MarathonMom—April 25, 2018
Great TV! My old TV was a 40" HDTV that was about 8 years old. I am surprised it lasted as long as it did, but it suddenly died and I needed a replacement. I saw the TCL line on Amazon and thought it was worth a try for the price. There are some really bad reviews for this TV out there, but my experience is very different. It arrived in perfect shape, and was easy to hook up. We hung it on the wall with an Amazon TV mount which was honestly the hardest part. I have never hung a TV on a wall before, so that was odd but awesome. Once you account for the mounting process, I had this set up and running in about 5 minutes flat. That included putting it up on the Wi-Fi, updating the software, and signing in to all my subscriptions. This is my first smart TV, but the Roku interface is sweet and really easy to use. I have no dead pixels, no lines, no problems at all. This is also my first UHD-TV, it was a big upgrade for us LOL! The picture is exactly what I would expect for a TV in this price range. Sure, your Sony and Samsung TVs are going to be crisper and richer, but they are also like 3 times the price. This is a solid set. Picture is better than my HD set and I feel completely satisfied with it. The blacks are not true blacks and more like really dark gray at times, but again look at the price. This was a 49" UHD set for under $300. Be realistic with your expectations. The remote is simply and smll which is nice because I am already using a soung bar and a DVR from the cable company and have no room for extra remotes around. I downloaded the Roku app on my phone and just use that instead. No issures as of yet. Now, the set is still only a day old, but if this changes I will update my review for you. I would say it is well worth the risk in trying this set out, especially if you are on a budget. Also, they sell these at Target, so if you want to see it running then check out the store. Amazon was still much cheaper though, so I stuck with them. Read more
stumpedI—November 30, 2017
Pro's: it's smaller than the 42 inch 1080p westing house tv it replaced. it uses 95 watts instead of 300 the westinghouse used. it weights 1/3 the weight of the old monitor one person can lift this (once you take it out of the packaging which weighs as much or more than this tv does. It was a box to hold a 49 inch tv bubble wrapped on all sides and inserted in a box for a 85 inch tv. double packaged. it arrived in good condition with no visible damage. IT has roku, it has a lot of internet sources for viiwing tv or movies. amazon hbo showtime youtube dramafever and many others. the picture is very nice super improvement over my 42 inch 1080p tv. I got it on black friday for around 350 so the price was good. the cons: it's not 3d, everything (due to 4x the resolution) is 4x as small unless its a video upscaled to full screen or an actual 4k video. I use this as a computer monitor just like i did the 42 inch 1080p westinghouse. and i have to squint now cus the writing is so small. also this does not have a computer standard monitor socket on it.. you have to use hdmi.. which my computer has ONE.. but now i have to choose.. who does my computer supply.. the projector.. the tv or.. whatever else i could use hdmi socket on my computer for. so i have to buy an adaptor to convert the videocards output to hdmi to use both my monitor and projector as extended screen. I wish all tv's would come with an input socket for standard video signals from a computer video card. like my old westinghouse did. I'm sure there are other cons.. considering this is a low cost item.. but i think it's on the high end of quality and features for the low cost realm. What i really wanted was a LG OLED but they started at $1400.00. Perhaps the greatest con of all is that this monitor deserves a better computer.. I had wanted to buy a $4000.00 computer but not one thing was reduced for black friday.. so instead io bought this monitor. and it really does deserve a better computer. for the money you can't go wrong with this monitor.. i'm very happy to have joined the realm of UHD 49' roku tv's. The 55' was only 50 dollars more.. but i opted for this one because of the reduced electrical requirements. now i'm hving buyers remores.. 55' would have had larger text! update: this thing is still ticking.. i love it more each and every day. this is one of the best investments i have ever made for my computer setup. I do not need any more tv's i have 2 monitor/tv's i do not use now.. but on amazon day the one thing that drew me the most.. was the TCL tv exactly like this one except the next smaller size.. i didnt even NEED it but wanted to buy it cus i like this one so much.. and it was only 200? or 250?.. yep i STILL love this TCL49s405 49 inch 4k ultra hd roku smart led tv! Read more
Jasper62—December 13, 2017
For the price you can't beat this TV. While it is a 4k TV, the 4k content is not quite as crisp as some of the higher end models but that is ok. I wanted a TV that didn't break the bank. The picture is overall very clear, and we use this sometimes to double as a computer monitor, sitting about 4-5 feet away. The sound is surprisingly pretty good for a TV these days. We still plan to get a sound bar, but we watch TV ~6 feet away and the sound is clear and overall works well. I actually really like the layout of the menu. I haven't used a lot of others, but compared to some of the samsung menu's I think this is easier to navigate and makes more sense. I have not had any problems with WiFi as some mention. Every now and then I'll restart the TV if it doesn't connect right off, but that may be the router and not the TV. I've never had problems with it dropping the connection. I have used screen mirroring with it for my phone, I have a BLU phone. It worked great. There is even a way to do it just through a router (not connected to internet). You first need to connect the TV to the router when there is an internet connection, then just look up how to "disable network ping" on the TV and your TV will stay connected to the router alone, then you can use the router as an access point for screen mirroring. Overall great for the price, have had it a few months now and I"m very pleased. Would definitely recommend if you're looking for a budget 4k smart TV Read more
