Have your say & ask the experts

Hi,

As the title suggest i am seriously looking at buying a flat screen TV, however i have a one year old who is just into toddle stage and into touching, pulling, pushing  etc and i am really worried about a £1000 tv falling on her should she try and pull the thing off of the shelf or stand, mainly for her saftey you understand but the cost of replacement is a consideration!!

 Wall mounting is not an option in my home and it seems to me that most stands whilst looking nice might leave themselves open to a toddler accidentaly pulling the tv over onto themselves, an horrific thought.

 What do i do?, it must have come up before but i couldn't find anything on the forum, are these TV's heavy enough that they wouldn't move or do i need to consder another option to keep my child and expensive tellie mutually exclusive from one another...

 cheers

Probably not an issue (the bigger, the heavier, the better) in terms of toppling. However, as I found to my cost, the older rough plastic coatings on LCDs do not take well to the application of orange coloured pencils. Glass is better.........

Hi,

Get a stand something like this:

http://www.theplasmacentre.com/product_details.php?products_id=2962&bp=43

The TV fixes to the stand - I have a similar one in my home but (fortunately) no kids at that age anymore!

Cheers,

Cofnchtr.

The new-generation Panasonic plasmas have toughened glass panels - not only ready and waiting for having toys smacked into them, but also easier to clean. And - gasp! - this isn't just marketing hype; i've seen them emerge unscathed from some major mistreatment.

Hi,

Clare - that major mistreatment wasnt a set being blown up on that Channel 5 show with Suzy Perry was it? LOL.

Cheers,

Cofnchtr.

Er, no - it was a heavy steel ball being repeatedly hit onto the centre of the screen (ie the weakest point), at our control...

Clare Newsome:

Er, no - it was a heavy steel ball being repeatedly hit onto the centre of the screen (ie the weakest point), at our control...

Err, not true. If you want the best chance of smashing the glass best to go for the corner.

PJPro:

Clare Newsome:

Er, no - it was a heavy steel ball being repeatedly hit onto the centre of the screen (ie the weakest point), at our control...

Err, not true. If you want the best chance of smashing the glass best to go for the corner.

Seconded. Its worth knowing this if you ever have to get in or out of a window quickly. Hiot it hard with something hard and pointy AT THE EDGE. You have far more give in the centre.

fr0g, you seem to be posting a number of text free posts. Either that or you've set the font style to white! - oh the text has appeared now

PJPro:

fr0g, you seem to be posting a number of text free posts. Either that or you've set the font style to white! - oh the text has appeared now

Yep. If you try and type as its loading it assumes you posted and posts a blank... bloody annoying

Don't know if it's still true for the latest models, but when I got my sony LCD a few years back, it came with a strap so that if you were worried you could attach the strap to the back of the TV and then screw the other end to the wall or the stand, to stop it toppling forwards.Might be worth checking if current models have the same thing.

 While mine's pretty stable under normal conditions without a strap, it's clearly not intended to stop somone deliberately trying to pull it over - so the strap would have made sense for young children (or cats jumping on top at the wrong angle).  Not sure how easy it would be to knock over, but I suspect a child pulling the top towards them might do it. 

My screen came with a connection that you could fix to the wall to stop the screen toppling over - in fact the instructions alluding to the fact that it was almost essential. That will stop it toppling over, it won't stop the attack from cars, crayons, etc etc.

I bought one of those guards (it's actually a half play pen with wall brackets) from mothercare and attached it to the wall. That way they physically can't get at the set and have to be a pretty good shot to launch somehing at it. This is a good option as it also stops them getting at the amp, CD player, DVD, etc, it's also a fairly good height to reach the equipment and a door should you need it.

There's always good old discipline. My speakers are completely in the firing line and so far behaviour control seems to have worked well (touch wood).

buy a gun  :)