ColorVision Spyder2 Suite Win/Mac Reviews

• Good monitor calibration

  
  By A2CQQO6HAI6RV0 on 2006-07-19
  I've had no issues with the monitor calibration. Works great.
  
  The "suite" version differentiates itself from regular Spyder 2 by the printer calibration. It is not worth the $20 difference. The printer calibration is TERRIBLE!!!
  
  The printer calibration included no printed documentation. The installer crashes on WinXP. The program itself crashes VERY often -- and required reboots in between crashes (warning of some obtuse 'unable to open file' message).
  
  After spending about an hour re-booting and re-running PrintFix, all it allows is to select from a pre-defined list of printers, and then has slider bars for things like "Brightness" and "cyan<->magenta", etc. There's no way to calibrate the results other than eyeballing the printouts! That's not calibration, that's eyeballing! They don't even offer a service (or a discount for that service) of say, mailing in a few test-sheets to a lab to do the analysis (since the included sensor is unable to analyze the paper).
  
  The final result? Prints that look identical to how I started. All I did was waste a few hours rebooting.
  
  

• Spyder2 Suite (including PrintFIX PLUS)

  
  By A2RH2K5WZPH7OM on 2006-09-02
  Sypder2, the monitor calibration product, is excellent. My monitor never looked this good! Documentation is a bit terse, however. Additionally, you have to know how to do a few things such as (1) disable a program from starting when you boot up and (2) manually adjust your monitor for brightness, contrast, and color temperature and reset it to the factory defaults. Of these, the most important is probably knowing how to disable Adobe Gamma on startup (if enabled), and this is not explained adequately. Some patience and possibly a call to tech support may be required.
  
  PrintFIX PLUS (the printer profiling tool) is less intuitive and more difficult to use. There is no printed documentation, and the Help files are a bit terse. You start by picking a printer/paper combination (any one will probably do, but pick a matte profile if you want to make matte prints). You probably won't find your printer/paper combination in the list, but it really does not matter. These profiles can be used as starting points for profiling of any color printer. You disable the ICM profiling included with your print driver (in the print dialog box for your printer), then make a test print. You compare your test print with an image of the print on your monitor and then make adjustments for brightness, saturation, contrast, color, and viewing conditions.
  
  It's an iterative process to be sure, and some patience is required. The printer profile that I created was much more accurate than any of the ICM profiles provided by HP. It made a HUGE difference in print quality.
  
  I use the ICM profiles from Spyder2 and PrintFIX PLUS in conjunction with Photoshop Elements 4.0 and do all of my critical color printing from within that application. (Note: the ICM profiles that you create with these products are accessible from within the Photoshop Elements Print dialog box. You don't have to install them.)
  
  Additionally, I have not experienced any crashes or other instability issues when used with Windows XP as reported by one reviewer.
  
  Conclusions/Recommendations:
  
  Spyder2 is recommended for any intermediate or advanced amateur photographer who uses Photoshop Elements or equivalent. Novices might be better off with Spyder2 Express, which is considerably cheaper but less robust.
  
  PrintFIX PLUS is recommended for anyone who has some experience making color prints requiring color correction and that has an older printer or even a newer one with inadequate ICM profiles to get satisfactory results. Patience is required.
  
  
  

• Easy to use

  
  By A3CNZ5H2H4X4D6 on 2007-02-06
  I bought the Spyder 2 suite and the monitor calibration worked very well. The printer calibration, not so good. The printer calibration is strictly a judgement call. You pring a picture from the program and they match it to the monitor picture. I could have done that without paying extra for a program that is pretty lame. I thougtht the printer program would print something and then the hardware would scan it and set the printer program, unfortunatley it doesn't work that way. As I said at the stare the monitor calibration worked very well and was easy to use.
  
  Earl Stuckey
  
  

• Spyder 2 is alright

  
  By A2SZJOS1N1DOLU on 2007-02-16
  I am not entirely fond of the Spyder 2, but it is much better than Adobe Gamma. One catch is that it doesn't take into account the ambient lighting like the Eye One Display products. It also requires manual adjustment of the monitor controls rather than using a common, nearly universla interface to do it programatically. And last, they are VERY slow with drivers and do not release any WHQL certified drivers; this is a big deal if you want to use the hardware with Windows Vista x64 (you can't).
  
  

• It just works

  
  By A1W0WP6WGN6TIC on 2007-03-09
  Anyone doing digital photography needs to calbrate their monitor. There are several reaconably priced hardware products availe which do that well. As a Mac user, the choices are limited. After reading reviews on several products, I purchased the Spyder2 and it works as advertised. The only issue was, I was unable to find a way to reset the monitor (30" Aple Cinema Display) to factory defaults. I disabled the manual controls and told the calibration s/w that there were no controls. It calibrated the monitor properly. Simple to use, reliable results. Good investment.
  
  
• calibrate your monitor
  By AEB4Q49HNG8AH on 2007-04-19
  This product was recommended by a speaker at a photoshop workshop. He said it was the most accurate way to calibrate your monitor.
  The product was shipped fast and was in good condition.
  
