Can a home LCD TV handle rigors of the road?

[classic60]

I would be interested in hearing from RVers who have installed a standard home LCD TV in their motorhome and have been operating it on the road for a year or two with or without problems.

I want to change out my old 26" tube TV with a comparable LCD. Jensen, who claims to make the only true "mobile" tv, claims that their units are constructed to withstand the rigors of the road, vibration, bumps, etc. while standard TV's are not. I don't know if this is fact or just sales hype.

No doubt a standard tv would work just fine in the short term, my question is will it withstand at least a couple of years or more on the road?

03 Bounder 36' Workhorse with a new brake job

[Dave Rickey]

I'd get a 12V TV designed for vehicle use (more efficient power usage then inverting 110 only to have the TV rectify it back to DC). But as far as I know, there's no official engineering standard for "vehicle use", Jensen can claim they're the only ones that meet those standards (which they define) and charge a premium for it, but it doesn't mean anything.

It's going to be about the mounting as much as the construction, you want to use dense foam or rubber to smooth out the sharp shocks and special cushioned mounts might be worth the investment, but with Jensen running twice the cost for equivalent screens (and probably just branding screens made in Chinese or Malaysian factories), I'll take my chances with the cheaper sets.

--Dave

[Lorna]

We have a Sanyo Vizion LCD TV mounted on the wall of our RV. We bought it from Wal-Mart back in 2006. It's been in the RV the whole time. It is a cheap TV. It has held up just fine. We full time. We have traveled many miles with it... often down the secondary roads.

[FlyingDiver]

We have a 52" Sony LCD in the living room, and a 40" Sony LCD in the bedroom, for over 2 years of full timing. No problems with the TVs at all.

There's also a 32" in the basement, but I haven't turned it on in a year...

joe

[Route 66]

Most of the manufacturers are installing LCD TVs and they hold up just fine as have the 2 in my MH.

[paz]

As Route 66 says, most major RV manufacturers are now installing residential LCD TVs. A few high-end manufacturers are using plasma or LED, but these are still residential models.

We switched out our original CRT models last year for Panasonic LCDs. So far, so good.

[rebelone]

I have a Viewsonic LCD in front of my 2004 Monaco, no problems.
Rebel

[AUSSI]

Installed our 2 LCD TVs over 3yrs ago and no problems, also we have been over some roads the almost shake ones fillings loose.

[John H...]

I think you can be pretty sure by all the comments that it is OK. I replaced my 2 TV's with LCD's and they are fine...

[wkdwitch]

As an experiment we put our spare pc monitor (that had HDTV tuner too) in a bedroom cabinet for the past year. It was not mounted nor 'insulated' from bumps in any way. It is having issues sometimes with the sound. On roof antenna all is fine, only fuzzy on Direct tv sat. Often clears itself after 20-30 mins. Clueless about the malfunction, but feel strongly that if it had been more securely mounted it would have been far better off. Going shopping tomorrow for a new LCD HDTV to MOUNT. It was nice to be able to move it o/s on a whim, but with DH rather deaf good sound is more important than porch sports. ps It was fine for 1-2 years prior when "packed" for each move as pc monitor....which is why I think firm mounting will solve the problems.

[wa8yxm]

The monitor I am using to type this message is a Samsung SyncMaster 910MP Television/Monitor.. This is old enough to be Analog TV (NTSC, not ATSC) only though I think it can suck in digital cable (Q-something) I got it in 2005 when the motor home was new.. It has NEVER been used in the house (though (I do lug it to a family center when my laptops are not usable.. as in now,,, Currently though I have wi-fi where I am parked)

Save for a spot or two on the "Glass" I need to clean.. It's working perfectly. It has bounced over thousands of miles of roads. Fallen off it's mount at least once (Landed on the bed though, soft landing) and more. Very abused.. Still works perfectly.

It is a home style unit.

[RickO]

Three years ago we replaced the 19" bedroom tv with a 32" Sony Bravia hard mounted to the cabinet. No problems at all.

Two years ago we replaced the 27" CRT in the living room with a 37" HP LCD hard mounted to the entertainment cabinet. No problems at all.

I will soon replace the OEM Jensen 20" flat panel in the outside entertainment center with a cheap 26" LCD from Walmart... but I plan to purchase the extended warranty on that one because of the extra beating it might take. BTW, the OEM 20" Jensen has already failed!

[classic60]

Dave, my preference would be to find a 12V lcd but the largest i've been able to find is 22" and I need one around 26". As far as installation, I was thinking along the same lines, some rubber or foam depending on my install method.

Aside from that, thanks all for your valuable input. I knew that the newer RVs now had LCDs installed but I didn't know the LCDs they were installing were just standard TVs. Sounds like they work just fine even on roads that "might shake ones fillings loose" (good one) so I'll be shopping for one soon.

[IC2]

We have a 26" fairly low end Toshiba that is used in the 5er when we travel and I use in my TV/reading room when at home. It has been great - and a much better TV then the high end Samsung that we use in the family room that never moves.

While the idea of a 12v TV sounds good, they will draw LOTS of amps out of the batteries to light that screen along with the coach lights, the water pump, stereo, etc, etc, etc. Add up the various current draws and you might just find that you would need a few more big batteries and bigger chargers/alternators to keep them charged just to run a TV more then a couple of hours. Makes a nice quiet Honda generator sound good