bdshort

I need to purchase a sturdy wall mount for my 54" Panasonic plasma for the condo I'll be moving into next week. Any recommendations for the $200 or less range? Is there a reason to go for one of the $150+ mounts vs the ones that are < $100? More sturdy, adjustable, or what?

I was looking at this one at Amazon, but there are so many to choose from I really don't know what to get.

Thanks!

JZ1276

Monoprice...no reason to pay even $100 for a wall mount.

bdshort

Thanks, I hadn't even thought about checking Monoprice!

btbrossard

Monoprice just had a special the other day on LCD/Plasma mounts for something like $11.

I just tried to go to Monoprice to look at their current prices, but it appears their site is fucked again.

403 - Forbidden: Access is denied.

Oops....

btbrossard

Back up again.

They have an "Ultra Slim Low Profile LCD/Plasma" mount for $10.97.

It says it supports 37-63" displays up to 165 lbs.

That's quite a good deal if you want a low profile mount!

They also have the tilting/swiveling/coffee making ones for about $40. They look really nice.

bdshort

I'm looking for a tilt mount. Those seem to be around $25 - $30. Shipping is killing me though, $30 for 2nd day air for the $30 mount, to Alaska. For some strange reason, Priority Mail is $50?!

Cardiff Giant11

I just ordered the tilting non low profile one for around 40 bucks shipped shipping was like 12 bucks) for my 42" LG LCD. I had it in my basement before but decided to move my primary setup into my living room and put the secondary setup in the basement. This will be the first time I've ever done wall mount but it seems easy enough plus my brother is going to help me out and he's pretty handy. I'll report back if I have any issues with the mount itself.

Cardiff Giant11

Got the mount today, though will probably have to wait until the weekend to do the install with my brother's help. Seems very solidly built for the price. The instructions don't seem to be the best but should be clear enough once we get started.

Cardiff Giant11

So my brother came by and we installed the mount today. All in all, went very well and the mount is very good.
My 42" LG LCD TV came with mounting screws already in the mounting holes so we used those rather than the included ones. We had a bit of trouble finding studs that were near enough to our mounting point (a couple that the studfinder said were weren't once we drilled through the plaster wall and it indicated electrical wiring near another) but we were able to find two eventually and got the four lag bolts in. I ended up tilting it down slightly since we had to mount it slightly higher than I was hoping (but not anywhere near neck ache territory).
I definitely recommend it, I can't see any reason other than ignorance why someone would pay $140 at best buy for one when this can be had for under $40. The only real negative is the instructions are a bit odd and have a couple of misprints (they give wrong sizes for the bolts; it says 3/8 when in reality they are 1/2").
Also, if you have one, I recommend using a cordless impact driver to get the bolts most of the way in (just go slowly and don't pull the trigger all the way and it'll be fine). Then hand tighten the last part of them to ensure the plate stays level. It would have been a real PITA to use the socket for the entire bolt so I'm glad we had a couple of impact drivers on hand between both of our sets of tools.

Spiky

For plaster walls, you can usually just screw into the wood backing instead of finding an actual stud, but every wall seems to be different. We did this with probably the same mount or very close for a 42" plasma, all perfect. And my grandmother used to have a giant mirror hung this way for decades, much heavier than any 40" TV.

Sheetrock, definitely find a stud. You can also drill a pilot hole for getting large screws into a wood stud. Then the drill should work for the whole thing, no hand tightening necessary.

Cardiff Giant11

Not all plaster walls have lathe behind it (the wood you mention). Typically very old homes with plaster walls have are lathe and plaster. My house is from 1963, which is right around the time plaster stopped being used and drywall became common and I'm pretty sure is bead board. Usually more recent plaster walls use bead board which is similar (from what I've seen/read/heard from others) to modern concrete board. I'm about 99% my house has bead board so unless we wanted to use concrete anchors a stud was the way to go. Plus, even with my relatively light LCD I'd want to make sure it was nice and secure in a stud rather than lathe but maybe that's just me being OCD

Regarding using a drill, we used an impact driver because the kit included socketed lag bolts instead of screws. I suppose you could chuck a drill with a socket head, but I've only ever used an impact driver (which REALLY makes it easier than a drill/hand tools for driving screws/bolts) or a standard socket YMMV.