Ergotron LX Desk Mount LCD Arm

Reviews: Multimedia

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Brian Kristensen
Kurtis
Ergotron
Sep. 21, 2006

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Usage Experience & Build Quality

The Ergotron LX LCD arm has a maximum reach of 24 inches with the arm fully extended. The monitor mount can reach up to 20 inches above the desk, which is great for tall people like myself. With the monitor mounted on the arm, it can be tilted 80 degrees back and forth and panned around 180 degrees. The monitor can also be rotated 90 degrees between portrait and landscape modes. The arm and extension pivot around quite nicely; it only takes a little effort to move, but it isn't loose enough to spin around or accidentally swing it into the wall (have to watch out for those walls!). If the joints are too loose for you, all but one can be tightened; the one that can't is the joint to adjust the monitor's rotation between landscape and portrait modes (there is a reason for this but I'll get to that in a bit). Raising and lowering the monitor is simple enough as well. The force required to move the monitor vertically depends on how you set the tension; from being able to move it at the touch of a finger, or strong enough to resist quite a bit of pressure.

The LX supports LCD monitors up to 22.9 inches. We tested the LX with two monitors, a Dell 2005FPW 21" and a NEC 1760V 17". Both monitors were within the weight and size limits and gave us no problems when positioning the arm. The LX is almost entirely constructed out of metal. There are a few plastic parts for aesthetics and cable management, but aluminum is used for all load-bearing components. The desk mounting components are very sturdy and made of steel. The LX and its mounting components seem to be quite strong and I would be more worried about the desk breaking than the LX itself.

The LX has a built-in cable management system. There are plastic retention clips along the bottom of the arms to keep the cables restrained and out of the way. It doesn't completely conceal the cables, but it does its job without looking tacky. The LX also comes in two colors, silver or black, to match your monitor and workspace. (Ed - Assuming, of course, that your monitor or workspace is silver or black, and not beige! and hopefully not pink)

The only problem I have with the LX's articulation is when rotating the LCD between landscape and portrait modes. The LX allows you to rotate the screen a few degrees over 90 (and under 0), but it doesn't lock into landscape or portrait. There is a little slack and you will have to tweak the position a little so the screen is level. The reason behind this is most likely because the joints of the LX aren't manufactured to exacting precision. Between each pivot point there is a seemingly "negligible' gap, and a tiny amount of tilt due to how the pivots are constructed. The joint is essentially a plastic sheath to reduce friction between two metal components. Because of the plastic's flexibility and the slack required so the two parts actually pivot, the joints have a tendency to not sit perfectly level. This could have been solved by using metal bearings instead of a plastic sheath, but that would drive up the parts and manufacturing costs.

This ever-so-small amount of play in the joints can cause the monitor's screen rotation to be about a degree or so off. When you bend the LX's arm into different positions, the weight distribution changes and so will the "negligible' tilt between pivot points. So depending on the arm's position, the screen may be tilted slightly in one direction or the other and will require that you manually rotate the screen until it looks level to you. While this can be annoying, I found that over time, it wasn't as big of a deal considering the other benefits of the arm. However, if the LX was constantly being repositioned, it could be a tad annoying depending on how anal you are. However, the LX has extremely good articulation at a fairly low price-point, and when taking that into consideration, it is understandable that not everything will be perfect. You get what you pay for, and if this was a $500 monitor arm, I wouldn't be so understanding.

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Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: Parts, Tools & Assembly
Page 3: Usage Experience & Build Quality
Page 4: Conclusion

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3 User Comments

1 - Posted by Kurtis on September 22, 2006 - 10:12 am

If you enjoyed this article, please digg it here:
http://digg.com/hardware/Affordable_LCD_Monitor_ar...

2 - Posted by Revolg on October 1, 2006 - 5:02 pm

You have to cut a hole in your desk? I am assuming they give you instructions on diameter of the circle cut needs to be.

3 - Posted by Brian on October 2, 2006 - 11:53 am

There are two methods of mounting, the clamp method, or drilling a hole in the desk. The size of the hole only needs to be large enough for the bolt to fit through. As you can see from the pictures, the bolt isn't that big.

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