Best cheap TV deals in October 2020

We're seeing some incredible cheap TV deals right now. In fact, some of the best cheap TV deals we're seeing now are $50 to $100 cheaper than deals we saw over the summer. Some TV deals are even beating sales we just saw on Prime Day. And the good news is they're only going to get better. 

One of our favorite TV deals comes courtesy of Best Buy. The retailer has multiple cheap TVs on sale with prices starting as low as $69. For reference, their cheapest TV deals usually start at $99 during major holidays. We're also seeing massive price drops on premium TVs. For instance, Amazon is taking up to $503 off every LG CX Series 4K OLED TV. The LG CX series is our top TV pick for 2020. 

To help you find the best TV deals, we're rounding up today's top discounts from all of your favorite retailers including Best Buy, Amazon, Dell, and more. From budget 4K TVs to the best TVs of 2020, here are the best cheap TV deals today.  

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Best TV deals right now

• Toshiba 43" 4K Fire TV: was $329 now $239 @ Best Buy
• Toshiba 50" 4K Fire TV: was $379 now $279 @ Best Buy
• Vizio 50" 4K TV: was $399 now $379 @ Best Buy
• LG 75" 4K TV: was $899 now $799 @ Best Buy
• LG 55" CX Series 4K OLED TV: was $1,999 now $1,496 @ Amazon

TV deals and Black Friday

Black Friday is hands down the best time of year for TV deals. In fact, the majority of Black Friday deals and ads have multiple TVs on sale. So what can we look forward to in the days to come. First, the TV deals will arrive early. Best Buy and Walmart have already given preview deals and we expect this trend to continue through October. As far as prices, TV deals dropped as low as $79 during Prime Day, so we suspect they'll hit that same price point again on Black Friday. And although we didn't see that magical $999 OLED TV deal, we predict Black Friday will slash premium TV prices to levels we've never seen before. 

32-49 inch TVs

The best 32- to 49-inch TV deals

Don't have the space for a mammoth-sized TV? Perfect for a dorm room, studio, or spare bedroom — these affordable sub-49-inch sets should fit in the smallest of rooms. 

50-59 inch TVs

The best 50- to 59-inch TV deals

55-inch is the new 42-inch, so it's no surprise that the majority of TV deals we see are for TVs in this size range. Whereas a 55-inch 4K set used to cost over $1,000 a few years ago, these days you can get a solid 55-inch 4K set for less than $600. 

60-85 inch TVs

The best 60- to 85-inch TV deals

If you have the room (and budget) for a giant TV, there are dozens of options to choose from. Here are our favorite cheap TV deals of the moment. 

TV buying guide 2020

• Don't buy a TV with less than 4K resolution. 4K is the standard these days, so unless you see a very cheap 720p or 1080p set, try to stick with 4K.
• Likewise, don't buy a TV without "smart" capabilities. This makes it easy to stream content from apps like Roku, Hulu, and Prime Video. If you don't like the idea of owning a smart TV, you can always leave it disconnected from your network (which essentially strips all of its smart features). 
• Look for HDR compatible sets. They offer more realistic colors and better contrast. There are 5 HDR formats, but the main ones you want are HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, and Dolby Vision. 
• Avoid paying for extended warranties. New TVs include a 1-year warranty and your credit card company usually provides additional protection. 
• Stay away from refurbished TVs (unless the savings are massive). The problem with refurbished TVs is that if your TV has more dents and scratches than you anticipated, return shipping is usually on you, and shipping a large TV can get expensive very quickly. 
• Check out our full list of TV buying tips.

More sales

The best TV sales to browse

Want to see even more cheap TV deals? Here are the most exciting TV sales from the our favorite retailers.

• Best Buy: save up to $500
• Dell: over 50% off TVs
• eBay: scroll TV discounts
• Newegg: save up to 50%
• Samsung: up to $1,000 off 4K TVs for gamers
• B&H Photo: up to $800 off TVs

Best cheap TVs

The best cheap TVs: 4K and 1080p

The Vizio 50-inch V-Series (V505-G9) manages to be a pretty great smart TV for its low price, delivering good color and decent HDR support, with capable built-in audio. It's also a full-featured smart TV, with Vizio's SmartCast software, which includes apps, free content, built-in Chromecast and compatibility with Amazon Echo and Google Home smart speakers.

The LCD panel offers a full-array LED backlight and support for HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision HDR formats, along with solid picture quality. Color reproduction was a little disappointing at 96.7 percent, but color accuracy was among the best in this price range, with a DeltaE rating of 2.2. (0 is perfect on this test.)

We just wish the V505-G9 had the voice search we've seen on other smart TVs. 

Read our full Vizio V-Series 50-inch (V505-G9) review.
 

Just when we were about to write off all Amazon-powered TVs, the Insignia 43-inch 4K Fire TV Edition came along and forced us to rethink things. With strong picture quality and sound, and built-in Alexa voice support, it's the best Fire Edition TV we've seen, and the first Amazon TV to get our recommendation.

When we tested it in the lab, the Insignia Fire Edition TV easily surpassed other Amazon-infused smart TVs, in both performance and features. With a color accuracy rating of 3.9, it's far from perfect, but it's the most accurate Amazon TV we've seen. The set's color gamut of 99.4 percent easily topped other Fire Edition models we've seen, making it not only the best Amazon TV, but also a strong performer compared to other sets in the sub-$500 price range.

