The 5 Best TVs Under $300 - Spring 2020
Reviews

The TCL 5 Series/55S525 2019 is the best TV under $300 we've tested so far. Despite its budget price, this TV can deliver a good picture quality that's suitable for most content. It has a minimalist design with thin bezels that aren't distracting, and it has a decent build quality as well. Its VA panel has an outstanding contrast ratio and impressive black uniformity, making this TV a great choice for dark rooms; however, viewing angles may be an issue if you have a wide seating arrangement.

The most surprising thing about this TV is its out-of-the-box color accuracy. Aside from its gamma being too low, which causes scenes to appear brighter than intended, most colors are reproduced accurately. Although it has a great wide color gamut to produce rich, vibrant colors in HDR content, its peak brightness is rather limiting, as it's unable to bring out specular highlights. Response time and input lag are both low, though gamers may be disappointed by the 60Hz panel and the lack of variable refresh rate. On the bright side, if you get most of your content through streaming services, Roku's interface is easy to navigate and you have access to all of the most popular streaming apps through its app store.

For under $300, this TV is worth a try.

For the best value for the size, the TCL 4 Series 2019/55S425 is the best 4k TV under $300. This 55 inch 4k TV has decent picture quality and is currently just below $300. It delivers deep blacks in a dark room thanks to the high native contrast ratio, but can't get very bright and doesn't have a wide color gamut to deliver a good HDR performance. The response time is fast and motion looks crisp. This is a great TV for gaming or use as a PC monitor, mainly thanks to the very low input lag that makes it feel very responsive. Just like the TCL 5 Series/S525 2019, this TV runs the Roku smart TV interface that's easy to use and has a large number of streaming channels.

Unfortunately, it isn't a good choice for a room with side seating arrangements, as the image degrades quickly at an angle. It's more suitable for a dim room due to the poor brightness levels.

Overall, this 55 inch TV is a great value for the money.

The TCL 3 Series 2019/40S325 is the best budget TV under $300 that we've tested so far. It's a passable entry-level TV with a great contrast ratio, decent response time, and excellent low input lag, all of which make it great for gaming. The 32 inch model is limited to a 720p resolution (except for the 32S327 variant), but the larger models have a 1080p native resolution.

This TV has a good selection of inputs, with three HDMI ports and a dedicated composite input (with the use of the included adapter). It has great smart features with hundreds of available streaming channels. This makes it an excellent choice for a secondary viewing location since you don't have to worry about having a separate streaming box.

Unfortunately, this TV can't get very bright, and the image degrades when viewed at an angle, which limits its versatility a bit. Overall, though, it's a great budget TV, and one of the best 40 inch TVs under $300.