The BenQ EW2420: Too good to be true?

PCM2 · 8 Apr 2011 at 09:58

And I would be tempted to sell the EW2420 and buy the EW2430 as I prefer the aesthetics of the latter. BenQ's 'media people' are quite adamant that the panel is 'the same' so I don't hold out much hope. It could well be a different revision and maybe some people will be whipped into shape putting it together - who knows? I have been chasing after it for months so as soon as it is available (or shortly thereafter) I hope to review it and compare to the EW2420.

xerxes2 · 13 Apr 2011 at 13:29

This monitor has been sold out a while in Sweden but one shop got it back in stock last week so I got a bl2400pt. The monitor is manufactured in february and is totally awesome. No dead/stuck pixels and no backlight bleed/ripple just perfect picture quality.

There was one annoying thing though and that was that AMA is off by default. The monitor is completely useless if not AMA is on but thanks to this thread I found out about it. Also, the monitor is shipped with "four" cables, power, dvi, vga and audio. I didn't need any of them as I already have tons of cables at home so I would rather have bought the monitor without any cables at all. If you need cables you can buy those separately instead. Both cheaper and more environmentally friendly.

Bottom line, bl2400pt takes value for money to a whole new level. I got mine for €260 incl vat and freight. I'm not a gamer but I don't think that this monitor is noticably slower than 60hz tn monitors. If you're a pro gamer you will most likely get a 120hz tn anyway but I don't think anyone else will get disappointed with this monitor. This is probably my best computer hardware buy since the original athlon64 and I can very much recommend it. :cool:

LazyManc · 15 Apr 2011 at 17:00

PCM2 said:
And I would be tempted to sell the EW2420 and buy the EW2430 as I prefer the aesthetics of the latter. BenQ's 'media people' are quite adamant that the panel is 'the same' so I don't hold out much hope. It could well be a different revision and maybe some people will be whipped into shape putting it together - who knows? I have been chasing after it for months so as soon as it is available (or shortly thereafter) I hope to review it and compare to the EW2420.

Is there an ETA for UK availability? Will pricing be similar to the EW2420?

PCM2 · 15 Apr 2011 at 17:13

They're supposed to be out this month. Pricing isn't known but the EW2730 is supposed to cost around $350 (probably about £270 for us suckers) and I imagine the EW2430 will be around the £200 mark if not slightly less. I will try to chase up more about these next week.

Trana · 28 Apr 2011 at 10:59

EW2430 looks hot

argento · 2 Jun 2011 at 12:58

Thank you for the very informative thread guys.

Just a quick question:
Has anyone used this screen for HD video editing? If so, is the slower response time visible?

I will not be using this screen for gaming, just video editing (HD), but I am cautious about the mentioned ghosting problems.

I am between this (EW2420) and the Benq G2420HDBL.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Futures · 3 Jun 2011 at 17:58

When i got this monitor the slow response was noticable coming from a dell ips, but i thought i'd get used to it eventually, but it was just annoying for gaming. I spent days fiddling with all the settings, AMA on/off made almost no difference, bummer.

So i sent it back and said it was no good for games, and i wanted to fork out more cash for a better one, probably one of the 120hz ones as gaming is my main use of the computer.
But they sent it back to me and said there was nothing wrong with it, unbelievable i thought, and charged me an extra 10 bucks for thier trouble, even more unbelievable i thought.

By this time i had already gotten rid of my old dell 22", so i was stuck with a monitor that was no good for gaming. All my gaming fun is a bit ruined now

It did have nice colours though, so what the hell, i thought i'd try my hand at being a photographer in my spare time instead of gaming, but its just not the same as blowing stuff up in crysis 2.

I'm still a little bit annoyed about it, but i've come to accept it.

So anyway just to warn anyone if gaming is your thing, then its not worth taking a risk with this monitor, as in my experience you can't just send it back if your unhappy with the performance.

PCM2 · 3 Jun 2011 at 18:13

If a monitor does not live up to your expectation but isn't faulty, and you purchased it online, you have 7 days to contact the reseller and make your disatisfaction known. They are required by law to offer a refund as long as you have taken 'reasonable care' of the product whilst it is in your possession. A brief overview of your rights under DSR (Distance Selling Regulations) which are applicable if you contact the seller within the first week can be found here.

If you attempted to claim it was faulty and they processed it as an RMA then that is a different matter - especially if you contact the reseller outside of the first week. It may be of little consolation to you but the fact is that with something as subjective as a PC monitor there is no substitute for first-hand experience. People shouldn't be put off taking the plunge on a model such as this as a few hours with the monitor trumps days if not weeks of reading mixed opinions. Just be aware of your rights as a consumer - that's why it's always a good idea to come straight to forums like this if you have any problems with a product.

Futures · 3 Jun 2011 at 20:53

i did actually contact them within 7 days about my complaint, saying about the slowness, games unplayable/unenjoyable, side by side with the dell monitor the difference was like night and day. The colours were nice though, i did like the blacks.

Anyway, i heard nothing back for a couple days, so i tried again, and it wasn't till about 9-10 days after until i got a reply asking me question, then i replied, then more questions, then replied.. each time a different person would reply. Have you tried this? or have you tried that?etc..
Yes i've tried everything, but its no good for gaming.
I can see where this is going i thought.
I didn't even want a refund, i just wanted to pay more for a quicker monitor.

