I think I have remedied the issue. I disabled my second monitor in ATI's software, but in Windows the second monitor was still listed as active. What's even worse is that both have different views on which monitor is the dominant one. I think I have them both on the same page now. The colorvision software pops up all these alerts about recently disabled an enabled monitors.

Brian,

Yes - it's Grey Brown (or Gray Brown if you're an American)

I've found that when I processed some of my images on my laptop, (which is not accurately calibrated), then load them to my desktop, I've missed the color temperature by 400° to 800° - I would err on the cooler, bluish side. So, now, I bring my little Pantone Huey with me, when I'm on the road. - It's adequate for the job.
I am considering upgrading to a fuller system like colorvision's Spyder2 something including printer calibration (printFIX) or Eye-One's spectrophotometer. For my printer, I've done all I can with out a spectrophotometer.

I originally had ordered a Huey. Unfortunately my "new" Huey was missing many pieces and I decided to send it back. That led to me ordering a Spyder2express the second time around. I had previously calibrated by monitors using Adobe Gamma. If the spyder2 is to be believed, I was not doing a very good job.

I was considering this device too...my only issue is that I use dual 21" monitors...and it can only calibrate one which is fine as long as I don't have to disable the second monitor...once you go with two monitors, one is never good enough again.

Do you notice a "big" difference? Do you notice shots that you thought had "pop" no longer do or vice versa? Too dark or too light photos?

I think it's worth, especially considering that you can find them for under $60 on eBay. I think it just made everything look better. Greens and reds look more accurate than they were. I think some of my greens had an overly bluish tint.

The Spyder2pro can calibrate dual monitors. The Spyder2express contains the same color calibrator as the pro version, but has different software. If you bought the spyder2express and then were able to get your hands on a copy of the pro software, you would be able to calibrate dual monitors. My only reason for temporarily disabling my second monitor was to make sure that calibration settings were getting set for and from the right monitor.

I'd second Ovlov. I think having an accurately calibrated monitor is vital if you want consistent results. The price you've listed for the Spyder2express seems really good value.

I was skeptical before I'd calibrated my screen, but now wouldn't go back- it makes a big difference. In order to get the best and most predictable results though it needs to be used with a printer profile and soft proofing.

HTH
Andrew

Someone once told me computers and digital photography was like southern BBQ. You have mustard based and vinegar based. PC or Apple. It just may be a personal preference but Apple seems to reproduce the most accurate colors. From monitor to Premium Prints. The software from “Datacolor” , best known as Spyder, its fantastic with the monitors of pc and apple. McBeth is another good one. Just be prepared to spend some coin on this.

It also gets you consistent results on different computers and displays. Even though my laptop is a hell of a lot faster than my desktop I would never have edited a photo on it because the displays factory settings are very poor for this. There are no easily accessed display adjustments for the laptop. After calibrating the display with the spyder2 it now looks almost exactly like the desktops display. I wouldn't fear editing photos on it now.

The only negative to all this is that uncalibrated displays look funny now.