reliability of LG DVD burners

[dodecahedron]

i am seriously considering purchasing an LG DVD burner.
so recently i started visiting CDFreaks rather frequently, mainly their LG forum.

i was surprised and startled to see quite a few posts there about the LG drives suffering from various errors. lots of Focus or Tracking errors. 4081, 4082, 4120, 4160. possibly also the 4040 and 4080 too, i don't remember.

i had thought that LG drives were reasonably reliable. maybe no more than other brands, but certainly not less. now i'm worried.

if you have any experience with LG DVD burners (their Super-Multi drives - 4040 and up), i'm interested in hearing.

[dodecahedron]

i'm not a very frequent visitor of cdfreaks.
i gather that their forums have a larger "regular" membership and more visitors.

could it be that i'm seeing many posts about problems with LG drives simply because there are that many more people who go to cdfreaks forums than to cdrlabs?
i definitely don't recall so many problems with LG drives discussed here in cdrlabs forums.

[Ian]

As with anything, there will be a lemon here or there. Heck, look at the Plextor 716A.

My 4120B has been working fine for me. I wouldn't be too concerned. Just make sure you but it at a place where you can return it if there are problems.

[Ian]

could it be that i'm seeing many posts about problems with LG drives simply because there are that many more people who go to cdfreaks forums than to cdrlabs?

No, its probably because they have a thread dealing with this particular problem. Someone googles "LG and tracking error" and is taken right there. The person then visits CD Freaks and posts "me too". The 5 zillion people that don't have the problem aren't going to do this.

[wuub]

I will chirp in my experience. I have a 4040B that I bought a year ago, and a 4120 (~6 month old), and neither have given me any problems.

[dolphinius_rex]

I've heard some complaints from people asking me for help with LG 4120B burners. Not so much the 4160B, but I don't know anyone who owns one yet. Usually the problems have more to do with poor media compatability, or slow recording speeds.

[Phoenix '97]

I have an LG 16x CD-RW drive which is still working well. I bought it about 3 years ago, right now it's in a PC at work. I think it still works... well, it did a few months ago.

[mc12]

The burn quality of my LG 12x CD burner was pretty bad but I'm happy about my brand new 12x DVD burner (4120B) .
And it's the best looking drive I've ever seen (I have the black version).

[Scour]

Hello!

I have the 4082, some firends have the 4040, 4081, 4082 and 4120, no problems reported.

I read some discussions about track following errors with some LG-drives, but here in Germany many guys have LG´s and so I Think, that less problems reported for many sold drives