Review: Viewsonic VX2252mh HD Gaming Monitor

It is not often we get our hands on a monitor for review, but Viewsonic was kind enough to send us their new VX2252mh HD gaming monitor to check out and play with. Unboxing the monitor I was struck at how light it was. Hardly any weight here at all. This really makes it great for moving around the house if you need to hook up to a laptop somewhere away from your desktop. I used the VX2252mh with my Sony Vaio laptop, which is full HD 1920×1080. Before we get too deep into the review let’s check out the specs of the Viewsonic VX2252mh.

22” LCD Display (21.5” viewable)
Full HD 1920×1080
2ms Response Time
Anti-Glare coating
Contrast Ratio 50M:1
WLED Backlighting
DVI, HDMI, VGA Video Connectivity
AUX and Headphone out
Two 2W Speakers with Amp
Regulations: WEEE, RoHS,CE EMC,CB, WHQL Windows, Energy Star 6,RoHS Green BOM & RoHS DoC, ErP, REACH SVHC List & DoC, Custom Union, UkrSEPRO + DoC

Now that the specs are run down let’s check out more about the monitor and my experience with it. As I stated above, the monitor weighs next to nothing. It is really super for moving from room to room if needed and it is light enough to safely mount on the wall with the VESA mount (mount not included). The materials used are all plastic, nothing earth shattering, the basic plastic every other company uses. The monitor doesn’t feel cheap nor does it feel premium. It falls somewhere in the middle, simple design but not innovative. It is adjustable on the tilt but not adjustable up and down, which I think was a mistake.

Once powered on, the VX2252mh has a great brightness to it, plugged into my HD laptop via HDMI I could tell this was good HD. Although, I will say Viewsonic does not include an HDMI cable with this monitor. This puzzles me that companies do not include HDMI cables with a product that has HDMI inputs. They included a DVI and VGA cable as well as an AUX cable but mysteriously no HDMI cable. This, I think, is absolutely essential to include in a monitor marketed to gamers. The monitor has a game mode and normal mode setting for obvious reasons, no need to explain. I choose the normal mode to test out some YouTube videos and web browsing.

I found the YouTube videos highly enjoyable to watch. The full HD WLED back lit panel did its job well. The contrast was very good and the colors were vibrant. The onboard speakers were another story. I did not expect too much from the speakers, one should never expect much from built-ins like these, but these were just horrible to listen to. While there was no cracking or popping from the speakers, they did just sound like you were in a tin can. Absolutely no bottom end to these guys at all so it is highly recommended to use ears or get a nice external set of speakers. After some YouTube testing I hit up Chrome for some browsing, again in normal mode. I found my browsing experience a little less thrilling. I found the text on webpages to be somewhat off balance. I messed with the settings and even switched over to game mode (which thru off the colors on webpages). I could not pin point what the exact issue was but the browsing experience was not as good as the video experience. Of course this monitor is built for gaming so that could be the reason for text not looking optimal.

From the video and browsing tests I went into the gaming test, the reason this monitor exists. I signed into my Steam account and fired up Batman Arkham Asylum. Immediately, I noticed the picture was way off, the contrast was horrible and the brightness was overpowering. Then I realized that I was still in normal mode. I switched over to game mode and the contrast and brightness fell right in line. I played a few hours of Batman and a few hours of Saints Row. This is what this monitor was built for. Yes, my web browsing experience was OK at best, but this thing really displayed my games in great color with terrific contrast. Not to mention the touted 2ms response time is definitely noticeable. I found little to no streaking or blurring when playing any of the games I have on Steam. It was a true pleasure to be playing my games on a 22” monitor instead of my 17” laptop screen.

I’ve had a few monitors in my day, a few from HP and one or two from Dell. Those monitors really offered me a nice web viewing experience but not the video and gaming experience the VX2252mh offers. With all that being said, this is not a high end gaming monitor like the BenQ XL2720T. I would classify this as a budget friendly gaming monitor but well worth the money. So let’s go over the likes and dislikes here and give you our final thoughts.

Dislikes

No HDMI Cable included
No Vertical adjustment
Web Browsing not the greatest
Speakers are tinny

Likes

Video is amazing on the VX2252mh
Colors and Contrast in video is spot on
Game Mode really makes the difference when playing games
2ms response time makes for a great gaming experience
For the price, you can’t go wrong… $164.99

To buy or not to buy

I went into this review expecting to see a gaming and entertainment monitor; this is how Viewsonic is marketing it. So I wasn’t expecting to get the best browsing/general use experience from the VX2252mh and that proved to be true. There were some missteps on Viewsonic’s part, such as no HDMI cable included, but overall this monitor is an amazing gaming monitor for the price. I walk away from the VX2252mh giving it a comfortable 4 stars out of 5. The one star take away is for the dislikes listed above, they are minor issues that can be overcome. I recommend this monitor to anyone who wants a nice gaming monitor and is on a budget. Hit the links below to find out more about the Viewsonic VX2252mh and where to buy.

4 out of 5