This mount is what it says. It is not hard to put together. It looks heavy duty and I have had no problems with it so far. I have only 2 real complaints. The first is that it is pretty easy to tilt it when pulling it down, so being able to lock that degree of freedom would be nice - I suppose I could really torque down on the bolts of that mechanism, but I wouldn't think it wise.

The second is that the instructions specify a minimum mount height based on the mantel depth, but those minimum heights are very conservative. The instructions make it seem like any lower will result in the arm hitting the mantel. But it is not that - it appears to be a guarantee for your handle or the back frame that connects to the VESA threaded inserts on the TV to not hit the mantel. The handle extends down from the back of the TV, and its height is adjustable. So unless your TV has a very low placement for it's VESA inserts, it's very likely that you'll install the mount and find you have tons of clearance to the mantel. That's not a problem, but I don't have tall ceilings, and placing it at their recommended height resulted in my TV literally hitting the ceiling. When I measured the arm's distance to the mantle when pulled down the farthest it goes, I found I had 200 mm to spare. So you have that amount of distance to play with for the handle. I moved the mount down 125 mm and have about an inch or two of clearance to the handle over the mantel when I set the handle to be relatively near the TV. Basically, there's no easy way to say the working location envelope you'll have for TV, but I would say if you do some quick calculations and find that you''ll have a TV at the ceiling when using their recommended values, you should simply mount it lower, give yourself maybe 2 or 3 inches of height above the mantle, and you should be good..

Also, the ratchet they sent with it broke before I could even use it.

Otherwise, the mount is silent, adjusts easily, and seems quite sturdy.

Note: all other reviews for this are currently re: the motorized version. This is for the manual version.

Instructions challenging. Almost no text explanations. Couple of points reeeally had me scratching my head. Also, bolts that go into studs can easily strip via Phillips head - suggest hex driver (luckily, dual use bolts). Also, though it shows using included ratchet tightening these - said ratchet does NOT include that size socket.

Protip - when finally attaching display, re: lower securing clips - tightening screw must be FULLY removed, the clips flipped down, hang display carefully, THEN flip lower clips back up & replace tightening screw. (re: difficult directions)

Sucker is heavy. Heavier than the 70" I mounted. DEFINITELY two person minimum for install.

While I haven't monkeyed with the raising/lowering mechanism tons yet, it seems quite stiff. Will fine tune & report differently if it dramatically changes soon. But, as it stands, it will be raised / lowered VERY infrequently due to that. I got good grabs on both studs with the included bolts.... but yeesh. Pushing up anyway puts quite a bit of stress on the unit (i.e. - not the weight of the TV, but the stiffness of the mechanism).

Otherwise - seems great! Wish it lowered even more, but guessing the engineering (/sprung counterweight action) of the mechanism wouldn't allow.

Machining / fit & finish of the unit itself quite well done.

Would purchase again, but refinement is definitely possible!