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- The TCL C6KS was a five-star Best Buy award winner in early November.
- It’s received price cuts across its six screen sizes, all of which represent all-time new low prices. The 50in and 75in models are particularly stellar value at £349 and £639.
- Picture performance, gaming specification, design and smart functionality and superb for the money.
I’ve been tracking Black Friday TV deals for the past couple of weeks, and unearthed plenty of certified bangers. But there’s one TV that I’ve found myself recommending time and again when asked which set people should buy: the TCL C6KS.
Before reading John Archer’s review of the C6KS a couple of weeks ago, I was sure that it would be its more expensive stablemate, the TCL C7K, that would be the star of the Black Friday TV show. The 55in model of that television blew me away with blazing brightness, brilliant colours and a great gaming spec, all the while keeping the price borderline bonkers.
Then the quantum dot-powered Mini LED C6KS came along, making a few compromises here and there, but ones that your average Black Friday TV buyer is likely willing to make to save cash. So, if you’re considering buying a new TV this Black Friday and don’t want to push the boat out on a premium option, I’d urge you to consider the TCL C6KS very seriously.
Mid-range performance for entry-level prices
Below, I’ve outlined the five key reasons why it’s such a great TV for the money and is the perfect addition to your living room ahead of a home entertainment-packed festive period.
1. It’s eminently affordable
Our research has revealed that a sizeable proportion of consumers give themselves a budget of around £500 when buying a new TV. The three smaller screen sizes of the TCL C6KS (50in, 55in and 65in) all fall under or very close to this figure, as outlined below.
- 50in TCL C6KS: £349 (versus average price in the past 180 days of £418)
- 55in TCL C6KS: £416 (versus average price in the past 180 days of £468)
- 65in TCL C6KS: £532 (versus average price in the past 180 days of £614)
To be clear, only the prices on the 50in and 65in options are being classified as “Black Friday deals” by Amazon, but all three are best-ever prices for an award-winning TV.
2. It’s available in an enormous 75in screen size
In addition to the three popular sizes detailed above, the TCL C6KS is available with a super-sized 75in screen. TCL has really been pushing sets of 75in and up, and the pricing for the 75in C6KS makes having an enormous telly more accessible than ever, assuming you’ve got the space to accommodate it.
- 75in TCL C6KS: £639 (versus average price in the past 180 days of £852)
What you’re paying for each inch of screen real estate is frankly outrageous. It might require you to remodel your lounge, but sometimes you’ve gotta do what you gotta do.
3. It’s bright, and the picture quality is excellent
John Archer measured peak brightness at 782cd/m2 when watching SDR content in Standard mode on the 50in TCL C6KS. That’s an incredible result given most TVs at this price point are lucky to hit 350cd/m2.
Brightness is reined in to 333cd/m2 in the more accurate Filmmaker Mode, but that’s still an impressive score, and the TV makes up for the dip in luminance by achieving fantastic grayscale and colour accuracy scores. We measured Delta E errors of 5.3 and 6.6 in these tests, respectively, meaning that while you may see some deviation from the black, white, grey and colour targets, these aren’t going to affect your viewing experience much, if at all.
It’s a similarly impressive story when it comes to HDR content. Brightness peaks at an earball-searing 1,040cd/m2 in Standard mode, with it capping at 850cd/m2 in Movie mode. DCI-P3 (the gamut used in HDR mastering) coverage is excellent at over 93%, colours remain accurate, and there’s little loss of saturation at higher brightness levels.
Meanwhile, the local dimming zones play their part in ensuring light is controlled wonderfully well. On the 50in model, the C6KS have 160 of these to play with, while the number of zones increases as you move up through the larger models, with the 75in option utilising 312.
All-in-all, you simply won’t find better picture performance for the money being asked.
4. It has strong gaming credentials
One of the big differences between the TCL C7K and TCL C6K is that the former supports refresh rates of up to 144Hz, while the latter has a native refresh rate of 60Hz. This means it can’t support 4K at 120Hz, which is a common requirement for current-gen gamers.
However, it does support up to 144Hz via Dual-Line Gate technology if you’re willing to sacrifice resolution. If you don’t own a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X, or aren’t too fussed about playing the latest games as optimally as possible, this provision is plenty.
Plus, the C6KS supports key gaming features like Auto-Low Latency Mode (ALLM) and Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), has input lag below 10ms in Game mode, which is lightning-fast, and also supports TCLs
All of this ensures gaming feels “satisfyingly crisp and responsive”, according to Big Johnny Archer. High praise from a man who loves a bit of Call of Duty and Diablo when he’s not fiddling about with Calman Ultimate and a calibrator.
5. Google TV is a comprehensive smart platform
Google TV may not be the most useful TV operating system when it comes to suggesting things for you to watch, but it’s content-rich and relatively easy to navigate.
The C6KS supports all the key global streamers, including Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+, and TCL has also negotiated its way around Google’s previous blind spot of not carrying the UK TV catch-up apps. BBC iPlayer, ITVX, All4 and My5 are all present and correct; there’s no Freely, which is a shame, but the comprehensive selection of available platforms should meet all but the most pedantic of viewers’ needs.
One final word of encouragement
On top of all the above, the C6KS somehow manages to look more premium than its price tag suggests. The Chinese brand’s Mini LED range really has set a new standard for what should be expected at certain price points, and the TCL C6KS currently stands head and shoulders above the competition in terms of performance per pound spent.
If you want to upgrade your TV, we’d recommend it without hesitation, especially with further discounts being applied during the Black Friday period.
For those interested in seeing what other great offers are around during the annual sales event, we’ve put together a list of the best deals across a range of categories in our Black Friday hub. Happy shopping!
