Wall Mount for Flat Screen TVs

by Lori Cunningham

A few months back we wrote about the dangers of today’s TVs and the need for a wall mount for flat screen TVs.  According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, a child is killed every 3 weeks from an unsecured TV set.  Every three weeks!  Yikes!  Today’s flat screen TVs are so thin and even though they have a heavy base, children can grab the screen and easily tip it over.   TVs are a curiosity for kids.  Either they are trying to change the angle of the TV like they’ve seen their parents do, they want to touch the screen, or often they try to climb the table that the TV is on.  Purchasing a wall mount for flat screen TVs is really the safest option for your TV and provides the best viewing option for you as well.

Isn’t Hard to Install a Wall Mount for Flat Screen TVs?

There’s no doubt it takes extra effort to wall mount your flat screen TV to the wall, but in the end, it’s a wise choice.  We recently installed a Sanus ALF109-B1 Full-Motion Mount for larger TV’s – up to 70″ in our home.  We installed a 46″ Samsung TV using this mount in our exercise room.  It is my hope that by installing a TV in that room, my husband and I will use it more.  The room is decorator style room ready, now we just need some “participants” to use it!

We have a high bookcase in this room where we had a smaller TV resting on before.  But the bookcase was designed for towels and weights, so it’s a very tempting bookcase for young kids to want to climb.  A wall mount made sense so we could adjust the TV to various angles of the room, dependent upon whether we were using the treadmill, punching the bag, or doing sit-ups.  There’s nothing like watching some TV when trying to distract you from how hard sit-ups can be!

Sanus recognizes that people can be intimidated by hanging up a wall mounted TV.  On each Sanus wall mount box, they have a QR code that you can use with your smartphone or tablet to get additional information on your new TV wall mount.  It gives you features, helpful videos to see what full motion looks like, and even an installation video to use with the Sanus installation guide so you can better understand how to hang your TV.  Sanus instructions are pretty thorough, easy enough to understand, but there’s nothing like seeing the installation on video to help you grasp the process even better.

OK, I’ll admit that I did not hang the TV myself.  I actually paid someone to do it for me, as they were already doing some work in our house.  But it didn’t take them long to install it and they said it was pretty straight forward.

You can see here the extension capability of  the Sanus Full Motion Wall Mount.  It extends out or in dependent upon your needs.

Sanus ALF-109 Features

• Fits most flat screens from 32″ -70″
• Supports up to 130 lbs.
• Full motion – swivel the TV right, left, tilted up or tilted down
• Can extend out 8.9″ if needed
• Very easy to adjust, just a finger push to move left or right
• Easy to follow instructions and videos personalized to the model you purchased
• 5-year warranty

Sanus has many different wall mounts for flat screen TVs, dependent upon your needs.  A full motion wall mount can be pricey, but offers the most convenience if you anticipate the need to change your screen direction often.  A Sanus full motion TV wall mount, similar to the one used in this review runs for $309.95 at Amazon.  Though searching through Amazon, there are a number of other Sanus options without full motion that run as low as $73.

A Mom’s Perspective

We now have a few TVs in our home, and everyone of them is mounted to the wall.   A wall mount for flat screen TVs is a must for us, not because we have young children, but because we have visitors often, many of them with young children.  My children know to stay away from the TV, but our friend’s children may not, and I cannot take the risk of anything happening to their children.  In the old days, TV’s were so big, we would have never thought of them tumbling over, but with ultra thin flat screens…which continue to get thinner… wall mounted TV’s are a must.

And I love that TVs are changing.  In the old days, when the sun came in and hit your TV screen, you had to suffer through it. No more.  With full-motion wall mounts, you can adjust the screen with a tip of your finger.  I have tried adjusting our TV with the Sanus wall mount numerous ways in our exercise room and it works beautifully.  I can even watch TV when I’m doing sit-ups because the TV can be extended from the wall and tilted down,

With our TV hung and Fall upon us, which means it dark in the mornings now, it’s time to begin exercising inside.   I’m planning on hooking up one of our video consoles to add to the fun and may even follow some YouTube exercise classes.   And finally, I have no worries of kids climbing up this bookcase to get to the TV.  All is good.

Have you secured your TV yet?

*  I was given a Sanus wall mount for flat screen TVs to experience personally to write this review.  All opinions are my own.