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LG 31MU97 - My First TRUE 4K Monitor

2015-02-13
Now normally whatever I'm making a video about sits here on the table in front of me, but the item I will be reviewing today simply doesn't fit here. And no, that wasn't a cheap shot at your mama, but a rather factual observation about the Obutto Revolution gaming cockpit that I combined with three LG 31MU97 4K monitors (the stand-alone video about which is coming soon, by the way) to make the ultimate workstation computer set up that is taking about half my living room at home where I had to film it at the moment. So, is it worth it compared to a traditional desk and chair? Well let's find out, shall we? It all begins with the package. The revolution comes in two boxes: one for the racing style seat and another large, extremely-heavy, 49 kilograms to be exact, box for the remainder of this diabolical contraption. It's well over a hundred pounds and native thick, steel tubing and steel plate. Now this there's been a coat a thousand dollars once we played with a couple of accessories, but there is no question in my mind about whether the ruggedness and the construction matches the price tag. The setup process is… how do I describe this kindly? You know how model kits had skill levels on the side the package? Well, IKEA would be the easy level and this will be the INSANITY(!!) level. All the parts are neatly-labeled and packaged, with minor couple of them labeled incorrectly. Thankfully, I knew the difference between lock washer and nut. And everything in the box was amazingly well-protected and arrived looking absolutely perfect. You can tell they really care about these things getting to the customer in one piece. But the included written instructions are frankly awful, with illustrations that are too dark to see, and mini-steps are either missing or contradicting the video instructions, which, thankfully, by contract, are excellent, if it weren't needlessly difficult to find Obutto website. Overall, the process took about three to four hours with the help of my wife and the help of my two-year-old. You could probably do it yourself and about three to four hours. But another pair of hands is definitely nice to have around for certain steps like mounting the monitor on the base amount. But once it's over do you feel were awarded for your effort? Let's take a quick tour of the unit, shall we? We'll start with the mainframe which consists of two bottom- liners, a main shaft that ends at rubber grippy kind of plate that can be re-oriented facing up. Or, if you're willing to get a little creative, kind of, towards you, it is pre-drilled for VESA compliant monitors and some popular racing wheels. And two phenomenally-robust side pieces that form a little cage around your feet. Now for a look at this whole assembly, thinking that it supports the user, the monitors, and a fully stocked beverage cooler, but it’s actually just a way over-built from the starting point, but everything else attached is, too. The foot rest with thoughtfully pre-drilled holes for pedals attached for pedals attached through the four bolts on the sides can be positioned forwords or backwards with a variety of different bolt holes. And it can then be angled according to your preference with another two bolts. Optionally, there's also a kit to bolt two fully articulating arms that terminate in tiltable VESA plates for cockpit instruments or other accessories. And that come with acrylic key board and mouse rests that go on them by default. Now I read a number of user reviews for this product, and it seems like the general consensus is that this combo is a must-have. But I suspect the folks writing these reviews sit a little higher in their seats than my petite 5 foot 6 inch frame allows me to because thanks to their lack of height adjustment I didn't find them very comfortable to use. And I spent most of my time with the stocked keyboard and mouse plate, which, thankfully, was height adjustable, with a simple turning wheel. And plate, is probably the right word for that thing. It is solid steel with three reinforcement bars underneath and attached with me is an articulating arm on the left side of the rails that supports the seat and then bolt into the mainframe. It's covered in a cloth tight mouse pad material at my Arm 45 mouse tracts perfectly on, and I found it quite pleasing to the touch and it can be easily positioned exactly where it's most comfortable. I did have some complaints about it, though. I was able to solve the issue where the joints swung too freely, making it kind of hard to keep my peripherals in one place, but simply tightening the joints with included Allen keys. But the sag on this thing wasn't as easy for me to address. Now Obutto is aware of the issue with a huge, gigantic metal thing hanging out from, you know, one mounting point and they actually include these little screws that you can use to compensate for some sag. The issue is that my ankle now that stick out a left side of the chair wasn't quite manufactured with an acceptable tolerances so while the platform is levelled, when swung out away from the seat, it’s very saggy, when it's in the proper position. The good news is that DIY-ing is a solution to this. It would likely be as simple as jamming a washer or two into the arm mount, or the base by bending it myself, and it would only have to last until Obutto reads up online feedback is to be believed excellent support, sends a new unit of that piece. On the subject of support, let's move on the monitor mount, which intuitively, although I can see they did this way so that movement in a chair doesn't shake the monitors, is actually a completely separate three standing component the entire setup. The two side arms attached to base with a bolt