Combine all of this with a fairly sleek-looking design, one of the best Alexa skills to date and decent audio, and the Insignia 43-inch 4K Fire TV Edition is the only Amazon-powered smart TV we recommend.

Read our full Insignia 43-inch 4K Fire TV Edition review.
 

The Vizio D-Series is among the most affordable you'll find for 4K resolution and smart TV functions, but Vizio manages to offer a lot of capability with its SmartCast platform. You'll have a wealth of free content options right out of the box, and a built-in Google Chromecast makes sharing apps and content from your phone dead simple. With support for both HDR10 and Dolby Vision, you'll get the same performance for pretty much any HDR content you have.

We were disappointed to see that while the display offered vibrant brights and decent black levels, the midtones and shadowed details that make HDR so impressive are not as well represented, but it's not out of line with other inexpensive TVs. We also noticed a bit of a buzz when the speakers were dialed up past 50 percent, caused by reverberation in the TV's plastic housing.

The set offers middling brightness (227 nits) and a slightly more limited color gamut (98.5 percent) than we'd like, but color accuracy was decent (DeltaE rating of 3.4) and overall performance was perfectly enjoyable without any of its flaws being distractions during normal viewing.

The Samsung 65-inch LED NU6900  has most of the features you would get from the best smart TVs, at an attractive price that's under $500. That's a steal for a 65-inch 4K set, and while the LCD TV may not offer Samsung's quantum-dot QLED display, everything on offer is poised to match whatever entry-level TV you might find on the market. Check out how to connect your Samsung smart TV to Alexa, if you wish.

For that affordable price you can get 4K resolution, HDR support and Samsung's excellent smart TV platform, at one of the best size-to-price ratios around. We're not so hot on the limited port selection or the lack of some more premium smart features, but the NU6900 is still a great option for anyone who wants to get a solid 4K smart TV without spending a lot. The attractive design, strong contrast and a decent smart TV experience make it a great set for the price.

The Toshiba 55-inch 4K Fire TV Edition (55LF621U19) is Amazon's second crack at selling its own smart TVs, which have one big selling point: Amazon’s Prime Video and Alexa voice controls are baked right in. In addition to Prime Video’s extensive catalogue of movies and shows, you’ve got one of the best voice assistants on the market as close as your remote. And it’s not some half-measure – the Alexa on your TV can do everything Alexa can do on the Amazon Echo, with skills for smart home control, looking up weather and restaurants and much more. All of this is built into the 55-inch Toshiba 4K TV, which sells for an affordable sub-$500 price.

The switch from last year’s Westinghouse models to Toshiba bring all sorts of improvements, like improved display quality, HDR support and a more refined user experience, but it’s held back by mediocre picture quality and middling audio. Edge-lit backlighting and limited HDR support just drive home the most frustrating thing about most of Amazon’s TV’s – no matter how good Amazon’s Fire TV is as a smart TV platform, the TV also has to stand  on its own merits.

In our tests, the Toshiba Fire TV had problems with unwanted haloing, due to the backlighting, but did well with detail and clarity. Color accuracy wasn’t fantastic, with a Delta-E rating of 5.05 (closer to 0 is better), and there were frequent issues with banding when smooth color gradients should be seen. Brightness isn’t bad for a budget-friendly TV, measuring 358 nits, but it’s not fantastic.

Read our full Toshiba 55-Inch 4K Fire TV Edition review.
 

Walmart shoppers will want to pay attention to the Onn 50-inch 4K Roku TV, one of the least expensive 4K smart TVs on the market. Packed with Roku’s user-friendly smart TV platform on a large screen for a ridiculously low price, it's a great basic model for those on a shoe-string budget. It's especially attractive if you're looking for an affordable way to upgrade from a 1080p set or want to make the move from a dumb TV to a smart TV, complete with Roku's rich assortment of apps and services.

But if picture or audio performance matters to you, you might be better off spending a bit more for a different TV. The picture quality had noticeable issues with brightness, contrast and color reproduction, and we were disappointed by the set's weak speakers. Even among the most affordable TVs, there are models that offer better bang for the buck.

Read our full Onn 50-inch 4K Roku Smart TV review.

The Vizio 24-inch D-Series (D24f-F1) is small enough to perch on a desk or a coffee table, making it a great choice for a kitchen counter, a cramped apartment or a small dorm room. The TV offers full HD resolution, with pretty great performance given the price. And even though the TV is small, Vizio doesn't scrimp on the smarts, giving the D-Series the same full-featured version of its SmartCast platform that you'd see on it's larger, more premium sets.

It's also a good set for gaming, with respectably short lag times (24 milliseconds), and a pair of HDMI ports that let you connect a game console alongside a cable or satellite box.

Read our full Vizio 24-inch D-Series (D24f-F1) review.

The TCL 3 Series 32-inch 32S327 Roku TV is a small set that's soft on your wallet. For $170, and often less, it offers both full Roku access and a smart home device that cooperates with your Alexa or Google Assistant ecosystems. While the set doesn’t have a microphone for fielding queries, you could say “Hey Alexa, show me rom-coms” near one of the best Alexa speakers and receive a selection of movies across Roku channels. 

Though the 325327's performance is far from premium, the 1920 x 1080p resolution satisfies for the screen's size. And it's even better than the Vizio D-series for gaming, with a lag time of 12.3 milliseconds.

Read our full TCL 3 Series 32-inch Roku TV (32S327) review.