MantelMount MM340

I bought the refurbished product, which pretty much looked new except for the pulling handles which was slightly damaged. The quality of build and sturdiness is apparent as soon as you open the box. Very impressed. It's solid, but that also means that it is a bit painful to install (and rightly so). You definitely need 2 people to mount this with the gas piston actuating mechanism attached to the wall bracket. DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER mounting this directly into the drywall with anchors...bad bad idea. The mount itself is crazy heavy, so the anchors will not hold them. As you can see from my pictures, the studs behind my fireplace wall were located such that I had to mount the wall bracket off-center, which is not a problem at all. You can then center the gas piston so that your TV remains centered. As someone else has mentioned: the installation instructions are pretty decent, but they do need some work, as some parts are a bit ambiguous. Improper grammar or emphasis can alter the meaning or the capabilities of this mount. It took me some figuring out to realize that it's perfectly fine to install the wall bracket off-center. Only other item I can think of pointing out for installation are the tools: you will need drill/drill-bits, a ratchet with a socket set is also super useful. I highly recommend having a drill with the right socket when mounting the wall mount onto the studs. That thing is heavy and you want to get the anchor bolt in as fast as possible and given it's length it will take you forever if you are using a ratchet. I used my power drill to get it about 75% in and then went with a ratchet the rest of the way to finish off and to prevent over tightening. You will need an socket extender to adjust the gas piston settings. Including some of the tools like the socket and the drill-bit would be a nice touch, but I am not going to hold it against the manufacturers. I have a small bubble level with a magnet that sticks to the mount during install which was absolutely invaluable when I was installing the wall bracket whilst trying to keep it as level as possible. I definitely recommend that Mantelmount consider including that with the purchase. The primary issue for me (and this is not a con of the product, but more my particular setup) is the forward motion of the mount when moving it down. This is a MANTEL mount....meaning it's travel orbit is designed to avoid hitting the mantel piece present in most fireplaces. My fireplace does NOT have a mantel piece, which makes things less complicated, but the forward motion also creates an issue specific to my living space. My living room isn't the biggest, as a result of which moving the TV down to eye-level also means that it is now closer to our couches/seating arrangements, which can be a problem when you have a large TV (we just got a 65")...this is the ONLY thing about this mount that is bothering me. I am not happy with the fact that the TV is so close to me when it's moved down to a comfortable position. What I really need is a mount that limits the forward motion and keeps the degrees of freedom down to vertical and swivel. I don't think such a product exists, but I wish Mantelmount would provide that option.....that would be a fantastic buy. All in all: I would buy from Mantelmount in a heartbeat....this product exudes quality.

This was a great product. I had it professionally installed and looks and works great.

This is our second Mantel Mount and let me tell you, I’m a LIFE LONG fan. I’ll try and parse the more important points below. Why Mantel Mount - Our last two homes have had fireplaces with a mantel that would require a tv to be flat mounted much too high. After researching countless options, I went with Mantel Mount to allow us to pull the tv down for viewing movies, shows, and sports at optimal viewing height, but to also put the tv in its upright positions so we can enjoy the mantel/fireplace view (and let’s be honest, so my wife can decorate the mantel). Delivery/Install - The mount came fast and packed well, with all included hardware (which is EXCELLENT quality, no cheap stuff here). The install isn’t exactly quick, but there is a wealth of information, guides, and even some “cheat sheets” in the manual. You will certainly need another set of hands to get it on the wall and adjust the torque, but this thing is up there firmly!!! Performance - After adjusting the lift arm easily, the tv glides up and down with ease (my pregnant wife put it up and down today). The tv also swivels let’s and right easily, and really couldn’t be more sturdy. We put our new LG OLED 65” and it handles that gracefully, and fits the size of our space well. Overall, I can’t recommend this mount more. I’ve had two, referred out one to my brother, and am thoroughly impressed!!!!! As a bonus, I ordered the sound bar attachment and cover for the wall brackets through MantelMount as finishing touches!

Nice product. Assembly and instillation make it more complicated than needed. Would like it to be a little more low profile when pulling down. An idea to slide more down than out. Sticks out further from the wall than I would like.

