Our favorite TV of the year, the TCL 6 series, is on sale for $900 for the 65-inch size. And you can buy it right now.
Target/BestBlackFriday.com
Now that Black Friday has officially kicked off, perhaps you’re considering getting a new TV.
This is the best time of year to get the best price on a huge, shiny new screen, but as usual not every deal you see is a good deal, and not every TV is worth your money. That’s where CNET comes in.
Updated: Deals and availability confirmed on Friday, Nov. 23.
Watch this: Don’t waste your money on these Black Friday TV deals…
5:23
We’ll be highlighting not only the cheapest TVs we find — the infamous in-store-only “doorbusters” designed to get you to the retailer Friday morning — but also deals on TVs we actually recommend. The best part? You don’t have to wait until Black Friday or even visit a store. Many of our favorite TVs are available for the lowest prices of the year online right now.
Before we get to the deals, here’s what you need to know.
- This update is current as of Friday Nov. 23.
- It incorporates the latest sale information from Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, Target, Costco, Sam’s Club, BJ’s, Dell, Shopko, Meijer, JCPenney, Belk and Samsung.com.
- Deal availability varies per store, and links to specific TVs at stores might not show the Black Friday 2018 price until the sale starts.
- CNET may get a share of revenue from the sale of the products featured below.
Alright, let’s get to it.
Best deals on TVs that are actually good
We’re gonna start with the best of the best. These are the best prices on TVs we’ve actually reviewed, or TVs we know enough about to solidly recommend for the price.
65-inch TCL 6 Series Roku TV, model 65R615: $900 (save $70)
Sarah Tew/CNET
Store: Best Buy
Availability: Online and in-store now.
This is most likely the best price you’ll get for TCL’s superb 65R615. This model is exclusive to Best Buy but basically identical to the one we named our favorite TV for the money in 2018. You simply can’t get a picture this good for any less.
What makes it better than other TVs? Full-array local dimming, or FALD. This features goes further than any other for improving LCD image quality, and this TCL outperforms other FALD-equipped TV at the price and cheaper, as well as trouncing non-FALD TVs — including entry-level Samsungs and LGs on sale everywhere for Black Friday.
55-inch TCL 6 Series Roku TV, model 55R615: $600
Take everything we said about the 65-incher and shrink it down to the 55-inch size — this is still the best TV for the money, period. If you want voice the voice remote, however, that version is available at Amazon for $30 more.
65-inch Vizio P-Series Quantum, model PQ65-F1: $1,400 (save $700)
Sarah Tew/CNET
Store: Target, Best Buy, Costco, Sam’s Club
Availability: See below
This is probably the best price on the best TV all year. Only available in a 65-inch size, the Quantum delivers image quality that’s better than the TCL above. In fact it’s the next-best thing to OLED TVs. And since OLED sets aren’t seeing steep discounts this year, this is the best deal for videophiles on a budget — if it’s in-stock.
Availability note: Originally this sale was $1,400 and Costco only (search Costco.com for “PQ65-F” to find it) but it’s also available at Target and Best Buy for $1,500 and Sam’s Club for $1,700. As of Friday Nov. 23, it’s out of stock online at all four retailers, although Sam’s Club promises it will be available Nov. 25. We wouldn’t be surprised if Sam’s matched Costco’s price at that point.
In a statement emailed to CNET, Vizio says: “We will continue to ship more supply for the PQ65-F1 for the Holidays and readers can check back for availability at retailers such as BestBuy.com, Costco, Costco.com and Samclub.com.” Since Best Buy is the only merchant in that group that doesn’t require a club membership, we’re using its link below.
75-inch Vizio P-Series: $1,600 (save $400)
Sarah Tew/CNET
Store: Costco and Sam’s Club
Availability: Online and in-store Nov. 23 through Nov. 26 (but see below)
We love the TCL 6 series above but it tops out at 65 inches. Meanwhile our favorite truly huge TV is the 75-inch Vizio P-Series, and this is the best price we’ve seen. The P has excellent image quality that trounces any of the entry-level LG and Samsung TVs on sale for less this Black Friday — only the Quantum is significantly better among non-OLED TVs we recommend, and it too maxes out at 65.
