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In Support Of Kogan


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djOS - l am no ones stooge. In an open public forum you engage in character assassination without foundation or evidence..... Other senior members know the truth. I have NEVER had a temporary ban. False information and baseless accusations do not form the basis of civil debate any more than personal attack.

Please carefully read my prior posts and you will find that I have met Kogan at al only once at the Kogan day.

My ONLY post in this thread was that time wasters leave this thread alone and let it be for Kogan owners to give genuine feedback.....

Read the form rules. Stop the personal attacks..... reported for breach of rules and slamming.

I made a mistake and wrongly accused "no spam" of being a Kogan Stooge - I went back and checked my facts and he is not - I got my wires crossed and I apologise to "no spam" unreservedly.

My Original post has also been edited.

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Guest not-happy-Jan

I made a mistake and wrongly accused "no spam" of being a Kogan Stooge - I went back and checked my facts and he is not - I got my wires crossed and I apologise to "no spam" unreservedly.

My Original post has also been edited.

THANYOU djOS - you are a gentleman.

Edited by not-happy-Jan
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  • 5 months later...

Well, I just picked up a 22" Kogan Pro, and am pretty happy with it. In an attempt to increase the amount of actual reviews out there, here's my writeup on my screen. I'm no expert, and I am certainly not in the pay or employ of Kogan. I hope this helps people considering the screens to see the good and the bad!

Introduction:

When I thought of purchasing a TV, I approached the prospect with some trepidation. It’s a sizable investment, and something I wanted to have for several years. The concern increased when, on paper at least, the Kogan brand TV fit my needs. The reason for this is that, whilst there is a lot of Kogan marketing out there, there are very few seemingly unbiased reviews online. A lot of people on various forums around seem to cast doubt on those who review Kogan products as either being ‘fanboys’ or engaged in viral marketing, and there do not seem to be any staunchly independent review sites commenting either way on the TV’s. I didn’t want to trust E-bay feedback either because, let’s be honest, an 80 word review isn’t worth that much.

Despite all of this, technical specifications, contact with Kogan prior to purchase, and (lets be honest here) the right price led me to buy the Kogan 22” Pro.

Purchase Process: Being somewhat tight on cash, I decided to opt for the E-bay purchase option. I monitored quite a few auctions, and finally got my price. I must commend Kogan for the clear payment and warranty extension instructions. It was quite straight forward to buy the extra 5 years warranty, and the turnaround on emails to Kogan was about 24 hours each time – not too bad, considering. Payment was through PayPal, so nothing sinister here, and I received confirmation immediately. Out of 5, I would give Kogan 4 for ease of sale, but really that’s mainly E-bay, rather than Kogan.

Delivery: Now, lots of negative comments about Kogan appear to stem from misunderstanding of the ‘pre-sale’ concept. I knew that I bought my TV on pre-sale, and was happy to wait for it. I was, however, disappointed that the dispatch date listed was on a Saturday, and the TV was only dispatched on the following Monday. I expected this to happen, but really, if they knew the sets would only be processed on the Monday after they were delivered to the Kogan offices, couldn’t they have put that as the dispatch date?

This complaint aside, the shipping tracker was very useful, and delivery was painless. I’ll give it 3 stars.

The product (what’s in the box?):

The product came with remote control, a manual and a power cable. The manual was informative and easy to use. The power cable is a bit bulky (think laptop cable style box), and gets a bit warm with use, but is otherwise fine. The only issue that I have had with the cord is discussed below in the ‘Mounting’ section.

Appearance: The TV itself is nice looking. It’s not a classy in appearance as a Samsung or Sony, but it has clean lines, and doesn’t have a ‘plastic’ look like its Teac or Bush competitors. The stand it comes with is nice and solid, no complaints there. The remote is fantastic on the basis that it has lots of buttons on it, and several of them are brightly coloured…. Okay, maybe it’s the 5 year old child in me that gets excited about that, but I do love a pointlessly complex remote control for any electronic device.