  
• Great product
  By A1S8U0OY1RMO0I on 2007-01-30
  I'm a pro photographer and have had a lot of experience with monitor calibration. The Spyder2 is as good as colorimeters costing over $1K. I only wish I had bought the pro version with multi monitor support that I will upgrade to. I haven't had the time to try the printer software, but without a spectrophotometer it'll just get you to a best guess calibration. The Spyder2 is well worth the money just for the monitor calibration.
  
  
• Easy and Accurate
  By A3PSBT0I6ZRGM8 on 2007-02-06
  I really was sceptical that profiling the monitor could make that much of a difference but I bought this product to try. Was I wrong - it makes a huge difference. You simply can't get good, consistent results without profiling your monitor and this product is excellent at doing that for you. It was easy, straightforward, and the quality of the Spyder is great. I've never used the more expensive systems but this one is a big step up from the lower priced systems. And Amazon was $20 cheaper than the anywhere else.
  
  
• Product Performs Well
  By A28XP2R682CQXG on 2007-06-08
  I actually got very good results, particularly with a cheaper secondary monitor. Used this the day I got it, now I can actually use my secondary monitor for photos. (It's a Kogi monitor that was pretty good when new, but never the same after it failed and was serviced.) Anyway now the images are pretty reasonable. I did have to switch my monitor ports in order to calibrate the second monitor, I think that's a limitation of the non-Pro version of the software. Doing that on a regular basis would be a total pain. I don't know too many designers that only use one monitor these days and who else is gonna use this product? So, the single monitor limitation is sort of sucky. But the product works VERY WELL, as advertised.
  
  
• Amazing Monitor Colors
  By AD7ON6KH9H63P on 2007-06-26
  Its as easy as 123. Following the instructions made my 22" monitor, and my printer produce exactly what my NIKON D-200 recorded. I wish I had purchased this software sooner. I had read about this software on Ken Rockwells web site. Now I know why he spoke so highly of it. If you want to see and print what your camera sees - you gotta buy this software
  
  
• Buggy. When it works it's great, IF you can get it to work.
  By A4GEUTDY8VSMZ on 2007-08-02
  Works great, but MANY people have had a hard time getting the computer to recognize the device. Software will often say "Please plug in your sensor", when the device is already plugged in!
  
  IF you get it to work you will be VERY happy with the results-- just be prepared for an endless series of downloading drivers, re-installing, re-booting, etc, etc.
  
  
• Glad I bought it!!
  By A104UJW668A9Z8 on 2007-08-01
  For the longest time my photos did not print out the way it looked on my monitor. After doing a little research I got the Colorvision Syder2 to calibrate my monitor. Its easy to use. Within minutes my monitor was calibrated. I gave it a test and immediately printed out a photo. It was exactly what I was looking for. It printed out great. Monitor calibration is what I needed and the Colorvision Spyder2 did a great job.
  
  
• Works as advertised, but tedious
  By A2SF8PFFLRGWV4 on 2007-08-05
  The monitor profiler works great.
  
  The print fix plus software is a print tweak, repeat affair. I needed five tries to get close on the first paper I tried.
  
  
• Not worth the effort
  By A1CAYC6NFJ0OHQ on 2008-05-17
  I received the Spyder2 Suite on April 3, 2008. Installation was straight forward with no problems. It appears to do what it says it will do, however, two weeks later when it was time to recalibrae, found a problem. The recalibration would reach the point of "Adjust Color Temperature Preset". Next step should be "Attach colorimeter to screen" but it bypassed this step and went to "Remove colorimeter" and loops back and forth between these two steps. Finally I would have to close the program. The only way I can recalibrate the monitor is uninstall and reinstall the software.
  
  Went on line and registered with Datacolor (Colorvision) and they said I would receive an email so as to validate my email address. To this date (May l7, 2008) haven't received anything from them. After two weeks and no email, sent them an email explaining the situtation and ask for help in this matter. Still haven't received anything from Datacolor. Called their 800 support line and was told that he couldn't help as his departmnet doesn't handle the problem of not receiving emails, but he did give me an email address for downloading v2.3 as I was using v2.2. My AT&T browser said it couldn't find the address. Finally sent a letter, by mail, to the General Manager directly, asking for help on this matter, as you can't receive support or download software updates without being registered. That has been two weeks now and no reply. So I guess this is my problem now and it appears Datacolor just doesn't care about it's customers. Also didn't find out that the Spyder2 Express and Spyder2 Suite are discontinued products until almost a month after purchasing. I would go to another company.
  
  I would have gave Spyder2 Suite 4 maybe 5 stars if I wasn't having the problem and could get support. I didn't purchase it for profiling the printer as other previews said this sucked anyway. The Suite has more options than the Express.
  
