Monitor arms
Many competing monitor arms share the same designs. In our testing, we’ve found that most monitor arms have nearly identical instructions and parts—but aren’t necessarily equally sturdy. The cheaper versions with shorter warranties typically don’t perform as well.
The Monoprice Workstream 15526, for example, looked identical to the Fully Jarvis Single Monitor Arm, just with less helpful installation instructions and a one-year warranty versus the Jarvis arm’s 15-year warranty. We found positioning the monitor at different heights more difficult, regardless of how much we turned the hex key. The dual-monitor Monoprice Workstream 15525 likewise failed to hold our test 24-inch monitors in place, no matter how tightly we adjusted the arms.
We used to recommend the Amazon Basics Single-Monitor Mounting Arm, which is nearly identical to the Ergotron LX Desk Monitor Arm. But the Fully Jarvis arm generally costs the same, offers similar features, and has a 15-year warranty instead of Amazon Basics’s one year of coverage.
The Fully Jarvis Dual Monitor Arm looks and works exactly like the Jarvis Single Monitor Arm, but because of issues we encountered while trying to get two monitors to line up precisely (with or without substantial clearance behind a desk), we recommend going with two single arms instead.
The Vivo Dual V002K, a Jarvis arm look-alike, also failed to secure our test 24-inch monitors properly, with the monitors sinking to the bottom of the arm. The arm’s plasticky construction also gave us pause.
Ergotron’s Trace Dual Monitor Mount has a cross-bar design that can keep two monitors side by side and move them in one motion. Because of its $500 price tag at the time of our research, as well as our late discovery of less expensive dual arms such as the Uplift Desk Crestview Align, we decided not to test the Trace Dual Monitor Mount until we had additional similar models to compare it with.
The Ergotron LX Dual Monitor Arm suffers from the same issues we found in other dual-monitor arms.
We tested the Herman Miller Flo Monitor Support for a previous round of testing and found it difficult to set up and adjust. Although the Flo arm has cable-management options superior to those of our top pick, we don’t trust this mount with a valuable monitor. In our tests, its desk clamp wasn’t sturdy even when fully tightened, and its mounting plate is made of plastic instead of metal. Plus, the Flo arm usually costs twice the price of our top pick and doesn’t provide an option for very tall people.
The Vivo Single Monitor Desk Mount and the Vivo Dual Monitor Desk Mount were both significantly cheaper than similar offerings from other companies. Although their prices were appealing, we found them harder to set up, and they covered fewer angles than our picks.
The Ergotech Freedom Arm HD was harder to set up than our picks and required more parts. Adjusting the tilt of the monitor was more difficult, too.
In our tests, the Uplift Monitor Arm required a desk-imprinting clamp and proved to be harder to lock down at just the right height. Compared with our other picks, it was difficult to set up and adjust.
We considered testing the North Bayou F80, an Amazon best seller, but found that it had a more limited vertical range at just 9 inches. Our picks are more adjustable and support a wider range of people and desk setups.
Monitor stands and risers
We found that most monitor stands, despite being simple objects—essentially, a shelf for your desk—tend to have flaws on close inspection. Uneven legs, poor-fitting parts, or even cracks in the tops are par for the course.
The IKEA Vattenkar Laptop/Monitor Stand, for example, wobbled from back to front and side to side, which is a shame because we liked the minimalist birch-wood design and the versatility of the inner shelf. If you find one in a store that doesn’t wobble or flex when you push on the top, it could be a good buy.
Height adjustable from 4.6 inches to 6.5 inches, the Monoprice Workstream Universal Monitor Riser Stand 16250 is one of the tallest stands we tested. However, this metal stand is a pedestal for your monitor rather than a shelf, so it offers no space beneath for storage. The unit we tested had misaligned holes, so it was impossible to put together.
The 3M Extra Wide Adjustable Monitor Stand MS90B is similar to the Amazon Basics stand but costs twice as much, doesn’t have storage for the leg parts, and looks more plasticky.
The large model of the Office Oasis Original Bamboo Monitor Stand we tested had a loose center leg that was too short to touch the desk. The top also started splitting just days after we received it. We found a few similar complaints in Amazon customer reviews.
This article was edited by Ben Keough and Erica Ogg.
Melanie Pinola, a former Wirecutter senior staff writer, died in October 2024.
