Way too bright! Colors are a bit washed out. Still a good budget monitor.

I got this monitor to replace a dying one and am honestly disappointed. It is so bright it hurts your eyes, and everything seems washed out by the brightness. I tried Disney's WoW calibration blu-ray disc, but couldn't use it as the pattern it uses for brightness and also contrast didn't even reach the ideal marker. It is hard to explain, but for example on the brightness test there is a checker pattern with ideal white in the middle. You are supposed to see the pattern all the way up to the middle where ideal white is supposed to wash out the pattern. This monitor made that test impossible as the pattern was washed out 1/3 of the way across (regardless of changing the brightness and contrast settings) and therefore didn't even reach the middle. I then purchased a colorimeter meant for calibrating displays to try and help out, but the display was so bright that even with the brightness set at 0 it could not dim down to the colorimeter's optimal brightness recommendation. With all of the above in mind, this is a budget monitor. It displays ok picture and even is 3dvision compatible. I'll keep it as my 2nd screen, but will probably phase it out as soon as I can. You get what you pay for in screens so save up for a better one if you can. This one just can't be calibrated to any reasonable settings.Read full review

Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Refurbished