ADI MicroScan M900

As one of the few monitors this month to squeeze under the £200 mark, even including tax, ADI is certainly aiming for the lower end of the market with the MicroScan M900. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, and since £159 isn't an unusual price for a 17in monitor you're effectively given all that extra screen estate for free.

The primary reason for the low price is the M900's FST shadow-mask tube, which remains significantly cheaper than the flat-screen CRTs from Sony, Samsung or Mitsubishi. Amazingly, the M900 performed quite well in the geometry tests - one area where FST tubes are normally poor. In fact, it only failed the pincushion test.

It couldn't continue this form in the sharpness and resolution section of our tests, gaining full passes in just two of the 13 taxing screens and only scraping passes in three. Most notably, it only managed one pass in the two focus tests. The M900's colour performance wasn't brilliant either, but it still outperformed several of its more expensive competitors. A bigger problem is the reflectivity of the screen, which could lead to eyestrain and headaches unless a filter is used.

The OSD is well featured, only missing advanced controls like convergence and linearity. However, there are both horizontal and vertical moiré controls, which allowed most of the interference patterns to be dialled out.

Although you get a lot of monitor for your money with the M900, Hansol's 920P offers slightly better image quality and is £24 cheaper - a large margin at this end of the budget spectrum. If you're looking for a budget buy, the Hansol is a better overall choice than the ADI.