Yes, Black Friday deals are here, and within hours, we’ll start being bombarded with Cyber Monday sales as well. With all the deals out there, this is — without question — the best time of the year to buy a TV. Whether you’re looking for a Samsung, Vizio, Sony, LG, TCL, Hisense or anything else in between, retailers across the board — Best Buy, Walmart, Target and Amazon — have flooded the zone with discounted models in all sizes, with small models as low as $100 and 65-inchers going for as little as $250. And, of course, all of these are smart TVs, many running Roku, Android TV or Amazon Fire TV operating systems.
Since sales started early, many of the best deals have sold out or disappeared online, but we’ll keep checking in case they return (or even better deals are announced). In the meantime you’ll likely see plenty of “deals” that aren’t so good. If you’re looking for a cheap TV, here’s a quick cheat sheet.
What’s a good price on a cheap Black Friday TV in 2020?
- 32-inch for $120
- 40- to 43-inch for $150
- 50-inch for $300
- 55-inch for $350
- 65-inch for $500
- 75-inch for $700
The prices above are ballpark for TVs we typically don’t review at CNET, because their image quality is basically the same: mediocre, but possibly good enough for most people. Expect to pay hundreds more for better TVs.
Our favorite TV deals are curated below, and we’re constantly updating the list. Note that these deals are constantly in flux, and this article is being updated regularly to account for new, better deals and expired discounts.
Best Buy
TCL is best known for its Roku TVs, and we like the Roku smart TV system better than the Android TV version in this television, but for this price you can just buy a Roku Streaming Stick Plus, attach it to this TV and still come out ahead. Aside from its smarts we expect this 4-Series TV to perform “good enough,” just like the Roku equivalent.
Sarah Tew/CNET
We haven’t reviewed Vizio’s first OLED TV yet — the company has been late shipping samples due to COVID-19 — but Vizio TVs have performed well in past reviews and this price, compared to something like the LG CX below, might be too good to pass up.
There’s also a 55-inch size on sale for $900, but it’s currently sold out online.
Samsung
Also part of Walmart’s Nov. 25 sale, this TV is available now at Best Buy for the same price. It’s not the cheapest TV on the market at this size, and we expect models like the Vizio M-Series (which has local dimming) to perform better, but if you like the Samsung brand, it’s a very good price.
Sarah Tew/CNET
This is one of the best deals we’ve seen this year on a TV with the Roku operating system, which we like better than Fire TV or Android TV — although it is a little more expensive. This is a 1080p model, not 4K, so it won’t get Roku’s AirPlay upgrade, but the lower resolution won’t affect picture quality much at this size.
Read our TCL S325 series (Roku TV) review.
Sony
We haven’t reviewed this OLED, but we expect its image quality to be similar to the LG CX below (as in: spectacular), and at Best Buy, the 65-inch size is on a deep sale at currently less than the CX. We’d still take the CX, however, mainly because the Sony lacks cutting-edge gaming extras. But if that doesn’t matter to you — or if the CX is out of stock — this is an excellent deal.
Best Black Friday deals coming soon
The following deals aren’t available yet, but they are coming soon. Patience, deals Padawan.
Best Buy
This is simply the best deal yet we’ve seen for Black Friday 2020. Slightly smaller than the 70-inch model and much cheaper, this TV will sell out fast once it appears. The catch? We’re not sure when it’s coming in stock, or even if it’s coming back in stock. If you’re interested, check Best Buy’s page often.
Black Friday deals that have sold out or expired
The deals below are mostly gone, but since they could come back at any time, we’re keeping them here for now. Some of the TVs below may also be available in-store in your local area, even though they’re sold out online.
Insignia
This Insignia has recently been selling for $150, but Best Buy sliced another $10 off the price.
Amazon
This is a spectacular price on a 50-inch TV, so expect it to sell out almost immediately.
TCL
Yes, we’ve seen 55- and even 65-inch TVs this season selling for as little as $230 to $250, but they’ve mostly been models with Android TV This TCL model is a 2020 update of that company’s 4-series line. It’s got the latest Roku smart TV system — meaning you can get every channel except HBO Max, as well as that AirPlay update — and a whopping 4 HDMI inputs. And it only costs $30 more than the 50-inch model. Its 4K picture quality doesn’t match the step-up 6-series, but at this price, there’s little to complain about.
Read our review of the 2019 model.
Best Buy
We haven’t reviewed this set and based on its specs we don’t expect it to match the picture quality of the best 75-inch models, but if you prioritize a big picture over everything else, this is the cheapest price we’ve seen for a 70-inch TV, period. Like the TCL, it runs Android TV.
Sarah Tew/CNET
We’ve seen 70-inch TVs come down to $400, but this is still a very good price on a gigantic TV. This model (V705x-H1) is very similar to the V705-H3, currently selling for $660. The V-Series is Vizio’s cheapest TV for 2020, and while we haven’t reviewed it, we expect entry-level picture quality: good enough for most people, but not as good as something like the M-Series.
Target
The best TV deal in Target’s early Black Friday sale is on another 70-inch TV we haven’t reviewed. LG’s OLED sets (see below) will deliver a much better picture but if you can’t afford a better TV, and the Hisense above doesn’t appeal to you, this is still a very good price.
This deal is currently out of stock online but may be available at your local store.
Sarah Tew/CNET
One of our favorite pre-Black Friday deals on an excellent television is back. The X900H has the best image quality of any TV on this list that’s not an OLED and includes cutting-edge connectivity that’s tailor-made for the new Xbox Series X and PS5.
David Katzmaier/CNET
The best TV we’ve ever reviewed is in a whole other league compared with the doorbusters on this list, and this is the best price of the year. We don’t expect it to go down too much further this year, but even if it does, the price drop won’t be massive.
Read our LG CX series review.
Richard Peterson/CNET
That 55-inch above is excellent, but if you can afford it, get this 65-inch one instead. This is the sweet spot size for the LG CX — it’s big enough to really appreciate its stellar image quality.
Read our LG CX series review.
Walmart
This TV is the first item listed in Walmart’s Nov. 11 pre-Black Friday ad, so we expected it to sell out fast. The retailer’s Onn house brand isn’t known for world-beating image quality, but we expect it to perform about as well as the TCL 4-Series (see below) and it has the same great Roku operating system.
Speaking of TCL, this is the best price we’ve seen on a 55-inch TV this year. It’s basically the same as the 55S425 we liked so much, for around half of that model’s all-time lowest price. Just like that Onn TV above, we expect it to sell out fast.
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