Notes: The $1,600 price is only at Costco and Sam’s Club starting on Black Friday (Nov. 23) but if you don’t want to wait, it’s just $100 more ($1,700) at both stores now.
As of Friday 23 Nov. 2.50 a.m. PT This item appears to no longer be listed on the Costco website, suggesting it may be out of stock online
Meanwhile Best Buy, Walmart and Target have the P75-F1 for $1,800, which is still a solid deal and doesn’t require a club membership.
Finally, Best Buy has smaller P-Series sets on sale: the 55-inch for $650 and the 65-inch for $900, but in both sizes I’d still take the TCL 6 series instead.
55-inch Vizio M-Series, model M55-F0: $450 (save $150)
Sarah Tew/CNET
Store: Costco and Sam’s Club
Availability: Online and in-store Nov. 23 through Nov. 26 (but see below)
It doesn’t have quite as good a picture — and a much worse Smart TV system — compared to the TCL 6 series, but at this price for the 55-inch size, it’s definitely the superior value. This is the cheapest TV we recommend for Black Friday 2018 that scored an “8” for picture quality.
Notes: This price is exclusive to club stores Costco and Sam’s Club beginning the day of Black Friday, and Sam’s Club was selling early online, but that appears to be sold out as of Thursday Nov. 22. You’ll have to head in-store on Black Friday at this stage.
As of Friday 23 Nov. 2.50 a.m. PT This item is displaying as out of stock on the Sam’s Club website, but we will update this article if that changes during the sale period.
Non-club options like Target and Walmart are more expensive at $550; I’d recommend the TCL 6 series instead for $50 more.
65-inch Vizio M-Series, model M65-F0: $770 (save $100)
Store: Costco and Sam’s Club
Availability: Online and in-store Nov. 23 through Nov. 26 (but see above)
At this size I still recommend paying more for the TCL 6 series but if you’re a club store member and can get this price, I won’t blame you for packeting the $100 savings — the M is still a great TV. Availability is the same as the 55-incher above.
65-inch Sharp or TCL Roku TV: $400
Sarah Tew/CNET
Store: Walmart
Availability: In-store starts at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving. They do not appear to be available online.
This is an insane price on a big TV with Roku, the best smart TV system CNET has ever tested.
Walmart’s ad says the TV is either the TCL 65S4 or the Sharp LC‑65Q7300U, and that brands and models vary per store. We haven’t reviewed either model directly, but TCL tells us the 65S4 has “similar form and function” to the 55-inch 55S405 we reviewed in 2017 (pictured). We expect similar picture quality from both sets — decent but nowhere near as good as the 6 series, for example. Still, at this size, price and level of smart TV convenience, these Roku TVs are a steal.
Vizio E-Series: $310 and up
Sarah Tew/CNET
Store: Dell.com and Best Buy
Availability: Live at Best Buy, out of stock at Dell
We called the E-Series the cheapest home-theater-worthy TV, in large part because it’s the least-expensive with full-array local dimming — a feature that goes further than any other for improving LCD picture quality. It definitely outperforms the TCL TVs (except the 6 series) and also trounces a lot of the entry-level Samsung and LG TVs found below.
The best deal we’ve seen is for the 50-inch size at Dell.com, whose sale starts on Thanksgiving day, Nov. 22 at 3 p.m. ET. It includes the TV and a $100 Dell.com gift card for $350.
Other deals and sizes are available now at numerous retailers, but BestBuy.com seems to have the most in stock.
43-inch for $310
55-inch for $430
65-inch for $630
70-inch for $750
It’s also worth mentioning that the cheaper D-Series is on sale at numerous outlets, but image quality won’t be as good on that set since it lacks local dimming. The best alternative is the TCL S405 series.