  UPDATE (May 19,2008)
  After trying one more time, I called the 800 support line and explained my problem again and was transfered to someone else to resolve this issue of not receiving an email so as to validate my account. While my email address was registered with Colorvision (Datacolor) it couldn't be explained why I couldn't receive an email from them. Tried registering with an disposable email address and this worked. I was able to click on the link and validate and was able to download v2.3. After uninstalling v2.2 and installing v2.3 it would still skip the step of "Attach colorimater". Only by deleting the profile created by Spyder2 by going to Control Panel>Display>Advanced>Color Management was I able to calibrate, and right afterwards to make sure I could, recalibrate the monitor, but by only deleting the profile created first. If I don't, it will bypass the step of attaching the colorimeter.
  
  I will now give it a 4 STAR RATING and not a 5 star because of all the problems experienced and would recommend this product to others.
  
  
  
• It's a start, anyway -- Amazon has a great price, too!
  By AKKSHEGRQVQRK on 2008-07-01
  I guess you could say when it come to ease of use -- in terms of just setting up this gizmo and running monitor adjustments -- it gets 4 stars, maybe 5, for ease of use. Install the software in a minute, position the sensor, start the program, lie to the software and say your monitor has no controls of any kind (Spyder will then kick off a completely automated, hands-free scan), and less than 10 minutes later you're home free. Unfortunately after over a dozen runs on 3 of my monitors, it's evident that Spyder's programmers are fascinated, maybe even obsessed, with the color RED. They must figure the redder the better, I guess. Finally I ignored one of their iron-clad rules: rather than leave the room totally dark or covering my monitor with a blanket during the scans, I turned on the rather subdued, soft lighting I use for PC video work (who the %$#&* works in total darkness? Do you? You can't even see your keyboard!). With some gentle ambient worklight (tungsten) nearby, I finally got a really nice adjustment from Spyder. Did a teentsy bit of tweaking with some of DVE's tv test patterns, and now it's about right. Tip: Don't calibrate in total darkness, run it in the same light you use for PC work, short of flashing strobes and circus floodlights. Caution: this will not make games or videos look "better" on your PC. Media players, games, and most other Windows programs have no way of recognizing .icm color profiles. Photoshop Pro does ($600), and Sony Vegas Pro does ($800), and a few Windows games that need $400 graphics cards -- but Windows Media Player, PowerDVD, most freebie photo printing programs, most Kodak photo-CD browsers, most consumer video editors, and most digital camera utilities do not use Windows or Mac color profiles. For that you'll have to run a manual setup on your CRT and push your own sliders. Sorry, LCD's have notoriously goofy picture controls, so don't be surprised if manual doesn't work with LCD's (anyone who uses LCD's for graphics work is fighting a losing battle anyway). Subtract 1 star because Spyder2 told me that before adjustment my monitor was too green. It wasn't. It was too blue. Otherwise, Spyder2 on auto did neat, quick work on 3 monitors and two laptops. With some qualifications in mind, I'd recommend Spyder2 over the usual calibration videos or test pics.
  
  
• Easy monitor calibration at the right price
  By AWOELDA17BK44 on 2007-11-16
  I installed this product on my PC and there were no problems. The most difficult thing was figuring out the monitors directions for adjusting the color settings. The calibration seems to have worked perfectly, or at least, as perfectly as I need for my purposes. I had been getting prints that did not match the monitor which wastes paper, ink and time. I am a little sorry I didn't buy the spyder2 pro instead of the suite. I bought the suite thinking that it would have provided means of calibrating my printers, but it doesn't offer much in that direction. Also, Spyder3 is already out, but I figured I didn't need professional level calibration and this product was much less money.
  
  
• WOW
  By A2DWOCUAY9QFL3 on 2007-12-16
  Firs, thanks for FAST delivery. I think it was only two days before I recieved my package.
  Product is excellent, right to the piont, easy to use, and ACCURATE calibration. I did not try the PrinterFix yet, but I guess it should be good.
  I recommend this product,,,,, great value for the money.
  
  
• Great product.
  By A1G7UJTI645EYB on 2008-02-01
  A very easy and inexpensive device to calibrate your display. I never expected such a great improvement in my iMac monitor after calibrating it with the Spyder2 from Color Vision. I recommend it highly.
  
  
• Terrible software
  By A1T1YSCDW0PD25 on 2008-03-01
  Seems like it would be a great product if the software wasn't so bad. The profile chooser software is terrible. Constant messages and errors and they still haven't fixed it. I have to constantly select the correct color profile at bootup and nothing I've tried seems to fix that. When I do run with the color profile, it's great though, so I give it 3 stars. 5 is the software was good.
  
  
• Will improve your display's color reproduction!
  By A5AY7AG514NPN on 2008-03-01
  I was surprised how much it changed the color reproduction on the monitors -- especially since I wasn't really sure the monitors needed calibration. The first calibration on the 17" MacBook Pro did NOT produce good results; Apple recommends using a target gamma of 1.8 so that was what I initially used and the resulting calibration was horrible. I reran the calibration using the target gamma recommended by Spyder (i.e., 2.2) and got great results. Since then I've calibrated two other monitors and gotten very good results -- the tones look truer and the colors are more vibrant. My only regret is that I didn't shell out the extra $$ for the Pro version so that the software would remembered which monitor was being calibrated.
  
  

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