The vast majority of our reviews come from verified purchases. Reviews from customers may include My Best Buy members, employees, and Tech Insider Network members (as tagged). Select reviewers may receive discounted products, promotional considerations or entries into drawings for honest, helpful reviews.
Page 1 Showing 1-20 of 28 reviews
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Picture perfect
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I was rather surprised with this product actually. It's a very low price and a very large screen and even though it's been getting rave reviews, I was worried because normally I find things to be rather "get what you paid for". Being such a low price, I was shocked to find that it is by all means the best monitor that I have ever had the experience of working with.
I use the monitor mostly for gaming and art purposes, and it serves all my needs very well. We have it set up in our living room on my desk so if I want to watch a movie I can just pop a DVD into my computer and we can go from there. It also has all the inputs for hooking up things like Playstations so it can be used just like a TV monitor.
Also be aware that the display is non-adjustable (or if it is, I haven't figured out how to do it yet :P)
The only thing I have a concern about is the electrical whine that comes from it when it switches resolutions (for example when it adjusts the screen settings to play World of Warcraft). This however is minor and it is not a loud sound (almost like the mosquito ringtone).
The display is HUGE, and beautifully clear. It comes with built-in speakers (although I don't use them).
The only thing I suggest is assuring that you have a HD capable video card or other high end card (I suggest NVIDIA). This will assure that you're really getting the best bang for your buck out of this unit.
In the image you can see my fiancee's 22" screen. This is just so you can see how massive this monitor is in comparison.
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Great For Gaming, Great Price
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I'm definitely liking this monitor so far. Keep in mind this is my first foray into the LCD world recently though, so I don't have much to judge it against. I was previously using a 19" Samsung Syncmaster 997DF CRT monitor.
***Image Quality***: Games / HD videos look great on this. The colors are very bright and beautiful. I did change the default color setting of "Nature" over to "User" though... I preferred the latter setting a lot more.
I tested it out with quite a few PC games last night (Left 4 Dead, Far Cry 2, Warhammer Online, Tabula Rasa, Unreal Tournament 3, Fallout 3), all at about max settings on my 8800GTX. The resolution was fully supported in each of the games (1920x1080), and there was no noticeable ghosting or input lag at all. Unreal Tournament 3 in particular was exceedingly immersive at the size and resolution this monitor is!
I also hooked it up to my PS3 via HDMI. After re-adjusting the console to 1080p output, I noticed that the colors seemed to be a bit off at first in the menu. I had a blue background, but I noticed some purple swirling in to the mix. Take note, if you experience this, it is an easy fix: In the PS3 display settings area, make sure to adjust the RGB settings and change it from Limited to Full. I'm not sure why it had defaulted to Limited, but once I set it to Full, everything was back to normal (and quite beautiful).
Game wise, I tried it out with Wip3out HD (supports 1080p) and Ratchet and Clank (720p). Both games looked fantastic. See the section at the bottom though for some notes on the resolution while hooked up to the PS3.
***Backlight / Brightness***: It's a bit bright out of the box, so I did turn down the brightness a bit right away. Backlight bleed-through is a little noticeable around the edges on black screens, but I don't even notice it all when gaming. Plus, from the pictures I've seen of other TN panel LCDs, it seems to be pretty much on par with what you're going to get from anything at that price. It doesn't really bother me at all, even in games with lots of dark areas like Left 4 Dead.
***Stand***: The stand is definitely a bit flimsy. Try to make sure you get it on a solid, stable surface or you are going to see some wobble. It does tilt up and down a bit. The mechanism is a little stiff though, but that's probably to keep it from falling back down from its own weight.
***Speakers***: Nothing fantastic, but it sounds like that is normal for these things. I'm not planning on even using them anyways. I had it hooked up to the computer via the included male-male stereo mini cable. Only thing a little odd I did notice is that when I used the headphone port, the bass was noticeably fuzzy / distorted. I did not have a chance to test if this happened with the audio being carried over HDMI with the PS3 though.
***Viewing Angle***: Again, this may just be because I haven't used LCDs much over CRTs, but the best results definitely come from facing it straight on. There is definitely some noticeable color/brightness drop out as you shift from side to side, and especially so vertically. It won't be a problem for me at all though, as it is just going to be on a desk in front of me. Also, anything that I tend to notice while staring at the screen and "looking for problems", I pretty much never even notice once I start getting into something like a game.
