Eizo ColorEdge monitors are known among photographers for their quality and warranty. They are so confident that their product is of such high quality that if it fails in its first 10,000 hours of operation or 5 years (whichever happens first) a courier comes to your home with a replacement monitor, picks up the faulty one for repair, and then they return it fixed. With the first one I had, an Eizo CG241W, it was like this. I was in doubt as to whether the panel was in good condition because it did not look very good when I was working with AutoCAD and they took it away for inspection to finally conclude that the monitor was fine but not suitable for engineering work.

Problems, problems, problems…

Now, with this second monitor it has been different. It is an Eizo ColorEdge CG243W. Stains appeared after 12,000 hours of use. It was the end of the warranty and stains began to appear on the left side of the monitor that invaded the image on the screen, and they disappear as it warms up to become almost invisible after 1 hour of operation. The longer the monitor is turned off, the more spots appear. To be honest, I was hoping it would last a little longer than the warranty period before the first problems appeared, but no. Planned obsolescence? I don’t know, but it has been a great disappointment.

Following Eizo’s instructions, I contacted the technical service in Spain. And here another problem appeared. The monitor was not in Spain, but in another country of the European Union, and this causes a conflict with the organization of Eizo intermediaries. It works like this, some companies acquire the exclusive right to distribute and / or provide technical assistance for Eizo products and each one has its own area, sells the product and takes care of the guarantee, and neither can get into the other’s field. So my screen bought in a territory, had to be sent back to that territory (at the cost of sending something heavy and delicate, back and forth, without suffering additional damage), or send it to the technical service of the area that is also in a different country. In other words, if you are lucky that there is a technical service in your country then everything goes smoothly, but if not then everything starts to get complicated.

I asked them for indications about the nature and origin of the failure, based on their experience and without it being a reliable diagnosis, I did not think it would be difficult for them. And to my naive surprise, the technical service refused to give any clues. Being another company that has taken over the exclusive of the area, if you are going to send them the monitor so that they can look at it, then they help you, otherwise there is nothing. They do not care if you have been a client of Eizo for years, it is not their brand, they repair and sell and if they cannot do either of the two things they do not care, they do not care if you continue with Eizo or change the brand … that is your problem, not theirs. This is the disadvantage of this type of structure with so many intermediaries, who only go to the money.

My Eizo ColorEdge is an LG!

I had many doubts that sending it to another country would be good. I’ve already had luggage and packages that were much less delicate broken, and I wasn’t sure if I could handle the trip or would come back even worse than I was. But, he was concerned that it could be a failure that, if not diagnosed as soon as possible, could lead to a bigger problem. So for these two reasons I decided to inspect it inside myself to see if I could appreciate something that was out of the ordinary, such as: corrosion, dirt, looking for capacitors that have vented, pyramid shaped, blown, … (fear for another capacitor plague like in early 2000’s) in the power suply. I love to disassemble devices, especially expensive ones, and see the engineering that they have applied, what they have done and find out why they have opted for those solutions. And if I find that the problem is in one of the components, I could order it and change it myself. This had two advantages for me: the first to save the suffering and cost of the two shipments (round trip) of the entire monitor, and the second to remove unscrupulous intermediaries (I do not like them).

When I opened it I could see that the monitor panel was an LG!

Disassembling an Eizo Coloredge CG243

This is not going to be a step-by-step teardown, but I will comment on what I have been finding.
The Eizo ColorEdge 243W is basically made up of two shells, the first made of plastic, which is what we see on the monitor, and the second made of metal that serves as support for the rest of the components: a TFT-LCD panel LG Display LM240WU4-SLB3, an Eizo 5P23049 Power Supply board (which is also used for other models such as the SX2462W), an LCD inverter and an Eizo Main Board.
To disassemble the first plastic shell, which corresponds to the back cover, you have to unscrew it and press while inserting a remover, releasing the different plastic hooks that join it to the other part. You have to be careful not to damage a cable that is in the lower part of the monitor and that connects the configuration buttons with the main board. The front part of the plastic shell is attached to the metal shell by numerous plastic hooks that must all be released at the same time. Surely the technical service has a specific tool for this, but I solved it with wooden clothespins used to hang clothes as a wedge. Once positioned so that the clamp makes force to separate the plastic frame from the metal frame, the monitor can be lifted, leaving the plastic frame down. At this time, the cable that connects the configuration buttons on the front must be disconnected.

We discovered that we have the monitor embedded in a robust metal shell. It is well built, no piece gives the feeling of being able to fall or loosen, the efforts to which it may be subjected collaborate in the consolidation of the structure, it conveys a feeling that the monitor is well protected, but at the same time there is no an excess of material, it is a simple and resistant design, and it is observed that it is easy and quick to assemble during manufacture. Good engineering work. After disassembling the back part of the metal shell we find the following:

Conclusion

• The good: mechanically very well made, accurate color and with good warranty.
• The bad: the LG screen, the Eizo structure by region, the number of intermediaries to feed, the status of the brand and model; It makes me think that the price is not fair but is much higher than its real value, its price could be lower or offer more for the same price.
• The ugly: That I broke it when the warranty expired