I purchased the MM340 mount for my Sony 65", 54.4 lbs X90L to mount over the fireplace. The installation is a bit cumbersome with numerous things to consider and not all Mantel Mounts fault. For one thing one of my 2x4 studs (right of centerline) was not space 16" apart but 16-3/4". A second and third issues- the 2x4 stud is at the CL (centerline) of my fireplace mantel. And the 120VAC receptacle and the TV cable conduit is mounted left and right of this center line 2x4 stud about 17" above the mantel. Therefore the 4" wide lifting arm would have block the AC plug or RG-6-HDMI cables. So the centerline of the TV ended up about 3" left of mantel centerline. I wish the wall plates was longer than 28 inches , 33 inches would have been ideal to screw in the four lag bolts on the two 2x4 studs left and right of the center line 2x4 studs. Also when mounting the brace extender per instruction, I could not get the extender handles to 1" below the TV bottom but it sits at 2" below the TV bottom. So I figure the minimum bottom wall frame should be 4" above the motel. I wanted to TV as low as possible. So I mounted the lifting arm about 3 inches left of centerline to prevent the lifting arm from interfering with the cable conduit and the 120VAC receptacle. The remainder of the install was easy. I triple check the exact 2-1/2" lag screw location (because of the overall weight -probably the most critical part of the install) The tension bolt did not need any adjustment (zero). I went up and down easy and held the TV at any position. I'm very please. I love how it smoothly lower or raise to any position. Good general detail instructions (hard to cover all scenarios). Hardware and material is heavy duty and mostly functional. So overall the MM340 is a Five Star, highly recommended. I did call the help line but the tech rep just repeated the written instructions and didn't concern himself with my specific needs.

Easy to use. Good product. Seems durable. Enjoy having (almost) proper viewing height and soundstage (where voices are not placed below screen). If your mantel sticks out it's kind of a pain to get installed to the lowest possible drop. Measuring many multiple times did not get to where I wanted. After second failed install attempt I found it was easier to install the safety bolt that retains the dropped position and man handle it to find the best height that way. Faster and better placement that I wish I'd done in the beginning saving a lot of time. Stupid me reading instructions. It's heavy though so normal sized people might need a helper with this. The fact it can't angle the screen is a pain if you have a reflective screen (like OLED) because it reflects your room causing viewing issues. Solution? Use long bolts in top VESA mount with thick washers to permanently angle screen down. Bit scary snap up with OLED as I worry that since it's all glass it might crack. (Yes it's adjusted to minimum gas shock strength). You need to hold mount when raising to avoid issues. Young kids can't be trusted with fragile tv's. Should have a soft bumper or additional gas shock to resist sudden shock when raising, but no manufacturer seems to offer this. The rails on the rear are visible behind the mount and look ugly with the multiple bolt holes looking like industrial racking. Should have snap on plastic to cover rear workings like my previous mounts, that were less visible due to not being drop down. Strange they didn't think of this. Or maybe you like the industrial look? Avoid using supplied bolts. They're thick and require predrilling giant holes. Get something like GRK RSS (Rugged Structural Screws). Smaller holes in your studs due to greater strength, they drill their own hole when installing and have a washer sized head. Plus, since you can see them in the mount, they are less obvious and look better. I still recommend this product! Just see room for improvement to make perfect.

Best decision

This TV mount did the job exactly as advertised! The measurements provided were bang on during the instal process. You can’t see the mount when it’s in the down position. It has been up for about a year and still working great, we move it a couple times a week for watching movies. Or to get the swivel function to see it better from the kitchen.

We're very happy with the product now that it's installed. It's well constructed and feels like a good quality piece of equipment. The installation was more work than I expected, and I wouldn't recommend trying it without carefully following the instructions. I found the instructions to be clear enough, but they're so complex, some people will find them frustrating.

I've used this for about a year and love it. Installation was a bit of a challenge, only because I was mounting on a very uneven stone wall above my fireplace and mantel. Works great. Solid TV mount. Recommended.