***Resolution Notes***: I've seen some people speak of having problems with the resolution of this monitor when hooked up to a PC. Surprisingly, I had no issues at all. I am using the included HDMI-DVI-D cable to connect to my PC (via a GeForce 8800GTX). The proper resolution (1920x1080) was instantly detected and set, and the desktop fully stretches to all corners of the screen, with no overscan either. Previously, I had messed around with hooking my PC up to my Plasma TV, and I would always notice that the taskbar would be partly cut off. I had no issues with that on this monitor.
I'm not sure what to say for those who are having problems with the display not scaling right. I guess I'd try adjusting some of the desktop scaling settings in your video card control panel. Again, for reference, my video card is an 8800GTX with driver version 178.24.
As for having the PS3 hooked up, nothing was seeming to get cut off either, but I did notice a couple of weird things:
1) There is a setting that can be adjusted in the monitor OSD to go from "Full" to "Fit". It defaults to full. On the PC, there is no difference. With the PS3, I did notice that on "Fit", the left and right edge of the image pulled in maybe like 2 or 3 pixels or so. Not really sure what that's all about (this isn't my area of expertise), but I figured I'd include that note in there for those of you who might be able to get some meaning from that.
2) When hooked up to the PS3, I noticed another video option in the OSD that was not present when hooked up to my PC. My only guess is that it has to do with the PS3 being hooked up with a HDMI-HDMI cable and the PC using HDMI-DVI.
The new option was a HDMI video mode setting, with the choices being "PC" and "Video". It defaulted to "Video". When I would adjust it from Video to PC, I would notice that it seemed to render a little more on the sides and top/bottom. For example, on the PS3 XMB, a few of the icons that were trailing offscreen would be partially more visible. I'm not really sure what that setting would be used for, as it seems the default of Video must cut some stuff off.
Here's what the included user manual on the CD says about this setting:
"Transferring audio-video image by HDMI port would cause edges of the image being cut on the screen; select「PC Mode」to display in full screen. Enter the option and select 「VIDEO Mode」(VIDEO) or 「PC Mode」(PC)."
***Overall - 8.5/10***: I really like the monitor the more and more I'm using it. Again, I don't have anything similar to compare this to, so take everything I'm saying from a newbie's perspective. The 24.6" of screen space and high resolution has sold me on this as a gamer, though.
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
does not match website
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
i purchased the hannspree hf 257 from the vauxhall location yesterday. the salesman was talking on his cell during our transaction, but thats ok cz he didnt know anything anyway. the supervisor he called over to answer my questions didnt know anything either. i wish i could say this was a rare scenario, but thats a bestbuy gripe, not monitor feedback
on to the display. the website advertised a 25" hf 259 for 299.00 yesterday. it came with the hdmi cable so i was stoked to go buy it [a $35.00 value for a cheap cable, so really, i was comparing this against higher priced products]. the previous reviews helped my process as well. ive been shopping for a display upgrade for several months, almost buying a benq at newegg or a samsung at tigerdirect several times.
that being said, when i checked store availability for the hf259, vauxhall was one of the choices listed and i re-checked before i got my happy self into my car. upon arriving, i asked for it by manufacturer and model number and was unceremoniously waved in the general direction of the monitors. gee, thanks, cz i couldnt see the 50 foot wall full of displays.
the hf259 was not on display, and after several irritated moments sifting thru the ground level stock, i found a 25 inch hf 257. the salesman scanned it and it came out to 289.00. still concerned, i had him pull up the website. the 259 has a 1000-1 contrast ratio [3k-1 dynamic] and 1 hdmi port. the 257 has a 800-1 with a 'x' contrast ratio of 15000-1 and 2 hdmi inputs plus the vga. it does outclass its newer brother with a max res of 1920 * 1200 instead of 1080 but its speakers are 2x2w and the 259 is 2x2.5w. not an issue at all bcz why ppl put speakers in a monitor simply amazes me anyway. like i didnt spend all that money on audigy and logitech 7.1's
so enough about comparison, how did it stack up? i immediately went to the dead pixel test. after running through the tests several times i was unable to find even 1 dead pixel. good job! using a 9800 gtx i maxed out res and it looked like my dog licked the screen. awful doesnt quite cover it. text was fuzzy and icons were stretched. backing it off to 1920 * 1080, it settled in. a little bright, but that took 2 seconds to fix. onboard monitor controls are really not that great. brightness controls really showed no diff except at extreme edges of scale [0% and 100% showed a diff. 10% to 90 did not. use your fav vid card tuner app to deal with it. nvidia control panel was sufficient for me
buttons....nice idea, but they are awkward. placement behind the faceplate bezel makes them hard to access and half the time you hit the wrong button.
