Amazon's Omni QLED TV is super-cheap for Black Friday, but you should buy this rival instead

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

No, it's not really Black Friday (that's next week, on the 28th), but all of the Black Friday sales are already live, and most TVs won't get cheaper than they are now.

And if we're talking cheap TVs, we have to talk about the 50-inch version of Amazon's own Omni QLED model, which has just dropped to a ridiculously low £300 at Amazon.

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You might imagine that an Amazon-made TV would be a bit pants, but when we reviewed the 50-inch Omni QLED, we found it to be a really balanced and likeable performer with great ease-of-use and a predictably strong smart platform.

In fact, we awarded it five stars at its full price of £650, so this deal is genuinely great.

But it's not the best cheap TV deal around right now.

No, that prize goes to the 50-inch TCL C6KS, which is currently £349 at Amazon.

Yes, it's £50 more expensive than the Omni QLED, and yes, its price drop is less dramatic, but its simply a better TV. Quite a lot better, in fact.

The TCL 50C6KS is a serious bargain, and that's before this latest discount is taken into account.

It’s a Mini-LED TV with 160 dimming zones, stellar brightness and contrast, and support for all major HDR formats (HLG, HDR10, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision) – all for a price that feels almost too good to be true.

The panel features TCL's new HVA technology, which helps it deliver deep blacks, refined shadow detail, and better halo control than cheaper TVs normally manage.

Bright highlights pop without washing out, and the colour is both punchy and natural – skin tones, skies and foliage all feel balanced, not over-saturated.

On the design side, the TV is mostly plastic, but nothing about it seems cheap when you’re actually watching it. The bezels are reasonably slim and the stand is serviceable.

Performance for gaming is pretty solid: there’s VRR and ALLM support, and the input lag is very low (9.9 ms). It’s only a 60Hz panel, but that's to be expected at this level, and the HDR in games feels satisfying and punchy.

The smart platform is Google TV, which gives you all the usual streaming apps plus voice control. Every major streaming service is supported, including all of the UK catch-up apps.

Surprisingly, the audio is very capable for a TV at this price. It supports Dolby Atmos and DTS Virtual-X, and it delivers more clarity and detail than you’d expect – dialogue stays clean, and there’s good separation, though the bass isn’t powerful. It’s not going to replace a soundbar, but for everyday viewing it’s very decent.

There are a few drawbacks: motion can look a little soft, and very bright HDR highlights sometimes suffer clipping or colour banding. But this is still, as we said in our review, “one of the year’s biggest bargains”.

It overdelivers in pretty much every area where you’d normally compromise on a budget TV, which is why it's a What Hi-Fi? Awards 2025 winner.

MORE:

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Tom Parsons has been writing about TV, AV and hi-fi products (not to mention plenty of other 'gadgets' and even cars) for over 15 years. He began his career as What Hi-Fi?'s Staff Writer and is now the TV and AV Editor. In between, he worked as Reviews Editor and then Deputy Editor at Stuff, and over the years has had his work featured in publications such as T3, The Telegraph and Louder. He's also appeared on BBC News, BBC World Service, BBC Radio 4 and Sky Swipe. In his spare time Tom is a runner and gamer.

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