The 5 Best TVs Under $300 - Summer 2020
Reviews

The best TV under $300 that we've tested so far is the TCL 5 Series/55S525 2019. It's a decent overall TV, offering great value for its price thanks to its good picture quality and user-friendly features.

It has impressive out-of-the-box color accuracy, so you won't need to get your TV calibrated if you don't want to. It displays a wide color gamut, which is important for HDR content, although it doesn't get very bright in HDR and fails to make highlights pop. As is the case with most VA panel TVs, the contrast ratio is outstanding and the black uniformity is also great, making this TV an excellent choice for dark room viewing. Like any other TCL TV, this one has built-in Roku as its operating system, which is easy to use and has a huge selection of apps available, so you'll likely be able to find what you need.

Unfortunately, that comes at the cost of its viewing angles, which are poor, and you lose image accuracy when watching from the side. However, gamers should be happy with the extremely low input lag and good responsive time, resulting in clear motion. For its price, it's a great choice, making it the best TV under $300 that we've tested so far.

The best TV for its value and size for under $300 is the TCL 50S425 2019. Like the TCL 5 Series/S525 2019, it's a decent overall budget TV with great smart features as it has built-in Roku.

This TV uses a VA panel, so it's able to produce deep blacks and it has decent black uniformity, which is great if you're planning to watch movies in the dark with it. It upscales lower resolution content, such as from cable boxes and DVDs, without any issues, and it's able to remove judder from 24p movies from sources like Blu-rays. It's also a good gaming TV as it has a great response time, resulting in clear motion, the input lag is very low, and it has an Auto Low Latency Mode, so you don't have to switch it to 'Game' mode every time you play.

Unfortunately, it has a few issues you normally see on a budget TV. It can't display a wide color gamut, it doesn't get bright, and it has some uniformity issues. On the upside, the built-in speakers are good for dialogue and the Roku interface is easy to use with a ton of apps available to download. Overall, it's the best smart TV for its value that we've tested so far.

The TCL 40S325 2019 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, good response time, and excellent low input lag, all of which make it great for gaming. Note that the 40 inch model has a 1080p resolution, while the 32 inch model is 720p, except for the 32S327.

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. It also has excellent out-of-the-box color accuracy, which is great since this TV can't actually be calibrated.

Unfortunately, this TV can't get very bright, and the image degrades when viewed at an angle, which limits its versatility a bit. On the upside, it has good reflection handling if you place it in a bright room. Overall, though, this is a great budget TV and the best smart TV under $300 in the budget category we've seen so far.