[comp.sys.mac.hardware] Cutting Edge/Ehman/MegaGraphics Monitors

spector@brillig.cs.umd.edu (Lee Spector) (10/04/90)

I am looking to buy a large b/w monitor for an SE/30.  We've tried three times 
to install a "Cutting Edge" 2-page display... It hasn't worked.  Since the 
Ehman is allegedly the same as the Cutting Edge, I'd like to know if anyone 
has successfully hooked up an Ehman to an SE/30.  Also, has anyone gotten a 
Cutting Edge to work with an SE/30?  If none of this works, we're thinking of 
trying the MegaScreen Rival - has anyone seen one of these?  How does it look?
 
  Thanks!  -Lee (spector@cs.umd.edu)

bjb@pyramid.com (Bruce Beare) (10/06/90)

In article <26843@mimsy.umd.edu> spector@brillig.cs.umd.edu (Lee Spector) 
writes:
> I am looking to buy a large b/w monitor for an SE/30.  We've tried three 
times 
> to install a "Cutting Edge" 2-page display... It hasn't worked.  Since 
the 
> Ehman is allegedly the same as the Cutting Edge, I'd like to know if 
anyone 
> has successfully hooked up an Ehman to an SE/30.  Also, has anyone 
gotten a 
> Cutting Edge to work with an SE/30?  If none of this works, we're 
thinking of 
> trying the MegaScreen Rival - has anyone seen one of these?  How does it 
look?
>  
>   Thanks!  -Lee (spector@cs.umd.edu)

I had no trouble installing my Ehman monitor. Perhaps the only 
disappointment with the installation is that they did not supply
screws to connect it to the standoffs.
Perhaps it isn't important -- it works fine without them.

Bruce Beare

chow@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Christopher Chow) (10/06/90)

In article <26843@mimsy.umd.edu> spector@brillig.cs.umd.edu (Lee Spector) writes:
. I am looking to buy a large b/w monitor for an SE/30.  We've tried three times 
. to install a "Cutting Edge" 2-page display... It hasn't worked.  Since the 
. Ehman is allegedly the same as the Cutting Edge, I'd like to know if anyone 
. has successfully hooked up an Ehman to an SE/30.  Also, has anyone gotten a 
. Cutting Edge to work with an SE/30?  If none of this works, we're thinking of 
. trying the MegaScreen Rival - has anyone seen one of these?  How does it look?
.  
.   Thanks!  -Lee (spector@cs.umd.edu)


 If I were you I'd avoid the Eham 2 pg display like the plague.  I
 bought one several months ago for my Mac II.  The first one promptly
 failed after three weeks.  I called them up, and they send a
 replacement.  Today, the replacement just failed, with the same
 symptons.  Everything else in my computer system is working fine, so
 its not a power surge, etc.  It just seems to me that from my
 experience they seem to have severe reliability problems.  Meanwhile,
 its time to look for a new monitor.

Christopher Chow
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palmer@nntp-server.caltech.edu (David Palmer) (10/06/90)

Cutting Edge/Ehman seems to have serous quality control problems.

I am sitting in front of my new Ehman monitor, which I ordered
from an overnight delivery place about 5 weeks ago.  In that
time, I received and sent back 3 monitors (this is the 4th) for
various reasons.

The only problem with this particular one is that it has low contrast,
compared to most monitors I've seen.  It also has vertical brightness
variations every 16 pixels.  One of the ones I rejected had even
pixels that were twice as bright as odd pixels (in other words,
a black-white-black-white pattern would be twice as bright as
a white-black-white-black pattern.)  Another of them had a screen
image that was 'folded under' on the left side, as if the flyback
driver was too weak.

If you do buy Ehman/Cutting edge products, make sure that the place
you order from pays shipping both ways if you return it.  (My order
took 7 shipments of 50 pound packages, overnight express, to finally
fill.)  I ordered from MacWarehouse, and shipping totalled $3 (plus the
$60 difference in price between MacWarehouse and Ehman directly) , but
I wouldn't be surprised if, as a result of my experience, they no
longer carry the product.

If you can buy one of these from a dealer, see if you can check out the
particular monitor before deciding whether to buy.  Quality varies.

-- 
		David Palmer
		palmer@gap.cco.caltech.edu
		...rutgers!cit-vax!gap.cco.caltech.edu!palmer
	I have the power to cloud men's minds -- or at least my own.

andrea@boulder.Colorado.EDU (Andrea Ignatowski) (10/08/90)

I too purchased a Cutting Edge two page monitor for use with an SE/30.
My purchasing department tried to get a Ehman for a couple of months but
had trouble locating one and substituted a Cutting Edge thinking it was
the same.  I've been told by their customer support folks that the cards
are the same but that the monitors are made by two different manufacturers
(I forget their names).

Why would I be talking with their customer support you might ask? The first
problem was that I received a card for a SE instead of an SE/30. Cutting
Edge promptly sent me a different card asking me to return the SE card. I
waited until the new card arrived to validate that I would have the right one.
Two days later I had a good card but a bad monitor. The monitor was way out
of adjustment and the pixels seemd illformed and kind-of blotchy, that is to
say that their density varied.  The grey desktop was plaid.  No amount of
adjustment would correct the problem.

A week long disagreement with the customer support folks at Cutting Edge
resulted in them finally allowing me to ship the monitor back. I had trouble
obtaining the original purchase order number and they indicated that they
did not track their monitors by serial number. So finally on September 14
I shipped their monitor back to have them determine if it was defective or
merely representative of their products.  After a week I called repeatedly
to determine the status of the monitor (they are without a doubt the worst
company I have ever dealt with with respect to answering their phones and/or
returning calls).  When I finally got through to one of them I was told that
they had no record of its receipt.  I informed them of the person's name who 
signed for it and the date of its delivery (September 18). I was informed that 
it would take until the following Monday to find out any thing and was informed
that I would hear something in a day and a half. Well... Monday came, Tuesday
came, Wednesday came ... ah ha a respose --- They couldn't find the monitor.

So, its been almost four weeks since I first received their defective product
and I've yet to find resolution. In fact, their service department is so bad
at returning their calls and answering their phones that at one time I figured
they had gone out of business due to their inability to perform the day-to-day
activities of business.

Maybe the fifth week is the charm, that is if they can find the monitor. Thank
god that fed-ex required a signature or I guess I'd really be out in the cold.
But maybe thay wouldn't be such a bad thing. I probably could have gotten a
part time job, saved the money from the long distance phone calls and bought
a monitor from a reputable company by now.

I wouldn't buy another product from this company or any company with Michael
Ehman's on it if my life depended on it. I am seriously considering taking a
couple of days off work to drive to Wyoming to see where and how they do 
business. Their response (or lack thereof) leaves me incredulous. No product
is worth such treatment.

Boyd Hays