After many months of shopping, the search for a new plasma television recently ended with my purchase of a Panasonic 42” plasma and the Sanus VMPLs Tilting Flat Panel TV Wall Mount. Adam, the slippery tongued salesman at a local ABC Warehouse store, gave me the deal I had been searching for. It was a good thing I was his last customer on a Sunday afternoon… at least that was his explanation for the bargain price he offered.

I left the store with the box containing my new Sanus VMPLs Tilting Flat Panel TV Wall Mount under my arm and a Friday delivery date for my plasma TV. I immediately ripped into the box when I got home and inventoried the contents. I found the wall plate, 2 monitor brackets, I bag of hardware and a four-page installation sheet.

• Easy to install

To my wife’s surprise, I began by reading installation instruction for the wall mount. I was immediately struck by the fact that installation was going to be fairly simple as the front of the box suggested in large black letters. What I was also struck with was that the specific tips I had hoped to find in the instructions were totally absent. While the manufacturer does a good job of explaining their own hardware installation, they gave no hint what-so-ever on optimal placement heights or exactly what electrical or cable connections offer best results.

The actual installation of the mount itself is exceedingly easy. Secure the wall mount to the wall with 4 supplied lag bolts and bolt the 2 brackets to the TV back with 4 bolts included in the hardware packet. Then, simply hang the TV and attached brackets on the wall mount and secure each one with a safety bolt.

• Solid heavy-gauge steel construction

The manufacturer has constructed the wall mount and brackets from a heavy-gauge steel. Once you’ve bolted the mount to the wall and hung your new set on the Sanus VMPLs Tilting Flat Panel TV Wall Mount, it’s obvious you have purchased a solid mount. All the hardware included in the package is equally well constructed. The knob used to tighten and loosen the tilt mechanism works smoothly and locks the brackets solidly in place with a simple hand tightening.

• Durable powder-coated finish (black or silver)

The wall mount and brackets are designed with a powder-coated finish in your choice of black or silver. I selected the silver version as indicated in the model number VMPLs for silver.

• Virtual Axis™ tilt adjustment system (patent pending)

The Virtual Axis™ system allows you to tilt the mount 15° in either the up or down position. The ability to tilt your mount 15° should be sufficient under most conditions. I did find that my downward tilt was slightly limited by the cord end plugged into the outlet. This makes my point that it would have been nice for the folks at Sanus to offer up a few tips in selecting mounting heights and locations of electrical outlets. I fully understand each TV manufacturer places cables in different locations but letting consumers know the outlet is best placed opposite the most likely tilt direction would have been helpful. In my case, I will normally tilt the set in a downward direction so placing the outlet above the mount would allow a full 15° of motion.

• Fits most large flat panel plasma and LCD TVs

This particular model is designed to fit most plasma or LCD televisions between 32" and 60". The manufacturer boasts this as a selling feature when in essence, it becomes a slight liability to consumers. The fact that Sanus has designed this mount for 32" sets forced them to make the wall mount slightly less than 32" in length. In most cases you will find it necessary to center the set as well as hit wall studs for sufficient support. To hit 16" O.C. studs and center in my case I found it necessary to place one set of lag screws at one end and the other set 16" away leaving the right-most 14" with no way to lag or support. Despite this, the end result appears to be a very secure installation although I would have felt better if I were able to lag screw the mount more evenly.

• TV is mounted 3" from wall

This mount leaves your flat panel television with a fairly snug look and fit against your wall. The 3" space is a great place to hide unsightly cables and power connections as well as the ability to tilt the set for optimal viewing ability.

• Supports up to 175 lbs.

Sanus specifies the Sanus VMPLs Tilting Flat Panel TV Wall Mount will support up to 175 lbs. The Panasonic 42" plasma I selected weighs in at 76 lbs. giving me peace of mind that my new set is being firmly held in place without the possibility of mishap.

• Price, Final Thoughts and Recommendation

The retailer offered this model at a cost of $113.00 which I found fairly reasonable. I have taken some time to look for this specific model on the Internet and have found a wide variance in price... as much as $288.00. It appears some retailers use equipment such as these mounts to pad their profit margin on the televisions so take a moment and check out some of the links below to seek out your best deal. I have to give the Sanus VMPLs Tilting Flat Panel TV Wall Mount a full five-star rating here at Epinions for it ease of installation, solid construction, overall satisfactory result and fair price.






To contact Sanus Systems via USPS, phone or email:

Sanus Systems
2221 Highway 36 West
St. Paul, MN 55113
Toll Free: (800) 359-5520
Phone: (651) 484-7988
Fax: (651) 636-0367
E-mail: info@sanus.com

Recommended: Yes