Product Review: The Samsung Odyssey G7 is a Worthy Contender for a 4K 144Hz Gaming Monitor.
This monitor was tested thoroughly as well as used PERSONALLY every day to complete this full in-depth review. Here is what I found after this process...
Pros:
4K Resolution
144Hz Refresh Rate
Very Low Ghosting & Input Lag
Samsung Game Hub OS
G-Sync
Cons:
Lacking HDR Experience
Sub-par Build Quality
Poor Contrast Ratio
Size, Resolution, & Panel Type
Firstly, the Samsung Odyssey G7 comes in either a 32 inch or 28 inch screen size. In this review, I tested the 32 inch model. From the specs, it seems the 28 inch version of this monitor has significantly lower color coverage and brightness.
This has a resolution of 3840 by 2160p, or 4K. This brings the PPI, or pixels per inch, how crisp and clear the image will actually appear to your eye, to about 138. This is the perfect resolution to screen size: games, images, small text, and movies all appear perfectly crisp and clear with no visible pixelation.
Let's talk about the G7's finish. This has a hybrid matte-glossy finish that we first saw on LG's 32GQ950 and GQ850 monitors. This is a huge pro since extreme matte finishes degrade image clarity and contrast. The finish was something I immediately noticed when I used this monitor for the first time.
As for the panel type, this is an IPS panel.
Refresh Rate & Variable Refresh Rate
The Odyssey G7 has a refresh rate of 144Hz.
As for variable refresh rate, this has G-Sync: a big pro for many especially when compared to the competition, such as LG’s 32GQ950, that has Freesync Premium Pro but not full G-Sync. It works quite well as you would expect and is a big pro if you’re rocking Nvidia GPUs.
Brightness & HDR
This is rated for 350 nits in SDR, and after testing, this reaches around 400 nits. This is a nice brightness that provides a really enjoyable experience, however, when compared to the similarly priced LG 32GQ950, which hit around 520 nits in SDR, the LG is the obvious winner.
As for HDR, the G7 falls short. This has an HDR400 rating, and long story short, the HDR is fine. It allows the display to take full advantage of the wider color gamut, but highlights don’t pop, brightness isn't great, and many areas of the screen get blown out and lose details. That being said, this is still worth gaming in HDR for the colors, but it is disappointing.
Now, we never expect jaw dropping HDR with IPS panels that don’t have full array local dimming, but the LG 32GQ950 with a HDR1000 rating had just about the best HDR experience you can get with an IPS panel without local dimming. That isn't the case with the G7, so if you do like using HDR, I’d definitely recommend the LG.
Colors & ACCURACY
The Samsung Odyssey G7 covers 95% of the DCI-P3 color space.
Accuracy out of the box is fine for the average gamer, but it definitely was not as good as I expected from a factory calibrated monitor from Samsung. Overall, it doesn’t look absolutely terrible with way over or under saturated colors, but the color temperature was too cool out of the box hitting 7388K with a target of 6500K.
I changed the Color Tone settings to the "Natural" setting, which was even worse at 8381K. However, in the "Warm1" setting, it was a bit too warm but the closest at 5936K.
Gama was also lacking out of the box, however, setting the Contrast Enhancer to “Low” made this come very close to the 2.2 target, which is great!
Overall, for the average gamer, setting the Color Tone to "Warm1" and turning the Contrast Enhancer to "Low" is what I would recommend to get the best picture without color calibrating. If you wanted to do professional photo or video editing, I’d definitely recommend a calibration. After calibration, it looks pretty good, but more realistically I’d recommend going for the LG 32GQ950 if color accuracy is a priority.
Lastly, this outputs 10 bits of color at full 144Hz.
Contrast Ratio & Backlight Bleed
Contrast ratio for the Odyssey G7 is typical for IPS panels at 1000:1.
As for local dimming, this edge lit with about 16 zones; it’s bad. You’re realistically never going to see it turn on.
