Arctic Z3 Pro Triple Monitor Arm Review

Arctic (formerly Arctic Cooling) has been around for well over a decade now and is synonymous with great cooling products. Back in 2010, Arctic decided to expand their product offerings well beyond cooling products and now offer home entertainment, computer accessories, and mobile device accessories. One of their new endeavors into the computer accessories world is their full line of monitor arms. Today, we’ll have a look at the Z3 Pro, which is capable of supporting three monitors up to 27″ in size. This should be a very enticing product for the gaming crowd, so let’s go have a look at the Arctic Z3 Pro!

Specifications and Features

Here are the specifications as provided by the Arctic product page. In a testament as to how well made the Z3 Pro is, the bare unit weighs just over 18 Lbs and can support up to 22 Lbs per mount. Fully loaded to capacity, the entire setup with monitors has the potential to weigh up to 84 Lbs. So, it’s important to use the product on a desk that can support the weight of your triple monitor setup. You might also notice the Z3 Pro comes with a built-in, powered 4-port USB 3.0 hub, which puts the connectivity in a very convenient location at the unit’s base.

Main Features

• Prevent undue eye, neck, shoulder and back stress with optimal viewing position
• No more clutter on your desk with better cable management
• 3 stages of articulation for 360° adjustable viewing angle
• Ball joint design for easy finger adjustment
• Easy Installation with detachable monitor heads
• Powered USB 3.0 hub directly integrated into the base
• The ideal solution for any gamer
• Use with AMD Eyefinity or NVIDIA Surround graphic cards

The Z3 Pro has two different possible mounting options. You can either use the clamp design or mount through a hole in the desk. Space saving is a key element when using a multi-monitor stand, and the Z3 Pro should go a long way towards obtaining a clutter free work space.

As we mentioned above, the base of the unit houses a 4-port USB 3.0 hub. The hub is powered, so you’ll have to make accommodations for the power brick. Having USB connections at the base of the Z3 Pro could end up being a much better location than having to plug devices into your case, depending on the location of it. Regardless of where your case sits, it’s hard to imagine USB ports just a couple feet in front of you being less convenient than plugging devices into your case. Definitely a worthwhile addition in our eyes.

Keeping cable clutter to a minimum is an important factor when choosing a monitor stand, and Arctic provides a good solution with the Z3 Pro. Cables can be routed through the arm frames and then down the tube using the cable clamp located there.

The 3-way articulating arm allows easy adjustment to position your monitors just the way you like them. You have a wide variety of movement options available to tilt, twist, or rotate the entire setup as much as 360°.

If you spend hours on end sitting at your computer, proper line of vision is important to promote good posture. The Z3 Pro’s height can be adjusted independently of desk height, which is critical for long-term comfort and proper posture.

Retail Packaging/Contents

The long retail box has a detailed list of product capabilities on all sides. Most of what we discussed in the above features can be found printed on the box. Inside, the box contents are extremely well packaged and protected with sturdy foam blocks.

Other than the arm apparatus, the rest of the parts are contained in several smaller boxes. There is a massive amount of screws, washers, plates, and spacers to complement the two different mounting options.

Assembly

I’ll be using the clamp mount method of installation for illustration purposes. The hole mount method is just as easy to accomplish if you have a desk that is outfitted with a preexisting hole or you’re willing to drill one out. Assembly began with attaching the clamp to the base with three screws. Once that is done, position the assembly where you want it, and clamp it down from under the desk.

Next, thread the arm support pole into the base. The collar on the pole can be moved up or down to position the height of the arm assembly. Once you have the height correct, simply slide the arm assembly onto the pole. There are two screws on the collar and two screws on the arm assembly that need to be tightened, which ensure the arm assembly stays in position.

At this point, you need to prepare the monitors for installation on the arm assembly. The brackets provided in the kit support either VESA 75 or VESA 100 hole patterns. There is a plethora of different size screws and spacers to accommodate just about any mounting situation. Luckily, the back of the monitors I have are flat, so all I had to do was attach the brackets with four screws. If you need spacers to level the bracket for any reason, there are a few different sizes bundled in the hardware. You’ll also find using the spacers will require longer screws, but those are also included in the hardware. If you look at the VESA bracket closely, you’ll notice there is an ear at the top of it. This allows you to hang a monitor on the three rotational hubs before screwing it in place. If you have ever held a monitor in one hand while trying to attach a VESA bracket with the other, then you know how convenient this feature can be. It really makes the job a snap to accomplish. Each rotational hub has two small bossed out areas with a hole drilled in them. You slide a screw through those holes and thread them into the two matching holes on the VESA bracket. The cool thing about this design is that once you hang the monitor on the rotational hub, the screw holes are aligned perfectly. Just grab the correct screw, and away you go. Each of the rotational hubs have three screws at the back of them, which are used to hold the monitor’s tilt and rotation positions secure.

Once you’ve got everything attached, you should end up with something that looks similar to the below pictures. You may notice that we installed the Z3 Pro on a cheapo hard plastic table. This is definitely not the recommended thing to to, but the clamp did a remarkable job of holding everything in place just fine. For long term usage, you definitely want a good solid wood desk to install the Z3 Pro on.

One thing you need to be aware of is the pivot point on each of the arms. If you’re using smaller monitors, once you squeeze them together, the pivot points have the potential to be a good distance behind the monitors. We installed three 21″ monitors, which resulted in the pivot points being about 18″ behind the monitors. Keep in mind, if larger monitors are used, the distance between the pivot points and the back of the monitors gets smaller. Otherwise, if you’re using smaller monitors, be prepared to keep the back of your desk away from obstructions.

Depending on where your PC is located in relationship to your monitors, you can probably plan on needing longer display cables in order to properly use the cable management features. The outside monitors may be more susceptible to needing longer cables than the center monitor. By the time an outside monitor’s cable is routed through the arms cable management channel and then down the center pole, that won’t leave much length left if using the standard 6′ cables.

The last group of pictures shows us taking full advantage of the 4-port USB 3.0 hub, three screens of productivity work, and of course, some awesome NVIDIA Surround gaming action!

Conclusion

The Arctic Z3 Pro triple monitor stand is extremely well built and exudes the term “heavy duty.” The clamp method of installation is easy to perform and proved to be very sturdy once it was loaded up with monitors, even if the table we used was less than desirable. After looking at the parts needed to perform the hole method of installation, it’s obvious that installation method will work just as good, if not better than, the clamp method.

The powered USB 3.0 hub is a great addition to the stand’s base. It puts four USB connections in a very accessible location and literally right at your finger tips. The cable management system is another great feature the Z3 Pro offers, although you may need longer cables to take full advantage of it. All-in-all, the USB 3.0 hub and cable management features are desirable additions that add even more value to the product.

As far as pricing goes, the Z3 Pro sells for $199.99 at Arctic’s website. At that price, it’s very competitive with other stands that support monitors up to 27″ in size. Supporting monitors as large as 27″ requires a well-constructed and sturdy stand, which is why you’ll find the price upwards of $200 is typical of stands like this.

The Z3 Pro is a worthy contender in the triple monitor stand market and should definitely be considered if you’re in the market for one. The build quality is exceptional, and the stand is sturdy from top to bottom.

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-Dino DeCesari (Lvcoyote)