This year we can guarantee Black Friday and Cyber Monday are going to be different. But different doesn’t necessarily mean “bad.” Due to the pandemic, major retailers will be starting their sales earlier than ever this holiday season. Best Buy and Target are kicking off their sales events this Sunday, Nov. 22, and more retailers including Walmart are also spreading their sales out over the days and weeks before Black Friday itself (technically Nov. 27 this year). Most importantly, they will be focusing on online orders and curbside, contactless pickup to maintain social distancing.
Something that hasn’t changed, though, is that no matter where or how you do your holiday shopping, this is the best time of year to get an amazing deal on a TV. Below you’ll find all of the best Black Friday TV deals we know about right now if you’re in the market for a new TV (for yourself, or as a gift!). Note that prices and inventory may change without notice, but were accurate at time of publication.
Best Buy
TCL is best known for its Roku TVs, and we like the Roku smart TV system better than the Android TV version in this television, but for this price you can just buy a Roku Streaming Stick Plus, attach it to this TV and still come out ahead. Aside from its smarts we expect this 4-Series TV to perform “good enough,” just like the Roku equivalent.
Note that this was $50 cheaper last week, and therefore may be again — but for now it’s still a really solid deal on a 55-inch smart TV.
Samsung
Although this Samsung is currently listed as part of Walmart’s Nov. 25 sale, it’s available now at Best Buy for the same price. It’s not the cheapest TV on the market at this size, and we expect models like the Vizio M-Series (which has local dimming) to perform better, but if you like the Samsung brand it’s a very good price.
David Katzmaier/CNET
The best TV we’ve ever reviewed is in a whole other league compared to the doorbusters on this list, and this is the best price of the year. We don’t expect it to go down too much further this year, but even if it does, the price drop won’t be massive.
Richard Peterson/CNET
That 55-inch above is excellent but if you can afford it, get this 65-inch one instead. This is the sweet spot size for the LG CX — it’s big enough to really appreciate its stellar image quality.
Sony
We haven’t reviewed this OLED but we expect its image quality to be similar to the LG CX above (as in: spectacular), and at Best Buy, the 65-inch size is on a deep sale at currently $100 less than the CX. We’d still take the CX, however, mainly because the Sony lacks cutting-edge gaming extras. But if that doesn’t matter to you — or you like Sony better for some reason — this is an excellent deal.
Best Black Friday deals coming soon
The following deals aren’t available yet but they are coming soon. Patience, deals Padawan.
Sarah Tew/CNET
We’ve seen 70-inch TVs come down to $400, but this is still a very good price on a gigantic TV. This model (V705x-H1) is very similar to the V705-H3, currently selling for $660. The V-Series is Vizio’s cheapest TV for 2020 and while we haven’t reviewed it, we expect entry-level picture quality: good enough for most people, but not as good as something like the M-Series.
This deal will be available online starting at 4 p.m. PT (7 p.m. ET) on Wednesday, Nov. 25.
Amazon
This is technically a post-Black Friday deal, but it’s good enough to include here anyway. This is a spectacular price on a 50-inch TV, so expect it to sell out almost immediately.
Black Friday deals that have sold out or expired
The deals below are mostly gone but since they could come back at any time, we’re keeping them here for now.
Insignia
This slightly larger Insignia has recently been selling for $150, but Best Buy sliced another $10 off the price.
Target
The best TV deal in Target’s early Black Friday sale is on another 70-inch TV we haven’t reviewed. LG’s OLED sets (see below) will deliver a much better picture but if you can’t afford a better TV, and the Hisense above doesn’t appeal to you, this is still a very good price.
This deal is currently out of stock online, but may be available at your local store.
Best Buy
We haven’t reviewed this set and based on its specs we don’t expect it to match the picture quality of the best 75-inch models, but if you prioritize a big picture over everything else, this is the cheapest price we’ve seen for a 70-inch TV, period. Like the TCL above it runs Android TV.
Speaking of TCL, this is the best price we’ve seen on a 55-inch TV this year. It’s basically the same as the 55S425 we liked so much, for around half of that model’s all-time lowest price. Just like that Onn TV above, we expect it to sell out fast.
Walmart
This TV is the first item listed in Walmart’s Nov. 11 pre-Black Friday ad, so expect it to sell out fast. The retailer’s Onn house brand isn’t known for world-beating image quality, but we expect it to perform about as well as the TCL 4-Series (see below) and it has the same great Roku operating system.
Sarah Tew/CNET
We haven’t reviewed Vizio’s first OLED TV yet — the company has been late shipping samples due to COVID-19 — but Vizio TVs have performed well in past reviews and this price, compared to something like the CX above, might be too good to pass up.
As with the LG CX above, there’s also a 65-inch size on sale (again to Best Buy members only) for $1,500.
Note that this deal has expired (although it could return again soon) and when it was available, it was reserved for Best Buy members only.
