Atdec Telehook TH-3270-UFM Flatpanel Mount Review

TH-3270-UFM Complete Review

We recently reviewed the Atdec Telehook TH-1040-VFM wall mount, which we found to be exceptionally well made and excellent for smaller-sized flat panel displays. This time around we decided to take a look, at their request, to a larger version - the Telehook TH-3270-UFM. It's similar in many respects, but designed for larger televisions and displays and with advanced features like integrated cable management and a more robust design.

First Impressions and Build Quality

First of all, if you haven't read the Adtec TH-1040-VFM review, now's the time. I'm going to be relying on it heavily since these two mounts share a lot in common. To start with, the TH-3270-UFM has a similar style and stylings. In fact, from the pictures, you might think these are the same mounts until you look at the specs and realize that the previously reviewed mount was rated only up to 55lbs and this one is rated up to 143lbs. That's a huge difference. The overall functionality is the same in that it attaches to a single point (well, three points but to a single stud), has a three point articulated arm, integrated wire management, and industrial gray and black stylings. But there are some pretty significant differences. First, though, we should start from the beginning.

Atdec has shown already that they do a very good job packing their mounts. The TH-3270-UFM came double boxed with the retail box on the inside. This one has all the branding and info on it. Within, each component was individually packed and wrapped with plastic. The box (and thus the mount) was very heavy and conveyed quality construction. Again the mount came with an installation guide and instruction manual. The installation guide has sticky strips on the back that attach to the wall and let you line up your holes for drilling. While for the most part you can eyeball the components and figure out the installation, you'll probably want to keep the manual handy as I found myself referring to it occasionally.

Installation

As mentioned, the mount attaches to a single stud. When you start doing the math, you realize that securing up to 143lbs of display and a mount to a single stud is going to take a big bolt. Three in fact. The included lag bolts were so big I had to borrow a socket from a friend as I didn't have one large enough on hand. The bolts were ridiculously large to the point where I was actually concerned (until I measured) that they'd pop through the other side of the wall! When installing the TH-3270-UFM you're going to want to make sure (if you aren't using the masonry anchors) that you are dead on the stud. Don't guess, be sure. You don't want to nick the stud or be off to a side. If you do hit the center of the stud, you can rest assured that the mount will hold. After I completed the installation, I felt that I could easily hang from the mount arm without it ripping from the wall. Again, the mount had a plastic vanity cover to hide the bolts.

The arm and plastic wire track coverings were the same as the TH-1040-VFM so I won't cover them in detail. One thing to note, however, is that on a display this size, you're going to expect more connections to the display. The TH-1040-VFM is designed for smaller monitors presumably for an office setting. The TH-3270-UFM is designed for much larger displays and, while those might also be used in an office, larger displays are more often associated with living rooms and home theaters. In this case, the display was installed in a living room.

In a family room or home theater, you're going to expect a few more wires (unless you can actually get HDMI to work the way it is supposed to). At the very least you're looking at power and HDMI but often you'll also see coax (for cable), component (for non-HDMI devices) and maybe even composite (if you don't have a receiver that upconverts analogue video to HDMI). As a reminder, the TH-3270-UFM has large open arms with removable plastic covers on the top and bottom. The idea is to run the wires under these covers and along the arms. With the smaller TH-1040-VFM I thought they worked pretty well. I was less impressed with the functionality on the larger TH-3270-UFM.

The first challenge I ran into was that the wire tracks just weren't very large. While they could accommodate those basic coax cables the cable installer will leave (which is what was in use) you can forget anything larger. For those of us that value shop for HDMI cables, you know how big they can get. In this case I had a thinner HDMI cable on hand and I couldn't even get that to run in the wire track on the smaller arm (right picture, top of arm). It seems that, while I like the design and looks of the mount, all that empty space in the arms could be covered and used as a generous wire management system. If they could figure out a way to run them through the joint, that'd be perfect (and something I've seen other manufacturers offer).

