Super Bowl TV sales are everywhere. Here’s how to get the best deal.

    One of the best things about the Super Bowl every year is the deals it brings on TVs. Retailers offer bargains to football fans wanting to watch the big game on a bigger TV. This also coincides with manufacturers introducing the latest 2021 models at CES. To make room for those new TVs, retailers discount older models.

   Shopping for a new TV is more difficult than in years past because there are more brands to choose from. TCL, Toshiba, and Vizio have recently upped the competition with bigger brands Sony, LG, and Samsung. But while the newcomers are less expensive, there is a trade-off in quality and picture.

 According to reviews by Consumer Reports in an article titled “Why It Doesn’t Always Pay to Buy a Cheap TV”, the major brands (LG, Samsung, and Sony) tend to perform better than the less expensive models. 

What’s with OLED, QLED, HDR and UHD

   Oled is the top-of-the-line model from brands Sony and LG while Samsung’s technology is called QLED. TCL also recently branded its best TV’s “QLED”. 

OLED stands for “organic light-emitting diode. QLED stands for quantum dot LED TV

Generally, in most all tests, OLED shines brighter than QLED TVs. See the comparison here on CNET 

UHD and HDR are similar but also have different technology. HDR is high-dynamic-range, UHD is ultra-high definition. The difference gets pretty technical but both offer more colors which means the picture quality appears much brighter. Consumer Reports has an excellent explanation here. 

 If you watch a lot of sports on the TV you’ll be buying, or if video games are a priority make sure to check the refresh rate before making a purchase. The higher the Hz, the faster the pixels change from one picture to the next which means a much smoother picture when there’s fast-moving action. 120Hz is best but usually costs more than TVs with refresh rates of 60Hz.

Another tip is if you have a brand of TV you’ve been happy with, stick to that brand with your next TV purchase. There’s nothing worse than being unhappy with a purchase you made to save $100.  

Shop around on the Super Bowl TV sales. I found one 70″ LG TV for sale at Amazon for $900 and the same TV was around $600 at Walmart, Best Buy, and Target.

Shopping for TVs online is easier of course but nothing beats seeing what a TV picture looks like in person. 

65″ TVs are the most popular size now and if you aren’t sure if your room or wall is big enough for a TV that size or larger, try using Amazon’s “see it in your room” feature in the Amazon app. Using augmented reality you can select the TV you’d like to try and using the camera on your smartphone you can see how it would appear in the room. It might save you some money if a smaller TV would be a better fit.

 

more about Amazon’s shopping tool