The Display:

Turning on the Kogan, I was instantly impressed. Whilst the GUI was clunky and somewhat tacky looking, it was easy enough to use, and once I had the digital channels programmed in, the image quality was fantastic. It was far sharper than that on the LG, Bush, and Grundig models I had been comparing it to. The black is a bit grey, and there is a little touch of fuzziness to the image, but on the whole, it is far closer to the higher end models I have seen in terms of image quality. Colours are sharp, and bright when you view it on the right angle. Change angle though, and it gets a bit dark looking. This could be an issue if you are mounting the screen, but can be fixed by shifting the angle and playing with the colour/contrast settings a bit. The sound is very good as well. It does the job, and is all you could expect in an inbuilt speaker. The only issue I have with the display is that it takes some time to change between channels, and if you flick to an HD station, you have to wait even longer before you can move on to an SD one. Nothing too detrimental, but not ideal. The DVD player is a nice added bonus. It’s a bit confusing in terms of which way you should insert your disc, but once it’s in there, it plays like a charm. In terms of image and functionality, I’ll give it a 4/5. If we were comparing it head to head with a Bravia, this score would probably drop, but we aren’t.

Mounting: Now, I’m not sure if this is my incompetence, but I had no idea how to mount the screen. My first thought was that the mount would attach to where the base of the screen was fixed. After checking with Kogan, and picking up my VESA 75mm mount, I tried to affix it to the screen – no dice. The holes were not even close. I emailed Kogan and after some to-ing and fro-ing discovered I was actually trying to put the mount in the wrong place, and that instead the holes I was looking for were located *behind the warranty sticker* in the centre of the screen. I also could not remove the sticker as this would void the warranty. Instead I had to use a pencil and slowly move it across the sticker until I found the holes. Now this wasn’t too hard to do, but it really, really, really should have been explicitly stated in the manual, and there should be holes marked on the warranty sticker by Kogan to show you where to screw the mount on.

Conclusion: The Kogan is a great little unit. This is a budget screen, and if you want to match it with the high priced screens, you’re only setting your self up for disappointment. Don’t get me wrong, the screen punches well above its weight, but it is worth while keeping in mind, you aren’t buying a Sony Bravia when you buy this TV. What it will do, however, is give you an excellent image, decent sound, and a nice looking TV that is more than perfect for your bedroom, kitchen, house boat, or outhouse. I’d give it 4/5 overall for being a great little purchase. For the record, I should state that I do not work for Kogan, I am not being paid for my opinions, and I hope that this was of some use to someone out there looking, as I was, to buy a decent budget LCD screen.

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How much is Bogan, sorry Kogan, asking for the TVs these days ?

The reason I'm asking is big-brand LCDs have taken major price drops and I want to know if he's still competitive. The gap between the biggies and Conia/Soniq/Palsonic/AWA/DSE is coming down rapidly. So rapidly that it almost doesn't make sense to buy anything lower than LG/Samsung.

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How much is Bogan, sorry Kogan, asking for the TVs these days ?

The reason I'm asking is big-brand LCDs have taken major price drops and I want to know if he's still competitive. The gap between the biggies and Conia/Soniq/Palsonic/AWA/DSE is coming down rapidly. So rapidly that it almost doesn't make sense to buy anything lower than LG/Samsung.

Check out his buy it now prices on e-bay,you can get name brands cheaper.

I love his Free pick up offer.

Like you said it makes NO sense to buy these types of sets anymore.

HDROCKS: :wub: But not on a Kogan.

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Check out his buy it now prices on e-bay,you can get name brands cheaper.

I love his Free pick up offer.

Like you said it makes NO sense to buy these types of sets anymore.

"Come on in and carry the box home, mate. No extra charge !" Yeah, right, that's what I call a free pick-up.

As I was saying, the price difference has come down to the point of negligible. Even then, I see folks who are willing to pay a price greater than or equal to the big brands. One user (ChiefMegadeth) said the Hisense warranty was better than Samsung and so was the TV, which justifies paying more money than a Samsung !

