Buying a new outdoor LED display for your school, church, business or whatever it may be is an exciting decision. However, before you get locked in on buying from a particular vendor, make sure you do your research. Asking the right questions to the sign installer, vendor, and manufacturer can give you confidence that you are making the correct selection (or warn you about possible flaws). The list below reviews important questions to ask LED sign vendors when choosing which vendor to work with, and which LED sign is best for you.

What Type of Tech Support is Available for LED Signs?

Good LED sign vendors should offer 24/7/365 days of tech support. Do they have remote access to your sign to help service your sign and determine what issues are at hand? This saves you time by preventing a sign company needing to travel to your location to service your sign.

How Should I Determine the Size of My LED Sign?

To determine the size of your sign you must first find out what size your city permits. Each city has different permit regulations on sign size and how you can display your LED sign. These regulations will determine not only the size of your LED sign, but if you can display videos, static pictures or just text. You’ll also be able to find out if you can only have monochrome or full color sign, as well as how often you can change your sign messaging. Your sign installer can assist you with this information, or you can call your city to obtain sign permit information. Once this is determined and you know what you can and cannot do, you can figure out what size of LED sign will work to obtain a permit.

What is the Standard Warranty for an LED Sign?

The standard warranty for an LED sign is 5 years, but some manufacturers offer an extended warranty. Keep in mind where the manufacturer is located—signs manufactured in the United States will be much easier to have serviced. Additionally, does the manufacturer offer tech support and available parts in the United States? Or will your support come from outside the United States? Be sure to ask these questions to be informed on the warranty and available tech support that comes around your LED Sign.

What are the Features and Benefits of an LED Sign?

Features and benefits should be a major part in the decision process as you search for the perfect LED sign. Determine the goal of the messaging you want to use and how the content will look on your LED sign. Here are some features and benefits to learn about ahead of time before you purchase an LED sign:

LED Sign Content Appearance

The appearance of the messaging and images will determine how many customers look at your sign and are drawn to your school, church, or organization. If it looks bad or is hard to read, you are not using your sign to its full advantage.

Available Tech Support

As mentioned above, know what tech support is available for your LED sign, as well as their availability and if previous customers offer any reviews.

LED Sign Warranty

Not all warranties are the same. Double check to see what the warranty covers for your LED sign purchase.

Remote Access for LED Sign Service

Having a tech team able to access your sign from a remote location is extremely beneficial to customer support. Problems can be solved with great efficiency if a rep doesn’t have to travel directly to your sign.

Ease of Use

Knowing how to work your sign to it full potential is important. Having software that is easy to use can help with that process.

LED Sign Ventilation

Heating is a common concern with LED signs—discuss how they address the issue of venting when installing the unit.

Understanding all the features and benefits of your LED sign is important, but LED sign vendors and manufacturers will offer different features and benefits, so find one that fits everything you need.

What’s LED Sign Software's Ease of Use?

How easy is it to learn and use the LED sign software? Do you get short term or long term training? Does the software give you access to a FREE content library without having to resize or manipulate the pictures and videos to meet your sign size? Do they provide custom content for your sign? What type of communication is available to program the messages such as wireless, cat 6, fiber optics, etc.—find out what works best for your project.

What is the Optimal Viewing Range and Angle for an LED Sign?

To determine the optimal viewing range for your LED sign, several things need to be considered. For example, what type of messaging will be displayed, what’s the speed limit for nearby traffic, how high will the sign be placed, and how far from the road? How many lanes of traffic go by the sign, are stop signs or stoplights close by, and what are the ideal viewing angles for the sign? Keep in mind that the content you display is the most important factor when programming your sign. Work with your vendor or manufacturer to determine other factors such as the traffic count for the area where your sign will be displayed. Your manufacturer or LED sign vendor can help you with this or you can go to several websites below to see the amount of traffic in your area to help determine the ROI for your project:

• Traffic Count Database
• MDOT Traffic Volumes

Try using a search engine, entering “traffic counter for ___” entering your state in the blank.

Are LED Sign Lease Options Available?

Is a leasing option available from your LED sign vendor? Leasing can be a great option when purchasing an LED sign. Instead of paying a lump sum you can lease your sign and budget the cost on a monthly payment.

Overall, LED signs are not created equal and are not the same. There are major differences between the manufacturers and LED sign vendors you are researching. Be sure to do your homework and ask questions that will help educate yourself on choosing which LED sign works best for your needs. Research the manufacturer and testimonials from previous customers before buying your LED sign. Just like making any investment, doing thorough research, asking these questions and knowing these answers can save you a potential headache, time, and money when selecting and LED sign vendor and manufacturer.

If you would like to learn more about LED signs please visit our page at visual.electro-matic.com and try out our LED Sign Builder!