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Flanders XMP310 disappointment

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Robert Arnold

I've been a huge supporter of Flanders Scientific since I started in color grading over a decade ago, buying a series of their displays and recommending them often to new colorists. I was therefore very excited to buy my Flanders XMP310, which replaced my DM240 in Spring of 2024. The monitor had an intermittent issue (bright red lines in black areas), so they had me send it in, and they decided to just replace it with a new one. So far, so good. I loved the monitor.

Unfortunately, a few weeks ago my monitor started having a stuck pixel. It's a very bright green pixel in the center third of the screen. I contacted FSI support, but they say that a single stuck pixel is NOT covered under warranty. They say it *might* go away. It's extremely distracting, especially when grading dark scenes, and it's just kind of heartbreaking to pay more than $10k for a monitor and have it exhibit a glaring flaw after barely a year of use. I feel like this just leaves me stuck with a defective monitor. Not sure what to do....
 
Sorry to say I'm on my third XMP550 after 2 faulty displays. Service has been extremely good though and Flanders EU has been very helpful and super quick with support and replacement monitors sent right away. Bit scared now that our warranty is ending though..
 
i was tangently involved in a similar experience, i recomended Flanders to a post house i freelance at - based mainly on the glowing reports here and other online groups, they bought x550, it was delivered with a dead pixel in the center of the raster, and as you discovered Flanders will not cover that even on a brand new display.... so that was the first and last Flanders monitor they will purchase, and the last time i recomend Flanders to anyone,

but really this is a Sony town, they have great local support for everything, and if the 10k had gone to Sony they would have a working monitor, not an expensive doorstop / machine room confidence check mon

end game the street cred they have garnered for "great support" seemed to not exist
 
Hi all, just to clarify:

We offer a 10-day return for refund and a 30-day exchange for credit toward another model on all new monitor purchases. The factory does not knowingly ship units with pixel defects, but if you identify an issue upon receipt of a new monitor, you are welcome to use the return or exchange policy above.

We perform our own QC on all outgoing units and reject a significant number of panels from our suppliers—even though issues such as a single stuck sub-pixel are not covered by the suppliers’ own warranties. That becomes a cost we absorb. Most sub-pixel issues reveal themselves early in a panel’s life, so our QC and burn-in process catches the majority of them. That said, sub-pixel anomalies can appear or disappear over time, and on a UHD panel with over 100 million transistors, every semiconductor manufacturer considers a very small number of sub-pixel defects normal and non-warrantable. We have yet to encounter a supplier whose policy differs. If we were to assume long-term liability for a true zero-sub-pixel-defect standard, the resulting price increase on our monitors would be substantial—especially considering that physical contact with the screen can itself cause pixel issues. This is more common on set, where hard pen or finger taps from producers or DPs can introduce defects, but it illustrates how significant a liability such a policy would create.

Regarding Sony, some users may have received one-off exceptions, but for reference, Sony’s official pixel-efficiency threshold is 99.99%—even on the BVM-HX3110, which costs roughly 3.5× more than an XMP310. That is far from a true zero-defect policy. Even manufacturers that advertise “zero pixel defect” coverage typically refer only to full pixel failures (all sub-pixels) or clusters; partial sub-pixel defects or dark-pixel anomalies are usually not covered.

In summary: we do everything we reasonably can to catch potential issues before shipment. If you discover something upon receiving a new unit, you may return or exchange it within the stated window. If a sub-pixel issue arises later and falls outside of warranty coverage, we are still willing to work with you—for example by covering labor or taking other steps to help offset a portion of the cost of a panel replacement should you decide it’s necessary. We understand the frustration these situations can cause, and we aim to balance proactive quality control with keeping our products priced competitively in the market.
 
Robert Arnold said:
I've been a huge supporter of Flanders Scientific since I started in color grading over a decade ago, buying a series of their displays and recommending them often to new colorists. I was therefore very excited to buy my Flanders XMP310, which replaced my DM240 in Spring of 2024. The monitor had an intermittent issue (bright red lines in black areas), so they had me send it in, and they decided to just replace it with a new one. So far, so good. I loved the monitor.

