Pros: First, the good parts. The color, contrast, and viewing angles on this monitor blow away the other gaming monitors due to its superior VA panel. Other 120hz gaming monitors such as the popular offerings from Asus and BenQ are inherently limited by the TN panel technology. When I tried the Asus and BenQ gaming monitors, it looked like someone had put a gray film in front of the monitor - the colors looked washed out, and the blacks never appeared quite black. Not with the Eizo. The contrast on the FG2421 is 5 times better than the closest competitor, and it shows. The black is very black, and the shadow details are amazing. The increased contrast really adds a lot of depth to 3d objects and makes them pop a lot more. Dark scenes in movies and games were no longer a gray, dull mess but detailed, immersive, and realistic. In lagom.nl test/calibration pages, the TN panels had a lot of trouble rendering all of the black/white shades and even showed noticeable dithering. The Eizo had no trouble rendering all of the shades. The colors are very good - although not up to the standards of better IPS panels, they are still miles above any TN panel. After a bit of calibration, still images and photographs looked almost but not quite as good as my IPS and PLS panels. However, in my opinion, this is more than made up by the superior contrast. Completely accurate colors are good if you're a graphics professional, but as long as the colors are very good and pleasing to the eye, good black levels and contrast will go further to immerse you in the game or movie you're viewing. The viewing angles are good, though again, not as good as an IPS panel. There is also a slight gamma shift related to the VA panel technology in that the area of the screen directly in front of you will appear slightly darker (hard to notice in motion or complex scenes). Again, compared to TN panels where the colors on the top of the screen looked completely different from the colors on the bottom of the screen, the difference is night and day. The other huge selling point of this monitor is that it does hardware-level backlight strobing for motion clarity (Eizo calls it "Turbo" mode or 240hz mode). With "Turbo" on, the monitor inserts a black frame between each normal frame to get rid of the LCD motion blur. The difference in motion clarity in a fast-moving first-person shooter or on a moving image test is amazing. The Asus and BenQ 120hz monitors can do this by using a Lightboost hack, but the Eizo's is easier in that you can just do it straight from the monitor's OSD menu regardless of your graphics card or driver. The best part though, is that turning this mode on doesn't destroy image quality like the Lightboost monitors do. Lastly, the monitor has a nice semi-gloss matte finish that doesn't seem to suffer from the anti-glare sparkle or glow effect, and the response time/input lag are also good, hovering around ~1 frame's worth of ms when added together.

Cons: Now the bad part - the units I received had horrendous backlight bleeds, dead pixels, and very noticeable cross-hatching (diagonal lines that go across the entire monitor, very noticeable in panning scenes or when you have grays, skin tones, walls, sky/clouds, etc on your screen). I have seen $150 monitors with better screen uniformity and quality control than these Eizos. To have these kinds of widespread problems on a $600 monitor is inexcusable. First the backlight bleeding - all four edges of the screen had bad backlight bleeds, especially the right side (other people have reported the same severe right side bleed). The bad areas are about half an inch on the top, left, and bottom, and about 2-3 inches on the right side, which is very noticeable. It's especially distracting since the monitor has such good black levels, because in dark scenes you'll see a very noticeable halo around the whole scene. Mind you, I'm using this monitor at around 22 Brightness, so it's not like I have it cranked up high. Dead pixels - the first unit I received had 3 dead/stuck pixels. Two were off to the sides, but one of them was right around the middle of the screen and was extremely annoying and distracting. The second unit I received had a small area of dull pixels (appears gray on a white background) right around the right center of the screen, which actually looked like it could be a foreign object that got stuck under the screen during the manufacturing process. And then there's the crosshatching and general screen uniformity. This is really bad. There are diagonal cross-hatching marks going all across the monitor at several different places. It's especially noticeable in any kind of panning scenes or scenes with a lot of skin tones, mid grays, skies, clouds, walls, etc. It looks like someone took a tiny paint roller and streaked it across the screen in multiple areas. In addition to these, there are some smudges under the screen and just very uneven screen uniformity in general (there are pictures from other users on hardware forums). Basically this makes the monitor look like there's dirt all over the screen at all times, which is very distracting. The worst part is that these defects seem system-wide. Countless other buyers are reporting the exact same problems all over the internet. I'm not sure if it's Eizo or Sharp (who makes the panel), but there's a serious problem in their manufacturing process or quality control (I suspect it's Sharp, as I've bought a Sharp Aquos TV some years back that suffered from some major horizontal banding issues and other screen uniformity problems). Some even speculate that Eizo takes the rejected panels from their premium monitors and sticks them into the FG2421, which wouldn't really surprise me.

