Samsung Odyssey G7 32" (Keep your hands away from it!)

[Stahlmann]

Hello good people,

 

basically i said to myself, i won't buy a new monitor until there is something, which is in no way a downgrade from my current monitor. Finally there is a monitor on the market, which offers a upgrade in every way to my trusty AOC AG352UCG6.

i just ordered my Odyssey G7 32" after seeing the reviews from LTT, HUB, RTINGS, etc...

From my perspective it ticks all the boxes for a no-compromise gaming display. HDR is like always with monitors subpar but for that i have my LG C9 OLED, so that's not a problem  (I really hope for high-refresh >27" 1440p OLED monitors in a few years!)

 

Is there anyone who already has this monitor and is willing to share the experience or any strange issues that are not covered by reviews?

[Grihm]

I am in the loop of buying one myself, and the only thing i heard yesterday i think it was ( heat is messing my my memory ) is that the mentioned issues with the series had been solved through a software / driver update.

 

Link mentions the current situation.

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/products/g-sync-monitors/specs/

[Stahlmann]

8 hours ago, Grihm said:

I am in the loop of buying one myself, and the only thing i heard yesterday i think it was ( heat is messing my my memory ) is that the mentioned issues with the series had been solved through a software / driver update.

 

Link mentions the current situation.

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/products/g-sync-monitors/specs/

Thanks for your input!

 

I read a bit about G-Sync flickering. But that's likely the software fix you mentioned. My old monitor had a bit of G-Sync flickering aswell, even though it was a native G-Sync monitor with the module. I really hope this is fixed with the G7.

 

The only thing i'm still a little worried about is the 1000R curve. I run a curved monitor daily, but that's a 34" ultrawide with 1800R, so not nearly as curved. Some people like HUB said, even after 1 month, he didn't get used to this strong curvature. I still think this monitor would be much more popular if it just would've been flat.

 

My G7 should arrive at Friday/Saturday. When i set it up, I'll get back to you about my experience!

I really hope the strong curve or possible G-Sync issues give me no reason to send it back...

[Grihm]

I have never tried a curved one, but i sat in fromt of my first the other day..a 1800 one...and for me, personally it felt almost just flat. So i suspect i will be ok with 1000 one as well.

It seems as well that the general quality offers such an experience and ease on the eyes that i think the monitor will supreice in it´s quality when we get them.

 

Looking forward to hearing your input on it, and if possible, would love to see a pic from above on how it looks on a desk

[Stahlmann]

On 8/19/2020 at 10:47 PM, Grihm said:

I have never tried a curved one, but i sat in fromt of my first the other day..a 1800 one...and for me, personally it felt almost just flat. So i suspect i will be ok with 1000 one as well.

It seems as well that the general quality offers such an experience and ease on the eyes that i think the monitor will supreice in it´s quality when we get them.

 

Looking forward to hearing your input on it, and if possible, would love to see a pic from above on how it looks on a desk

Here's my followup on the G7: Sadly i'm going to return it.

 

Cons:

- Bad G-Sync support (Constant flickering in some games, only when G-Sync is enabled)

- Curve is too extreme (noticeable image distortion at any distance)

- Bad contrast for VA and much lower than advertised (mine was measured at ~2000:1)

- Very bad HDR implementation (this was no big issue for me as i have an OLED TV for HDR either way)

- Edge-Lit local dimming is very distracting (again, only an issue if you actually care about it's HDR performance)

- Huge amount of backlight bleed

- Very bad viewing angles

 

Pros:

- Incredibely fast response times, input lag, etc...

- Great image clarity because of the good pixel response times

- Good colors

- Pretty accurate out-of-the-box (but i fully calibrated mine either way)

 

As i have a "i1DisplayPro Plus" i can actually measure the color and contrast performance and do a full calibration to get the most out of any monitor. At a contrast ratio of ~2000:1 it is very subpar for VA monitors. Yes, it can still display better blacks than any TN or IPS monitor. But modern VA panels can get more to 3500:1 or even higher, giving much deeper blacks. Samsungs own TVs like the Q90R, which are VA, can get to a contrast of 3200:1 or with local dimming even to 11200:1. Sadly the bad G-Sync compatibility and the extreme 1000R curve are the dealbreakers for me. Sure, as a buyer i should know about the curve when looking it up online, but when the monitor actually stands in front of you it's very, very distracing and causing noticeable image distortion for anything that is not directly in the center. Sadly i don't see myself getting used to it.