What are these people on ? Crack, heroin, ice, meth, 6-pack of beer at the very least ?

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  • 3 weeks later...
"Come on in and carry the box home, mate. No extra charge !" Yeah, right, that's what I call a free pick-up.

As I was saying, the price difference has come down to the point of negligible. Even then, I see folks who are willing to pay a price greater than or equal to the big brands. One user (ChiefMegadeth) said the Hisense warranty was better than Samsung and so was the TV, which justifies paying more money than a Samsung !

What are these people on ? Crack, heroin, ice, meth, 6-pack of beer at the very least ?

I'm new to this Kogan war so please don't bite my head off for ignorance.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Kogan-PRO-26-LCD-TV...1QQcmdZViewItem

A Kogan 26 inch goes for about $500 plus $100 delivery cost. A total of $600.

A Panasonic 26 inch is about $900 (pick up yourself). I wouldn't say that's a neglible difference, although I assume the gap used to be a lot more.

If you were in Melbourne, the $100 you save on delivery may be the deal maker.

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"Come on in and carry the box home, mate. No extra charge !" Yeah, right, that's what I call a free pick-up.

As I was saying, the price difference has come down to the point of negligible. Even then, I see folks who are willing to pay a price greater than or equal to the big brands. One user (ChiefMegadeth) said the Hisense warranty was better than Samsung and so was the TV, which justifies paying more money than a Samsung !

What are these people on ? Crack, heroin, ice, meth, 6-pack of beer at the very least ?

I'm new to this Kogan war so please don't bite my head off for ignorance.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Kogan-PRO-26-LCD-TV...1QQcmdZViewItem

A Kogan 26 inch goes for about $500 plus $100 delivery cost. A total of $600.

A Panasonic 26 inch is about $900 (pick up yourself). I wouldn't say that's a negligible difference, although I assume the gap used to be a lot more.

I note you can pick up a Palsonic from Dick Smith for $600. Perhaps that is the same quality as a Kogan.

Edited by diggler2002
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A Kogan 26 inch goes for about $500 plus $100 delivery cost. A total of $600.

A Panasonic 26 inch is about $900 (pick up yourself). I wouldn't say that's a negligible difference, although I assume the gap used to be a lot more.

Forum users aren't here to bite (well, most of us, anyway).

You haven't been looking at prices recently otherwise you wouldn't have pegged a big-name 26" LCD at $900. That kind of money is more than enough to get a 32" Samsung R8 these days. A 26" Samsung R7 can be had for as little as $700, making it only $100 costlier than the Kogan. So what does the extra dosh get you ?

1) Most important of all, the built-in HD tuner. Kogan only has the SD tuner, which means you won't get Ten HD, 9HD and 7HD.

2) 3-year warranty instead of 1-year warranty

3) Better picture quality

If you paid $600 for Kogan, you would have to shell out at least $100 for a HD set top box (that too from Aldi), taking the cost to $700. The extra warranty for the Samsung becomes an offer you can't ignore.

Seriously, if all you want is a cheap-price SD flat TV, go to Aldi tomorrow and pick up their 32" SD plasma for $499. It has a 2-year warranty too.

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Forum users aren't here to bite (well, most of us, anyway).

You haven't been looking at prices recently otherwise you wouldn't have pegged a big-name 26" LCD at $900. That kind of money is more than enough to get a 32" Samsung R8 these days. A 26" Samsung R7 can be had for as little as $700, making it only $100 costlier than the Kogan. So what does the extra dosh get you ?

1) Most important of all, the built-in HD tuner. Kogan only has the SD tuner, which means you won't get Ten HD, 9HD and 7HD.

2) 3-year warranty instead of 1-year warranty

3) Better picture quality

If you paid $600 for Kogan, you would have to shell out at least $100 for a HD set top box (that too from Aldi), taking the cost to $700. The extra warranty for the Samsung becomes an offer you can't ignore.

