Redmagic GM001J Review: 4K 160Hz Mini LED HDR Gaming Monitor

If you want a 27″ 4K high refresh rate gaming monitor with proper HDR support, you should definitely consider the Redmagic GM001J.

Image Quality

The Innocn 27M2V is one of the most popular HDR gaming monitors, but it’s often out of stock. The Redmagic GM001J uses the same M270QAN07.0 AU Optronics panel and the same 1152-zone mini LED FALD quantum dot backlight.

Let’s see if it’s a worthy alternative.

Thanks to its IPS panel, the Redmagic 4K gaming monitor offers 178° wide viewing angles, meaning that the image will remain basically the same regardless of the angle you’re looking at it.

The colors are consistent and accurate with Delta E < 1 factory calibration, which makes the monitor suitable for professional color-critical work.

Further, the quantum dot enhanced backlight provides you with 99% Adobe RGB, 99% DCI-P3 and 99% sRGB color space coverage for incredibly vibrant colors.

This is equivalent to around 157% sRGB gamut volume, so in order to prevent over-saturation, you’ll need to clamp the gamut depending on the content you’re watching for accurate color output – luckily, the Redmagic GM001J has dedicated sRGB, Adobe RGB and DCI-P3 picture presets that do exactly that!

With a bit over 80% Rec.2020 color space coverage, the Redmagic GM001J is one of the widest color gamut displays available – it’s up there with QD-OLED panels and similar mini LED displays, such as the Innocn 27M2V, the Cooler Master Tempest GP27Q, etc.

Moving on, the monitor has a static contrast ratio of 1,000:1, as expected from an IPS display. However, its 1152-zone mini LED full-array local dimming (FALD) solution greatly improves the contrast as these zones can dim parts of the image that are supposed to be dark without affecting the areas that should remain bright.

As a result, you get deep blacks and clear details in shadows as well as bright and punchy highlights thanks to the 1300-nit peak brightness. Local dimming can also be used for SDR content, though in this case there’s no HDR tone mapping and the brightness is limited to 650-nits, which is still plenty bright.

The downside of full-array local dimming is that in demanding scenes (such as stars in the night sky, fireworks, etc.), the light from a small bright object can bleed into the surrounding dimmed zones and create blooming artifacts.

However, considering that this only occurs in these peculiar scenes, it’s not that concerning. OLED displays don’t have any problems with these scenes as they have per-pixel dimming, but they have other drawbacks, such as the risk of burn-in and lower brightness.

The Halo Control option in the OSD (On-Screen Display) menu can make local dimming less aggressive for higher brightness, but this will further increase blooming. To minimize blooming, keep the Halo Control option at the default 0 value.

For everyday use (web surfing, photo/video editing, productivity work, etc.), you should disable local dimming to avoid these artifacts, and enable it for games and videos.

Next, the 4K UHD resolution provides you with a high pixel density of 163 PPI (pixels per inch) on 27″ sized screens. As a result, you get plenty of screen real estate in addition to sharp details and text.

Keep in mind that 4K UHD is quite demanding on the GPU, so make sure you have a good enough graphics card for a satisfactory frame rate in your favorite games.

Performance

The Redmagic GM001J monitor has four response time overdrive modes: Off, Normal, Faster and Ultrafast.

For gaming at high refresh rates, we recommend the Ultrafast mode for the best performance. However, at 60Hz – or when using variable refresh rate (VRR) at ~60FPS, you should dial it back to Fast in order to prevent inverse ghosting.

Overall, the pixel response time performance is excellent as there’s no noticeable trailing behind fast-moving objects.

While the monitor has a maximum refresh rate of 160Hz, if you enable VRR, you’ll be limited to 144Hz. However, since there’s no noticeable difference between 144Hz and 160Hz, this is not an issue.

VRR is supported via AMD FreeSync Premium, NVIDIA G-SYNC Compatible and HDMI 2.1 VRR for tear-free gameplay up to 144FPS.

Note that the monitor uses PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation) to regulate brightness, which introduces flickering. However, it’s flickering at a very high ~38kHz frequency that won’t bother most users, even those sensitive to flicker.

Features

At the rear of the monitor, there are three hotkeys and a directional joystick for quick and easy navigation through the OSD menu.

Useful gaming features include crosshair overlays, a refresh rate tracker, Black Equalizer (improves visibility in dark scenes) and on-screen timers.

Besides the standard image adjustment tools (brightness, contrast, color temperature, etc.), the Redmagic GM001J also offers 6-axis hue/saturation, gamma and sharpness settings.

There’s RGB lighting at the back of the monitor and an integrated light sensor that can adjust screen brightness according to ambient lighting.

Design & Connectivity

The stand of the monitor is sturdy and offers a good range of ergonomics, including up to 120mm height adjustment, 90° pivot, +/- 30° swivel, -5°/20° tilt and 75x75mm VESA mount compatibility.

The screen has a light matte anti-glare coating that prevents reflections without adding too much graininess.

Connectivity options include two HDMI 2.1 ports with full 48 Gbps bandwidth, DisplayPort 1.4 with DSC, USB-C with DP 1.4 Alt Mode and 90W Power Delivery, one upstream USB-B and two downstream USB-A 3.0 ports and a headphone jack. It also has built-in KVM functionality.

Price & Similar Monitors

The Redmagic GM001J goes for $770 – $870, which is excellent value for money considering the performance, features and HDR image quality.

The Innocn 27M2V, however, offers a similar viewing and gaming experience and it can be found on sale for as low as $480. So, we highly recommend trying to catch Innocn’s model on sale.

Check out our best HDR monitors buyer’s guide for more options and information.

Conclusion

If you want a 27″ gaming monitor with proper HDR support and don’t want to deal with the weaknesses of OLED technology, the Redmagic GM001J is one of the best models available.

Specifications

Screen Size	27-inch
Resolution	3840×2160 (Ultra HD)
Panel Type	IPS
Aspect Ratio	16:9 (Widescreen)
Refresh Rate	160Hz
Response Time	1ms (GtG)
Adaptive-Sync	FreeSync (48-144Hz)
Ports	DisplayPort 1.4, 2x HDMI 2.1, USB-C (DP Alt Mode, 90W PD)
Other Ports	Headphone Jack, 2x USB 3.0
Brightness	650 cd/m²
Brightness (HDR)	1300 cd/m²
Contrast Ratio	1000:1 (static)
Colors	1.07 billion (8-bit + FRC) 99% DCI-P3, 99% Adobe RGB
HDR	VESA DisplayHDR 1000
Local Dimming	1152-zone mini LED FALD
VESA	Yes (75x75mm)