Pantone ColorVision Spyder2 Win/Mac review:5 stars (The best accessory for a good monitor) - When I was ready to buy a bigger monitor the only practical choice was an LCD, despite the inherent limitations in color space. I do a lot of digital photography, and after several months of trying to match what I saw on the new monitor with what I printed, and what others saw when I sent them pictures, I was pretty frustrated. So I ordered a Spyder. After about an hour's investment of time my monitor now displays pictures the way they should look. The software may not have a perfect user interface, but it is pretty good. The process takes a little time, but it is comparable to the time it took to set up the monitor in the first place, and hardly onerous as an occasional calibration. In fact, I would have saved many hours of Photoshop time if I'd just bought the Spyder when I bought the monitor. If you want to use multiple monitors or prepare files for commercial printers you should probably get the pro edition. But if you just want to make your monitor "behave" the way it should then get this product and spend the hour it takes to do the calibration.3 stars (Works well, but poor software interface) - Pantone ColorVision Spyder2 is a monitor calibration and profiling tool that helps you match the colors displayed on your LCD or CRT monitor to those printed on a photo printer. It includes a hardware colorimeter that measures the "color temperature" of the monitor and associated software utility.

First off, do you need such a tool? The answer is a definite yes if you work with digital images a lot. An incorrectly calibrated monitor makes photo editing an exercise in frustration, as the color you see on screen never matches the color you get on your printer. So calibration and profiling are necessary. On the other hand, if you rarely do any photo editing or use any application that's color-critical, you won't need a tool like this at all; just set the monitor to levels that you find comfortable.

(Calibration sets the monitor to display accurate, or close to accurate, colors, so red looks red and blue looks blue and white looks white. Profiling helps match the monitor settings with the printer settings so when you print, you get consistent colors and highlights/shadows.)

To use the Spyder2, you first install the driver and utility, then connect the colorimeter via USB. You then run a wizard that walks you through the process step-by-step.

While the product works and has improved the looks of photos on my LCD, it's rather poorly designed in terms of user friendliness. For example, this version does NOT work on multiple monitors. It only calibrates the monitor that's connected to the primary port of the video card. Even if you switch primary/secondary via Windows (an easy feat in Display Properties), it won't recognize the other monitor.

(My workaround is to calibrate one monitor, turn off the PC and the monitors, switch the two monitors on the video card, turn everything back on, and calibrate the other monitor.)

The calibration process itself takes a lot of patience. The hardware colorimeter is very slow in taking readings off the screen, but the main problem lies with the calibration-profiling wizard. The font is tiny, making it hard to see. The explanation is never clear, making you wonder what exactly you're doing. Brightness and contrast are not calibrated; instead, you are instructed to leave them at factory default, which is usually too high for comfort. The worst is there's no indication of progress of the colorimeter, just an hourglass icon. When I first used this I thought it had crashed. Also, instead of giving you the full details on how to adjust color temperature, the wizard just encourages you experiment with the monitor controls. This complexity, plus the slow speed of the colorimeter, makes adjusting a dual-monitor setup a total pain in the ass. (You'll have to write down all the information from one monitor by hand, then try to adjust the other monitor to match these values.)

The package includes a slim installation guide written in a dozen languages -- and it's printed in tiny font and leaves out much useful information. There's no electronic user's guide, to my surprise. For example, there's a program called ProfileChooser but there's no documentation at all on what it does. When I launch it, it shows me some info but doesn't seem to do anything useful.

Summary: if you do a lot of digital imaging work, this is a must-have as it allows you to objectively calibrate your monitor. If you have a multiple-monitor setup, consider the more expensive Spyder2PRO package, which should support such a setup. Overall the basic Spyder2 package is not a good value, but a necessary expense for digital photographers with a limited budget. If I could choose all over again, I'd probably have probably gone with the Spyder2PRO package.4 stars (Works quite well) - I've used my Spyder2 on a Mac iBook and a Dell 2350 running Windows XP on a 17in Dell LCD flatscreen. The monitor calibrator and software in both cases did a much better job than I could do on my own with Adobe Gamma or other judgement-based calibrators. After calibration, pictures on my monitors appear much more like the prints I get from Kodak Gallery (formerly Ofoto), both in color and tone (to the extent that a projected-light RGB image can look like a reflected light CMYK image.) I haven't tested the system on a CRT monitor.

One gripe: I bought my system new from Amazon, and it came packaged as new, but the Spyder was scuffed and clearly had been used previously. It wasn't worth my time and energy to return it since it functions fine, but I don't think this was an honest business practice on the part of ColorVision.
Pantone ColorVision Spyder2 Win/Mac Features:
Computer software (programs)
Video
Hardware Bundles
Composting
Effects
Editing
Unique Before and After Viewing Feature Allows you to compare your display with and without calibration.
Spyder2 - Next Generation Spyder Technology Sets the Standard for Affordable Monitor Calibration.
The ColorVision Spyder2 features the all new Spyder2 colorimeter and monitor calibration for advanced amateurs and prosumers to create precise ICC display profiles for your CRT, LCD or notebook display.
FREE bonus software includes PANTONEÂ# colorist software.
Improved Gray Balance and Tonal Response Provides demanding users with exceptionally smooth gradient steps and neutral grays.

Pantone ColorVision Spyder2 Win-Mac is the CD-ROM version. The full version can be purchased by clicking on the "CLICK HERE TO ORDER" button below for around 149.99USD.