Seriously, if all you want is a cheap-price SD flat TV, go to Aldi tomorrow and pick up their 32" SD plasma for $499. It has a 2-year warranty too.

Thanks for the info. Very informative.

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A quite few on ebay do charge for pick-up.

EBay is already under investigation for arm-twisting everyone into using PayPal and indirectly charging sellers extra money to peddle their wares. Sellers charging money for pick-up is just another rip-off.

Is there anything that's honest about online auctions these days ? It's becoming more dodgy by the minute.

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  • 5 months later...

Well, GadgetGuy have reviewed 2 of their TVs. One a while ago, the X46, which received a good review - http://www.gadgetguy.com.au/kogan-x46-review-152074-1.html

But today they reviewed one of Kogan's newies, the PRO 42. The final paragraph says it all: "Unfortunately - and I really do hesitate to be mean - but we must recommend to readers that they do not purchase this TV. That you are reading this website suggests you are interested in quality, and this TV just doesn't provide it."

Read the full review at http://www.gadgetguy.com.au/pro-42-review-152659-101.html

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Gadget Guy Pete Blasina appears on Channel 7's Sunrise show. Kogan appears on Channel 7's Today Tonight.

Both reviews include the usual lines about how expensive HDTVs are (figures in excess of $20,000 are quoted) and how Kogan makes them cheaper by directly selling them to you. Same old story but there's a twist at the end of the 42" Pro review, where he asks you not to buy it because the quality isn't so good. Looks like Ruslan needs to send more money to Pete ....

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GadgetGuy - yeaaah....

"1080p, but the latter only in US-style 60 frames per second format. So this will work nicely with most Blu-ray and HD DVDs"

He doesnt know **** from date pudding - it shows here, and in most of his reviews.

Cheers,

Bitey

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GadgetGuy - yeaaah....

If you've seen some of his performances on Sunrise, you'll want to puke.

He's a middle-aged man in a Hawaiian shirt (kinda like a pimp/drug dealer that hangs around strip clubs) parroting the specifications of TV, PCs etc but with a dramatic voice, while the egghead Kochie and desperate housewife Mel look on with utter devotion, like they're watching the birth of Jesus.

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If you've seen some of his performances on Sunrise, you'll want to puke.

He's a middle-aged man in a Hawaiian shirt (kinda like a pimp/drug dealer that hangs around strip clubs) parroting the specifications of TV, PCs etc but with a dramatic voice, while the egghead Kochie and desperate housewife Mel look on with utter devotion, like they're watching the birth of Jesus.

:D:lol::D

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Gadget Guy Pete Blasina appears on Channel 7's Sunrise show. Kogan appears on Channel 7's Today Tonight.

Both reviews include the usual lines about how expensive HDTVs are (figures in excess of $20,000 are quoted) and how Kogan makes them cheaper by directly selling them to you. Same old story but there's a twist at the end of the 42" Pro review, where he asks you not to buy it because the quality isn't so good. Looks like Ruslan needs to send more money to Pete ....

You know he didn't write any of those reviews, right?

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GadgetGuy - yeaaah....

"1080p, but the latter only in US-style 60 frames per second format. So this will work nicely with most Blu-ray and HD DVDs"

He doesnt know **** from date pudding - it shows here, and in most of his reviews.

Cheers,

Bitey

The next paragraph of that review is the one I found most amusing.

"With standard definition PAL DVDs, the picture was a little jerky on occasion, suggesting that the TV converts our 50 frames per second to 60 frames internally. This isn't noticeable most of the time."

Just be careful not to watch any sport.

Edited by drsmith
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You know he didn't write any of those reviews, right?

I know but he did stick his mugshot on the site, so he does stand by the ridiculously bad reviews that get posted there.

Going by what drsmith pointed out, the Kogan is pretty much a big digital photo frame because motion is jerky and PQ is poor.

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  • 4 weeks later...


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