Atdec may not be the first name you think of when shopping for a TV mount, but this Australia-based company is the largest provider of flat-screen mounts in its home country and has partnerships with corporations all over the world. Atdec offers a wide array of wall and ceiling mounts, as well as desk mounts, notebook holders, and other accessories, and the company appears to be making a bigger push into the consumer market here in the United States. They recently sent me a sample of the new TH-3270-UFM, one of the higher-end solutions in the Telehook line. This full-motion mount features a manual swiveling/cantilever arm that can extend up to 25 inches, with three pivot points that allow for a wide range of adjustment. The company's patented Telehook design allows for -10/+20 degrees of tilt and -/+5 degrees of horizontal adjustment, and you can set the display in a portrait or landscape configuration. This is a solidly constructed mount with a die-cast aluminum arm that supports a panel up to 143 pounds. (I wall-mounted a 65-pound, 46-inch LCD.) The TH-3270-UFM offers a universal mounting-hole pattern that accommodates widths from 150mm to 805mm and heights from 140mm to 500mm. The necessary hardware is included for both stud and masonry installation.
Additional Resources
• Read more AV mount reviews from HomeTheaterReview.com.
• Explore LED HDTVs and plasma HDTVs that could be mounted with the TH-3270-UFM.
While you might be able to install this mount by yourself, the process will be much easier (and safer) if you get someone else to help. My someone was my husband. The installation procedure is fairly straightforward, thanks to the company's clear setup instructions that include useful photos for each step in the process. The mount itself--which includes the base that attaches to the wall, the articulating arm, and the egg-shaped "mount head" to which you'll attach the TV--is pre-assembled. All you have to do is mount the TH-3270-UFM to the wall, attach the necessary brackets to your TV's mounting holes, and secure the TV to the mount. Especially helpful is the fact that all of the included hardware (allen keys, screws, wall anchors, washers, and spacers) is separately wrapped and clearly labeled. Tools you'll need to provide include a drill, drill bit, and socket wrench; a level and stud finder also proved very useful. Once I located a stud in which to secure the mount, I used the supplied on-wall drilling template to align the three holes needed for the base; the template features adhesive backing and a handy pocket at the bottom to catch drywall dust, which is a thoughtful and convenient touch. When securing the mount to the wall, I found it easiest to have one person hold the mount in place while the other screwed in the coach screws. Be sure to take a close look at the photo of the installed mount in the setup guide before you attach it to the wall; we accidentally mounted ours upside down, which was an easy fix but still added time to the process.
The next step is to attach the mounting brackets (two vertical, followed by one horizontal) to the back of your display. In the center of the horizontal bracket is an egg-shaped "hook plate" that fits into the mount head. You simply lift the TV up to the mount, lower the hook plate into the mount head, and then secure the two with the provided screw and allen key. The final steps are to adjust the TV angle using the spring-supported tilt mechanism and then run cables through the cable-management chamber, if desired. The cable chambers are located along the top and bottom of the articulating arm; each chamber has a cover that's held in place with a screw. It helps to have one person hold the cables in the chambers while the other screws the covers back in place. These chambers are not very big; I barely had enough space to accommodate two regular-sized HDMI cables in the lower chambers and one thick power cable in the upper chamber. That said, the system does neatly route the cables to run together in a line down the mount and the wall.
Read about the high points and the low points of the TH-3270-UFM on Page 2.
Once your TV is secured in the TH-3270-UFM, it's easy to move it
into the desired position: You can pull the articulating arm straight
out, to a maximum length of 25 inches. The arm's primary pivot point
near the wall rotates a full 180 degrees; the two additional pivot
points (one in the middle that rotates 360 degrees, one near the mount
head that rotates 180 degrees) provide a nice degree of flexibility in
setting the TV's angle and distance from the wall. You can readjust the
tilt fairly easily as needed, and the TV brackets include hidden
storage compartments for the allen keys that aid in making adjustments.
High Points
• The TH-3270-UFM is solidly constructed and offers a full range of
motion, including tilt, swivel, and portrait/landscape options.
• This mount is easy to install, thanks to the concise instructions and clearly packaged/labeled parts.
• An optional cable manager is available to hide the cables that run down from the mount to your components.
• The universal mounting-hole design can accommodate a wide range of
TVs, and the TH-3270-UFM is designed to hold a panel up to 143 pounds.
Low Points
• The TH-3270-UFM doesn't have the lowest on-wall profile: The mount
itself sticks out over 6 inches from the wall. With my TV installed and
the mount pushed as close to the wall as possible, the screen face was
over a foot from the wall.
• The cable-management chambers are small and will not accommodate bulky cables.
• The -/+5 degrees of horizontal adjustment helps to ensure that your
TV is level; however, the mechanism has a little bit of play, even
after you tighten it. When moving the swiveling arm to a new position,
I sometimes had to readjust the TV on the horizontal axis to make sure
it was level.
Conclusion
The TH-3270-UFM is a well-designed, well-constructed mount that's easy
to install and adjust. It's a good choice for someone who's looking to
wall-mount a larger, heavier flat-panel TV and wants a lot of placement
flexibility. The TH-3270-UFM has an MSRP of $499 but is available for
around $250 from a number of online retailers, which makes it a very
good value in the full-motion mount category. For a list of authorized
U.S. distributors and online dealers, go to www.atdec.com.au.
Additional Resources
• Read more AV mount reviews from HomeTheaterReview.com.
• Explore LED HDTVs and plasma HDTVs that could be mounted with the TH-3270-UFM.
