say the backlight on the screen was very even with no LEDs shining through at the bottom. The contrast was good although in the dark room the black wasn't as deep/dark as I'd have hoped for.

Now given that I'm using a BenQ FP241W which is getting on for four years old and also uses an VA panel, I expected this new screen to perform on par with it regarding response times and ghosting. What greeted me when I went for a quick session on l4d was a smeary mess, panning around the walls seemed to melt like I was on drugs. Same with every other game I tried, mostly FPSes, which is what my brother spends his time playing. This was with AMA on, turned off thing became even worse, which I found hard to belive. Knowing that my FP241W is devoid of any overdrive, was I expecting too much? The screen behaved exactly like in the video which somebody posted earlier of them panning in WOW.

I'd also have to say that the colours on it were lacking any kind of punch, the backlight gave the screen a cold feel and I simply couldn't get the reds to look anything other than pink.

So I sent it packing.

What worries me is that the monitor box has clearly been opened as one layer of BenQ tape was cut. Then another layer of BenQ tape was applied over the top which was of course uncut. The monitor was manufactured in Sept so I have to wonder if someone had already sent it back. On this basis I hope it was a duff screen as the majority of people here seem to find thier ghosting minor or at least bearable.

At any rate I've gone for a 2333T to see what that like ( yes, yes it may ghost more, but I'm hoping the BenQ was a duffer :p )

If that turns out to be as bad then I guess its time to move onto IPS, the ViewSonic VP2365wb seems to be my next canidate.

Are we asking too much from these screens? Have I been spoilt by my trusty FP241W, not to mention the AMOLED on my phone :eek:...
Click to expand...

I must say my experience of this monitor from owning for 2 days is total opposite to yours.

The colours and detail for me is nothing short of awesome and once i enabled AMA all the games i tried was very close to my tnt panel.

Games i tried.

1.AMA2 Arrow Head

2.Two Worlds 2

3. Lockon Flaming Cliffs 2

4. Black Shark.

5.Half Life 2

6.F1 2010

7.Apache Air Assault

8.Assasins Creed 2

Pros:

1. Blacks are black whites are white i am that impressed i have left 90% of my wall paper black.

2.Detail is amazing each time i fired up lockon i noticed little extra detail i have not seen before like the switches on the cockpit and in other games colours just popping up with each new game i tried which i had not noticed before.

3.Colours are superb nearly ok out of the box.

Cons.

1.If any of the games that i had tried the one with a little lag compared to my tnt is lockon when i pan from l left to right with the keys but not with Track ir in the cockpit at full 60 fps i notice a little shimmer which is kinda strange because half life 2 which my pc mashes due to age of game runs very close to my tnt.

I honestly can not find another fault for this monitor for the money.

Edit: After re reading peoples comments on this panel there must be a quality control problem like i said i am very happy or perhaps my previous panel belena 22 was just rubbish.
 
Last edited:
spazmochad said:
So I bought an EW2420 last week and just thought I'd let you know my experience.

The monitor was for my bro as an xmas present to replace his 19" Hans.G from 2006. Knowing there might be issues I decided to test it in case of backlight bleed and dead pixels.

I have to say the backlight on the screen was very even with no LEDs shining through at the bottom. The contrast was good although in the dark room the black wasn't as deep/dark as I'd have hoped for.

Now given that I'm using a BenQ FP241W which is getting on for four years old and also uses an VA panel, I expected this new screen to perform on par with it regarding response times and ghosting. What greeted me when I went for a quick session on l4d was a smeary mess, panning around the walls seemed to melt like I was on drugs. Same with every other game I tried, mostly FPSes, which is what my brother spends his time playing. This was with AMA on, turned off thing became even worse, which I found hard to belive. Knowing that my FP241W is devoid of any overdrive, was I expecting too much? The screen behaved exactly like in the video which somebody posted earlier of them panning in WOW.

I'd also have to say that the colours on it were lacking any kind of punch, the backlight gave the screen a cold feel and I simply couldn't get the reds to look anything other than pink.