Watch this: Vizio E series is picture-quality king of the budget…
1:31
43-inch Toshiba 4K Amazon Fire Edition TV: $130 (save $150)
Best Buy
Store: Best Buy
Availability: Doorbuster (in-store only starting 5 p.m. Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 22, limited quantities)
No, we haven’t reviewed this TV, but at this we feel comfortable recommending anyway. Fire TV isn’t not our favorite smart TV system — that honor goes to Roku — but it’s still very good, and this price is pure insanity. The cheapest 43-inch Roku TV, the 43S305, costs $220, and it’s 1080p, not 4K.
Best Buy is also selling a 50-inch Fire TV Edition from Insignia for not-quite-as-good-but-still-phenomenal price of $280.
And there’s a 65-inch Element Fire TV Edition at Meijer for $400.
So what about those other Black Friday TV sales?
The fact is that most TVs on sale for Black Friday fall into two distinct categories:
- Dirt-cheap sets from unknown or older brands (Element, Westinghouse, Magnavox, Polaroid)
- Entry-level or one-off (“special purchase”) sets from popular brands like Samsung, LG, Sony and Vizio
We don’t review any of the former category and very few of the latter so we can’t recommend them directly. That said we don’t expect any of the to outperform the Vizio E series or the TCL 6 series above, and in many cases they’ll cost more. In other words, in the latter case you’re often paying extra just for a brand name.
Meanwhile the better, higher-end name-brand sets we do review are also on sale, but they’re not nearly as cheap as these entry-level models.
All of that said, if you’re OK taking a flyer on a cheap TV, or you really want a Samsung, Sony or LG instead of a Vizio or a TCL, there are plenty of other sale prices to be had. Here’s a selection.
Cheapest Black Friday TVs (that aren’t necessarily good deals)
Below you’ll find the cheapest TVs we found for Black Friday, regardless of whether we recommend them or not. While a few are available online, many are classic doorbusters — in-store only during the store’s Black Friday sale, available only in limited quantities.
We picked the TVs on the list below from a much larger collection of pretty much every Black Friday TV 2018 TV sale price (aside from Amazon, which isn’t available yet), painstakingly created by the folks at BestBlackFriday.com — many store links go to the deal details there. If you want to see all of the TVs, here’s the whole magilla in a Google Spreadsheet.
157 Black Friday 2018 TV sales by size and $ per square inch
Note that upper price range sale prices actually go higher for each screen size, but we cut it off at the cheapest major-brand sets, typically Samsung and LG. Some of these deals will only be available in stores, so you may not see the same prices listed online.
32-inch TVs: $80
By cost per screen area, this Hisense at Walmart is the single cheapest TV we’ve ever seen.
Walmart
39- and 40-inch TVs: $100-$130
- Walmart has a 40-inch 1080p Hisense TV for $100. As far as we know this is the cheapest TV of the year so far at $0.14 per square inch of screen. That’s also cheaper by area than any 2017 Black Friday TV we tracked.
- Target has a 40-inch 1080p Westinghouse for $125.
- Best Buy has a 39-inch Insignia and midwestern supercenter chain Meijer has a 40-inch Element, both for $130.
43-inch TVs: $130 to $280
- Best Buy’s crazy 43-inch Fire TV deal, highlighted above, is the only 43-inch TV under $200. It, and every other 43-inch and larger TV on this list, is 4K resolution, but the extra pixels are irrelevant at this screen size and definitely not worth paying extra for.
- The next-cheapest is a Westinghouse at $200, available from East Coast and Ohio wholesale club BJ’s.
- None of the other deals beat the regular price of our favorite 43-inch TV, the TCL 43S30 ($220 right now).
- They include an LG 43UK6090 at Meijer ($220), the same TV at BJ’s ($260), Sam’s Club, Best Buy and Target ($270), as well the Samsung NU6900/6950 (all $280) at Best Buy, BJ’s, Costco, Meijer and Target.