Overall Review: Summary: Without defects, this monitor is by far the best gaming monitor out there currently, with 120hz, hardware strobe mode for motion clarity, and a VA panel with colors, viewing angles, and contrast that blow away every other gaming monitor on the market. However, most of these monitors currently out there seem to suffer from major, glaring defects such as cross-hatching, backlight bleeding, and dead pixels. Pros: ++Incredible contrast ratio, deep blacks and great shadow details ++Built-in “Turbo” strobe mode that’s much better than Lightboost ++Great, near-IPS quality colors and viewing angles ++120hz vertical refresh rate +Low response time and input lag +Attractive semi-gloss matte finish Cons: --Horrible, horrible quality control and screen uniformity. Cross-hatching, dead pixels, smudges, huge backlight bleeding especially on right edge of the monitor --Quality control issues not limited to just a few select monitors but rather, system-wide. Do your research. You're gambling and playing the lottery with this monitor. -Slight VA panel gamma shift -No VESA mount, can't rotate display -Slight ghosting on some color/background combinations due to VA panel -"240hz" is misleading as it's not true 240hz But do not just take my word for it. If you’re spending this much money on a monitor you’ll be using for years, do your research! Google the monitor name and read hardware forum threads dedicated to discussing this monitor. You’ll find countless others who have gone through multiple FG2421's and have experienced the same problems and disappointment. I've owned and used all kinds of monitors ranging from CRTs to 1440p LCD using IPS, PLS, VA, and TN panels. Before purchasing the Eizo FG2421, I had a Dell Ultrasharp and a QNix PLS panel that I usually run at 96hz or 110hz overclocked. I tried the latest Asus and BenQ 120hz Lightboost panels, but could not stand the TN panels' washed out colors, horrible viewing angles, and lack of good contrast and black levels even after hours of calibration. I liked the Lightboost hack for getting rid of motion blur, but that destroyed the gamma levels and made the colors look even worse. So when I found out about the Eizo FG2421, I was ecstatic. The initial couple of reviews looked good, and I thought I had finally found a 120hz gaming monitor that didn't compromise on image quality like all TN panel gaming monitors do. I really wanted to love this monitor, and still believe that it's the best gaming monitor out there were it not for all its defects. In fact, I would gladly pay $100-$200 more for a very good sample of this monitor, not even a perfect one, just one that doesn't have such severe bleeding or cross-hatching issues. I love this monitor and want to keep it, but I can't. It's just not worth all the defects and headache I've gone through. I've always held Eizo in high regard as they have a reputation of making quality high-end monitors, but I've completely los

Pros: 1. Amazing brightness adjustability. 2. Overall motion clarity is great. 3. Semi-gloss AR film. 4. Strobing backlight built it, no messing with certain GPU brands, drivers, fixes/work-around’s. It just works! 5. Great bonus features you only find on high end monitors. 6. Blacks and contrast ratios off the chart. 7. Great quality control seen in my three examples. All three have virtually zero back light bleed, haloing, and glow. All three monitors are pixel perfect and are very hard to distinguish between them in image quality. 8. 5-Year warranty. 9. Colors and overall image quality are good and remain good in 240Turbo backlight strobe mode. 10. Simple, attractive housing.

Cons: 1. Pay to play. This is not a budget monitor, and was not designed to be. 2. Just a small hint of input lag. All strobing backlight monitors will have some input lag. 3. On some backgrounds, there is some smearing/ghosting. 4. No VESA mount. 5. Some very faint cross-hatching on light images.

