BenQ ZOWIE RL2455 24-Inch Monitor Review

John Williamson / 8 years ago

Final Thoughts

Pricing

Currently, the BenQ ZOWIE RL2455 monitor is available from Novatech for £139.99 including shipping. This makes it a very affordable alternative to a traditional TV for console owners or someone wanting to upgrade their existing setup without spending a large sum of money. Of course, there’s a lot of competition in the £100-£150 price range and consumers have a decent number of options to choose from. For instance, the Asus VS248HR costs £112.03 and utilises a good panel with a 1ms response time while the AOC e2460SH offers a similar configuration for £109.99. Given the rival products’ functionality, I think the BenQ ZOWIE RL2455 represents good value and the overall package seems to be slightly more refined than the competing solutions.

Summary

The overwhelming majority of console players enjoy the couch gaming experience and viewing a large screen TV from a suitable distance. While this can provide a great level of comfort, TVs tend to suffer from ghosting and input lag. This makes them a poor choice for someone engaging in high-level competitive gaming with the aim to enter eSports as a full-time career. During the past few years, the competitive console scene has exploded and resulted in many gamers being inspired to follow the footsteps of their heroes. As a result, it’s not uncommon for those who take online contest rather seriously to invest in premium accessories like a Scuf controller.

When you consider the display is crucial to accurately assess patterns and quickly react to particular moves, it makes sense to purchase something which provides the best possible experience. Don’t get me wrong, I think a traditional TV is perfect for most console users but there is a growing niche which the BenQ ZOWIE RL2455 caters to. Throughout my time with the monitor, I was impressed with the image quality and colour reproduction. Of course, the colour gamut isn’t a patch on other products sporting IPS, PLS or VA panels. This shouldn’t be an area of concern because the display focuses more responsiveness instead of colour vibrancy. Honestly, I feel it’s a cogent decision because the monitor’s target demographic isn’t going to be engaging in photographic work and simply care about the amount of input lag. Thankfully, the 1ms response time works wonders and I couldn’t detect ghosting, lag or a lack of fluidity.

Rather impressively, the default setup provides pretty similar results to a fully calibrated profile. The monitor has an excellent contrast ratio, wonderful colour uniformity and luminance uniformity. Evidently, the stock colour accuracy isn’t brilliant but this can be improved quite easily with a simple calibration. The tone response wasn’t very good either, but the overall results are worthy of praise and receive a 4/5 rating by the analysis tool. Once calibrated, the benefits beyond the colour accuracy remain fairly slim.

The monitor’s OSD is really easy to use and packed full of options to customise the monitor to your heart’s desire. I particularly like the different game modes which adjust the image based on various genres. Navigation at first seems a little bizarre, but I found myself liking the screen prompts for the side buttons rather quickly. The low blue light function in combination with the flicker-free backlight should be easier on the eye and allow users to spend a long time in front of the display.

In a similar vein to most monitors within the £100-£150 price, the speakers are really basic and sound quite tinny. It’s not really fair to complain about this though because expecting high fidelity speakers with a good volume output in any monitor is a little unrealistic. I’d recommend using a headset because you’ll need one anyway to communicate with teammates. On another note, the monitor’s stand is very light which can lead to screen wobble. This isn’t great if you’re involved in a multiplayer match and frantically pressing buttons while moving around near the monitor. Providing you stay within a suitable distance and fairly still, it shouldn’t pose a problem.

Pros

60Hz is ample given the abilities of today’s consoles
Attractive design
Commendable out-of-the-box performance
Excellent contrast ratio
Fantastic packaging and presentation
Great colour and luminance uniformity
Intuitive OSD
Minimal ghosting
Responsive screen is perfect for intense eSport titles
Wonderful upgrade for console gamers

Cons

Included stand is lacking in ergonomic adjustments
Stand tends to wobble quite easily

Neutral

Timid speakers but this is a problem faced by most monitors

“The BenQ ZOWIE RL2455 is a brilliant monitor for console owners requiring the absolute best response time to get the competitive edge on their opponents. Not only that, the monitor is capable of delivering good image quality for a TN display and doesn’t require much tweaking to find the optimum experience”.