We buy and test more than 30 monitors each year, with units that we buy completely on our own, without any cherry-picked units or samples. We put a lot into each unbiased, straight-to-the-point review, and there's a whole process from purchasing to publishing, involving multiple teams and people. We do more than just use the monitor for a week; we use specialized and custom tools to measure various aspects with objective data-based results. We also consider multiple factors before making any recommendations, including the monitor's cost, its performance against the competition, and whether or not it's easy to find.
Our Verdict
Decent monitor for most uses. It's limited by the disappointing viewing angles and limited ergonomics on the stand. It also doesn't look as good in a dark room. This monitor delivers a great gaming experience, though, with outstanding low input lag, a fast response time, and support for AMD FreeSync, even from an NVIDIA graphics card, as long as it's recent.
- Outstanding motion handling.
- Extremely low input lag.
- Image degrades when viewed at an angle.
- Mediocre picture quality.
This is a decent monitor for office use. The 1080p, 24.5" screen isn't great for multitasking, and it has limited viewing angles, so it isn't great for sharing with a colleague or clients. It has great reflection handling, though, and very good peak brightness, so there shouldn't be any issues using it in a bright room.
The HP OMEN X25f is a great gaming monitor. It has outstanding low input lag, an amazing response time, and it supports FreeSync, even from a recent NVIDIA graphics card. The 1080p resolution and relatively small size might disappoint some gamers, though, and it has limited ergonomics.
The OMEN X25f is decent for watching multimedia. Some people might be disappointed by the 1080p resolution. It has great reflection handling, though, and decent gray uniformity, so it looks good in a well-lit room. Unfortunately, because of the mediocre viewing angles, it's best enjoyed from directly in front.
This is a decent monitor for media creation. Some people might be disappointed by the relatively low resolution and small size, but it's a responsive monitor thanks to the outstanding low input lag, and it has an impressive response time. It has great reflection handling and very good peak brightness, so there shouldn't be any issues using it in a bright room.
The OMEN X 25f doesn't support HDR.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the 24.5" OMEN X 25f, which is one of many monitors in the OMEN X lineup. There is also a true G-SYNC version, known as the OMEN X25, which hasn't been released yet. We expect it to have different ports, but otherwise perform similarly to the version we've tested.
This monitor is not to be confused with the HP OMEN 25 (non-'X'), which has a 144Hz refresh rate, and isn't certified as NVIDIA G-SYNC Compatible.
If someone comes across a different type of panel or if their OMEN X 25f doesn't correspond to our review, let us know and we will update the review. Note that some tests such as gray uniformity may vary between individual units.
| Model | Product Number | Size | Resolution | Refresh Rate | Notes |
| OMEN X 25f | 4WH47AA | 24.5" | 1080p | 240Hz | FreeSync, G-SYNC Compatible |
| OMEN 25 | Z7Y57AA | 24.5" | 1080p | 144Hz | FreeSync |
| OMEN X 25 | 4NK94AA | 24.5" | 1080p | 240Hz | G-SYNC |
| OMEN 27 | Z4D33AA | 27" | 1440p | 144Hz | G-SYNC |
| OMEN X 35 | X3W57AA | 35" | 3440x1440 | 100Hz | G-SYNC |
| OMEN X EMPERIUM | 4WY70AA | 65" | 4k | 144Hz | G-SYNC |
The HP OMEN X 25f we reviewed was manufactured in April 2019.
Popular Monitor Comparisons
The HP OMEN X 25f is a great gaming monitor, but isn't quite as good as similar models. See our recommendations for the best monitors, the best 27 inch gaming monitors, and the best budget monitors.
The AOC AGON AG271QX is a bit better than the HP OMEN X 25f. The AOC has a slower refresh rate, but this has very little impact on the overall appearance of motion. The AOC has better ergonomics, as it can swivel, and can be rotated to portrait orientation. The AOC also has a higher resolution screen and more screen area, so it's a bit better for multitasking and allows you to see more fine details in your favorite games.
The BenQ ZOWIE XL2540 is a bit better than the HP OMEN X 25f. The BenQ has better ergonomics and an optional black frame insertion feature to further improve the appearance of motion. The X 25f has a faster response time, but this isn't a very noticeable difference.
The ViewSonic XG2402 and the HP OMEN X 25f are very similar overall, and the best one depends on your needs. The ViewSonic is better if you need a more adjustable stand, as it has better ergonomics and can be rotated to a portrait orientation. The OMEN X has slightly better motion handling, though, so it might be better for some people.
The HP OMEN X 25f is slightly better than the ASUS VG248QE. The HP has a faster refresh rate, although there is very little difference between the response times. The X 25f also supports FreeSync variable refresh rate technology, whereas the ASUS VG248QE doesn't support any VRR technology.
Test Results
The HP OMEN X 25f has a very good design, nearly identical to the HP OMEN 27. It has thin bezels on three sides, and looks great in a multi-monitor setup or VESA mounted. The stand supports the monitor well and has a relatively small footprint, but has limited ergonomics as it can't swivel and can't be rotated to a portrait orientation. This monitor has excellent build quality; despite being almost entirely made of plastic, it has a premium finish and there are no obvious weak spots.
The stand is very thin and requires very little space on your desk, and doesn't prevent objects from being placed in front of the monitor. Like the OMEN 27, there is a headphone hook on the top of the stand.