 

The worst thing was the G-Sync flickering i found in many games. I updated the firmware and have spent the last day looking for a fix online, but sadly nothing. Samsung is aware of this for a a while now and from what i saw in the answers their support gave to this issue, do not intend to fix it anytime soon.  As i found out yesterday, this is a very big issue and most people with this monitor have it to no avail of fixing it.

 

All-in-all this is still a great performing monitor for motion, but for 730€ (what i paid) it just has too many quirks. There are 2 basic things samsung could've done to make this a much better choice:

- Make it a flat panel

- Rework the VRR implementation

 

Sadly, as it stands now, I'm gonna strongly advise against this monitor for now and the future. Additionally i'm gonna keep my hands away from samsung displays because from what i read these issues have come up in the past and they seem to make the same mistakes over and over again. I'll wait and see what other manufacturers have to offer in the next few months. Personally, AOC have never dissapointed me with any product i bought and the Eve Spectrum 240Hz seems like a good option aswell, but they're not on the market yet.

 

For now, i'm gonna keep my AOC AG352UCG6 and wait for another product.

 

Edit: Sorry for not taking pics. I don't have any, as i instantly repackaged it today after yesterday's frustrations to get a refund.

[Grihm]

3 hours ago, Stahlmann98 said:

EDITED FOR SPACE.

Thank you for that in depth review bud. I really needed it since i can become a bit of a fanboy and loose track of what matters.

 

That sounds horrible, and i´m sorry you got to experience it that way. AS i feel now, i am going to skip this monitor and look elsewhere. If i go for a curved one, it´s 1800 at most then, as those are at least none distorting.

I had been looking at AOC 34" CU34G2X VA 21:9 Curved 144 Hz, but i saw now it´s freesync, not Gsync.... but to be honest... i have no idea what the difference is or what my RTX 2070S would be like on that one....   I saw one with Gsync, but that was 300 USD more expensive... Is it worth it?

 

I´l keep checking, but in one way..it´s ALMOST a good feeling to be able to drop the idea on getting the G7, because it would have been a gamble on the panel as it seems some are getting flawless products now and then. I prefer to stay safe, so another product it is.

 

Appreciate the assistance bud!

 

EDIT: Dammit i knew i would walk into another issue...and freesync / gsync was the one i just found out.

Seems im at a loss with not too many 32" gsync 120/144 HZ monitors at all now that a realized i had to narrow the list even further.

 

 

 

 

[Grihm]

Would this be a good contender, if the big issue here is that i feel i´m at a loss when trying to find a G-sync monitor at 32" ?

https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-34gl750-b-ultrawide-monitor

Speaking of G-sync.... how useful is it actually in gaming and such? Is it worth the price? 

[Gaires]

7 hours ago, Grihm said:

but i saw now it´s freesync, not Gsync.... but to be honest... i have no idea what the difference is or what my RTX 2070S would be like on that one....

2070s will work fine with freesync monitors.

https://www.rtings.com/monitor/learn/freesync-amd-vs-gsync-nvidia

 

6 hours ago, Grihm said:

i´m at a loss when trying to find a G-sync monitor at 32" ?

You should make a new thread, but here are some suggestions.

https://www.rtings.com/monitor/tools/table/36180

https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/best/ultrawide-gaming

 

You should also read trough this thread.

 

[Stahlmann]

11 hours ago, Grihm said:

Would this be a good contender, if the big issue here is that i feel i´m at a loss when trying to find a G-sync monitor at 32" ?

https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-34gl750-b-ultrawide-monitor

Speaking of G-sync.... how useful is it actually in gaming and such? Is it worth the price? 

Look at this review: 

 

Personally, i'd never Skip VRR for gaming again. 

[Grihm]

13 hours ago, Gaires said:

2070s will work fine with freesync monitors.

https://www.rtings.com/monitor/learn/freesync-amd-vs-gsync-nvidia

 

You should make a new thread, but here are some suggestions.

https://www.rtings.com/monitor/tools/table/36180

https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/best/ultrawide-gaming

 

You should also read trough this thread.

 

The past few upgrades i have done, i feel like i have been missing out or making some wrong choice somewhere, nothing major, but still something.

This time i just want to make sure i buy the best option i can, and sadly... two things are against me.

