ARCTIC Z2-3D monitor arm

It's time to take a look at another exciting product. We are going to look at an monitor arm from ARCTIC. This arm has gas lift arms, for easy adjustment to the wanted position. It is also supplied with a powered 4 port USB 3.0 hub.

Who is ARCTIC?

ARCTIC is a well known producer of cooling solutions for computer processors and graphics cards. They are also pretty know for their low noise fans for computer casings.
ARCTIC has begun to spread out on multiple areas. They have made a wide range of sound products, for gamers and mobile devices. Now they have begun to move into the accessories market, like this monitor stand.
ARCTIC is know for great quality, both in building quality of their products, and for the sustainability.

Specifications:

Functions:

• Tilt: +/- 45°
• Swivel: 180°
• Rotation: 360°

Compatibility:

• VESA Standard: 75 / 100
• Maximum Monitor Weight: 8 kg pr unit
• LCD size: 13" - 27"
• Max table thickness: 65 mm (Pure wood)

Size and Weight:

• Weight: 4,7 kg.

Box and Content:

• Box dimensions: 411 mm x 105 mm x 260 mm (WxDxH)
• Box weight: 5,43 kg.

Indpakning og indhold:

I've allowed myself to borrow the pictures from the ARCTIC homepage for most of this review.
On the front of the box there is a good illustration of what you buy. And on the back there is some specifications.

A closer look:

All parts for this product seems quite sturdy, made of moulded aluminium or steel on the carrying parts of the construction. The USB hub is by itself, and you have to mount the clamp on it. After that, you can mount the arm on the table. I will show you later what problems you can expect when mounting.

You can mount the arm through a hole in the table. Here you have to be 100% sure that you do it right the first time. It's great that you get more ways to mount the arm.

The USB hub is a powered 4 port USB 3.0 hub. The maximum load for each connector is 0,9 ampere. That should cover most needs. There is a power adapter with the hub, and alle cables are long enough for most needs. Even for reaching the computer under the table

When you've mounted the main stand, you can begin to mount the arms. It is super easy, as you just put them together, and mount them with screws afterwards. the monitors are mounted on the gas arm before you mount it on the stand.

ARCTIC has thought about the cables for the monitors, they have made holders for them under the arm. But the holder is just small enough for every need, so you can run into troubles when using more than one cable on the monitor. I will show that later.

You get really good freedom in moving your monitor around with this arm. The gar lifting arm makes incredibly easy to adjust the monitor in height. The tilt function is also easy to use, and can be tightened as needed. You can tighten the entire arm, and make it stationary, just by tightening the pinol screws in every joint.

My mount:

This is how I've mounted the monitor arm. I have a 27" monitor on one side, and a 24" monitor on the other. The thought was to be able to move the 24" monitor to the other position, to be able to run a dual monitor system.

As you can see, it's working pretty well. I haven't mounted the monitor arm as described. I've left out the dual holder for the main stand, due to angles. I was not able to get the right angles, now when we have the monitor in the corner.

Problem:

I ran into a few problems on the way. First my table get to look like this, which I'm pretty broken about, the table was brand new. There is nothing I can do about it, the damage is done. I would have liked, that ARCTIC had warned about that problem in the mounting instructions, og even better, made a rubber plate to put in between. So be careful when mounting this arm on the table, and make a temporary or permanent rubber or filt plate to put in between before mounting. That way, you can always change position without damages on the table.

The next problem is the amount of cables for each monitor. On one of the monitors i use power and 2 x HDMI cables. I could also have been using DVI and VGA, but they can not fit in the holders. So if you want to use more inputs on the monitors, you might get into troubles. Strips has been invented, I know. But it would have been great, if ARCTIC had made these holder bigger.

My oppinion:

In my opinion ARCTIC has made a awesome product. It seems super sturdy. The only problems I've had with this product is the marks on the table, which was not so great to find after moving the stand. And then there is the cable holders which is a bit too small. You can live with the cable holder problem, and get around it by using strips. But the damages on the table is a bigger problem. ARCTIC should have supplied some rubber, or made a BIG warning in the mounting instructions about this. I think they forgot that one.

Taken the problems in consideration, I cant give this product more than 3 stars. It's a great product no doubt, but there are some issues ARCTIC should think about altering for the next edition.

The price for this product is around 820 DKK according the ARCTIC homepage. 

Click here to get to the product at ARCTIC.