LG 27GL650F-B Monitor Review

The 27GL650F-B shares the same style as most other LG gaming monitors. It's mainly black with some red on the stand and on the back. There's a red circle on the back, but it's not illuminated like the 32GK850G.

The stand is nearly identical to the other UltraGear monitors. It supports the monitor well but doesn't completely stop it from wobbling.

Disappointing ergonomics. It can rotate to portrait orientation, but only on one side. It's the same as the higher-end 27GL850.

There's a quick release on the back, but only basic cable management through a clip.

The bezels are thin on three sides, but a little thicker on the bottom.

The monitor itself is fairly thin, but the stand adds a good amount of thickness, taking up space on your desk.

Decent build quality, like most other UltraGear monitors. It's made out of plastic, but there are no build quality issues.

Like all IPS monitors, the 27GL650F-B has a mediocre contrast ratio. This results in grayish blacks, which is especially noticeable in dark scenes in a dark room. It has much better contrast than the 27GL850.

This monitor doesn't have a local dimming feature. The above video is provided for reference only.

The 27GL650F has great peak brightness, and should be able to combat glare in most rooms.

Decent HDR peak brightness with the 'Vivid' Picture Mode, but small highlights don't stand out as much as they should.

Like most IPS monitors, the image remains accurate when viewed from the side. This is great for co-op gaming or sharing your screen with a nearby colleague.

Like most IPS monitors, the image remains accurate when viewed from above or below. This is great if you plan on mounting the monitor above eye-level.

Excellent gray uniformity on the 27GL650F-B, nearly identical to the 27GL850. The sides of the screen are slightly darker, but this shouldn't be noticeable with regular content.

Poor black uniformity. There's visible clouding throughout and backlight bleed in the corners, but this could vary from unit to unit.

Great out-of-box color accuracy for the 27GL650. Most colors only have slight inaccuracies to them, and the color temperature is extremely close to the target of 6500K. Unfortunately, the gamma doesn't follow the target well and really bright scenes appear much darker than they should.

After calibration, the UltraGear 27GL650 has outstanding accuracy. Gamma follows the target curve almost perfectly, and any remaining inaccuracies aren't noticeable.

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.

The 27GL650F-B has an excellent SDR color gamut. It has good coverage of the wider Adobe RGB color space, but it might not be enough for professional photo editing.

Excellent SDR color volume. It can't display dark saturated colors very well, and blues aren't as bright as other colors, but this is pretty common for LED displays.

Decent HDR color gamut. Unlike the 27GL850, it can't display a wide color gamut, which is disappointing.

Mediocre HDR color volume. It's limited by the color gamut, and it can't display bright blues or dark colors very well.

There are no signs of temporary image retention.

Excellent gradient handling. Some banding is visible in darker shades, but this shouldn't be very noticeable with most content.

There's some noticeable color bleed, but this shouldn't cause any issues with most content.

The 27GL650F-B has okay reflection handling. It handles moderate amounts of light well, but struggles with direct light. The 27GL850 has a bit better reflection handling.

Decent text clarity. The diagonal lines on the letters R and N are clearer when enabling ClearType (top photo).

Excellent response time at its max refresh rate. The recommended Overdrive setting is 'Faster' as motion looks very clear. There's still overshoot in some transitions, and if that bothers you, the 'Fast' setting has significantly less overshoot, but the response time is slower, so there's more motion blur.

The 27GL650F-B has a good response time at 60Hz, which is good news for console gamers. Unlike at 144Hz, the best Overdrive setting is 'Normal', so you might have to change your setting while gaming. This setting has the least amount of motion blur and minimal overshoot in most transitions.

The backlight is completely flicker-free, which helps reduce eye strain.

The UltraGear 27GL650F-B has a black frame insertion feature to help reduce motion blur. It can be activated by enabling the 1ms Motion Blur Reduction setting from the 'Gaming' tab on the monitor's on-screen display. Note that this feature isn't available if FreeSync is enabled, which is normal for most monitors.

Update 02/27/2020: We've clarified the text below, as G-SYNC Compatible mode only works over DisplayPort.

The LG 27GL650F-B has an excellent refresh rate, and it supports AMD's FreeSync variable refresh rate technology. It's also certified by NVIDIA as G-SYNC compatible, so it'll work with NVIDIA's adaptive sync drivers, as long as you have a recent NVIDIA graphics card, and only over DisplayPort. Certification for this monitor was added with NVIDIA Game Ready Driver version 436.30, so you might have to update your driver for it to work.

Incredibly low input lag, but it increases a bit with VRR enabled. Its input lag at 60Hz is low, but not as low as some other monitors, such as the ASUS TUF VG27AQ or the MSI Optix G27C4.

The relatively low native resolution of this monitor might bother some people. If you want a sharper, more detailed image, the 1440p LG 27GL850 is a better choice.