there is no backlighting leakage issues with this model as reported with the 259. this was a happy moment bcz i bought this expecting it based on reviewers. the depth of the casing does cz some reflection bcz it is a high gloss black casing. this is really only an issue during gaming.
after 24 hours of tuning this monitor, things still look a little fuzzy, but changing from vga to the included hdmi to dvi cable made a big difference but its still not perfect. im going to call this monitor a fair value for your money. it wont wow you, but you wont feel ripped off either. the inaccuracy of the website and the flippant attitude of the staff almost made me not purchase it, and then almost return it this morning on principle, but im going to keep it.
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Excellent Monitor, Outstanding Value
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I got this for Christmas, after picking it out in-store. I thought it looked like a lot of monitor for a low price, so I was naturally skeptical of it, and not only because I hadn't hardly heard of Hannspree. Turns out, however, that I couldn't have gotten a better deal!
Make no mistake, this is a real monster. It's massive! While that's impressive on its own, there's more to this monitor than size: It's clear, I don't have a single dead pixel, and the colors are so vibrant they sometimes hurt my eyes! Yes, you will probably have to change the presets, most notably the brightness (if you can stand to watch THIS thing at 100% brightness, you should be a solar physicist), the contrast, and especially, the mode (it comes preset in TV mode, not PC, though that's easy enough to fix). I watched a 1080p BluRay movie yesterday, and it performed perfectly on this monitor, with no blurring or square pixels like you find on lesser ones. This is one superb bit of hardware!
I concur with other reviewers about the wobbly little stand -- it's AWFUL! It's like putting a watermelon on a toothpick! This does have wall mounts, which would certainly solve the problem, but nonetheless, I can't believe anyone would put out such a large, heavy monitor and then give you a milk jug for a stand, it's just silly. It's this monitor's one glaring deficiency, in my opinion.
Overall, I'd say this is the best one of these things I've ever had, and that's saying a lot as my last monitor was a workhorse Acer, which I THOUGHT was the best. Hannspree (and its sister brand, Hanns-G) will make a lot of money if they just keep doing what they're doing!
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Great Monitor for the price
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I'm using this primarily as a HDTV for use with my Xbox 360 and is my first venture into the world of HD. First off, let me say, WOW. I don't know how I lived playing video games on standard def tv's! There are details in the games I've been playing that you literally can't see on standard def!
But I digress, $270 for a 25" 1080p HDTV is an amazing deal. In the realm of actual HDTV's at Best Buy, the closest that you come to this in price and size is $340 for a 26" Dynex which is only 720p, only 800:1 contrast ratio, and only 8ms response rate while this monitor is 1080p, 3000:1 contrast ratio, and 2ms response time. The only advantages the Dynex has is an extra inch of screen size (big deal) and composite connections. I'm willing to give up the composite connections and not be able to hook my ps2 up to it in exchange for all the other advantages this monitor has. Additionally, it has a native resolution of 1920x1080, so you don't have to worry about whether is has 1:1 pixel mapping or if it will stretch the image like you do with 1920x1200 monitors.
The only issues I have seen with this monitor and that have been mentioned in previous reviews is that it does have some moderate backlight bleeding along the top, bottom, and sides of the screen. But its only noticable when the image on the screen is all black and is not that big a deal when considering the price and features you get. Also, the buttons on the monitor are placed oddly on the back side of the monitor, but again, not a big deal.
If you're looking for a smaller HDTV and can live without the composite connections, this monitor is an absolute steal.
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Great Monitor at a Great Price
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I just picked up this monitor on sale, and I really can't imagine being much happier with it. I was upgrading from a 19" 4:3 monitor and the difference makes it feel like I have a duel display setup now. The difference in desktop size is incredible. I was also afraid that the upgrade from 1024x768 (what I used my old monitor at) to 1920x1080 would make all of my PC's icons and text small and hard to read. Surprisingly I didn't have to make any adjustments. I hooked up the monitor, changed to 1920 x 1080 and everything automatically adjusted accordingly (with a lot more desktop space).
I tried it with my Xbox 360 via VGA, PS3 via HDMI and now with my PC via VGA. The picture quality is stunning on all 3 systems. I didn't have to make any adjustments (other than resolution) with any of them either. They all displayed at 1920 x 1080 with no over or under scan. The picture looks great and fits perfectly.