Pros: Snapped up one of these at a significant discount Open Box here on Newegg. I wish I could get 2 more at the same price but that's not likely to happen. This is a display which uses a curious panel type. It's not a standard VA... It's a bit older for being such groundbreaking tech in the gaming world. We just haven't had a monitor like this available to us for smooth motion yet and new tech usually comes with some caveats. There are some color details you will get using this monitor that are not going to be visible with ANY other true (i.e. 120Hz+ low input lag) gaming monitor currently available on the market. It is capable of producing pure black to pure white and everything in between. It is very like a FW900 type quality CRT, and it is about as big as I'd really want to go at 1080p now that things are really heating up with higher resolutions. Definitely my next single monitor will be 1440p but 3 of these FG2421s would be the "executive" choice for iracing type simulators or multi-monitor GAMING set ups in general. The contrast ratio allows for depth of detail in dark scenes that is just not going to happen above 60Hz on any other 1080p panel you can buy new. Walking into a dark dungeon in a fantasy game and having all the details washed out in drab grey and shadows nothing but simple almost-black isn't very immersive, and the FG2421 addresses this issue to amazing effect. This color depth problem is typical of TN panel tech., which is pretty much always the panel type used in low response time "gaming" marketed monitors. So the FG2421 is literally a game changer. The FG2421 comes with a nice Display Port cable. It doesn't come with a DVI cable but has the port. The stand is exceptional. Very sturdy and on the heavy side, offers stiff but confident lazy-susan tilt, height adjust and a good degree of vertical lean available. Eizo has partially made up for some drawback this monitor has with a really well constructed and very configurable chassis. There is a blingy yet tasteful LED Eizo Logo that lights up the rear of the unit and it is defeatable, which is delightfully modest. The front LED is also defeatable, which is definitely desirable for certain "focus oriented" gamers. The bezel is a gorgeous matte solid one-piece frame. No creaky snapped-together plastic around the edges helps make for what should be a completely and I mean TOTALLY backlight-free display (again, a huge problem with TN's and therefore gaming monitors in general). Indeed, I'm somewhat unclear why this unit was returned because there is zero backlight bleed to the point that a black screen between zones is so pitch and stark it is indistinguishable from surrounding pure darkness in a blacked-out room. This part of the display's performance is what shocked me the most because I was already familiar with fast moving strobing "Lightboost" technology such as this unit provides natively in the form of "Turbo 240". Turbo mode is at least as good as Nvi

Cons: Quite a lot of possible issues with these displays it would seem, from the forums around the web. Mine has a common one which is called "crosshatching" that was very noticeable out of the box. These are tiny (and thankfully feint) striations or stripes (generally diagonal) of alternating color where there should be solid or slowly transitioning shades. After proper calibration this effect is almost completely invisible to me on my unit. Certain shades show it more than others, and thus it is made even less important and rare to see. While actively using the monitor for gaming, it would not be possible to identify the crosshatching on my FG2421 at all. Along with the crosshatching is another defect/issue which my unit and some others have displayed and that is something that doesn't have a proper name. I've taken to calling it "artifact ballooning". In certain places on the screen there are portions where digital or compression artifacts become exaggerated. I have only seen this issue come up with still images and compressed or poor quality videos. Following the calibration settings from the TFTCentral review almost completely repaired this issue and it doesn't bother me but it would be a deal breaker for any type of professional graphics or color work. I have yet to see any rendered graphics (i.e games and and benchmarks) display any color distortions in any recognizable form. The display is insanely bright. This isn't a con in itself but to get the color and gamma right the brightness in the OCD menu needs to be turned down from 100 to 24 or so. It is possible that some of the problems people are having with the monitor are because the out of box factory settings are not realistic. I have seen displays freak out eventually because they were just set too bright. At 24/100 brightness the FG2421 will still produce pure clean white when it is called for, and subtle shades of grey to so-dark-blue it's almost black but not quite and it's really probably asking a lot for the panel to do all this while kicking out enough lumens to guide ships at sea by. Price is prohibitive. Considering the QA problems reported (particularly in Europe) the asking price is on the edge of outrageous, my unit displays some of these problems and clearly this model is a compromise of rejected premium panels mixed with premium features and housing. I would not have purchased this first unit at full price given what I knew... however, having received 1 that is nearly perfect (post calibration) for an all around/gaming monitor I'm now longing for 2 more and I expect I'll be paying a lot more for them than the Open Box I received.

