Massdrop Vast Review: Affordable 3440×1440 100Hz FreeSync UltraWide Curved Gaming Monitor

The Massdrop Vast is a 35" 3440x1440 100Hz FreeSync ultrawide curved gaming monitor. Find out everything you need to know about it.

Bottom Line

The Massdrop Vast is a 35″ 3440×1440 100Hz ultrawide curved gaming monitor offering both an immersive and responsive gaming experience. However, there are newer and more cost-effective ultrawide models available nowadays.

Design:
(4.5)
Display:
(4.5)
Performance:
(3.8)
Price/Value:
(2.5)
3.8

Want an affordable 3440×1440 100Hz ultrawide gaming monitor? Massdrop may have just the perfect deal for you with their Vast 35″ ultrawide curved display. 

Image Quality

The Massdrop Vast utilizes the same VA panel by AU Optronics that was used in the more popular ASUS ROG Strix XG35VQ and the BenQ EX3501R.

So, you get the same 2,500:1 static contrast ratio, 300-nit maximum luminance, 178-degree viewing angles, 8-bit color depth with 100% sRGB gamut, 3440×1440 screen resolution, and 100Hz refresh rate.

The best part?

You get all that for over $200 less than you’d pay for ASUS or BenQ’s models; so, what’s the catch?

One of the main downsides of the Vast gaming monitor, or rather an inconvenience, is that it can take months for your order to arrive – depending on Massdrop’s stock.

Other than that, the gaming monitor is top-notch. It delivers vibrant and rich colors with vivid blacks thanks to its superior contrast ratio.

Further, the high 3440×1440 screen resolution provides you with plenty of screen real estate and sharp details with a rich pixel density of 106 PPI (pixels per inch).

Performance

While Massdrop specifies a 2ms (GtG) response time with overdrive applied for a TN-like responsiveness, there is still a lot of ghosting visible in fast-paced games, which is standard for almost all VA panels.

As the image gets darker and there are mainly dark pixels involved in the picture, ghosting and smearing of the fast-moving objects becomes even more obvious.

On balance, we find the amount of motion blur and ghosting reasonable and a fair trade-off for such deep blacks provided by the panel.

Competitive gamers, on the other hand, should opt for an IPS-panel ultrawide or a faster 1ms GtG widescreen gaming monitor for better performance.

Moving on, the Massdrop Vast input lag performance is only ~6ms, which is very good.

There is no prominent backlight bleeding (though this varies across individual units of the monitor), the screen is flicker-free, and there’s an integrated low-blue light filter.

Features

The Massdrop Vast curved gaming monitor is equipped with plenty of gaming features starting with AMD FreeSync.

FreeSync allows the display to change its refresh rate according to the GPU’s frame rate, which eliminates screen tearing and stuttering for good.

You will need a compatible graphics card for this by AMD (most cards) and NVIDIA (GTX 10-series or newer).

The Massdrop Vast FreeSync range is 49-100Hz. Since the higher end of the dynamic range is more than twice the lower end, the monitor also supports LFC (Low Framerate Compensation).

So, when your frame rate is under 49, LFC will make the display’s refresh rate double or triple the frame rates to keep tearing at bay.

Other gaming features include crosshair overlays as well as FPS and RTS picture presets.

Design & Connectivity

Massdrop Vast Design

The design of the Massdrop Vast monitor is rather versatile with up to 110mm height adjustment, -5°/15° tilt, VESA mount compatibility, and even 90° pivot, but you cannot swivel it to the left and right.

Connectivity options include HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.2, two HDMI 1.4 ports (max 3440×1440 at 50Hz), and a headphones jack.

Price & Similar Monitors

The Massdrop Vast price amounts to ~$550.

Nowadays, you can get the AOC CU34G2X for ~$450. It’s a 34″ 3440×1440 ultrawide curved gaming monitor with a higher 144Hz refresh rate and a wider DCI-P3 color gamut.

If you don’t want to deal with slow response times and VRR brightness flickering, you can also get a 34″ 3440×1440 144Hz IPS gaming monitor at this price range, such as the Gigabyte M34WQ.

Visit our best ultrawide monitors buyer’s guide for more options.

Conclusion

The Massdrop Vast used to offer exceptional value for the price, but there are newer, better, and more cost-efficient models available nowadays.

Specifications

Screen Size35-inch
Screen Curvature1800R
Resolution3440×1440 (UWQHD)
Panel TypeVA
Aspect Ratio21:9 (UltraWide)
Refresh Rate100Hz
Response Time2ms (GtG)
Adaptive SyncFreeSync (49Hz-100Hz)
PortsDisplayPort 1.2, HDMI 2.0, 2x HDMI 1.4
Other PortsHeadphone Jack
Brightness300 cd/m2
Contrast Ratio2500:1 (static)

The Pros:

  • High contrast ratio and vibrant colors
  • Ergonomic design
  • Plenty of gaming features including FreeSync

The Cons:

  • The Cons:
  • Ghosting and smearing in fast-paced games, but it’s tolerable unless you’re playing competitive FPS
  • Narrow FreeSync range
  • No motion blur reduction technology

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Joseph Moore

Joseph has probably spent thousands of hours learning about displays in his free time and prior work experience at HP. He now writes and manages DisplayNinja to ensure it stays as the people's favorite resource.