My only minor complaints are, as others have stated the stand is a little flimsy feeling and isn't very adjustable. I would have also liked the adjustment buttons (volume, brightness, ect...) to be placed on the front or bottom instead of the side. I have my tower next to the monitor so I had to leave space to get to the buttons. An extra dedicated DVI input would have been nice also.
All and all, the complaints are very minor when compared to the things this monitor does right. I highly recommend this monitor.
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Price for picture, can't beat it.
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Love it,
not too technical,
Great HDTV and pc monitor, I used a rental HD tuner, the HDMI hook up, and used a RCA to little green PC speaker adapter for the HD tuner, and WOW my personal HDTV with some kick'in thump sound. And as a pc monitor AWESOME. I played a few games and compared the picture quality to my prior 22" LCD panel and noticed nothing differnet except the screen size was much bigger :)
The settings for contrast and brightness are extremely high coming from the factory and for my eyes about 65% is perfect hence the 5 stars for features.
Heat, I didn't realize how much heat would be produced going from a 22" to a 25", my room is around 12X15 and I can tell it has increased the temps. With it being winter, I'm not using the AC and my room is warmer.
Overall well done Hannspree, and Best Buy employees are very helpful even during busy, busy, busy, times.
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Great Monitor- Great Value - wobbly stand
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Great value for the price. I had a $25 gift card I'd been saving for a while and my 22" monitor just died and had to be sent back to factory for rma. I found this online and went and picked it up. Unpacked it, set it on the stand, and definitely notice the wobbly stand. (even my other 22" monitor had a better stand.) Nice vivid colors, great viewing angles as stated in specs. INCLUDES HDMI to DVI cable.
I did not like that out of the box, the viewing display properties are not set correctly from factory. You need to go into the OSD (on screen display) menu and change display type from video to PC.
Next I noticed that the screen to go corner to corner. Very odd for me. I had to use my nvdia display control panel to pull the corners to where they needed to be. This was not stretching out the picture, but basically telling the monitor where the black began and the display of the desktop started.
Overall I'm happy with my purchase. As long as you're not bouncing up and down, this monitor is a good choice. Also, this monitor CAN be mounted on the wall as well :)
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Good monitor for the money
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I wanted a 25'' monitor and this was the cheapest and sounded ok with the reviews. I'm glad I bought it.
It has decent color and has no ghosting in games.
On the down side, the stand is very wobbly for a fairly heavy monitor. If you move around a lot, you'll want to invest in a better stand.
FOR PC USERS: out of the box, it's set in HDTV mode and part of the screen will be cut off. Select "PC Mode" in the menu and that will fix it.
There is a fair amount of backlight bleeding or the left and right sides, but not too bad. The colors took a lot of tweaking to get them right as they are quite dull out of the box.
The first one I bought had a dead pixel. I returned it and tried another one and it is flawless. I'm glad I bought it at BestBuy so I can exchange
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Nice Monitor!!
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
This was the best bang for the buck. I had an ACER 23 in widescreen, which was great, but the text height on the internet made the print too small to read in 1080 resolution (the whole point of buying a high definition monitor). So, I exhachanged it for this 25' Hannspree, which gave me more height...so the text is a little bigger to read now simply because of the size- height advantage. The color and picure is stunning! The only beef I had with this monitor is finding the Video(TV) mode to PC mode option on the menu because the edges are cut off when you first take it out of the box and set it up to the computer. I read some other reviews and a couple of people mentioned this important option. I could not find it... so I took it up to the Best Buy Geek Squad and he found it quick (boy did I feel dumb). Once that mode was set, then everything fit perfectly in 1080 res. Excellent monitor!! (Stand is "wobbly" though).
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
BHM! (Big-Honking-Monitor!)
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I'm replacing a 19-incher, so pardon my excitement. I'm just not used to having such a huge screen to gaze into... this sob is w-i-d-e! It's good that my chair has wheels as I need to swivel physically from left to right to view web pages. Wow!
I also have a hi-def video cam that's 1920x1080 and never new that lcd images could look this amazing and lifelike.
The only thing more impressive (to me, at least), are the newer 120hz hdtv lcd screens that have slowly started appearing, but I haven't seen computer monitors with that spec just yet. Noticeably dazzling.
For now, this one tops all I've looked at, and beats the best, both in terms of price and performance. The HP's are beautiful, but the glare gets annoying after the "new" wears off.