Overall Review: Be careful about where you buy one of these units from if you decide you want to see a fast monitor with good deep color. I think Newegg is the only retailer in the US I would buy this particular model Eizo from at the moment because of their easy and generous return and shipping policies on monitors. If there is a legitimate problem with your new monitor they will take care of it at no cost to you if you make sure to ask to be taken care of. Newegg has been around a while now and they aren't going anywhere. The 24/7 webchat customer service NE offers is the best I've seen. They quickly and politely get your issue solved as long as you are playing by the rules. Be careful to keep all accessories and to avoid damaging any new purchases in case of need to return. As far as "panel lottery" odds go, it would appear that Newegg has a pretty high quality batch of these monitors and if you can afford these monitors I strongly urge you to give one a shot and see what you think. You may find it revolutionary, you may find it almost-revolutionary, either way you will have to admit that VA panel technology has a lot to offer.

Pros: the 400 cd/ms brightness is one of the highest I could find on the market. I am a past CRT monitor snob and value brightness as the highest quality. This rivals my trusty Acer G24 Orange which I still use. The brightness is really apparent when sitting next to my brand new Dell u2415 (a high quality IPS panel). When I open notepad (white background) and black letters: the FG2421 has *black* letters that stand out. The IPS panel has sort of gray letters. This is not a "minus" for the u2415. It's just that the FG2421 looks that good. Gaming responsiveness: I am using the FG2421 in 120hz mode (user1 mode setting on the monitor) and it is a much cleaner display for games like Crysis 3 and Borderlands 2 over the Dell (which runs at 60hz). The contrast is outstanding on the FG2421.

Cons: The plastic stand is really weak: ensure you have a stable desk. As I type this to you, the monitor is vibrating due to the impacts of my fingers on the Cherry MD brown mechanical keyboard. Worse, the panel is not VESA compliant for mounting on an alternative stand. Other users have figured out hack methods in which you take the monitor off the EIZO stand and attach to a VESA 100 mounting arm via just two of the screws (rather than the four screws that VESA 100 would allow). As opposed to the Dell u2415 which has a heavier and truly outstanding monitor stand. At the 240hz refresh setting, you do NOT get the maximum brightness out of the monitor, when set to FPS1 or FPS2, it is less bright. This is a minor quibble for me, since the monitor offers maximum brightness at 120Hz which is good enough for me (and incidentally the maximum refresh my 5850s can support anyway) 1900x1080 16:9 ratio is a pretty restrictive screen size these days. When sitting next to my outstanding Dell u2415 (1900x1200 16:10 ratio), the FG2421 loses about an inch horizontally. So I would say: I gaming is your life, and you want no compromises on screen image quality and monitor refresh...this is your monitor. Especially when compared to the ASUS vg248 that I just returned: a TN panel is a weak dim blue *joke* compared to this monitor or a good IPS panel like the u2415. Another FG2421 weakness is the 3/8" physical edge around the top of the viewable surface and 11/16" around the sides...which means that this monitor would not work well as a "multi-monitor" setup. AS opposed to the Dell u2415 which as 1/16th physical edge around the sides and top and 6/16 on the bottom edge...the Dell would be outstanding for a multi-monitor setup. best viewing angle is very focused: you need to be sitting directly in front of the monitor (like in the CRT days)

Overall Review: An updated FG2421 *with the 400cd/ms or higher* with 1900x1200 or higher resolution, with a well constructed stand and much less chassis edging around the screen would be perfection.