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If you’re wondering which budget tvs are worth your money, stick around! After we run through each product, I’ll give you my personal take—Would I buy it, or would I skip it? No fluff, just my honest opinion. Let’s get into it!
Watch the video version: I Tested 20 Budget TVs in 2025 - Here's Why This One Is The BEST!
TCL QM7
The picture quality on this TV absolutely blew me away with its excellent HDR brightness and outstanding contrast that makes highlights really pop, especially during darker scenes. Gaming on this is a dream come true with its 144Hz refresh rate, incredibly low input lag, and the Game Master mode that made me feel like a better player than I actually am. The Google TV interface is loaded with apps and the TV handles glare like a champ, though it does struggle a bit with direct light reflections. The build quality is solid with thin bezels and a sleek metal-brushed finish, plus it comes with a backlit remote that automatically activates when you pick it up – something even premium brands like Samsung and LG don’t offer.
Would I buy it?
Yes – The TCL QM7 delivers exceptional value with its high brightness, impressive contrast, and gaming features that rival more expensive models.
Hisense U6N
This budget-friendly mini-LED TV surprised me with its solid picture quality and vibrant, punchy colors that really stand out. The gaming experience is smooth and enjoyable despite lacking 4K 120Hz support, and it includes features like VRR and ALLM. While the black levels can sometimes look grayish and motion handling needs some tweaking, the full-screen brightness results are impressive, making it great for daytime viewing. The build quality feels solid with a mix of plastic and metal materials, though some of the plastic elements do feel a bit cheap.
Would I buy it?
Yes – It’s one of the best budget-friendly TVs on the market, outperforming similarly priced models from bigger brands like LG, Samsung, and Sony.
Hisense U7N
The brightness on this TV is impressive, hitting 1,369 nits in HDR, and the motion processing has been significantly improved from previous models, making it perfect for fast-paced sports and action movies. The Mini-LED configuration delivers bright, vibrant images with impressive detail levels and convincing edge definition. The sound quality surprised me with its clear dialogue and decent bass response, though you might want to add a soundbar for the best experience. While the gaming features are solid, the 13.2ms input lag is a bit disappointing compared to competitors.
Would I buy it?
Yes – Despite some minor flaws, it offers excellent value with its impressive brightness, improved motion handling, and solid feature set.
Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED
The picture quality is surprisingly good with vivid colors and decent contrast, though the black levels aren’t the best I’ve seen in this price range. Gaming performance is impressive with very low input lag of 10.4ms and support for Dolby Vision gaming, though it lacks 120Hz support. The smart features are comprehensive but the interface feels a bit clunky, and the sound quality is just average. While it handles HDR content well with support for both Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ Adaptive, the peak brightness is lower than some competitors in this price range.
Would I buy it?
Maybe – While it offers good value and decent performance, there are better options available at similar price points, like the Hisense U7N or TCL QM7.
Samsung TU8300
The excellent contrast ratio and great black uniformity make this TV decent for dark room viewing, but its mediocre response time means you’ll see motion blur during fast-moving scenes. While it does a good job upscaling lower resolution content, the peak brightness isn’t enough to overcome glare in well-lit rooms, making it less ideal for bright spaces. The curved screen might help with viewing angles slightly, but like most VA panels, the image looks washed out when viewed from the sides. The color accuracy out of the box is mediocre with a warm temperature, causing most colors to have an annoying red/yellow tint.
Would I buy it?
No – The mediocre HDR performance and limited brightness make this TV hard to recommend when there are better options in the same price range.
TCL Q65
The TV delivers a responsive gaming experience with incredibly low input lag and supports up to 1440p @ 120Hz with VRR, but its picture quality isn’t impressive enough for the price point. The SDR brightness and reflection handling are only decent, making it best suited for moderately lit rooms rather than bright spaces. While it has outstanding coverage of the DCI-P3 color space, most colors are undersaturated, and the TV doesn’t do a great job displaying dark saturated colors due to its limited contrast. The corners of the screen are darker than the rest, and there’s noticeable dirty screen effect towards the center.
Would I buy it?
No – The sub-par viewing angle and poor pre-calibration color accuracy make this TV difficult to recommend, especially when considering its limitations in picture quality.
TCL S5
The TV offers good gaming features with very low input lag and good response time, but its picture quality is just okay with limited contrast. It has good reflection handling and supports all HDR formats including Dolby Vision, though its HDR brightness is poor. The built-in speakers don’t sound especially accurate and can’t produce that boomy bass that elevates cinematic content. While it supports VRR to reduce screen tearing, it’s limited to HDMI 2.0 bandwidth on all ports.
Would I buy it?
No – Despite decent gaming performance, the mediocre picture quality and poor HDR brightness make this TV hard to justify even at its budget price point.
Insignia F20
The TV comes with built-in Fire TV features and Alexa integration, but unfortunately delivers an inferior picture even for a 720p HD set. Colors seem to have an unnatural cast, and the TV isn’t able to faithfully reproduce a wide range of colors. The natural mode looks devoid of color while game and PC modes yield an unnaturally high-contrast picture lacking in detail. The remote control lacks a numerical keypad but includes dedicated buttons for Amazon Prime Video and Netflix.
