Review 1 of 7
Price Paid:
$210.00
from Kamera Express, Neth Summary: I bought a Colorvision Spyder Pro (not the Spyder 2 PRO) on the basis of many positive reviews on the Net, and the fact that the better alternative (a Gretag MacBeth Eye-one) was too expensive. What a mistake. I wish I'd never wasted my money on this very disappointing product.
So far I haven't been able to achieve accurate calibration on ANY monitor. True, the approximation of accurate colors is better than no calibration at all, but that's about it. Also the Spyder is being sold as suited for use with TFT/LCD displays, but in reality it performs so badly as to be unusable on flatpanels, and even so you're expected not to use most of the features of the spyder (such as starting with setting your monitor's RGB values to the exact color temperature) with flatpanels.
It simply does not work on dual monitor systems.
I'm also amazed at all the rave reviews that this product has received on the Net. A simple comparison of calibration results across different monitors or different systems, attempts to use it with something else than your basic out-of-the-box confituration of a pc-with-one-monitor, or a comparison with other color calibration products reveal its many shortcomings and inaccuracies right away.
In short, this product does NOT perform as advertised and a consumer warning is definitely in order here. Don't waste your money on this piece of junk. Strengths: If you have a single CRT monitor (not a flatpanel, not a dual monitor system, just one CRT and nothing else) the Spyder will be a step in the right direction. It does NOT give you accurate colors, but it gives you colors that are closter to accurate than a totally uncalibrated monitor. Weaknesses: The Spyder's weaknesses are many. The software (Optical) is glitchy (clicking a checkbox and then unselecting it again may premanently change other settings in the software or upset your color curves permanently) and the user interface is cryptic and misleading. Directions on the screen tell you to click 'continue' while the button is actually called 'OK' and there are other sloppy errors. The documentation is practically non-existent and what there is can only be understood by those who no longer need it.
The Spyder does NOT work well with flatpanel displays, in spite of being marketed as suited for LCD/CRT monitors. You can't use Precal, which means that your monitors color temperature will never be accurate. If you set Optical to 'precision mode' you'll find that the readings on flatpanel monitors are inaccurate by as much as 20% over or under. Your whitepoint and luminance will be whatever your monitor happens to use.
The Spyder is NOT suited for more than one monitor. The latest version of Optical for the Spyder was released in 2004, but on dual-monitor systems it simply does not work. Similar Products Used: The Gretag MacBeth Eye-One Display is a bit more expensive (on average prices will be some 25% higher, at this time of writing, than for the Spyder) but there's one big difference: the Eye-One does what it's supposed to do. It comes with good software, it can handle flatpanels, it does a proper sensor calibration and will treat luminance sensibly, and most of all it will give you accurate color calihration. Read: across different monitors colors and shades will look identidcal, something the Spyder does NOT achieve. Customer Service: Colorvision's customer service is rudimentary at best. Their software support is limited to a few very sketchy FAQs on their website, and email responses in which they confirm that the product cannot do what you bought it for an that they have no intention of ever fixing it.
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