Datacolor Spyder2 PRO

I have two monitors that I wanted to adjust, one is a CRT the other a LCD. Before I begin, I expected the Spyder to adjust my monitor with little manual adjustment to the monitor itself. The adjustments needed for brightness and contrast was left to on my own judgment.I had minor issues with the CRT (Sony E540). The minor had to do with adjusting the brightness. As stated before, it's up to your own judgment if it follows exact requirements as per instructions. Therefore I create 3 profiles and basically review photo's using these profiles for best fit.As for the LCD (Toshiba Syncmaster 172n) I couldn't use the Spyder. Let me rephrase that, If I tried it would have taken hours to adjust. The reason being is that this monitor does not have the necessary color preset to begin the process. It required manual adjustment using the software to get the correct color temperature.There are other advance features that I have not yet delved upon, so I can't comment on those features. The one good thing that I did like was the ability to create many profiles, but that in itself doesn't quantify the price.In conclusion, it wasn't a good buy for me. It maybe that I'm not intuitive enough to understand color adjustments. So if you're a beginner like myself, I would recommend trying another product. I gave it a 3 star rating because I have not delved into the advance features so not to give a poor rating but not a great one, I choose the one in the middle.

I upgraded from the Spyder2Express, not really an upgrade because its cheaper to just purchase the pro version than it is to get the upgrade, which means I ended up with a spare device.On my mac the dual screen supports just works, I use a single card with two outputs and it does support two profiles at the same time. Worked first time, but Mac dual screen support is much better than Windows.I also calibrated my Windows systems and my laptop with no issues.Makes the complex task of calibrating your screens pretty simple.One point to highlight before you start though and this applies to ANY product of this type.You simply MUST try to learn what you are attempting to do BEFORE starting any calibration process. If you do not know what the device is trying to do, then you will have problems. Color management is a complex process, expecting this device to simplify it while ignoring all the other aspects of a color managed workflow is a recipe for failure.This applies to Gretag and the others as well.

It was time to bit the bullet and really calibrate my monitors. All you read about is how important it is to "calibrate your monitor". If you are like me, it's hard to buy something you are only going to use a few times a year so you think you can get away with calibrating visually with some of the freebies out there. I was shocked at how off my monitors really were (the Spyder2Pro gives you a before and after selection when you are finished). If you are like me, I always read many reviews on products before I purchase which helps me decide what to do and wonder about the people giving the reviews. I happen to work on 4 dual monitor work stations and several other single monitor computers so this was really worth the money. As far as ease of use, I had no problems understanding the calibration proceedure Color Vision gave. All but 2 of my monitors are LCD so I could lean them back at a slight angle to have the spyder rest properly. The 2 CRT's are in my Green Screen Room and are used for direct video capture using Sony Vegas. I am not one for photos or other "screen saver" junk. My monitors are all set to neutral gray... strictly business. It's wonderful to see all the monitors exactly the same. I also print on an Epson 4800 so I need to know prints are going to look like my edits in Photoshop. Good Job ColorVision!Worth the purchase.

We purchased the Spyder2PRO after reviewing the information on Colovision's website. Because of a delay in loading the program, the return timeframe from the 3rd party supplier had already passed. When we loaded it, we found out that it was incomplete. We had not received all we THOUGHT we were getting. We really needed PrintFix PRO suite. I take responsibility for loading it late, and not being able to return it. When I called Colorvision, they were very helpful, and for an additional several hundred dollars, supplied what I needed.I think Spyder2PRO needs to supply more accurate information to their retailers and to their customer relations people. We find the product to be helpful rather easy to use.

As a professional photographer, I rely on my images for my income. That's why after purchasing another monitor, I calibrated it with SpyderPro 2.It works as advertised. But be aware, this is not a 'point and click and done' operation. It took nearly 4 hours to calibrate my monitor. I have a very fast Mac dual core, so don't go there. The time is in the details. The Spyder takes measurements, for different colors, has you adjust them, then tries again. I found very small adjustment make big differences to the Spyder, but not to the human eye.Bottom line, I recommend the SpyderPro 2, but keep in mind it will take time, and (at least in my case) monitor adjustments are very finite.

I found the Spyder2Pro to be overall, an easy product to use ... although it did take some doing, and a bit of time, to get the calibration device to sit flat on my notebook screen. I would say that was a big downside to using this device. I also did not see much of a difference (if any) in the before and after screen, after calibrating my monitor ... I have one other notebook computer (a smaller VAIO which is my take-out-in-the-field computer), but have not yet taken the time to calibrate this one to see if there is a difference.

Die Farben des Monitors, der auch eine Softwarekalibration integriert hat, wurden durch das Einmessen mit Spyder ungefähr 100 Kelvin wärmer. Der RGB Abgleich brachte ebenfalls einige Prozentpunkte Veränderung. Ich kaufte mir dieses Gerät, weil Jeder sagte, daß ich unbedingt einen kalibrierten Monitor zur Bildbearbeitung brauche, und das die Softwarekalibration ja nichts taugen kann. Wie gesagt, der Unterschied zwischen der Phillips-on demand Kalibration und dem Spyder ist geringfügig. Im Nachhinein betrachtet,hätte ich es also nicht unbedingt gebraucht. Da ich es nun habe kalibriere ich damit auch meine anderen Monitore, und da sieht man deutliche Unterschiede. Anbei liegt auch eine CD-Software zur Druckerkalibrierung. Dummerweise habe ich einen DELL-Drucker und dafür findet man nirgends Kalibrierungshinweise. In der Software ist er natürlich auch nicht dabei. Deshalb nur 4 Sterne.