49- and 50-inch TVs: $200 to $330
- The cheapest in this range is a 49-inch Polaroid with Chromecast built-in for $199, courtesy of Shopko, a superstore with branches in about half of the states in the US The catch? This price is only after a mail-in rebate.
- Prices increase incrementally from there, with an Element TV at Meijer ($220), a Westinghouse at Target ($230 — listed as out of stock as of Friday 23. Nov, 3 a.m PT), a Philips at Target ($250 — listed as out of stock as of Friday 23. Nov, 3 a.m PT), a Sharp at BJ’s ($270) and that Insignia Fire TV at Best Buy mentioned above ($280). Costco also has a TCL Roku TV, model 50S423, for $280.
- And then there’s the Samsung, model NU6900/NU6950 ($330), available at BJ’s, Best Buy, Target and Shopko (listed as out of stock at BJ’s and Target as of Friday 23. Nov, 3 a.m PT).
55-inch TVs: $200 to $400
- There are more 55-inch TVs for sale this Black Friday than any other size, and this is also where the second-cheapest price per screen lives. Both Target and Meijer have a 55-inch Element TVs for $200, clocking in at just $0.15 per square inch of screen — the second-best of Black Friday. Better yet, the Meijer is a Roku TV. (Target is listing this item as discontinued for shipping online as of Friday 23. Nov, 3 a.m PT, but it may still be available in store.)
- Roku TVs are also available for $250 from other retailers. Best Buy has a Sharp LC-55LBU591U (in-store only) while Walmart rocks a Hisense 55R6000E (the sale price for this item is no longer listed online).
- Shopko tempt shoppers with a Polaroid for $300, but it’s a tough sell for $50 more sans Roku, and again you’ll need to mail in to get the rebate.
- Samsung’s NU6900 series is at it again, priced at $400 in pretty much every store: Best Buy, Dell, Meijer, Shopko, Target and Walmart (as of Friday 23. Nov, 3 a.m PT listed as out of stock at Target and Dell, Walmart showing as in-store only). LG is charging the same price for the UK6090 series at Sam’s Club.
65-inch TVs: $400 to $650
- There are a few 58- and 60-inch TV deals, but their price per inch falls well short of the best 65-inch TV prices, so we’re ignoring them here.
- The best prices at this size come courtesy of the $400 Roku (at Walmart) and Amazon Fire TV Edition (at Meijer) sets noted above. From there prices go to $530 for a Philips at BJ’s.
- The next price tier is $600, occupied by the Samsung UN65NU6070 at Best Buy as well as a bunch of LG 65UK6090PUA sets sold by Sam’s Club, Costco, Dell and Meijer.
- Finally there’s the $650 Samsung 65NU6950, sold by the folks at BJ’s, Costco, Samsung.com, Shopko and Target.
70-, 75-, 82- and 86-inch TVs: $700 to $2,500
- Every TV in this size range, with the exception of the $730 Vizio E70-F3 at Costco highlighted above, is from either LG or Samsung, and only at a handful of stores.
- The cheapest is the 70-inch LG 70UK6190PUB at Best Buy for $700 (deal appears to be available in store only).
- Best Buy also has a 75-inch LG from the same series, model 75UK6190PUB, for $1000.
- The 75-incher from Samsung is $1,200, model 75NU6950/6900, available at BJ’s, Best Buy and Samsung.com. That’s a relatively hefty $0.50 per square inch, if you’re keeping track.
- The 82-inch Samsung UN82NU800D jumps up to $2,500 — a substantial increase to $0.86 per square inch — at BJ’s, Costco and Best Buy.
- Not big enough for ya? LG’s 86-inch 86UK6570AUA costs the same $2,500 ($0.79 per square inch) at Sam’s Club, BJ’s and Costco.
That’s it for the Black Friday TV deals we’ve found so far. Check back for updates as we uncover more.