Walmart has a personal-brand TV line called Onn, known for its extremely low price. Most of the Onn TVs on Walmart’s website are only a few hundred dollars. It has an Onn 50-inch 4K UHD Roku Smart TV for only $178. That is an absolutely staggering deal compared to a Roku-brand 50-inch smart TV for $258, or a Samsung 50-inch Class Neo QLED smart TV for $1,500.
When a deal sounds too good to be true, it often can be because it is. Is the Onn brand TV just a good bargain or a waste of money? It turns out an Onn TV is not so bad. It offers most of the benefits you expect from a modern television, including smart capabilities. However, its audio and video output are inconsistent in their quality and not up to the standard you expect from more expensive TVs like Samsung. But, since Samsung is considered the best major TV brand in terms of customer satisfaction, its price is worth the quality.
If you are considering purchasing an Onn TV because the price is attractive, it is good to know exactly what you can expect out of the product. It’s hard to turn down a good bargain. However, you don’t want to be so unhappy with the television that you end up spending even more money on a new brand.
The pros of purchasing an Onn TV
The biggest positive of buying a Walmart Onn TV is the price. Even one of its largest 85-inch TVs is only $598. When you save money on a television, you can also spend any extra on accessories like a soundbar, a TV stand or wall mount, or a nice TV console. It’s hard to beat a price like this.
The Onn TVs also meet your modern television-watching expectations. Let’s take the Onn 50-inch Class 4K UHD Roku Smart Television as our example. As a Roku smart TV, it has internet access to download streaming apps like Netflix, Disney+, and Apple TV, as well as Roku’s own streaming content. It works with the Roku mobile app and is compatible with Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, and Google Home. As the name states, it has 4K resolution and a 60Hz refresh rate for picture quality.
Overall, the Onn television does everything you expect it to at a great price. Walmart has even capitalized on this technology to manufacture an Onn 4K Plus streaming device for just less than $30. If you are looking for a bargain TV that lets you stream movies and TV episodes, play games, and download apps, then Onn is a good bet. Onn, though, still has its problems.
The cons of purchasing an Onn TV
The biggest issue with Onn televisions is inconsistent picture and sound quality. The picture contrast is lacking because the screens don’t get as bright as they need to for a truly sharp image. The TV backlighting is also not uniform across the screen, so you will see some parts of the screen appear brighter than others. The colors are not quite as vibrant, and the fine details aren’t as sharp. The sound isn’t as strong or as clear as other brands. The entire purpose of a television is to enjoy what you see and what you hear, so for a TV to struggle with that is a big mark against it.
It should be unsurprising, then, that Onn did not make our ranked list of major smart TV brands. When we compare the screens of the Onn TV and Roku TV, we see that Roku also has a 60Hz refresh rate. However, the much more expensive Samsung TV has a refresh rate of up to 165Hz, resulting in a much smoother, cleaner picture. Samsung also brags about its Neo Quantum HDR+, which basically means it has excellent brightness, color, and contrast.
If high-quality TV watching is important to you for an unsurpassed video and audio experience, the Onn TV’s low price won’t meet your needs. However, if that is less important to you, then that is where Onn shines, offering a bargain TV experience that holds up quite well.
