BenQ ZOWIE XL2586X Monitor Review

The BenQ ZOWIE XL2586X has a simple design with an all-gray body, and it comes with removable shields to help you keep focused on your game. Unlike most modern monitors, it has thick bezels and an old-school gaming feel. It also has a headphone hook that can recess back into the monitor.

The build quality is decent. Its all-plastic body feels good, and there aren't any obvious issues, but there's nothing that feels premium about it, either. The stand holds the display well without much wobble, but it requires some force to move the screen.

The ergonomics are impressive. You can easily adjust it, which is great if you need to place it in a comfortable position either for yourself or for a co-op gaming session. The stand also features a ruler for height adjustment, and it has a handle that makes the monitor easier to carry around. Lastly, there's a clip for cable management.

The thickness measurement is with the flaps closed, as you can see here, but they add 3.7" (9.5 cm) of thickness when opened in use. The base depth is with the monitor at its max height adjustment as it's further away from the edge of the base than at its minimum height adjustment, which has a base depth of 7.1 inches (18.0 cm).

There's a joystick and two buttons to control the on-screen display directly on the monitor, and it also has an external S Switch controller that makes it easier to navigate the menu.

• HDMI cable
• DisplayPort cable
• S Switch controller
• Power cable
• User guides
• 2x shielding hood (not pictured)

The BenQ ZOWIE XL2586X has a low contrast ratio that makes blacks look gray next to bright highlights. Unfortunately it doesn't have a local dimming feature to further improve it either.

This monitor has no local dimming feature. We still film these videos on the monitor so you can compare the backlight performance with a monitor that has local dimming.

The SDR brightness is good. It gets bright enough to fight glare in a well-lit room, and it maintains its brightness extremely consistently across different content. These results are from after calibration with the brightness at its max in the 'Standard' Picture Mode.

This monitor doesn't support HDR.

The horizontal viewing angle is mediocre. The image quickly washes out from the sides, which is disappointing if you want to use it for co-op gaming.

The vertical viewing angle is bad. The image washes out when viewed from above, and like any TN panel, it's inverted when viewed from below.

The gray uniformity is okay. While the top and bottom edges are brighter, the rest of the screen is fairly uniform.

The BenQ ZOWIE XL2586X has noticeable backlight bleed and blacks aren't deep, and there's no local dimming feature to further improve it.

The accuracy before calibration isn't bad. It doesn't have a dedicated sRGB mode, so colors are very oversaturated, but that's the biggest downside, as the white balance, color temperature, and gamma are close to their targets.

The accuracy after calibration is fantastic. Colors aren't oversaturated, and you won't spot other inaccuracies with the naked eye.

This monitor has a fantastic SDR color gamut. It displays all the colors in the common sRGB color space, and a wide range of colors in Adobe RGB. That said, it oversaturates reds and undersaturates greens in Adobe RGB.

This monitor doesn't support HDR.

This monitor doesn't support HDR.

The text clarity is decent. Enabling Windows ClearType (top photo) makes diagonal and curved lines bolder. These photos are in Windows 10, and you can also see them in Windows 11 with ClearType on and with ClearType off.

The reflection handling is very good. The matte screen coating reduces glare by spreading reflections across the screen, but glare from strong light sources can be distracting.

The gradient handling is great. As it's limited to 8-bit signals, there's some banding in darker shades, but it isn't overly distracting.

Your graphics card needs to use Display Stream Compression (DSC) to reach the max refresh rate, including over HDMI, which has a max bandwidth of 32 Gbps.

On top of FreeSync VRR and G-SYNC compatibility, this monitor also supports HDMI Forum VRR.

The BenQ ZOWIE XL2586X has good motion handling across its VRR range. There are a few different AMA overdrive settings, and setting the 'Custom' slider to '13' results in the best motion handling at most refresh rates. That said, there's more noticeable inverse ghosting at lower refresh rates.

The refresh rate compliance is very good. Its response time is fast enough to make most of a color transition before the monitor draws the next frame at low refresh rates, but it's worse at high refresh rates.

The CAD at the max refresh rate of 540Hz is incredible. Fast-moving objects are extremely sharp when setting the 'Custom' overdrive setting to '13'. Setting it to 'High' also results in sharp motion, but there's a bit more inverse ghosting.

The CAD at 120Hz is impressive, but there's more blur than at 540Hz. Unlike at the max refresh rate, the recommended overdrive setting is 'Premium' because it has the fastest total response time, and 'Custom 13' has inverse ghosting due to overshoot.

The CAD at 60Hz is great. Even when sending a 60Hz signal the screen still refreshes at 120Hz, but it performs differently than with a 120Hz signal. Because of this, the overdrive settings also perform differently, as 'High' has the fastest total response time, but there's a bit of inverse ghosting.

This monitor has a backlight strobing feature to reduce persistence blur, called DyAc 2. It works best at its max refresh rate, as there's more image duplication at lower refresh rates. You can enable it as low as 60Hz, but it still flickers at 120Hz and there's even more duplication at 60Hz. Lastly, the color settings reset when using the feature, and the brightness changes, but you can adjust the brightness of the backlight. The photos above are with DyAc 2 set to 'High,' but it performs similarly with 'Premium' too.

Unfortunately, there's noticeable VRR flicker with changing frame rates. It's mostly distracting in dark scenes, and you can also notice it in dark areas of bright scenes. This can get bothersome, especially if you're sensitive to it, though it isn't a problem if your PC can maintain a consistent frame rate or if you disable VRR altogether.

The backlight remains flicker-free at all brightness levels, which helps reduce eye strain if you're sensitive to flicker.

The BenQ ZOWIE XL2586X has low input lag for a responsive feel, especially when gaming at its max refresh rate. That said, it increases a lot more with 60Hz sources, which isn't ideal for playing reaction-based games.

You need to enable the Xbox Series X|S's HDMI override setting to get a downscaled 1440p @ 60Hz signal, but that disables VRR.

This monitor has a Mini USB port for the S Switch controller.

This monitor works well with macOS, except for the fact that it doesn't support the monitor's max 540Hz refresh rate, even with VRR off. You can continue using the monitor if you're using a MacBook and close the lid, and windows return to their original position when reopening the lid, too.

This monitor has a few additional features, including:

• Black eQualizer: Adjusts the gamma to make it easier to spot dark details.
• XL Setting to Share: Allows you to easily share monitor settings with others.
• Low Blue Light: Decreases the blue light that the monitor emits to help with eye strain.