Monitor Calibration devices

[vhelp]

I am looking to calibrate my monitors in the least expansive way. I am not from Hollywood and don't have expansive equipment to calibrate.

I see on ebay they have the Express Monitor Calibration system: Spyder 4 and Spyder 5

I am considering one of these.

In anyone's opinion and experience with monitor calibration, am I better off getting the 5 or will the 4 suffice. Both are up to aprox $100, new and used.
I see that the 5 calibrates in roughly 5 minutes. I believe the 4 may be in that same range.
Is the 4 any lesser than the 5? Are they both good Is there any difference or benefit, or doesn't matter which one I get.

Thank you for your opinions and suggestions.

[johns0]

Just look on google for free apps that calibrate your monitor,they show graphs of different scenarios such as color,contrast,brightness and horizontal vertical values.

[JVRaines]

Eyeball apps do not perform calibration. Calibration means bringing a system into alignment with an established standard. I have a Spyder 3 put away somewhere that worked just fine as I recall.

[SameSelf]

Is this the $99 monitor you are wanting to calibrate? What do you mean by expansive? Or did you intend expensive? That is quite confusing language.

[vhelp]

I've played with a few software calibrators, but they don't seem to work well, plus my monitor(s) are laptop based and they already have crummy poor color levels to begin with. Just want to get a better set of levels established.

[vhelp]

i said, in the least expansive. I don't want to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars when all I have are cheap monitors that have minimal levels to adjust.

[SameSelf]

well then you are over thinking this imho. just buy the cheapest calibration tool you can find.

[hello_hello]

well then you are over thinking this imho. just buy the cheapest calibration tool you can find.

I don't see how checking to make sure the cheapest calibration tool is capable of calibrating properly would qualify as "over thinking it".

[Cornucopia]

I think, and if I am correct then I am in agreement with SameSelf on this one, that he means the cost of investment in a decent calibration system (which requires both generation/testing/calibration software and a pre-calibrated reference sensor) is enough to overshadow the cost of improving crappy/questionable displays.
Throwing good money after bad comes to mind.
Takeaway: truly go pro, or don't even worry about it beyond eyeballing if you cannot afford upgrades.

Scott

[Krispy Kritter]

I'm using this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0055MBQOW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The Spyder models were highly rated as well as used here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/how-to-calibrate-hdtv,3945.html


Although I didn't splurge and take it this seriously until I upgraded to a 27" 1440P IPS panel. Up until then, I simply performed the basic Windows calibration procedure.