This monitor has disappointing ergonomics. The stand has a good height adjustment and excellent tilt range, but it can't swivel or rotate to a portrait orientation.
The back of the monitor is made of plastic, but has a premium finish to it. There is a loop at the base of the monitor that can be used for cable management. The stand has no quick release, but can be VESA mounted. In order to VESA mount it, an adapter must be attached to the back (included).
The border around the monitor is very thin on 3 sides, and blends in when using the monitor. There is an RGB ambient lighting feature along the bottom bezel.
When attached to its stand, this monitor is a bit thicker than most, and it's just as thick as the OMEN 27, despite the smaller screen.
This monitor has excellent build quality. Although most of it is made of plastic, the metal stand and nice finish give it a premium feel. We didn't notice any issues with the build quality, or any potential issues with the monitor.
This monitor does not support local dimming. The video is provided for reference only.
Great SDR peak brightness; this monitor can get more than bright enough for almost any room. There is no significant variation in brightness with different content.
This monitor does not support HDR.
Disappointing horizontal viewing angle, but this is to be expected with TN panels, and these results are nearly identical to the BenQ ZOWIE XL2540. When sitting directly in front of the screen, there shouldn't be any issues, but moving even slightly off-center results in a washed out image and a rapid loss of color accuracy.
When looking at the monitor from above, the image gradually loses color accuracy and appears washed out. From below, however, it's much worse, and at wide angles there's a noticeable grayscale inversion, and a negative image appears. When sitting directly in front of the screen, this isn't a significant issue for most people, but if you're too close the top and bottom of the screen can appear non-uniform.
Good gray uniformity, with very little dirty screen effect (DSE). The top of the screen appears noticeably darker than the rest; this is due to the vertical viewing angle. In near-dark scenes, the uniformity is a lot better, but some clouding is still noticeable.
The HP OMEN X 25f has passable black uniformity, very similar to the Acer XF251Q. There is some clouding across the entire screen, but there is no backlight bleed. This is much better than the larger HP OMEN X 27, but this does vary between units.
Out of the box, the HP OMEN X 25f has decent accuracy. Gamma is almost flat and is close to 2.1, and white balance is noticeably inaccurate, especially in brighter shades of gray. There are noticeable inaccuracies in some colors, and the color temperature is a bit warm.
After calibrating, this monitor has excellent accuracy. There are no noticeable grayscale errors, and most color errors are corrected. Gamma follows the sRGB target curve almost perfectly, and the white balance is very close to the target of 6500K.
You can download our ICC profile calibration here. This is provided for reference only and should not be used, as the calibration values vary per individual unit, even for the same model, due to manufacturing tolerances.
sRGB Picture Mode: Native (calibrated)
Adobe RGB Picture Mode: Native
Great SDR color gamut, similar to the BenQ ZOWIE XL2540. It can't quite display the entire sRGB color space, but most people won't notice it. It has only decent coverage of the wider Adobe RGB color space, which isn't great for professional photo editing.
sRGB Picture Mode: Native
Adobe RGB Picture Mode: Native
Excellent SDR color volume. Some colors aren't as bright as pure white, especially blues, and it can't produce dark, saturated colors very well.
This monitor does not support HDR.
There are no signs of temporary image retention, even immediately after displaying our high contrast, static test image for 10 minutes.
The OMEN X 25f has excellent gradient handling. There is some very minor banding in most shades. There is noticeable 8-bit banding, especially in darker shades.
Some color bleed is visible in the vertical color bleed test, but this shouldn't be noticeable with most content.
Great reflection handling; there shouldn't be any issues using this monitor in a bright room.
Response Time Level 1
Response Time Level 2
Response Time Level 3
Response Time Level 4
The OMEN X 25f has an outstanding response time, slightly faster than the OMEN 27, and even faster than the BenQ ZOWIE XL2540. The response time can be customized, and there are four different levels. We recommend level 3, as it delivers the best response time with the least amount of overshoot. Level 4 has significantly higher overshoot, and there is almost no improvement to the response time, so we don't recommend it.
The backlight is completely flicker-free, which is great. There is no black frame insertion feature, but this isn't really needed with 240Hz content, as motion is already incredibly clear.
The HP OMEN X 25f has a native 240Hz panel, and it supports FreeSync variable refresh rate technology. It also supports FreeSync when connected via DisplayPort to a recent NVIDIA graphics card, and it's certified compatible by NVIDIA, so it works automatically.
This monitor has outstanding low input lag, the lowest we've measured so far. The 60Hz input lag is higher than most monitors, which is a bit disappointing for console gamers.
If input lag is important to you and you want the best gaming experience possible, check out our recommendations for the best gaming mice.
The 24.5", 1080p screen has a relatively low pixel density, and isn't great for some uses, especially for multitasking.
The OMEN X 25f doesn't support HDR10, and has no built-in speakers, but there are a few additional features. There is an RGB Ambient Lighting feature, which can help improve the appearance of dark scenes in a dark room. There are also a few virtual overlays, including:
- Frame Rate Counter: Displays the frame rate received from the connected source.
- Message Timers: Choose from a few pre-programmed messages, and display them after a certain amount of time.
- Crosshair: Add a virtual crosshair to any game. The crosshair can't be detected by the game.