So I sent it packing.

What worries me is that the monitor box has clearly been opened as one layer of BenQ tape was cut. Then another layer of BenQ tape was applied over the top which was of course uncut. The monitor was manufactured in Sept so I have to wonder if someone had already sent it back. On this basis I hope it was a duff screen as the majority of people here seem to find thier ghosting minor or at least bearable.

At any rate I've gone for a 2333T to see what that like ( yes, yes it may ghost more, but I'm hoping the BenQ was a duffer :p )

If that turns out to be as bad then I guess its time to move onto IPS, the ViewSonic VP2365wb seems to be my next canidate.

Are we asking too much from these screens? Have I been spoilt by my trusty FP241W, not to mention the AMOLED on my phone :eek:...
Click to expand...

Well thats put my plans to switch from my FP241W to the EW2420 on hold. Getting really bad image persistence on my FP241W so thinking it's time for a change.
 
The EW2420 seems almost identical to the VW2420H.

From the BenQ specs:
The EW2420 is listed as 53Watts and 24" screen.
The VW2420 is listed as 40Watts and 24"LED screen.

It leads me to think the EW2420 is not LED but the VW2420 is.
 
Last edited:
looks very similar really. same spec and same panel certainly. The design is slightly different (round base, thin neck, power button on front). rest of features look very similar
 
PanMaster said:
The EW2420 seems almost identical to the VW2420H.

From the BenQ specs:
The EW2420 is listed as 53Watts and 24" screen.
The VW2420 is listed as 40Watts and 24"LED screen.

It leads me to think the EW2420 is not LED but the VW2420 is.
Click to expand...

Actually the maximum power consumption of the EW2420 is listed as 40W by BenQ and it is certainly LED-backlit, as specified. Being the world's first LED-backlit VA monitor is its claim to fame. The fact it has "LED" printed in the bottom left corner is also a dead giveaway. http://benq.co.uk/products/LCD/index.cfm/page/specifications/product/1200.

Maybe you were getting confused and looking at the E2420?
 
Last edited:
Last edited:
Think PanMaster needs to read things a bit more carefully. In the link he posted "BenQ – the world's leading LED monitor brand – has again successfully taken the lead to launch the world's first VA LED monitor!"

As for the stated power consumption I think BenQ have messed up and pasted in the wrong value on their US website. It happens sometimes, but seeing as we're British we should be trusting their UK specifications instead. Linked to in my previous post.
 
indeed. and in fact actual power consumption of the EW2420 measured at 33.6W max (100% brightness) and down to around 25W after calibration / 2.0W standby
 
Ice Tea said:
Samsung 2333T is that LED backlight ?
Click to expand...

No, I don't think so.

But it has a pretty low power consumption; this is what I measured:

Off: 0,4 Watt
Standby: 0,5 Watt
0% brightness: 18,3 Watt
32% brightness: 23,7 Watt
36% brightness: 24,6 Watt
100% brightness: 40,5 Watt

32% is the brightness value that a user chose who calibrated the monitor @120 cd/m2.

36% is the brightness I chose without calibration.

So the Samsung sucks a lot less from the plug than my old 2209WA, which needed 39 Watt @ 0% brightness (which was much darker than my 36% setting on the Samsung).
 
I don't post here very often, but I thought I'd chip pin on this thread as I have the VW version of the monitor. I would've preferred the EW, but stock was very thin on the ground when I bought mine a month ago.

This monitor is the most frustrating piece of hardware that I have ever owned. Sometimes I am stunned by the picture quality, the contract and the colour accuracy compared to the Dell TN I have sitting next to it, and at other times I am cursing the cold image and severe ghosting. I have yet to go 48 hours without tweaking the brightness, colour and contrast setting - it normally takes a week or so to find a picture I like for the majority of uses.

The ghosting (or black trails - whatever you want to call it) pass me by most of the time, but there are certain games and films where it's really apparent. The black edging on the tiles in portal seem to stay on the screen for an age, as do the trails from people's eyes in home movie footage. The viewing angles are no better than my Dell TN panel (there is little colour shift, but the contrast shift is awful).