The second thing that needs to be mentioned is the mounting head. While the head on the smaller TH-1040-VFM was a ball joint that allowed the display to be rotated 360 degrees, the one on the TH-3270-UFM is more traditional. First, the display is connected by a three piece system. There are two universal pieces that attach to the back of the display with a cross arm that stretches between the two and contains the shoe for connecting to the mount head. The universal arms will work with mounting holes between 6“ to 32" wide and 5.5“ to 19.5" high. The cross arm is just under 34" long so if your display is smaller than that, you'll want to consider a different mount (or live with seeing the cross arm sticking out from each side of your display). While AtdecAdtec suggests that you need to center the arm on the back of the display, with this installation I had to cheat it over a bit because there were decorative plates mounted directly to the right of the display and I wanted to allow the display to be pushed flush without risking hitting the plates.

The head had an indent to accept the shoe from the cross arm. Within the head are a pair of heavy duty springs used to offset the weight of the display so that you can adjust the tilt without having to support the entire weight of the display. This ended up working very well in practice. The display wanted, when mounted, to stay about level if not pointed slightly up. With a little pressure on the display, it it would move to the proper tilt and I secured it with the integrated lever. There are two different orientations you can use for the TH-3270-UFM. While on the smaller TH-1040-VFM you could just spin the display from landscape to portrait, with the TH-3270-UFM it is a bit more involved. First you need to remove the display from the mounting arm. With the removal of a screw on the mounting head on the crossarm you can flip the orientation to and from portrait. A bit involved, yes, and with a heavy display it'll take two people but at least it is possible.

Once again, I was impressed by the range of motion with the Atdec TH-3270-UFM mount. You can rotate the display left and right five degrees for leveling purposes (there is a set screw on the back of the arm head to lock this down). We've heard reports of people that have said that in their installations the display tended to wiggle a bit but that wasn't my experience. Of course, I locked down that set screw pretty hard so perhaps that explains it. You get 10 degrees of up tilt and 20 degrees of down. The back of the display, when mounted, can get as close as 6.5" and as far out as 21". That gives you a lot of room and a lot of viewing options. 

Use

When I saw which mount they sent, I was a bit worried about the user we were installing it for. I thought that the more industrial design and open wire management wouldn't fit her tastes but I was wrong (fortunately). The truth is that you have to make compromises for the amount of placement options the TH-3270-UFM gives you. The customer communicated to us that she pulls it off the wall and angles it towards wherever she is sitting on the couch when she is watching TV but then pushes it back afterwards. She bought and installed a paintable wire track for the wires which cleaned up the installation significantly. She'd noted that the arms have loosened up with use but so far it stays where she puts it. There are screws on the bottom of each of the arm joints that can be tightened if needed.

One thing I really liked with the TH-3270-UFM was the integrated storage. There are plastic caps at each end of the cross arm which can be removed. In here you can store all the included wrenches. They provide enough hardware to use the mount with both stud and masonry installation and screws, washers, and spacers for a huge variety of displays. While you could theoretically shove all that inside the cross arm, I'd suggest a drawer somewhere. The wrenches are nice to have on hand.

Conclusion

While there aren't a large number of differences between the smaller Atdec Telehook TH-1040-VFM and the TH-3270-UFM under review here, they are significant. The mount can hold a very large and very heavy display from a single stud, it will push back as close as 6.5" and pull out up to 21". If your display is no wider than 40", you can rotate it up to 180 degrees (a larger display will hit the wall before that) and point it up 10 and down 20 degrees. Internal storage means your included wrenches are always on hand which you'll need if you want to switch the mount from landscape to portrait mode. The only real knock I have against this display is the price. At an MSRP of $500, it has a ton of competition that does everything it does and sometimes more. Of course, the street price is easily half that (which would up the value rating beyond what we awarded). In a business or office setting, the TH-3270-UFM is a great choice. In a home setting, it is more of a tough sell depending on the placement and intended use.

Atdec Telehook TH-3270-UFM Flat Panel Mount
$499

Atdec
Level 1, 26 Castlereagh St
Liverpool NSW 2170
Australia
Phone: +61 (02) 8729 5000
www.atdec.com.au

About Atdec
Atdec is an Australian company that designs and manufactures flat screen (LCD and plasma) mounting systems providing a better visual experience in the home, office and public space. Established in 1998, Atdec is Australia’s largest flat screen mounting company and a world leader in mounting innovation and design. Exporting to over 15 countries in North America, Asia, Middle East and Europe, Atdec product can be seen worldwide. Our mounting systems boast superior design, unique features and product flexibility make our products ideal for a broad range of applications in various markets including commercial space and POS, home entertainment, education, digital signage, healthcare, and the audio visual marketplace.

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