Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsExcellent IPS Panel, No Auto Input Switching, Poor Controls, Poor Firmware UI Design
Reviewed in Canada on April 7, 2024
Background:
I needed two new identical monitors for daily, professional use. As is fairly typical now, I use the monitors with two computers, for work and home. For a decade, I have been using HP 27-inch 1080p IPS monitors that are still working perfectly. After extensive research, I concluded that 32 inch 1440p monitors would provide the best display. I use both Linux and Windows and any display scaling other than 100% does blur the text. Text on a 4K at 32 inch is unusably small, since one has to maintain some distance from such a large screen surface.
Pros:
The two LG 32QN600 monitors I got have been very gentle at my eyes for long hours of work at 75 Hz refresh rate. The visual output is excellent, irrespective of ambient light. I was able to get nearly identical visual output on the two monitors, but at different settings, so I am not sure if LG is calibrating the monitors at the factory using the same reference values. The monitors arrived as two different shipments delivered at the same time, so they may have been from different batches of production. Not a big deal. (Aside, I always get identical monitors since it is almost impossible to get the same color calibration on any two different monitor models, even from the same manufacturer.) On HDMI interface, these monitors can be switched to 4K @ 30 Hz, but of course, at an expected loss of clarity.
Cons:
The biggest drawback in these monitors is the use of a joystick for OSD controls. These joysticks WILL fail, likely after the 1-year warranty, as the material ages, and as has been the experience in a number of devices. The problem of OSD controls has been solved and there is no need to innovate there. Innovation should not be used as a means of planned obsolescence. My old HP monitors had no physical buttons to press but proximity switches instead that were a bit too sensitive but fail-safe since there are no moving parts that would wear.
Another equally major problem is that these monitor do not automatically switch to the available input, so one has to use the joystick to manually switch sources every single time. Coupled with the joystick, this was a deal-breaker for me.
The User Interface design of the on-screen controls firmware is a catastrophe. The most common task for me after the initial visual setting is input selection, and it is buried down at the third press of the joystick. Right and left are used for volume control (of the audio output jack at the back that I'll never use) and no way to dismiss it other than waiting. The front and back movement of the joystick is wasted and just displays some information. There is no way to assign most common tasks to the joystick movements. The monitors take a rather long time (several seconds) to wake up from standby once input signal is resumed. The joystick LED is rather bright for a dark room and blinking when on standby, but if it is set to OFF in the settings, there is no real way to tell if the joystick press actually worked and one should wait for the display or press it again. Same for when waking up one of the computers, I don't know if I have to change the input source or wait for the monitor to detect it.
Several OSD settings appear to be a rather poor translation to English language. Instead of providing granular control of, say, 1 to 100 for important settings like Gamma, it uses presets (Mode 1 to Mode 4) which prevents fine tuning. What if I need Mode 1.3 since no two physical circuits behave identically for ever.
Exploration:
I explored the options to work around having to use the joystick for input switching. I found that if another HDMI/DisplayPort cable is physically connected to the computer, the monitor does detect it and offers to switch to a new input source. It still requires pressing the joystick once for OK. When disconnecting the active input source cable, the monitor offers to switch the "other" source. Pressing OK takes to the dismal input selection user interface instead of simply switching to the other input. This shows a very poor firmware design. It seems all the functionality is there in the hardware but the software team and management has failed it (as is often the case).
Finally, I tried the DDC/CI to switch the monitor input sources (and other settings) through software without ever touching the joystick. We can use the ControlMyMonitor utility on Windows (or ddcutil on Linux). LG 32QN600 barely supports any VCP codes other than the basic brightness/contrast/colour settings. VCP 60 blinks the monitor and does nothing.
Conclusion:
Given the good quality of the monitor hardware, I tried to like it and keep it. However, having to manually change input source multiple times a day and be left with a broken joystick and no access to settings did not appear to be a good return on investment. I almost never return purchased item. It is unfair at many levels and damaging to the environment, but I had to return these monitors.