Unfortunately, a few weeks ago my monitor started having a stuck pixel. It's a very bright green pixel in the center third of the screen. I contacted FSI support, but they say that a single stuck pixel is NOT covered under warranty. They say it *might* go away. It's extremely distracting, especially when grading dark scenes, and it's just kind of heartbreaking to pay more than $10k for a monitor and have it exhibit a glaring flaw after barely a year of use. I feel like this just leaves me stuck with a defective monitor. Not sure what to do....
Click to expand...
Yurk. Sorry for that. I feel lucky that the stuck pixel on my DM250 was a dark red one and not a bright green one...
 
Quote from Bram's post.

"This is more common on set, where hard pen or finger taps from producers or DPs can introduce defects, but it illustrates how significant a liability such a policy would create."

One of the first accessories I purchased immediately years ago was the clear acrylic protective screen cover. It is invaluable to prevent idiots from poking their fingers, pens or whatever into the screen. I added a warning label stating "DO NOT TOUCH SCREEN. SEVERE ELECTRO MAGNETIC SHOCK WILL RESULT."
A pair of art directors asked me what that meant? I replied it was advanced warning for my fist hitting their heads resulting in non-stop spinning for days. ;)

XMP 310 protective cover is available here: https://www.shopfsi.com/Clear-Protective-Cover-for-XMP310-p/cpc.up.310.htm
 
Last edited:
Bram Desmet (FSI) said:
Hi all, just to clarify:

We offer a 10-day return for refund and a 30-day exchange for credit toward another model on all new monitor purchases. The factory does not knowingly ship units with pixel defects, but if you identify an issue upon receipt of a new monitor, you are welcome to use the return or exchange policy above.

We perform our own QC on all outgoing units and reject a significant number of panels from our suppliers—even though issues such as a single stuck sub-pixel are not covered by the suppliers’ own warranties. That becomes a cost we absorb. Most sub-pixel issues reveal themselves early in a panel’s life, so our QC and burn-in process catches the majority of them. That said, sub-pixel anomalies can appear or disappear over time, and on a UHD panel with over 100 million transistors, every semiconductor manufacturer considers a very small number of sub-pixel defects normal and non-warrantable. We have yet to encounter a supplier whose policy differs. If we were to assume long-term liability for a true zero-sub-pixel-defect standard, the resulting price increase on our monitors would be substantial—especially considering that physical contact with the screen can itself cause pixel issues. This is more common on set, where hard pen or finger taps from producers or DPs can introduce defects, but it illustrates how significant a liability such a policy would create.

Regarding Sony, some users may have received one-off exceptions, but for reference, Sony’s official pixel-efficiency threshold is 99.99%—even on the BVM-HX3110, which costs roughly 3.5× more than an XMP310. That is far from a true zero-defect policy. Even manufacturers that advertise “zero pixel defect” coverage typically refer only to full pixel failures (all sub-pixels) or clusters; partial sub-pixel defects or dark-pixel anomalies are usually not covered.

In summary: we do everything we reasonably can to catch potential issues before shipment. If you discover something upon receiving a new unit, you may return or exchange it within the stated window. If a sub-pixel issue arises later and falls outside of warranty coverage, we are still willing to work with you—for example by covering labor or taking other steps to help offset a portion of the cost of a panel replacement should you decide it’s necessary. We understand the frustration these situations can cause, and we aim to balance proactive quality control with keeping our products priced competitively in the market.
Click to expand...
This monitor has been sitting in a climate-controlled color suite its whole life, with no producers tapping it.

Flanders' tech support's bedside manner could be better. I basically just got "not covered under warranty, so you'd have to pay for a panel replacement. You can send it in if you want us to take a look," without any offer of working with me or offsetting any costs at all. Who should I contact about this?
 
Please email the main support email address as that then gets distributed to the entire support team so the first available person can help you.
 
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