Accessory Review: Datacolor Spyder3 Elite
By
Mike Pasini, The Imaging Resource
(Friday, April 25, 2008 - 16:23 EDT)
The newest Spyder fits a large sensor in a smaller package and can recalibrate twice as fast as it can calibrate.
The well-balanced monitor does not come out of a box. It takes some adjustment to get it right. Some people flatter themselves that they can do this by eye. And then never do. Others have been reading us for years and believe what we tell them: you need a little gadget to get this reliably right enough to do as frequently as it needs doing. A monitor calibrator.
Enter the Spyder3.
Smaller than the Spyder2 (with a much more flexible USB cord, incidentally), it seems to have learned a few tricks from the Pantone huey. Like the huey, it comes with a stand (something the Spyder2 didn't have) and it can monitor ambient light (as did the Spyder2). It's also a good deal faster than the Spyder2, requiring 5 instead of 7 minutes for your first calibration and just 2.5 minutes to recalibrate.
We never complained about our older Spyders but we never reviewed them either. Each one had some issue that seemed to require duct tape to resolve. But not the Spyder3. Datacolor seems to have gotten it right this time.
Read our review for the full story.
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