LG 27GN650-B Monitor Review

The LG 27GN650-B has the same design as most other 2020 LG UltraGear monitors, like the LG 27GN850-B/27GN880-B. It has a flat, non-curved screen with thin borders on three sides and a thicker bottom bezel. It's mostly black with some red accents on the stand and the back.

The V-shaped stand is relatively wide, but the feet are very thin, leaving more usable desk space. It feels sturdy, and the screen doesn't wobble much.

The LG 27GN650-B has sub-par ergonomics. The tilt range is fairly narrow, and it can't swivel at all.

The back is plain except for the UltraGear branding and red accent ring. The cutout on the stand is for cable management.

The screen itself is thin, but the stand is thick, so you'll need a deep desk to put it on.

The LG 27GN650-B's build quality is decent. It's mostly plastic and doesn't feel particularly premium, but there are no issues with the construction. That said, the cable management cutout feels pretty flimsy.

Like most IPS panels, the LG 27GN650-B has a mediocre contrast ratio, which makes blacks appear grayish when viewed in a dark environment. It matches the advertised 1000:1 contrast almost perfectly; however, this can vary between units. If you're looking for a similar budget model with better contrast, check out the LG 32GN600-B.

The LG 27GN650-B doesn't have a local dimming feature. The video above is provided for reference only.

LG 27GN650-B has decent SDR peak brightness. It's very consistent across different content, but it falls short of the advertised 350 cd/m². It's bright enough for a dark to moderately-lit room, but it might not be able to overcome intense glare in a well-lit room. We managed to reach 295 cd/m² before calibration in the 'HDR Effect' Picture Mode, with Contrast set to max, but this comes at the cost of image accuracy.

We measured the SDR peak brightness after calibration in the 'Gamer 1' Picture Mode, with Brightness set to max.

If you care about peak brightness and want a 1080p monitor similar to this one, check out the Samsung Odyssey G4/G40B S27BG40.

The LG 27GN650-B has mediocre HDR peak brightness. It's a bit brighter than in SDR, though not by much, and nowhere near enough to make highlights stand out the way they should in HDR. That said, it maintains the brightness very consistently across different content.

We measured the HDR peak brightness in the 'Gamer 2' Picture Mode with Brightness set to max.

The LG 27GN650-B has great viewing angles, which means images remain accurate when viewed from the side, good for sharing content and playing co-op games.

The LG 27GN650-B's vertical viewing angles aren't bad, but there's still some loss of image accuracy when viewing from below or above.

Gray uniformity is excellent, although this can vary between individual units. The sides are a bit darker, but thankfully, there's almost no dirty screen effect in the center. Uniformity is much better in near-dark scenes.

Our unit has terrible black uniformity. There's clouding throughout the screen, as well as visible backlight bleed along the top and bottom edges. Note that black uniformity varies between individual units.

The LG 27GN650-B has great accuracy out of the box. Most colors and shades of gray are only slightly inaccurate and hard to spot. The color temperature is very close to our 6500K target, just a bit on the cooler side. Gamma follows the sRGB curve relatively well, but most dark scenes appear brighter than they should. There isn't a dedicated sRGB Picture Mode. Note that accuracy varies between units.

Accuracy is fantastic after calibration. The remaining inaccuracies aren't visible to the naked eye. The color temperature remains very close to our target, although slightly on the warmer side. Gamma is much improved, but very dark and very bright scenes are over-brightened.

You can download our ICC profile calibration here. This is provided for reference only and shouldn't be used, as the calibration values vary per individual unit due to manufacturing tolerances, even for the same model.

The LG 27GN650-B's SDR color gamut is outstanding. It has full coverage of the sRGB color space used in most content and great coverage of Adobe RGB, used in print photography.

The SDR color volume is exceptional. It only has trouble displaying dark colors due to its low contrast ratio.

The LG 27GN650-B has a good HDR color gamut. It has excellent DCI P3 coverage, the color space used in most HDR content, but its coverage of the wider Rec. 2020 is only mediocre.

Note that our DCI P3 coverage is likely much lower than other reviewers. This is normal and is due to the way we measure DCI P3. We measure it by sending a Rec. 2020 signal, but unlike most reviewers, we limit the colors to the P3 primaries. This results in a lower but arguably more accurate measurement.

The HDR color volume is okay. It doesn't display dark colors well because it has a low contrast ratio, and it also has trouble with very bright colors due to its relatively low HDR peak brightness.

There's no image retention after displaying a high-contrast image for ten minutes. However, this can vary between individual units.

Gradient handling is superb. There's only a tiny amount of banding in the reds, but it shouldn't be noticeable in most content.

There's no color bleed. The small amount detected shouldn't be visible in regular content.

The LG 27GN650-B has good reflection handling. Visibility should be okay in most lighting conditions, but it may struggle a bit in bright, sunny rooms.

Text clarity is decent. Windows ClearType (top photo) makes diagonal lines look bolder, like on the R and N. However, it also makes vertical lines appear thinner, like on the T and I.

The LG 27GN650-B has an exceptional response time at its max refresh rate, resulting in clear motion with almost no blur trail behind fast-moving objects. The recommended overdrive setting is 'Normal' because 'Off' is slower, and the 'Fast' and 'Faster' options have too much overshoot, causing inverse ghosting.

The response time at 60Hz is excellent. It's noticeably slower than at max refresh rate, which results in blurrier images in fast-moving scenes. The recommended overdrive setting is 'Off' because the other options have a lot of overshoot. This means you may have to change the overdrive setting if your game's frame rate drops.

The backlight is flicker-free at all brightness levels. This eliminates image duplication and helps reduce eye strain.

The LG 27GN650-B has a Black Frame Insertion feature. It's backlight strobing, to be more precise, as it flickers the backlight to reduce motion blur. It only works within a narrow refresh rate range, and it isn't usable simultaneously with VRR. Note that the BFI score is based on the minimum and maximum frequency at which it operates, not the BFI's performance.

The LG 27GN650-B has a high refresh rate to deliver a smooth gaming experience. FreeSync and G-SYNC compatibility work over a wide refresh rate range; however, G-SYNC only works over a DisplayPort connection.

The input lag is exceptionally low. It's slightly higher with BFI enabled, but it shouldn't be noticeable to most people.

The LG 27GN650-B has a large screen size that feels immersive, but its pixel density is relatively low due to its 1080p resolution. It should be okay for most gamers, but it isn't the best for work and media consumption.

The USB 3.0 port is for firmware updates only.

The LG 27GN650-B only has a few features, including:

• Crosshair: Adds a virtual crosshair on the screen.
• Reader Mode: Blue light filter to help reduce eye strain.
• Black Stabilizer: Makes objects more visible in dark scenes.

There's a joystick below the LG branding on the bottom bezel. It lets you power the monitor on/off and navigate the on-screen menu.

• User guide
• CD manual
• Power supply
• DisplayPort cable