Best Prime Day TV deals
It looks like Amazon is becoming addicted to the revenue sugar rush sparked by its Prime Day sales, scheduling a second Prime Day event this year—Prime Early Access Sale—for October 11 and 12.
There are always great deals to be hand on smart TVs at these events, and that’s sure to be the case this time around. In fact, we’ve already spotted a bunch of bargains, from mainstream to high end: LED-backlit LCDs, quantum-dot LCDs, and OLEDs from the likes of LG, Samsung, Sony, TCL, and more.
All the best smart TV operating systems are represented as well: Fire TV, Google TV, Roku, Tizen OS, and WebOS.
Best Prime Early Access Sale deals on LED-backlit LCD TVs
• Insignia F20-series Fire TV 32-inch LCD (720p) (2018 model): $99.99 (44% off)
• Insignia F30-series Fire TV 43-inch LED-backlit LCD (2021 model): $199.99 (33% off)
• Amazon Fire TV 4-series 43-inch LED-backlit LCD (2021 model): $299.99 (19% off)
• Toshiba C350-series Fire TV 50-inch LED-backlit LCD (2021 model): $299.99 (30% off)
• TCL 4-series Roku TV 55-inch LED-backlit LCD (2022 model): $319.99 (11% off)
• TCL 4-series Google 55-inch LED-backlit LCD (2022 model): $319.99 (9% off)
• Amazon Fire TV Omni Series 50-inch LCD (2021 model): $399.99 (22% off)
• Amazon Fire TV Omni-series 65-inch LCD (2021 model): $699.99 (16% off)
Best Prime Early Access Sale deals on quantum-dot TV
• Hisense U6H-series Fire TV 50-inch QLED (2022 model): $354.99 (33% off)
• Hisense U7G-series Android TV 65-inch QLED (2021 model): $748.00 (32% off)
• Samsung QN90B-series 55-inch mini-LED QLED (2022 model): $1,347.99 (29% off)
Best Prime Early Access Sale deals on OLED TVs
• LG C1-series 65-inch OLED (2021 model): $1,296.99 (14% off)
• LG B1-series 65-inch OLED (2021 model): $1,596.99 (31% off)
• Samsung S95B 55-inch OLED (2022 model): $1,597.99 (27% off)
• Sony Bravia XR A80K-series Google TV 65-inch OLED (2022 model): $1,698.00 (26% off)
• Sony Bravia XR A90J-series Google TV 48-inch OLED (2021 model): $1,798.00 (28% off)
Amazon Prime Early Access Sale TV deals: Buying advice
What is the Amazon Prime Early Access Sale?
It’s effectively a sequel to Amazon’s annual Prime Day sales event, which ran for two days last July, and a precursor to the e-tailer’s expected Black Friday sale the day after Thanksgiving. Amazon is billing the event as “a chance to kick off the holiday shopping season early with hundreds of thousands of deals.”
When does the Amazon Prime Early Access Sale start?
The sales event kicks off at 12:00 a.m. Pacific time on Tuesday, October 11 and wraps up on Wednesday, October 12. You don’t need to wait for the sale to grab the TV deals listed above.
What’s required to participate in the Prime Early Access Sale?
You must be an Amazon Prime member to qualify for the deals offered during Amazon Prime Early Access Sale. Amazon Prime costs $139 a year or $14.99 a month. In addition to deals like the ones above, you’ll get access to Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Music, free delivery on Amazon purchase, a one-year subscription to Grubhub+ for free delivery from participating restaurants (usually $9.99 per month), and other benefits.
If you haven’t done so lately, you can also sign up for a free 30-day trial to Amazon Prime. You can score all the deals and cancel your membership without penalty after the sale.
What kinds of TVs will be on sale during the Prime Early Access Sale?
Expect the biggest discounts to be on older TV models, but the good news is that nearly every TV is a smart TV these days—and even if it’s just a regular TV, you can add smart features with an inexpensive dongle. High-end features like 4K resolution, HDR, HDMI, ARC (Audio Return Channel), Bluetooth, and USB ports are increasingly common, even in budget-priced sets. In fact, only one of the TVs in the lists above delivers 720p resolution.
Considering that Amazon just announced a total refresh of its Omni Fire TV series, look for deep discounts on 2021 and earlier models as the e-tailer looks to clear out its existing inventory.
Any last words of advice?
Don’t overestimate the size of TV that you need, especially if you’re buying a TV for a bedroom, kitchen, or smaller room. Measure the distance you’ll typically be from the TV screen (in inches) and divide that by 1.5 to determine the ideal screen size. If your couch is six feet (72 inches) from your TV, for example, a 50-incher is more than big enough.