As for backlight bleed, my unit didn’t have any, but there is some IPS glow when looking at this from more intense angles; the LG 32GQ950, however, has ATW polarizer and almost eliminates this comparatively.
I’m not saying this is a bad monitor, but as far as a panel, the LG is just better.
Response Time & Ghosting
We expect the G7 to do quite well in this segment being an IPS panel and its price point.
Firstly, this has an extreme amount of pixel overshooting, or inverse ghosting, in both the "Faster" & "Extreme" response time settings (this is both with VRR on and off). So, the "Standard" setting is the best. In this setting, there is no pixel overshooting and very little ghosting. Even when whipping quite fast there is very little smearing.
That being said, it is not quite as little ghosting as on the GQ950, but this is honestly a negligible difference. Overall, this is fantastic although weird that there was so much inverse ghosting on the two fastest settings.
Menu System & Controls
The Odyssey G7 has Samsung's Game Bar and Tizen OS, which essentially makes this a smart monitor like current TVs. You have Netflix, YouTube, TV channels, and other popular media viewing apps, but you also have cloud gaming services like Xbox Game Pass, Google Stadia, GeForce Now, and more.
(Above photo is Odyssey G6 with the exact same OS)
This makes this a media and gaming consuming machine. It’s awesome if you want to game and consume a ton of media, you are in a dorm, or you only have one bedroom and not a lot of space: this is amazing.
However, the OS is also how you control all of the settings, and there are a lot. The settings can be customized to exactly how you want, but the negative to this is that you are always using the monitor's OS, which definitely could get annoying if all you want is a monitor for your PC.
If you get this monitor, you should definitely be getting it wanting the built-in OS. If you don’t want the OS, I recommend the 32GQ950 or cheaper 4K gaming monitors like the Gigabyte M32U and Acer Predator XB283K.
As for controls, they are great! This basically exclusively uses a USB-C chargeable remote that works fantastically. It’s fast and responsive, has nice volume rockers, and it doesn’t feel super cheap. A+!
VESA Compatibility
As for VESA compatibility, this is compatible with 100mm by 100mm VESA mounts with an included bracket in the box that you screw to the back of this monitor.
Internal Speakers
The Odyssey G7 has really good internal speakers. They are the same as the Odyssey G6, and that’s a good thing! They are super clear, have a little bass (though not music listening level), get pretty dang loud, and they don’t rattle at higher volume levels. Overall, this is really good.
Connectivity & Ports
Ports include: two HDMI 2.1, one DisplayPort 1.4, one USB Type-B upstream, two USB Type-A downstreams, an Ethernet for the OS, and a 3.5mm audio out.
This is great if you want to use this for console gaming on the Xbox Series X or PS5.
This also has WiFi and Bluetooth, which is awesome!
Stand & Build Quality
Stand and build quality on the G7 is typical Samsung...
The stand feels cheap and wobbly but has great adjustibility with height, tilt, full vertical rotation to the left and right, and swivel.
It does also have RGB that is bright enough on the rear to bounce off the wall and give a nice glow. The front RGB makes it look unique but is annoying during typical usage since you don’t directly see it.
Overall, I like the design, but this doesn’t feel expensive at all.
Price & Value
This was by far the hardest section to write.
For the retail price, I would personally get the LG 32GQ950 over the Samsung, especially as the LG is usually on sale for less than the G7. That being said, if you really want the OS system to do cloud gaming on, the G7 may be worth it to you!
Now, I believe this monitor is priced to be discounted. Samsung likes to release products at a high price just so they can discount it to make it seem like a massive sale. If Samsung does discount this in the future and you want the OS, I would consider this a really good value!
Overall Verdict
So overall do I recommend the Samsung Odyssey G7? Well, if you just want the panel and the LG 32GQ950 is the same price or cheaper than this, then I definitely recommend the LG over the G7 as it beats it at almost everything. However, if this is on sale and you really want the built-in OS, then yes, I definitely recommend this!