I wasnt too thrilled with the buy-display part either. Crappy performance, crappy build. You get what you pay for I guess. I use the the green on black optrex parts, they are a pain to dial in to get to look good but they do look good (eventually) and dont draw a ton of current. I used the 40x2 newhaven ones also and like those a lot despite being your standard black on light background with backlite deals. One thing about the optrex parts you MUST watch for is that there MUST be a current limiting resistor on the backlight or you will blow the LEDs (i've done it more than once). They are replaceable if youre handy with tiny ass SMD stuff but its a $40 display in the trash otherwise