I've always wanted to try out those monitors from "unknown" China brands so when Gearbest contacted me to ask if I would like to review something from them, I said yes of course. Gearbest is an online store that sells consumer electronics. They stock mostly China and Chinese brands. I tried looking for monitors that support Adobe RGB and the only ones that showed up were from this company called HKC. HKC T7000 monitor is marketed to have good colour accuracy so that's what I picked.
HKC is one of top 3 display manufacturers in China according to marketing material. I wasn't able to find much information online regarding the monitor. This product was not even listed on their company's, probably outdated, website. There wasn't many credible reviews as well. So yeah, this definitely meets my criteria of an "unknown" brand monitor from China.
What's included
- The display
- Stand and feet
- HDMI cable
- DisplayPort cable
- 6x screws
- 4x small black discs
- Power brick and cable
The first thing that caught my attention was the inclusion of the screws. Turns out you have to use those screws to fix up the stand. Four screws are for fixing the monitor to the stand. Two are for screwing the feet to the stand. The four pieces of small black discs are soft cushion to stick on the bottom of the feet. You need to use your own screwdriver and glue.
This is the 10 x 10cm VESA mount.
The manual included is in Chinese. But monitors are usually plug and play so you don't really have to read the manual. However, the on-screen menu are also in Chinese. It might be challenging if you need to go deep into the menu.
The only graphics cables included are HDMI and DisplayPort. Note that the DisplayPort is full-size on both ends. If you're using a mini DisplayPort or thunderbolt, you will need an adaptor.
That's the power brick included.
Build quality
The design of the monitor looks good. The build quality seems solid enough for a monitor that's currently priced at US$430. Build quality is comparable to Dell and BenQ based on the looks, but only time will tell about the true durability. Generally speaking, monitors nowadays last quite long. I work in an office environment with lots of monitors and have never heard of anyone with monitor issues. I did have an issue with my Dell LCD screen from many years ago. There was some LCD leaking after the third or fifth year.
Bezels measure 1.5cm on all four sides. Not as thin compared to the 5mm bezels from Dell's Infinity Edge displays but I've always felt that my cursor are going to fly out of the screen with those Infinity Edge screens, but they sure look cooler.
The only thing I did not like is the red power indicator light in front which I find it a bit distracting. Would have been cool if they place it to the far right.
I love the small footprint of the stand. All my previous monitors have stands with large footprint so this HKC stand is considered very minimal. I was able to reclaim back precious table space. The stand is also quite sturdy.
The stand allows for tilt, swivel and rotate. Basically, you can adjust the monitor in any axis. If you're a page designer or portrait photographer working mostly in portrait mode, you can tilt the monitor 90 degrees.
By having a power brick, I guess it allows the monitor to be thinner. This is even thinner compared to the Dell UP2716D and BenQ SW2700PT (I'm currently using this).
Speaking of power brick, this is the plug included with the brick. With some monitors on Gearbest, you can choose specific power plugs.
There's this toggle on the back of the monitor which is the button and joystick for the on-screen menu. It's not a power button. There's no way to turn off the monitor. It's always either in standby mode or working mode.
Important thing about the on-screen menu
Also note that the Adobe RGB setting is not selected by default. So you need to go into the on screen menu to change that. Thankfully, Adobe RGB setting is identified by a huge Adobe RGB icon that is impossible to miss.
There's also this adaptive brightness feature that's enabled by default. You have to switch it off. If not, the brightness will change depending on the ambient light and that is incredibly irritating.
Colours
I used a Spyder5Pro colour calibrator to calibrate the screen and got a readout of 99% sRGB and 96% AdobeRGB. Basically, colour accuracy is fantastic.
I've been working on the monitor intensively for the last few days for graphic design, photo and video editing, and it has worked wonderfully. The 27-inch screen and 2560 x 1440 resolution is provides a nice working desktop space that allows space for user interface, your files and sitll see everything at a comfortable size. At arms length, I was able to detect slight pixelation but still, the 2560 x 1440 resolution is more than satisfactory to work on. If you get a smaller monitor, like 25 inch, that uses the same resolution, the user interface and fonts are going to be much smaller. 27-inch and 2560 x 1440 resolution is the sweet spot.
The screen is also pretty bright and can go up to 300cd/m2. I use 50% brightness when the monitor is by the window. Under dim office lighting, I'm using it at 10% brightness.
Viewing angles are not perfect. I could see some colour shift on the left and right sides. It's very minor colour shift and does not affect my work. Just for comparison, the Dell UP2716D and BenQ SW2700PT shows colours consistently at all corners. On a scale of 1 to 10, the viewing angles here get a 9. The monitor that I'm using in my office (bought by my company) gets a 5/10 from me. TFT or TN panels get a 3 from me.
Unfortunately for my monitor, I spotted one dead pixel. It's bright pixel so it only shows up when the screen is dark. Most of the time, I don't even notice that it's there.
Warranty
I'm not sure if there's any dead pixel policy. Probably not. It's going to be quite expensive to ship the monitor back to Gearbest just for an exchange.
All items bought from Gearbest comes with a 1 year warranty. You can read more about the warranty on Gearbest warranty and returns page.
In the event that you do need servicing, you have to send the monitor back to Gearbest. You have to cover the shipping fees. After repair, Gearbest will mail back to you. The interesting thing here is you are not sending the monitor to HKC.
Conclusion
Overall, I really enjoy working with this screen. I really appreciate a colour accurate screen and after using this monitor for a few days, I've got to say that this is a wonderful colour accurate monitor. I've already replaced the lousy office monitor that I've mentioned with this.
In terms of colour performance, it can definitely rival the more expensive Dell UP2716D and BenQ SW2700PT, both Adobe RGB monitors. But when you compare to the Dell and BenQ, the HKC T7000 does lack some features, for example, there are not USB ports and SD card reader. Note that the BenQ and Dell are at least US $100 to $200 more. Gearbest provide free shipping to certain countries. So pricing is really competitive.
Right now, I don't think you can find any monitor that supports 95%+ Adobe RGB at this price point. If you can find one, let me know in the comments section. I would love to check that out.
I'll probably rate this monitor 4 to 4.5 out of 5 stars. 1 star deducted for the viewing angles and dead pixels. I'm really nitpicking. Those do not affect my work at all so the colour performance still gets two thumbs up from me.
Yes, I think it's worth the money even if it's some "unknown" China brand. Could be good for budget graphic designers, or those into photo and video editing.
If you want to find out more information about this monitor, or want to get one for yourself, just visit https://www.gearbest.com/desktop-computer-monitor/pp_834357.html?lkid=12...