that are held together by two sliding tubes that go inside that. And then another one that sits over top of it that has a reinforced peace with an articulating arm and a VESA plate on the end that gives you distance control depending on your screen size and resolution, tilt, swivel, pivot with a little bit of height adjustment, which is handled with this crew right here. But while it has all the features that I want to see on a checklist and the optional triple monitor mount with two additional VESA plates on its articulating arms,mounts to the existing set-up very easily. The implementation of the monitor position adjustments is probably the weakest part in the entire cock pit. A variety of lengths of the necessary bolts are included but I had to fabricate my own spacers to keep them from damaging the backs of my monitors. And I needed two Allen keys to wrench a level and then get assistance to get the monitors all reasonably well aligned. Height needs to be basically guessed at, since you have to support the arm to mount it and then it'll sag once you let go. And tilt adjustments are problems for the same reason. And because the only lock for tilt is to wrench the crap out of one screw and I hope that the friction keeps it in place. The problems aside, I do have to admire the versatility of Obutto system and I don't know how they could have done it better, while keeping the whole thing affordable. You can get a wider range of height control if you lift up the entire thing and screwed on with a different set of bolt holes depending on your height and the monitors that you're using. I'm using the middle one, which I found is ideal for my triple 31-inch displays, or single larger one would probably be good for that, as well. But it'll work with basically any display with a 50, 100, or 200 millimeter VESA bolt pattern. If I had three smaller displays, though, I'd likely is the lowest one since I'm pretty short. But that's the flexibility that it gives you. Let's move on to the seat in general ergonomics. The seat gets both positive and negative feedback from me. It's pretty comfortable though maybe not as wide as some other folks for upper range of Obutto supported weight might prefer. And the construction is pretty good with mesh in the areas they heat up and that's pretty cool carbon fibery pleather elsewhere. The seat is mounted to two kind of tube frame pieces, which sit on the floor with scratch-protectors at one end and then are bolted into the main frame at the other end and scratch protectors aside, I would definitely recommend putting this whole thing on some carpet scraps if you really care about your floor. And then the chair is bolted to that using one of two sets of holes. The Normal ones and then short people ones. Like a standard car seat, it can be reclined and slid forward and backward there, getting the Revolution nearly limitless ergonomic options. But I have a couple of issues regardless. The first one which is easily resolved is to do with how time consuming these adjustments are. Between all the different bolts and wrenches and that way that adjusting one thing can create a chain reaction other adjustments like, if I move my cup holder, and, you know, shift mount forward and I might need to move my monitors in my chair and my foot rest, uh, yeah, it's a bit of pain, but like I said, it's easily resolved just by spending some time on it. The second issue is a bit tricky here but I think ties in really nicely to my conclusion about Obutto Revolution as a workstation. A chair lacks the one adjustment that I really needed. Height- I like everything else where it is but I like to seat just a couple inches higher and that's the real strength of this product. Even if it's not perfect out of the box. It is a fantastic foundation, if you want to, you know, run out and grab a car seat out of junkyard that’s your know more to your liking and fabricate a cheap mounting adapter a rise and pretty much whatever else you want to. I mean, there are some minor complaints that I haven't covered already. Cable management could have been getting some more thought with random Velcro straps being the only real solution I came up with I getting in and out of it is a little bit of bear, even when my bloody cat isn't sitting on it. I mean, this thing is like a feline magnet. And the wife approval ranking for this product is fairly low unless you have somewhere that you can put it where she will never have to see it. But all that aside for eight hundred dollars, especially when you compare that to a stand-alone desk and chair it's an astonishingly well-built product, especially if you can get some use out of it for gaming, as well as work. Which I'll getting into more in my follow-up video once Obutto ships me another monitors to hook up to it. Speaking of hooking up, our buddy cheero asked us to introduce their new cheero top nine thousand million power battery bank - a great addition to a travel day for campers, hikers, skiers, snowboarders or really anyone else that loves to spend time in the great outdoors. Great outdoors- I think I've played on that server before. Either way the top is dustproof, water-resistant, and shock resistant and even has a tiny little LED flashlight and they also have a new addition to their cable lineup. A 2011 version and they're danboard micro USB cable that was showed off last time that includes an adapter for the Apple lightening connector. That way even if you're an Apple or Android zealot, but your friends can still bum a charge off, assuming you want those criminals touching your stuff. So, guys, be sure to check out both those core products to ensure up a link the description thanks to cheero for sponsoring this video and thanks to you guys for watching. 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