· Excellent price
· Traditional ViewSonic reliability

· Average ratings in color/text display
· Image controls limited

Optiquest, for those unfamiliar with the name, is a low end division of mega-monitor vendor ViewSonic.

Why the need for two brand names selling the same product? Marketing and perception. Optiquest's product line is supposed to be synonymous with "value" while ViewSonic's product line is supposed to emit feelings of "performance" from the informed mainstream buyer.

The Optiquest V95 19" monitor we tested fulfilled the "value" mantra of its company's motto, as it tied for the lowest street cost in this roundup.

There's nothing fancy about the V95 other than its price tag. Controls are simplistic and easy to use, but you won't be able to manipulate the V95's image to the same degree as the top three models we tested.

Color and text were just average in their display, and our review panel could find no major visual errors present in the variety of test apps we ran that couldn't be fixed with the stock settings.

One nice feature with the Optiquest V95 is that it provides a CD-ROM disc with its .inf driver file for the most exact Win95/98 setting and tuning, otherwise the main advantage to buying the V95 lies in its cost. It delivers average graphics overall, and won't disappoint anyone not looking for superior graphical display.

It's hard to fault a 19" montior that's under $500.