Next Level Racing Lite Free Standing Monitor Stand

A solid freestanding option for screens up to 55 inches

The growth of sim racing over the past three years has been nothing less than astounding. COVID turned into a pretty big motivation for people who were bored at home and wanted some kind of distraction from the day-to-day routine. NASCAR had postponed most of the season, but ended up working with Fox to create a substitute virtual series with a variety of drivers. One of the first winners was a guy who raced on a laptop with a Logitech G29/920 wheel. Shortly after those first few races, we saw some heavyweights start to kit out some impressive gear to give them a greater edge while taking laps in iRacing.

While not every racing fan is a NASCAR fan, controllers were soon selling out at a very rapid pace and we saw a rise in interest in other titles like DiRT Rally 2.0, rFactor 2, the F1 series, Asseto Corsa, and AC Competizione. Racing rigs also started selling at a higher level as well, as some users discovered they had extra space in their homes where they could set up a permanently mounted wheel and pedals, along with a larger monitor or TV. Desk clamps are fine to race with, but when dialing up the accuracy and using things like load cell brakes make the standard setup unreasonable and unworkable. Add in we are seeing Direct Drive units that are pushing 26 nm of force, something larger and sturdier is required.

Next Level Racing is an Australian company founded in 2009 to address the sim racer needs with custom cockpits and accessories. They have grown over these years to be able to provide their products around the world. They have a wide array of products from a simple racing stand all the way to fully customizable extruded aluminum beam units and motion platforms that approach $7000 US. They also have entered the gaming chair market, which is also a lot of fun these days.

The product I am reviewing today is certainly on the low end of those prices, but it is certainly a necessary component for a wide variety of sim users. The NLR Lite Free Standing Monitor Stand (not exactly a mouthful, and not really redundant) is a $119 monitor stand that is aimed at the sim market. If you go on Amazon or Newegg and look for large monitor or TV stands, they are typically units meant for workplaces with a single post and 4 or 5 horizontal legs ending in castor wheels. The prices range from $75 to $150, but the design of these units are not conducive to effective placement of the monitor or TV when using a dedicated sim rig. Something is needed with a wider, more solid stance so that the bottom portion of the rig can fit comfortably under it.

Lucky for us NLR has delivered such a product. This stand features four vertical legs and a large, open area between them for a sim rig to easily go under (so the user can get the monitor as close to them as they desire- or as close as what the wheel/base will allow). The entire unit stands slightly above 3 feet tall and can handle TVs up to 55” diagonal. The unit itself is made of rigid, but lightweight materials. High carbon steel tubes represent most of the mass, but the pivots/joints are made of a glass-filled nylon plastic for toughness and rigidity. The VESA mount can handle anything from 75 x 75 to 400 x 400 setups.

Construction and Impressions

NLR provides a fairly extensive and well-illustrated instruction manual on how to assemble the unit. Everything is well-labeled, and I only had to take a portion of it apart once (I am not a clever man). The construction is easy as NLR provides the wrench, screwdriver, and hex tools required to set up the product.

The tubes are rigid and the nylon plastic portions are dense and defect-free. The finish on the tubes is a black paint that shows no signs of drips or flaking. The stickers for the legs and center portion are perfectly placed, and the nylon endcaps sport a fetching red piece that really adds some character to the unit.

The VESA adapter is ok and fairly flexible, but in my case I have a 300 x 300 TV that I mounted and it had a very unfortunate ledge that stuck out about an inch on the bottom portion. This caused the bars at the bottom to not be entirely flush with the plastic standoffs provided with the Lite.

The VESA adapter did not fit as well as I was hoping, but through some patience and lots of screwing and unscrewing, I was able to get it to work. It would have been nice to have been able to slide the VESA bars to the 300 level for a perfect fit, but I took what I was given. The stand does allow for height adjustment by depressing those silver ball/springs that poke through holes in the vertical stand.

It really requires two people to do it effectively without scratching the paint on the posts when a TV or monitor is attached to the VESA adapter/arm. With one person doing the adjustments it is nearly impossible to raise or lower the monitor/tv stand without doing it one at a time (and causing the scraping of the paint I was so hesitant to do).

The unit can support up to 20 kg or 44 lbs. I have an older 55” LCD screen that I am using on it, and it weighs far less than that 44 lbs number. A modern OLED 55” without a base would probably be around 33 lbs. Older plasmas or LCDs would probably surpass that 44 lbs number, so be careful what you are saving that ancient monstrosity for.

The overall design is simple, but elegantly constructed. It can be carted around by one person even with a large screen mounted. The wide stance legs make maneuvering a little more challenging, but certainly far from impossible. It seems very sturdy and stable, but it is limited to one monitor. Once a user decides to go to three monitors, they are paying a significant amount more. New ultra-ultra wide monitors help eliminate the need for three monitor setups, but they are still a popular option for the truly hard core sim racers.

Space under and between the legs is more than adequate, even with the largest TV possible on this unit. NLR suggests it be paired with the Lite cockpits, but it is compatible with the full sized GTtrack and F-GT units. In fact, it can be used with pretty much any rig out there, except for the much taller F1 based rigs that tend to be a lot higher at the feet.

Conclusion

At $119 this is not exactly a cheap stand. That is ok, because it is very well constructed and the design is aimed directly at the sim market. When compared to other widely available stands in the general marketplace, it is still fairly affordable for what it gives the consumer. It is a sharp looking product that fits nicely in the category it is designed for.

It will certainly not be an eyesore in any racing rig and again the functionality of its design is aimed directly at the sim market. There are no real compromises here when considering what kind of monitor or TV it can handle. Height and angle adjustments are there to fully customize the viewing experience for the individual racer and their rig.

The materials are certainly not cheap and the construction is sound. The only issue I had is the vertical adjustment can be clunky and it will likely scrape the paint on the inner tubes as they are adjusted while under load. The angle adjustment is really robust and the user will not experience any slippage over time due to the ridged/cogged construction of that particular part.

Overall I think this is a nicely priced sim part that hits a lot of checkmarks for a variety of users. Good design, good materials, and some nice design touches and branding involved. Next Level Racing has a focused and reliable part for a reasonable price for the sim market.