Monitor buying scared of dead pixels

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Hi, 
Monitor use will be mostly office work and internet and movies.  Maybe at a later date casual gaming.

I am thinking of spending £300 + on a monitor  and I am concerned about having dead pixels out of the box or later on.  In the UK is this something dealt with by the retailer or manufacturer?  I don't want the hassle of using SOGA small claims against a retailer even if there was a chance of winning. i.e. an upfront guarantee is preferred.

My understanding is that if I buy in distance selling i would have 14 days from day of receipt to cancel and return for any reason, but I would have to pay postage and no courier will insure a monitor so you have to take a risk there in returning it, but if it had a dead pixel out of the box I could return it, for a cost, for a refund/replacement.

If I bought it instore from Currys I would not be able to return it except under any sales agreement I had with them.  Mind you maybe "click and collect" is subject to distance selling regs?  Is it?

Are there any retailers or manufacturers who guarantee pixels better than anyone else?

monoprice in the US they have their ownbrand typically Samsung panels rebranded  and they give a 1 year pixel guarantee on most or all of their monitors. Does the UK have anything like this?    

My latest fascination has been to look for monitors with a hard glass screen  - I don't care about glare or reflections, I just think they look much better onscreen and in appearance, but they are expensive too so probably not.  Finding this as a filter search in the UK retailers is proving difficult. And the manufacturer technical specification pages typically do not even make it clear such as HP listing it as Brightview panel  instead of saying Glass  

I was narrowing it down these 3 monitors. They are all the same size and resolution  34"  UltraWide 3440 x 1440  

Samsung £337  introduced Aug 2018
Iiyama £340  introduced Sept 2019  
Phillips £300  introduced Oct 2014  ebuyer

Samsung tilt only  

Iiyama height, tilt, swivel,   Height 13cm  

Phillips height, tilt, swivel, pivot,  Height 18cm    

  

Samsung LED - VA panel  -  4ms  - thick bevel - no speakers 

Iiyama LED  - ADS-IPS Panel  -  4ms  - thin bevel - 5W speakers

Phillips LED - AH-IPS   - 5ms grey to grey - thin bevel but black screen border  - 3W speakers   

Samsung 75hz overclockable to 95hz -  Freesync

Iiyama 75hz - dunno if overclock possible -  Freesync

Philips 23hz - 80hz stated, dunno if overclockable  -  none 

Samsung  HDMI 1.4, HDMI 2.0, 1 x Displayport (v.1.2) 

Iiyama HDMI x2 (v.2.0) DisplayPort x1 (v.1.2)  

Phillips  VGA ¦ DVI ¦ HDMI 2.0 ¦ DisplayPort  ¦ 2 x USB 2.0 ¦ 2 x USB 3.0 ¦ Audio line-in ¦ Headphones  

I was thinking to get the Iiyama but   I just watched a you tube review  on the Iiyama he had a dead pixel within 2 weeks, lots of other people in the comments also had dead pixels out the box or within a few months but they could have been attracted to his video from the title. 

Maybe Samsung or Phillips have better panel quality i.e. no dead pixels? 
The VA from Samsung I think is better no BLB - Back Light Bleed but it has no speakers and the stand is rubbish.

DoaM

Click and Collect ... if you order online and pay online, and you only go to the store to effectively "self deliver" the goods, then the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation & Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 applies.

AndyPix

I open MANY new monitors over the course of a year. Never once had a dead pixel .

I use Dell business range - currently on p2419H

Have you had bad experiences with dead pixels in the past that has made you paranoid ?

DoaM

That's the same monitor (well, 2 of them) I have on my desk at work. Very nice they are, and the slim bezel design gives a very clean look.

https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/dell-24-monitor-p2419h/apd/210-apwu/monitors-monitor-accessories

AndyPix

^^ They do a 28" version too - bit pricey but beautiful

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DoaM said:

That's the same monitor (well, 2 of them) I have on my desk at work. Very nice they are, and the slim bezel design gives a very clean look.

https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/dell-24-monitor-p2419h/apd/210-apwu/monitors-monitor-accessories

tech specs says "3H Hard Coating"  is this a glass screen ? 

DoaM

I imagine there is a glass-type coating on it ... in a similar manner as you can get Gorilla glass screens and screen protectors for phones/tablets - in Dell's case this is built-in to the monitor.

I'm not in the office just now (working from home) so I can't check.

elsien

"My understanding is that if I buy in distance selling i would have 14 days from day of receipt to cancel and return for any reason, but I would have to pay postage and no courier will insure a monitor so you have to take a risk there in returning it, but if it had a dead pixel out of the box I could return it, for a cost, for a refund/replacement."

Not if you've set it up and used it, unless it was faulty.  You get the same rights to inspect for a change of mind return as you would if looking at one in a shop. Getting out of the box, realising it's not what you thought and putting it straight back - fine. Getting two weeks use then changing your mind, not fine. 

And SOGA is now the Consumer Rights Act.

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elsien said:

Not if you've set it up and used it, unless it was faulty.  You get the same rights to inspect for a change of mind return as you would if looking at one in a shop. Getting out of the box, realising it's not what you thought and putting it straight back - fine. Getting two weeks use then changing your mind, not fine. 

I don't agree with that.  The idea is as you say, to give you the the same access as you would have in a shop.  It is reasonable to expect a shop to have a TV or a Monitor on display turned on so that you can see the picture quality and the operation of the menu buttons etc.  The same would be true of your turning it on at home.   What could become a problem is 14 days of use of the product.  Some TV's I know will log the hours of use in the menu so a shop could argue "you used this product for 200 - 300 hours". 
You could argue that you could have viewed the item extensively in the shop for hours rather than minutes. 
If the product does not log the hours of use then the retailer would have no way of knowing.

This is confirmed in the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013
Regulation 34 (9) If (in the case of a sales contract) the value of the goods is diminished by any amount as a result of handling of the goods by the consumer beyond what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods, the trader may recover that amount from the consumer, up to the contract price.

Reg 34(9)  confirms a consumer has the right to handle the goods as is reasonably necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods.

MinuteNoodles

Just to add that just because it has hot (white dot), dead (black dot) or stuck (fixed colour) pixels doesn't automatically make it faulty. It depends on what class of monitor it is sold as as defined in ISO standard 13406-2 which defines how many stuck or dead pixels per million pixels there are and where they are for each class. The only monitors that can be faulty even if they've even one dead pixel are Class 1 and these are typically found in medical and military use with a very hefty price tag. 
Most consumer screens are Class 2 so can have as much as 2 hot, 2 dead and 5 stuck pixels per million pixels and not be deemed to be faulty. On a 1080p monitor that can be as much as 4 hot, 4 dead or 10 stuck pixels for a total of 18 faulty pixels if you've got the max number of each all on the same panel. For a 4k display that goes up to a whopping 8 hot, 8 dead or 40 stuck pixels before it fails to meet Class 2.

jonnygee2

I've never had a problem with dead pixels.

I would only look at IPS panels for £300+. You can always tell the difference between IPS and TN/VA. I've always liked LG monitors and I have a LG 34WK650 34-Inch and it's great.

The online reviews really go into way too much detail about all kinds of stuff invisible to non expert users. Ideally you want to find a store where you can see them for yourself.