This is a winner (as of now, only a few days old), and yes, I'm tickled pink. It's great, but unfortunately, it does not make coffee... can anyone recommend a great coffeemaker?
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
A true "Best Buy"
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I read the BB customer reviews before buying this unit and was surprised by someone's comment indicating that he had to exchange the first two units that he bought. Still, I gave this unit a try for its great value (25" for less than $300!).
Indeed, the one I bought (at first) had issues when I tried (the screen was too dark and I could barely see anything - nothing to do with contrast levels).
The following day I went back to BestBuy and exchanged it for the same model; the second time was a charm!
I have had it for 5 months and it works great. I cannot see any color issues from corner to corner and watching movies is wonderful - at 2 - 3 ft distance it feels like a wall to wall unit. It is great for games too. I also use it for work sometimes and it allows me to have two or three Word documents side-by-side at 100%.
GREAT BUY!
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Good Value
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
The 1920x1080 max resolution is useless as it scans off the visible screen. The screen itself appears to be 25", but the monitor housing allows only 24.6" to be seen. Can't see the bottom half of the task bar in windows and can't see the top, bottom, right, left pixels in games. Not sure how many pixels the housing blocks, but it makes my games unplayable at the 1920x1080 resolution. Have to switch to 1680x1050 in order to see everything. Doesn't make sense as both resolutions are presented at 16:9 ratio, but only 1920x1080 scans past the monitor frame. I'm contacting Hannspree about the problem. I'm hoping for a solution from them because the monitor is otherwise an excellent product for the money. Recommend to MOST friends.
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
For the price, cant beat it!
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
This monitor may not be the best monitor out there, but it does a fine, fine job.
My computer usage is 90% online gaming, and let me tell you, this monitor works just fine. A little bright at first, but easy changing with modifying the contrast/brightness.
The size is great! The resolution and vibrancy of the screen itself is quite nice.
I have not tested the speakers, as I have Bose speakers and could care less about the speakers.
From a gaming aspect, this monitor is great, and for the price, wow, you just cant beat it.
No dead pixels, no problems whatsoever!
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Great Monitor
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I bought another deal priced 24" monitor that was pretty nice, but was overly bright, and could not be adjusted down without adversely effecting other display properties, no matter what you did. So I returned it and found this Hannspree for $30.00 more, with a 3 year warranty, and great reviews on here. It worked right out of the box, at several different resolution settings with a rock steady display. It also was a little to bright, BUT could be adjusted to a proper setting while maintaining a quality display. Also no bad pixels that I could see. I don't really know who Hannspree is, but so far I'm impressed.
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Great monitor if you get one thats not defective
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I purchased this monitor from Best Buy. Picture is great after much tweaking with tthe settings. I agree with other postings regarding out of the box settings not being right. The stand is also very weak. If you are not going to move it around it really doesn't matter. My main issue with this monitor is that I had to buy three before I found one without a dead pixal. Best buy took the first two back with no issue. Not great quality control at the Hannspree factory. The monitor comes with all of the cable but keep in mind they are only three feet long.
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Not Bad
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I took a chance since I was not familiar with the brand and was not able to see one of these in a store prior to the purchase but it paid off. The monitor is clear and quick. I played Gears of War on it without issue on the highest settings.
I wish the screen was adjustable however since you have to position yourself for it and not the reverse and I did have one dead pixel on delivery. It is so big that neither things are that big of a problem.
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
good but not great
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I love the picture for playing xbox 360 on, the only thing I am disappointed on is after 2 months ( low low hours) the bottom right has a area about 1/2" by 2" that the pixels are dead and there are a few starting in the other corners, thank god I bought the 4 year protection plan, and it sucks you have to drop it off for a week or 2 to get fixed, over all if this don't happen again I am toltally happy with it.I will review again later.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
great!
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I use this monitor primarily for gaming, and it works exellennt!. Right out of the box it had a good picture but when i hooked up my computer it seemed to over strech the screen so that the top, bottom and sides where to large, once you change the monitor to PC mode in the settings of the monitor, it works really well and fits the boundaries, Supperior product at a great price.
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Nice Screen
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
i purchased the screen after i bougt the intel core i7 gateway from best buy. the cpu and the screen are a perfect match for each other... my games cant look any better on other screens...
i would recomend this to any gamer, it its not 25" but its very close to 25"...
resolution is 1920 x 1080 1080p ... nothing else to say... buy it...