LG 27GL650F-B Review - my buying guide

The LG 27GL650F-B offers mouth watering specs for its modest price. But is this 144Hz, 1080p IPS gaming monitor under $300 good on paper only?. Let us take a deeper look!

Specifications

Image Quality

The monitor stands out for its excellent color production. It produces vivid, true to life colors that one expects from an IPS panel and its color production is fairly accurate out of the box. The LG 27GL650F-B has an excellent coverage of the sRGB color space at an impressive 99%. Color transitions across gradients are fairly smooth and there is minor color banding at best. This monitor is an excellent choice for gaming and media streaming but not your best resource for pro photography and design owing to its limited color space coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut.

The monitor has fabulous horizontal and vertical viewing angles of 178° that do not leave a spectator positioned at wide corners with any viewing disadvantage.

IPS monitors are not renowned for outstanding contrast. The LG 27GL650F-B has a contrast ratio of 1000:1 that is quite low. The panel falls short in displaying deep blacks that appear grayish to the eye, which is a definite disadvantage in dark themed games, where shadow details are lost. Also the monitor exhibits poor black uniformity, which is very evident in dark themed games. The AOC CQ27G1 is a Quad HD, 144Hz monitor that offers superior contrast and better black uniformity but then it is a VA panel that falls behind the LG 27GL650F-B in color production.

The panel has a peak brightness rating of 400 nits. Out of the box the monitor seems fairly bright, in fact too bright for some users that may want to tone it down if it disturbs them. Its high brightness adds a nice punch to visuals. Although if you use the 1ms Motion Blur Reduction preset in gaming there is a noticeable drop in the monitor’s brightness and picture quality because of Black Frame Insertion that this mode uses.

The screen has a matte finish that exhibits limited glare handling, as the monitor struggles to cope with reflections in very brightly lit rooms.

The monitor’s HDR label is more of a marketing gimmick. We found nothing significant with the monitor’s HDR performance to be worthy of mention.

Overall the monitor is an excellent choice for gaming and media consumption but not your best resource for photo and video editing.

Performance

The LG 27GL650F does not have a large number of gaming features to its credit, but the pairing of 144hz refresh rate with an IPS panel are some of its noticeable features.

Response times are critical for fast action as slower pixel transitions can lead to poor motion clarity. While the LG 27650F does not outclass some other 144Hz monitors we have reviewed, it’s response time performance is excellent for an IPS panel. The overall response time for this monitor averages at 12.4 ms, however, pixels are able to reach 80 % of their color transitions in less than 6ms for both light and dark shades of colors (where the darker shades take slightly more time to transition than lighter shades). This effectively results in mild ghosting especially in dark themed games like Witcher 3, however it is not a deal breaker by any means.

The LG 27GL650-F comes with three overdrive modes: Normal, Fast and Faster for improved response times. While all presets seem to work well, we are tilted towards the faster mode that improves response time considerably producing clear motion, however there is some overshoot noticed in this mode.

The other alternative included by LG in this monitor to enhance motion clarity is the 1ms motion blur reduction technology which although effective has many disadvantages and therefore does not earn our recommendation. This technology uses black frame insertion through backlight strobing, that results in improved motion clarity however it reduces the brightness of the display drastically. The result is a dull display with muted colors that takes away the immersive feel of the game.

The LG 27GL650-F is a Freesync monitor that also supports G-sync. Navigating crowded streets and aggressive road bends fiercely in GTA V with Freesync On is silky smooth without the nuisance of screen tearing and stuttering. Freesync does not incur any additional input lag as the monitor maintains perfect responsiveness throughout. Freesync does not work with HDR or 1 ms motion blur reduction. This is an officially certified GSync compatible monitor that runs super smooth with GeForce 10 series Nvidia graphics cards and higher if you are using the displayport connection.

As discussed in the image quality section, this monitor struggles with black uniformity. There is also noticeable backlight bleeding around the edges that the gamers may find a little difficult to negotiate in dark themed games.

The monitor includes crosshairs for quick and better aiming that can prove handy when gunning down opponents in shooters.

Design and Build Quality

The LG 27GL650 F has a sleek look with thin bezels on all sides except at the bottom, encouraging use of this monitor in a multi monitor setup. However, 27 inches is a rather large screen size which is not recommended for a multi monitor setup.

The monitor has a solid black plastic body adorned with likeable touches of red. The trademark red circle of the LG Ultragear series can also be found on the back of the monitor. Overall this monitor has a nice aesthetic appeal.

The LG 27GL650F-B monitor can be fitted to an easy to install sturdy stand that keeps the monitor stable for the most part. The stand unfortunately does not offer the best ergonomics. The monitor can slide up and down the neck of the stand for a good 11 cm, but there is no option to swivel the monitor. The tilt range is decent from -5° to 15° and the monitor screen can be toggled vertically to portrait orientation only in the clockwise direction which is rather disappointing.

The monitor includes a downward facing joystick control tucked underneath the bottom bezel that is quite easy and intuitive to use for navigating the OSD menu. This menu has plenty of settings available that include frame rate, motion blur reduction and FreeSync just to name a few.

The monitor has no in-built speakers. Thus, you have to use an external sound system.

Connectivity

DisplayPort 1.4 x 1
HDMI 2.0 x 2
Output Audio Jack 3.5mm x 1
Power Supply Port x 1

The monitor has no USB Type-C or VGA ports.

Salient Features

Listed below are a few notable features of the LG 27GL650F-B:

Dynamic Action Sync
Flicker Safe
Black Stabilizer
Crosshair
Smart Energy Saving
Reader Mode
Color Calibrated
On Screen Control (OSC)
HDR (High Dynamic Range)
1ms Motion Blur Reduction

Frequently Asked Questions

Is LG 27GL650F-B suitable for photo/video editing?

No. The monitor covers very little of DCI-P3/ Adobe rgb color gamut to make it suitable for professional color accurate work.

Is LG 27GL650F-B suitable for multimedia usage?

This device has awesome viewing angles which can help you share the screen with others, however, it’s low pixel density may bother you. Also the poor contrast is not good for dark scenes.

Is LG 27GL650F-B suitable for office use?

The LG-27GL650F-B has a bright screen and a dedicated reader mode which make it adequate for use in office chores. However, it is not suitable for excessive text work owing to its mediocre text clarity.

Final Thoughts

Buy it if

You are a gamer. This monitor packs all features required for a smooth gaming experience; a good response time, cross hair, FreeSync and G-Sync compatibility on top of a crisp 144 Hz refresh rate. Also the 1080p resolution makes it easy for mid-range graphics cards to pump out frames at 144 fps.

Don’t buy it if

You are a professional photo/video editor because it has problems with contrast, black uniformity and a limited color gamut for professional work.

Conclusion

The LG-27GL650F-B is an excellent IPS gaming monitor for its price point.