1: 27" is all over the place in terms of examples, but 27" is too small. I have had one for 7 years now.

2: Freesync is a lot cheaper, and even tho ppl say it still works fine.. im just afraid il get a freesync monitor, and MR Catch 22 comes along, and il end up with a bad purchase agian.

 

Lots of research ahead i feel!

[Stahlmann]

1 hour ago, Grihm said:

The past few upgrades i have done, i feel like i have been missing out or making some wrong choice somewhere, nothing major, but still something.

This time i just want to make sure i buy the best option i can, and sadly... two things are against me.

1: 27" is all over the place in terms of examples, but 27" is too small. I have had one for 7 years now.

2: Freesync is a lot cheaper, and even tho ppl say it still works fine.. im just afraid il get a freesync monitor, and MR Catch 22 comes along, and il end up with a bad purchase agian.

 

Lots of research ahead i feel!

There are FreeSync only monitors that work flawlessly with G-Sync like the LG 27GL850. But in the 32" market there are many bad choices that use slow VA panels like Gigabytes latest models. Buying the right monitor includes a lot of research.

[Grihm]

True true. Starting to see the 32" problems now... it MAY come to me sticking to a 27 anyways...but yeah... more research first. Appreciate all the help  

[Grihm]

LTT posted a video " This gaming setup is INCREDIBLE " and not one single comment on any of the reported issues with the flickering in the Oddysey. Why will not one creator speak of this?

 

[stewtrain]

11 hours ago, Grihm said:

Why will not one creator speak of this?

 

Maybe they're getting cherry-picked models that don't suffer from it?  I can't remember if rtings mentioned it in their review (they purchase direct from a vendor to avoid potential cherry picked monitors) but they listed it as the best freesync gaming monitor available.  

[Gaires]

12 hours ago, Grihm said:

not one single comment on any of the reported issues with the flickering in the Oddysey

Not the point of the video.

 

1 hour ago, stewarjr said:

I can't remember if rtings mentioned it in their review

Rtings has only reviewed the G7, which is different monitor from a G9.

G9 review is coming up, as they have already purchased one, but it will still take weeks before we'll see the results.

[stewtrain]

1 hour ago, Gaires said:

Rtings has only reviewed the G7, which is different monitor from a G9.

Yeah I know and now I realize how confusing my response was.  The issues have been report with both by users (including OP discussing the G7).  I'm just surprised rtings has it rated so high if both are having issues.

[Gaires]

25 minutes ago, stewarjr said:

Yeah I know and now I realize how confusing my response was.  The issues have been report with both by users (including OP discussing the G7).  I'm just surprised rtings has it rated so high if both are having issues.

They do mention the issues, but weren't able to produce them while gaming. They talk about flickering in the image flicker and refresh rate categories.

https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/samsung/odyssey-g7

 

[Stahlmann]

On 8/29/2020 at 8:30 PM, Grihm said:

LTT posted a video " This gaming setup is INCREDIBLE " and not one single comment on any of the reported issues with the flickering in the Oddysey. Why will not one creator speak of this?

 

It could be that the G9 is not affected.

[xg32]

On 8/29/2020 at 11:30 AM, Grihm said:

LTT posted a video " This gaming setup is INCREDIBLE " and not one single comment on any of the reported issues with the flickering in the Oddysey. Why will not one creator speak of this?

 

the g9 is recalled over it, it's multiple manufacturing defects and the chance of getting a working model seemed to be quite low, the surprise was that the g7 was affected as well to a lesser degree and not recalled.

[Stahlmann]

@xg32 @Gaires @stewarjr @Grihm

 

Last update: I received my refund without any additional comments or any discussion with the seller.

 

Now i'm running 2 LG27GN850's and i couldn't be happier with these monitors. Excellent resonsiveness (feels exactly the same to me as the 240Hz G7), much better colors (mine both hit 97,5% D65-P3 coverage and 98,5% D65-P3 volume), a flat panel, absolutely no G-Sync issues, etc... The low contrast ratio of ~780:1 for both my models doesn't bother me at all, even though i expected it to bother me to some degree and i play a lot in the dark plus i'm used to my old VA, which had better contrast and my OLED TV, which can display true black. This really IS the perfect gaming monitor. Even the pixel overdrive is perfectly tweaked on the "Fast" setting with no pixel overshoot completely down to 30Hz.