X-Rite ColorMunki Smile

Pros: Instructions are clear and precise.

Cons: Made my graphics so much worse. I had to change back to the original factory settings and completely start over. This is a terrible waste of time and money. Not being refundable is the final insult.

Pros: No pros for me the calibrator produced widely different colors on all my monitors.

Cons: Non refundable newegg treats this product like a software purchase and they are unable to take it back if you have opened it and it doesn't work on your monitors.

Other Thoughts: Its sale price dropped another $20 from when I purchased it :( I strongly recommend spending a little bit more money and getting a more accurate calibrator maybe one made by spyder. I also recommend perhaps purchasing calibrators at a different retailer that will take them back in case they don't work for your needs.

Pros: WORKS AS DESCRIBED CALIBRATED LAPTOP AND PC MONITOR

Cons: A LITTLE BIT PRICEY FOR A SMALL DEVICE BUT IT IS WHAT IT IS.

Pros: if it worked, I would definitely say that it is very easy to use.

Cons: Inconsistent results between displays. I have used this device several times on an Asus LED backlit laptop display, and a Cintiq 12WX with no success. (Additionally, I have used this on an Asus LCD backlit laptop display, and MAY attempt the Asus LCD monitor, & Acer LCD monitor on other systems)

The first issue is that the new color profile conflicted with the Intel HD Graphics drivers on start-up. I resolved the conflict through the steps provided on the XRite website. However, now that the monitors are "calibrated" there is a significant disparity in the green adjustment. The same graphic appears heavily red saturated on the Cintiq, yet sickly yellow on the LED display.

In addition, XRite website makes the claim that the new color profile SHOULD appear warmer (red/yellow) as this mimics natural light. However, everything onscreen is tinted, even white value #ffffff. While this may be true of printed material viewed under warm light, your digital designs will suffer from this inaccuracy. When viewing blue hues in the color picker (photoshop CS5), 1/8 of the color region (full sat/value, top right corner) is indistinguishable.

Other Thoughts: If you are serious about color, do not buy this product.
If you are on a budget and that is the reason you are considering this color calibration kit, I believe this item will only set you back. You're better off getting swatches and calibrating your display manually.

I'm only giving this one egg, because I can't give it zero.

Pros: Extremely easy to use, true plug and play format. Best of all, in this price range its the ONLY product that will properly support multiple monitor calibrations on a single system without having to trick it. I tested with 3 different branded monitors and the Smile created an ICC profile for each one.

The monitors were even of different technology, LCD & LED*

Cons: I'm not too sure if i'm seeing a real difference. I wish the software would allow for a more onscreen compare & if it allowed you to use one of your own photos. Dont take this as a huge knock & think, "well if he can't see a difference, why should i buy it" Unless your screen was REALLY messed up, the calibration differences are best seen when you can compare side by side. Take my weight loss, i've lost 60 lbs but notice a BIG difference when i see a photo from myself 8 months ago

*Though this worked on my LCD and LED, the software did NOT auto detect these monitors. I went into the settings and manually selected LED for my LED monitors.

Other Thoughts: READ the manual, X-Rite recommends using a USB 2.0 host, even though 3.0's are backwards compatible, they list that some people have had issues with 3.0 hosts

I purchased this as I'm just starting to get into photo post processing and X-Rite gears this product towards "Gamers, photo Hobbyist, web users & Design enthusiast..." I consider myself photo hobbyist HOWEVER note that this product does not calibrate certain things that more adv photo editors state are crucial elements (white point, ambient light, gamma). Which i could agree if you were considering yourself a professional (means GETTING PAID to take photos), however if your doing photography for yourself.. this should MORE than enough meet your needs.

As always, feel free to gmail my nickname with questions or comments

Pros: * Inexpensive.
* Simple operation, when it works.

Cons: *Software not ready for prime time. Loaded normally
but failed to run on 2 out of my 3 Win 7 Pro 64 bit i7
computers... all 3 have dedicated NVidia graphics cards.
Only worked on a 2 yr old Toshiba Qosmio laptop, and
the results were not preferable to the current settings.

*While product registered & signed in on their site,
problem was reported to X-Rite Support using their
utility for e-mail response with Windows error report,
but X-Rite never replied.

Other Thoughts: I purchased this in an add on offer with a Dell U2412M IPS monitor purchase. When ColorMunki Smile failed to run on 2 PC's, newegg only offered replacement, and unfortunately that would not have solved the problem. Obviously a first version software issue and as it's a brand new product there is no updated software version on X-Rites site at this time.

Pros: Great price
Big
Great picture

Cons: They barely fit on my desk.

Other Thoughts: If you have one graphics card and you are planing for 3 monitors then buy an ACTIVE display port adapter.

Pros: There is nothing difficult using this device whatsoever.

Once the software is loaded, just follow the promps to position the device and start the automated calibration process.

When it is done it asks you to remove the device and you can view a sample picture for before and after results.

Cons: The software takes up over 100 MB of disk space but that's no big deal for the benefit it provides.

Other Thoughts: I have a iMac 2011 21.5" and the difference before and after calibration was very small.

I deal with a lot of photography and I wanted assurance that the monitor was displaying precise color and luminance.

This device gave me the confidence that what I am seeing is accurate. It is so easy to use that you can recalibrate on a regular basis. The software has a reminder preference you can set for when the next calibration is due.