3 Cheap TVs You Should Buy At Costco And 3 You Should Skip – BGR

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If you’re on the hunt for an affordable TV, we highly recommend that you check out the offerings of Costco. The retailer has a wide range of products from all of the most popular TV brands up for sale, so you’ll definitely find something that will match your budget. However, for every cheap TV worth buying, there’s one that should be skipped; we’ll be using Costco’s rating system to help determine which is which.

Unfortunately, for a television to be sold at a low price, it usually means that some sacrifices were made. You might not get more than a few basic features, or the TV may have lower build quality and reduced reliability. That said, there are some affordable TVs out there that still deliver a solid experience. They won’t challenge the specifications of flagship models, but they still can be considered winners with what you’re going to pay for them. 

In this roundup of cheap TVs from Costco, we highlight three models that you should buy and three you should avoid, all based on Costco shopper review ratings. We supplement these ratings with reviews from reputable websites and comments on social media from others who have purchased these TVs.

The Hisense A45NF Series 1080p LED TV is the most affordable option on this list at just $99.99 for a 32-inch screen. Impressively, it also has the highest average rating in this roundup at 4.2 stars after 59 customer reviews. It’s not a 4K TV, but it’s powered by the Amazon Fire TV platform for access to streaming services and it comes with an Alexa Voice Remote for voice commands. The TV can also wirelessly connect to speakers and headphones via Bluetooth.

Hisense is our top pick among cheap smart TV brands, so it’s not a surprise that this Hisense model is punching above its weight. Costco shoppers who recommend it are happy with its picture quality and smooth smart features, especially when you consider its price. However, there are some lingering complaints on the TV’s durability and long-term reliability, particularly with its display.

Our next recommendation is another Hisense TV, specifically the Hisense QD6 Series 4K QLED TV. With an average rating of 4.0 stars after 74 reviews, it’s just $199.99 for the 43-inch model or $239.99 for the 50-inch model. When you consider that this is a 4K TV with QLED technology and an AI-powered upscaler, that’s a pretty good deal. It also runs on Amazon’s Fire TV platform, comes with the Alexa Voice Remote, and it supports Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision for a cinematic experience in your living room. 

The Hisense QD6 Series offers straightforward smart TV features and a picture quality that’s great for its affordable cost, according to Costco customers. Redditors echoed the same sentiments, with many claiming that the TV is sufficient for their needs. However, Rtings.com pointed out in its review that while the TV handles reflections on its display well, the image quality worsens when you’re positioned off-center from the screen. It also lacks a local dimming feature, making it more suited for rooms that are dark or with moderate lighting to make up for the poor contrast.

The price of the TCL Q77K Series 4K QLED TV starts at $279.99 for the 55-inch model, increasing to $379.99 for the 65-inch model. The Q77K Series goes even larger than that, but prices begin to skyrocket well past the point of it being a “cheap” option. Nevertheless, the more modestly-sized versions are on our list, with 4.1 stars across 199 ratings. This smart TV runs on the Google TV platform, and it’s an excellent screen for video games with its native refresh rate of 144Hz and Auto Game Mode for minimal input lag and latency. 

The low price of the TCL Q77K Series doesn’t automatically translate to sketchy quality. TCL TVs are so cheap because of the brand’s strategy, which includes ownership over major portions of its supply chain. Costco shoppers say that the performance of the TCL Q77K Series exceeds its cost, providing fantastic picture quality for a cheap TV. Some Redditors pointed out the lack of local dimming as a major downside, though. Rtings.com seconded this criticism, flagging the TV’s poor contrast and further commenting on its mediocre upscaling.

Samsung is the best major smart TV brand in terms of customer satisfaction, but apparently, that doesn’t translate to its budget-friendly models. The Samsung U8000F Crystal UHD Series 4K TV has 75 ratings on Costco but an average score of just 2.8 stars, which is the lowest in this roundup. Sold for as low as $229.99 for its 43-inch model, this TV offers 4K upscaling and HDR10+ for enhanced visuals, the Tizen operating system for access to streaming services, and Adaptive Sound that automatically adjusts audio settings depending on the content that you’re watching.

Costco shoppers are generally unhappy with the Samsung U8000F, as it has more 1-star ratings on the retailer’s website than 5-star ones. Among the issues that customers flagged are the TV’s picture quality, its durability, and the necessity to create a Samsung account to install apps. According to Expert Reviews, this is a “rare TV miss from Samsung,” as its solid audio and low input lag are not enough to make up for its shortcomings in color coverage and brightness. Meanwhile, Home Theater Review said that you’ll be disappointed with this purchase if you need a TV with deep black levels, high contrast and brightness, and 120Hz support.

Another top TV brand gets a recommendation to skip in this roundup, as the LG UA7700 Series 4K TV has an average rating of 3.2 stars on Costco following 92 reviews. With a starting price of $249.99 for its 50-inch model, the TV features LG’s Precision HDR Master Pro for picture accuracy and Precision Sound Master Pro to enable surround sound. It also runs on LG’s webOS, which came in second in our major smart TV OS rankings. So what went wrong?

According to customer reviews on the Costco website, the main complaint about the LG UA7700 Series is its AI Magic Remote, as it’s too cumbersome to use even for basic functions. Shoppers also reported lagging apps and repeated failure to connect to Wi-Fi networks. These issues were also experienced by customers buying the TV from Target, where it holds an average rating of 3.6 stars after 293 reviews. Business Insider tagged it as LG’s best entry-level TV, but flagged its insufficient brightness and contrast, a limited color gamut, and a 60Hz refresh rate that won’t cut it for gaming among its flaws.

Another Samsung TV ends this list with a recommendation to skip. Available at $399.99 for its 55-inch model, the Samsung Q7F 4K QLED TV only manages an average rating of 3.4 stars after 64 reviews from Costco customers, despite a comprehensive list of features. It’s a smart TV that runs on the Tizen platform, and it also comes with 4K upscaling, HDR10+, and Adaptive Sound. The TV only has a 60Hz refresh rate though, as well as a limitation of only three HDMI ports.

Even in the positive reviews for the Samsung Q7F 4K QLED TV, where it received praise for great picture quality for its price, it was still criticized for Samsung’s decision not to include optical audio output. Other issues flagged by Costco shoppers include motion blur that makes watching anything difficult, and the limited selection of apps that you can download to the TV. It’s fine as an affordable QLED TV as long as you don’t compare it to the brand’s more premium models, according to SamMobile, but you can get a much better screen for the same price from any number of competitors.

For this roundup of cheap TVs, we looked at models that are available on the Costco website for a starting price of under $400 at the time of writing. Some TVs that met the price criteria were not included in this list because they were reviewed by fewer than 50 customers, which we believe is not enough to form a definitive evaluation of the product.

All the TVs we chose to recommend as a buy have an average rating of at least 4.0 stars from Costco reviewers. Meanwhile, any TVs that were below that 4.0 average threshold were placed squarely in the skip category. We also examined the comments left behind by Costco shoppers to determine the reasoning behind their rating decisions.

To support Costco consumer ratings, we searched for reviews from reputable websites and users on social media for each of the featured TVs. These were combined into a general overview to provide a more complete picture of each product.