Would I buy it?
No – The poor picture performance and inaccurate color reproduction make this TV a disappointing choice, even considering its rock-bottom price.
Insignia F30
The wide viewing angle makes it great for group watching, and the Fire TV interface offers a fantastic selection of streaming apps for all your entertainment needs. While it handles reflections decently with its semi-gloss finish, the low peak brightness means you’ll struggle with glare in bright rooms, making it best suited for moderately lit environments. The gaming performance is a mixed bag – while it offers very low input lag for responsive gaming, the slower response time creates noticeable blur during fast-moving scenes, and it lacks modern gaming features like VRR. The sound quality is surprisingly decent for dialogue, though it can’t get very loud and lacks bass, which is typical for budget TVs.
Would I buy it?
Maybe – While it offers good value with its smart features and decent performance for casual viewing, the limitations in brightness and gaming features make it more suitable as a secondary TV rather than a main display.
Roku Smart TV
The TV delivers fantastic input lag and great response time for gaming, making it an excellent choice for budget gamers looking to play at 4K 60Hz. The very good SDR brightness and decent reflection handling mean you can comfortably watch content in bright rooms without struggling with glare. Color accuracy is phenomenal out of the box, requiring minimal calibration to get great picture quality. The Roku interface is incredibly smooth and intuitive, with plenty of streaming options and a voice remote that includes customizable shortcut buttons.
Would I buy it?
Yes – The combination of gaming performance, bright room visibility, and excellent smart features make this an outstanding value proposition for budget-conscious buyers.
Samsung Q60D
The very good SDR brightness combined with decent reflection handling makes this TV shine in bright rooms, perfect for daytime viewing. The built-in Tizen OS comes loaded with streaming apps and offers good upscaling for lower resolution content, ensuring your older shows still look great. Gaming feels incredibly responsive thanks to the extremely low input lag, though the slower response time does result in some motion blur. The color gamut is very good with outstanding coverage of the DCI-P3 color space, though some colors appear slightly undersaturated.
Would I buy it?
Yes – Despite some minor drawbacks in motion handling, the excellent brightness, smart features, and gaming responsiveness make it a solid choice for a budget TV.
Samsung DU7200
The TV offers incredibly low input lag and very good response time, making it quite capable for both gaming and general use. While it handles reflections well enough for moderately lit rooms, it struggles in bright environments, so you’ll want to keep this away from sunny windows. The smart features are excellent with the Tizen OS, though the narrow viewing angle means this isn’t great for group watching. The gaming features are limited with a very narrow VRR range and HDMI 2.0 bandwidth restriction, but it handles 4K 60Hz content well.
Would I buy it?
Maybe – It’s a decent performer for gaming and general use in controlled lighting conditions, but the brightness limitations and narrow viewing angle hold it back from being a stronger recommendation.
TCL S3
The picture quality on this TV is surprisingly good for its price point, with vivid colors and crisp resolution when watching HDR content. While it handles reflections well, it’s extremely dim in both SDR and HDR, making it difficult to use in bright rooms. The TV’s biggest drawback is its awful response time, which causes substantial motion blur behind fast-moving objects, making it almost unusable for action games or sports. The Google TV interface is user-friendly but can be buggy at times, with occasional issues turning on and responding to voice commands.
Would I buy it?
Maybe. While it offers decent value for basic TV watching, the motion blur and brightness issues make it hard to recommend without reservations.
Toshiba C350
The TV struggles with terrible contrast and lacks a wide color gamut, making movies and games look disappointing in dark rooms. Despite having decent reflection handling, it doesn’t get bright enough to fight glare from windows or bright lights. The upscaling capabilities are just okay, meaning low-resolution content lacks fine detail and shows noticeable compression artifacts. The viewing angle is wide, but that doesn’t make up for its mediocre overall performance.
Would I buy it?
No. The combination of poor contrast, limited brightness, and subpar image processing makes this TV hard to recommend at any price point.
Samsung DU8000
This TV delivers incredibly low input lag and good response time, making it great for gaming and fast-moving content. The native contrast is good, delivering deep blacks in dim and dark scenes, though they can become raised with bright highlights. The TV comes with a user-friendly interface and provides access to numerous streaming services. The picture quality is impressive in both low light and bright conditions, with excellent clarity and natural colors.
Would I buy it?
Yes. The combination of gaming performance, good contrast, and overall picture quality makes this an excellent choice for budget-conscious buyers.
Hisense A7
The TV delivers a good gaming experience with its low input lag and even includes VRR support, which is rare at this price point. While it looks good in dark rooms thanks to its high contrast ratio and good black uniformity, it struggles in bright environments due to its relatively low peak brightness. The smart interface is fast and easy to use, with a great selection of streaming apps. The response time is great, making fast motion in sports look crisp with minimal blur.
Would I buy it?
No. Despite some gaming features and decent dark room performance, the brightness limitations and overall picture quality don’t justify the purchase when compared to competitors like the Samsung DU8000.
Thanks for watching, I hope this video helped you pick the budget tvs for you. If you have any questions, drop a comment below. Links to all of these products mentioned in this video will be in the description.
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