Is this a Good Deal?

[Eastern Girl]

I am buying a new tv and there is one on sale for $350, regularly $600. It's a 32" LCD tv, the brand is Konka. I haven't ever heard of this brand, so I am worried that it's cheap because the brand isn't that good and the tv will break down on me fairly soon after purchase. Should I get this one or pass it up and spend the cash on a better (known) brand? Appreciate the help since I am not good with this stuff at all.

[Russic]

From what I can see it's a Chinese company which tells me if you were to require repairs you may be hard pressed to find anybody who can help. I only found one guy on a message forum who claimed he worked at a store that sold them and experienced a higher than average return rate on them.

That being said $350 isn't a whole lot to spend on a tv. If you needed a quick fix I'd say go for it. If you need something to last you more than a year I'd probably save up a little more and buy something with a little more notoriety.

[OBCT]

I agree with Russic.

I'd find it very difficult to recommend an obscure brand like Konka, but for some people it might be fine (ie. very light TV usage, non-discriminating visual taste, etc).

Personally, I would avoid off-brands such as this just because of the chance that if something does go wrong, I'm probably stuck with $350 sunk into a broken\damaged TV. Reputable retailers with excellent customer service and a good return policy go a long ways, too.

[ken0042]

My grandpa always said that he wasn't rich enough to afford to buy cheap stuff. That being said I did buy a couple of entry level Insignia TVs a couple of years ago and haven't had any issues.

But I just took my 18 year old Sony to the recylers a few weeks ago.

Is it a good price? Yes. And if you are stuck without a TV then it might be the way to go. But keep in mind Boxing day is a couple of months away, and prices on electronics go down, not up. You can expect to see entry level Sony 32" going for $600, and other brands like Sharp going for $500.

In the mean time, keep your eyes open. Check redflagdeals.com a few times a week, let your friends know what you are looking for (especially your guy friends) and leave no stone unturned. I've seen deals at Home Depot, and be sure to check the Dell Days of deals for something coming up this week.

Another question, would a 26" brand name be a better deal for you?

[Eastern Girl]

I'm not really concerned about size, so I am not against getting a 26" or even less. (I am currently using my moms 19" tv.) I am mostly concerned about longevity. I don't mind ponying up a little more cash for something that will last a little longer than a cheaper, lesser known brand. I am just not informed enough about this kind of stuff to know which brands or models are worth it and which should be avoided. I've been told to avoid RCA, that's about it.

There was a 26" at Costco for about $469ish, it was a ViewSonic. Good brand or no? I hadn't ever heard of it.

Thanks for the help so far everyone.

[RW99]

My comparison, both my roommate and I bought TV's at the same time. I bought Samsung and he bought Insignia or one of those cheap brands. A year and a half later mine is still going strong and his has been sitting in the trash room of our building for the past 3 weeks

[Eastern Girl]

I never knew that Insignia was a cheap brand. I thought it was supposed to be a good one, maybe not as good as Sony or Samsung, but not terrible either.

[Dion]

My late father always bought the cheap brands bragging to me about the price. A year later his great bargain was always in the trash bin

Buy a quality brand name.

[dobbles]

i have had good luck with off brands. my lcd tv is a symphony. been going strong for over 2 years. had a composite jack go out, but it had multiple inputs so no biggie. i have bought off brand pc's in the past such as proteva and good ole emachines. i have purchased 2 lcd monitors for my computer that were hanns-g. first one worked great and the 2nd one was buggy but they sent me a new one no problem.

so i have had good experience. essentially the risk you are taking is that you will not have a good experience...

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Eastern Girl

There was a 26" at Costco for about $469ish, it was a ViewSonic. Good brand or no? I hadn't ever heard of it.

Viewsonic used to be the best of the inexpensive CRT computer monitors about 6 years ago. I'm not sure if that success has translated into LCDs or not.

And I just checked and Dell is selling their TVs, so they can't be all that bad.

But my previous advice stands to wait until Boxing Day to get yourself a Sony or equivilant 32" for $600. Keeping in mind that a 32" TV is 52% bigger than a 26" TV. Handy tool for comparing TV sizes

[Phanuthier]

If you have the $ to spend EG, get something better. With this cheaper / no name brands, you really get what you pay for with electronics. Poorer reliability, shorter lifetime, poorer quality etc.

[ken0042]

Just found you a decent 32" TV for $600.
http://www.leons.ca/shared/product/p...ItemId=1390545
I used a Calgary postal code- T2T 2T2. Not sure if pricing is different in Ontario.

[Phanuthier]

Check out tigerdirect and newegg too

[Eastern Girl]

I can't wait til boxing day. My dad has offered to buy me a tv for my birthday, so it will be bought within the week. Since my dad is buying, I have a little bit of cash to spend, though because I am cheap, I am still unwilling to spend large amounts of money if I can avoid that.

So, what brands are people suggesting, mainly Samsung and Sony? Any others that are good?

[photon]

Sony! I have two and probably won't buy a different brand. Tried a few other ones but switched back.

Stay away from 26 inch and the smaller ones IMO, the prices are almost the same as the 32 inch ones (unless you really want a 26 inch one).

Viewsonic is a reputable brand in TV's their warranty is going to be honoured at the very least.

Westinghouse is also a decent brand outside the top group.

[Eastern Girl]

Thanks for the help everyone.

How about this one: Sharp 19" HD LCD tv, for $368.

Also, there's a brand called Prima, is that a good one?

[Fozzie_DeBear]

You can't go wrong with Panasonic...and its easy to read reviews on various TVs on Amazon.com

[Rathji]

We bought my mom a real nice 32' Samsung last year on boxing day for $599, I know I have seen the same size @ Costco for the same price in the last few weeks, but of a lesser brand.

Costco has a pretty liberal return policy as well.

[jammies]

Viewsonic monitors are excellent for the money. Their TVs I don't have much experience with, but presumably much of the tech is shared. I'd stay away from the real cheapies, you end up spending more in the end going that route unless you happen to get lucky.

Like Photon wrote, don't bother getting a small HDTV - the bigger ones aren't all that much more expensive, plus under a certain size the picture is too small to take any real advantage of being HD. That being said, I recently got a 32" Sharp Aquos and the picture quality is much better than any cheapies I've seen, so a smaller Sharp won't let you down.

[Vulcan]

A 19" widescreen will be smaller than an ordinary 19", especially while showing Standard Definition programing. I'd look for a 32" like that LG Ken linked to. It's at Best Buy for the same $599. I own a similar LG 32" and it's been fine for me. I'd rate LG only slightly below the big three of Sony, Sharp and Samsung.

http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/prodde...26&catid=23244