[rescue] FS: ViewSonic G90fB CRT monitor (VGA HDB15)

[Bryan Gurney]

I have an unopened ViewSonic G90fB CRT monitor here, and I don't want it  
here.  It's not getting used, and it's just taking up space.

The story is this: back in April, I wanted to replace my 19" ViewSonic  
A90f+ because the geometry and beam focus was starting to go, so I figured  
I'd get the G90fB, which looked equal on the specsheet, except it could do  
1600x1200 at 75 Hz (my eyes hurt at 60 Hz in most higher resolutions).  I  
bought it from a local place that had a brick and mortar store in  
Cambridge, MA, but they were going to become online-only (PCs for  
Everyone, for those in the area).  They had to have it brought in from  
their out-of-state warehouse, but I eventually got it.

I took it home and plugged it in where the A90f+ was.  It was fuzzy at  
1280x960, the resolution that I was running on the A90f+.  Now the A90  
wasn't exactly laser sharp at 1280x960, but it was close enough to not  
induce eyestrain.  The G90fB was much worse.  I turned it back to  
1024x768, but it was still foggy at THAT resolution (and the  
three-year-old A90f+ was dead-on at that resolution, as it should be).  I  
figured I'd try some gaming, as pixel clarity isn't that important in that  
application (and in fact, you're getting zero-penalty antialiasing).  Even  
if I pumped up the scanrate to 75 Hz, it made my eyes hurt.  It still  
looked foggy.

I asked for a return for credit toward an LCD panel.  They said no.  Their  
return policy was "refund allowed within 14 days of purchase, except for  
special order items, which are final sale, and refund is not allowed".  I  
argued that a monitor in a box, untouched, doesn't count as a "special  
order item", but this fell on deaf ears.  Since they were closing up their  
retail store in a couple of weeks, they had moved almost everything on  
their catalog to "special order item".  The manager explained that their  
policy was to prevent the "scourge of borrowers" that places like Best Buy  
usually see when people "try stuff out" with the return policy.  He had  
zero sympathy for someone who didn't like the performance of a product and  
wanted to get a different one.  I couldn't even do a stop payment on my  
debit card because the bank said that "they met all the obligations for  
the purchase as a merchant."  I was $242.91 in the hole.  At that point, I  
basically did all that I could do: exchange the G90fB for the exact same  
model.  It wasted another 40 miles of driving and 2 hours of my time, but  
at least I was able to get a little retribution.  I brought it home, set  
the box down in an out-of-the-way spot, and never bothered to open it.  At  
that point, I went onto NewEgg and bought a ViewSonic VP2030b 20" LCD  
panel.  Worth every penny; I can see every single pixel at 1600x1200.   
There's a little motion blur, but I found that to be not as bad as  
headache-induced defocusing

How much?  I dunno; $100 or something.  I just want this box out of here;  
it's been sitting around since mid-April, and it would cost me even more  
money to throw it away, due to the state environmental regulations on  
disposing of CRT monitors.  It'd make a nice crashcart monitor, or a cheap  
second monitor (I don't have the deskspace; I still have to get both my  
turntables on here).  If you know someone with a 17" or 15" CRT that is  
still trapped in 800x600, this could be perfect.

Does it work with Sun's composite sync modes?  I don't know; I don't have  
the cabling to test.  The outlook is not so good, as I don't see anything  
about composite or sync on green in the specs.

Manufacturer's specs and pictures are here:  
http://www.viewsonic.com/products/desktopdisplays/crtmonitors/graphicseries/g90fb/

Personally, I think that they don't make CRT monitors like they used to.   
The build quality has gone down, as well as the focus issue; perhaps  
they're spending way too much engineering and quality control effort on  
their LCD panels.

If somebody wants me to open this box and test out how the focus is on  
this unit, I'd be glad to do that.  And yes, I still have the receipts,  
not that they ever did me any good.