It wasn't till about 17-18 days after that they said to return it. so off it went, in the box perfectly everything as it should be.

then on about day 25 i get an email with: "tested in place of one of our gpu test monitors for the duration of the day.nothing visibly wrong with it"
and it came back in a couple days, i wouldn't say it was rammed in, but it sure wasn't as neat as the way i sent it.

So i asked what the hell? can you please clarify what you tested?
And they basically said they run game benchmarks on it all day with someone observing, and claimed there was no problem what so ever.

sure thing i though, by this time it was a month after purchase, and i was sick of trying, so i gave up, and ran away crying

this was back in march and i haven't been able to enjoy a game since, and thats my story. but i'm ok with it, i'll just buy monitors elsewhere from now on

PCM2 · 3 Jun 2011 at 21:02

Wow well...

Generally speaking retailers (particularly less reputable ones) don't like consumers knowing their rights. A minority of people will have even heard of Distance Selling Regulations - some retailers are much better than others at making customers aware of this. It sounds as if the retailer was trying to buy some time so that you were comfortably outside any kind of cooling off period. That business ethic is not a good way to attract repeat customers.

Futures · 3 Jun 2011 at 21:27

Yeah I know its not their problem to worry about their customer's lives, but the annoying thing at the time for me was it was the first time in over 2 years that I managed to take some time off from work. I had 3 weeks of freedom with nothing else I had to do, it was great I was going to relax and sit on my ass all day everyday. I want a new monitor I thought, this one looked good, people generally gave it the thumbs up, I wanted it in time for my time off work so I hit the buy button.

But alas it wasn't meant to be, such an ironic turn of events, just spent my time off being annoyed with the monitor.

yay lol, I can see the funny side now, but at the time I was thinking about sending it back again in pieces.

sunama · 4 Jun 2011 at 08:40

Have you thought about selling the monitor?

There are many people like myself, who don't game, so uber fast response times are not a priority, but colour reproduction is important. You might be able to at least recoup 75% of the money you laid out and then buy a different monitor.

If I didn't have the Dell U2311, I would've probably made you an offer.

jax_5 · 14 Jun 2011 at 01:04

Any update on the EW2430?

I've got the EW2420 and love it! But wish to go dual screen and the EW2430 looks great.

jax_5 · 14 Jun 2011 at 01:18

Just found a review: http://www.trustedreviews.co.uk/benq-ew2430_Monitor_review
Price as reviewed: £176.68

PCM2 · 14 Jun 2011 at 09:05

I'm reviewing the EW2430 right now. So far it seems like a more tightly tuned EW2420 and potential variability aside if you like the EW2420 then you should really like the EW2430. It uses the same panel but the assistive electronics and tweaking are a little different. The construction is excellent given its price and my review sample seems pretty well tuned out of the box - but as with some other BenQ monitors there is a very narrow optimal contrast level range.

sunama · 14 Jun 2011 at 09:18

PCM2, is yours a cherry picked monitor sent by Benq or did you buy it yourself, from a shop, at random?

PCM2 · 14 Jun 2011 at 10:25

Sent by BenQ's PR department but I am confident it hasn't been cherry picked at all. If you remember back to our EW2420 review you will recall that we purchased the unit ourselves from normal retail stock. Performance is essentially very similar to this EW2430 although colour is better balanced by default on our EW2420 and gamma takes a little more correction. Being an experienced reviewer I can tell you that if it isn't the manufacturers who provide the products directly then they are very rarely cherry picked. If they have been well-used previously then they reach you in a more sorry state than they would if you purchased new. I think if you've read our XL2410T review, which was a review sample provided by BenQ's PR department, you will see that picked cherries were not on the menu.

Trana · 14 Jun 2011 at 10:34

PCM2 said:
I'm reviewing the EW2430 right now. So far it seems like a more tightly tuned EW2420 and potential variability aside if you like the EW2420 then you should really like the EW2430. It uses the same panel but the assistive electronics and tweaking are a little different. The construction is excellent given its price and my review sample seems pretty well tuned out of the box - but as with some other BenQ monitors there is a very narrow optimal contrast level range.

Intresting. Could you make a shortlist of cons and pros compared to EW2430?

jax_5 · 14 Jun 2011 at 11:03

PCM2 said:
I'm reviewing the EW2430 right now. So far it seems like a more tightly tuned EW2420 and potential variability aside if you like the EW2420 then you should really like the EW2430. It uses the same panel but the assistive electronics and tweaking are a little different. The construction is excellent given its price and my review sample seems pretty well tuned out of the box - but as with some other BenQ monitors there is a very narrow optimal contrast level range.

I eagerly await your review. Cheers.

PCM2 said:
The construction is excellent given its price...

That's good to hear. I'm really happy with the EW2420 but the looks and price (which seems to be the same) of the EW2430 will be difficult to resist.

PCM2 · 14 Jun 2011 at 11:59

Trana said:
Intresting. Could you make a shortlist of cons and pros compared to EW2430?

Put it this way. I can't really see any cons compared to the EW2420 and if there is any chance that the QA of the monitors has improved then that is only a good thing. In terms of image quality it is difficult to say without a much larger sample size, but I would predict that you would see more inter-unit variation than you would between the EW2420 and EW2430 specifically. I do think they have set up the gamma a bit better this time (although this could just be coincidental) and there are a few features they have added to the EW2430 which I quite like.

I can't say much more at this stage and there are some subtle differences aside from pure aesthetics that will be covered in the review. What I will say is that the EW2430 doesn't seem inferior in any way to the EW2420 but in some ways seems superior.