And yet, I never sent the monitor back. Why? Because when the picture is good, it's very good, with blacks so deep that it looks like the screen is wet with ink, and beautiful, natural looking photos.
 
So the Samsung 2333T turned up yesterday and I have to say I'd choose it over the BenQ any day.

Regardless, come Monday I'm sending it back. Why? Because of the ghosting, it's as bad as the BenQ. Everything else however is much, much better. This includes build quality, contrast and colours (red is no longer pink, whites are not tinted blue).

The cPVA panels just aren't up to gaming. Even working with Windows and browsing the Internet messy.
 
Actually the 2333T uses the same (less responsive) cPVA panel as the F2380. It is inferior to the EW2420 in that regard. You also must have got a duffer because the colour reproduction, white levels and white uniformity of our EW2420 review unit is excellent. I was also put off by the responsiveness initially but I found when I stopped looking for it and admired other aspects of the image quality it was a very good experience. Obviously if you have a sub-optimal unit (sounds as if you did) there's not so much to admire.
 
Last edited:
If you want a monitor with excellent gaming response, no ghosting, vibrant colours, and a design which looks fantastic get the Samsung XL2370 LED, the blacks aren't as good as the EW2420, but not far off,
I can't fault this monitor.
 
I take it you checked out our review of the XL2370? Contrast is of course not comparable to a VA panel and neither is colour reproduction really but it is one of if not the best all-round monitors I've ever used. The consistency of Samsung is a huge bonus too - yeah a good EW2420 unit is great (responsiveness aside) but it seems more often than not they are sub-standard. Given the recent price drop of the XL2370 it's a fine bit of kit for under £200.
 
yes I read the reviews on the EW2420, the BX2350, and the XL2370. As I posted earlier, I loved the BenQ EW2420, loved the blacks & the viewing angles but couldn't get the colours balanced no matter what I tried. There was a distinct green tint to it, which may have been because it was an ex-display model, then again Techradar mentioned this green shift in their review so who knows.

I bought the XL2370 based mostly on your excellent review of it, and I'm glad I did because the colours on this monitor are beautiful, I got fantastic colours on this monitor after running Windows 7 calibration setup, and that took less than 15 mins, so despite it being a TN panel and having inferior viewing angles to the BenQ, and the blacks not being quite as black, and there being a little backlight bleed from the LEDs at the bottom of the screen ... this is a STONKING monitor. I swear I spent ages just looking at my weapons glinting in the sunlight in BlackOPs, that game looks beautiful on this monitor, and with no lag or ghosting whatsoever. Similar results with watching movies, even watching movies off-angle, they still look great. I know PCM2 favours the EW2420, but for me I prefer the XL2370, this one is most definitely a keeper. I'm so happy with it!

nb. it needs a good support ie. desk/table, because when I slam my mouse around it wobbles because my table is rubbish apart from that, ... love it!

.
 
Last edited:
I wouldn't say I favour the EW2420, broadly speaking. I find the XL2370 a lot easier to recommend due to the obvious inconsistencies between EW2420 units and the slightly off-putting responsiveness. I was absolutely amazed by how well colour-balanced our EW2420 was out of the box. We ran through calibration with a Pantone Huey a few weeks ago and the changes it made were so minor that it made no visible difference. The XL2370 really does look great (at least I think so), has responsiveness above and beyond most other 60Hz monitors and has very good colour vibrancy and brightness.

The price of the EW2420 seems to have crept up from the £160 and very well-tuned unit we were testing and gave 83% to overall, whereas the XL2370's price has been reduced significantly from the £260 unit we gave 81% to. I'm glad the review was of help - we were recommending it that strongly when it was £260+ to buy. Now it is far less it's a stonking monitor choice, as you say.
 
Last edited:
Does anyone know when the BL2400PT will be in stock anywhere reputable? I believe it will suit my requirements better than the EW2420 but can't find it anywhere. :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom