Review: iiyama G-Master GB3461WQSU Red Eagle

Conclusion

The iiyama G-Master GB3461WQSU Red Eagle monitor has the ingredients to become one of the most attractive ultrawide monitors to date.

For £399, the large 34in IPS panel touts a sharp 3,440x1,440 UWQHD resolution that bodes well for both productivity and 21:9 gaming. The core specification is bolstered by good out-the-box colour accuracy, iiyama keeps unwanted characteristics such as ghosting and backlight bleed mostly at bay, and FreeSync Premium support at up to 144Hz delivers the silky gameplay typically associated with pricier units.

As was to be expected, there are limitations at this price point. HDR support is little more than a token gesture, joystick control would be preferable to tactile buttons, and there's a question mark over whether or not a curve would be better suited to an ultrawide of these proportions.

None of the above should detract from the GB3461WQSU's appeal, as nothing else out there offers this level of ultrawide goodness for under £400. All that's preventing an out-and-out recommendation is a bug on our review unit that on the rare occasion results in only half the monitor powering up. Here's hoping for a permanent fix.

[Update] July 16, 2020

Following our editorial, iiyama has investigated the identified flaw and issued a firmware update that it hopes will ensure the monitor boots correctly at all times.

To help verify the claims, our review unit was collected by iiyama, flashed to the latest firmware and returned for further evaluation. At the time of writing, we can confirm that the updated sample has been power cycled 50 times and counting, with no sign of any problem.

While it is difficult to tell if the bug has been fully eradicated - ours is but a sample of one - we feel confident in the steps that iiyama has taken to address the issue. We are also informed that hundreds of monitors due at retail were held back in Germany for the firmware update to be applied prior to shipping out. This may help explain why stock has been hard to come by this past few weeks, and why customer orders may have been delayed.

Updated stock is now heading to retailers, however there is a snag in that existing owners don't currently have a method of manually flashing the firmware. Should you be affected by the bug, you will need to contact iiyama to arrange an exchange.

Though this has been far from an ideal launch, we are encouraged by the latest developments and now have little hesitation in recommending the G-Master GB3461WQSU Red Eagle to those who were previously sat on the fence.

iiyama G-Master GB3461WQSU Red Eagle

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The iiyama G-Master GB3461WQSU Red Eagle ultrawide monitor is available to order from Amazon.

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