Each Black Friday, we eagerly anticipate LG’s OLED TVs to plummet in price. For those who held out all year, there are often rewards in the form of hundreds of pounds worth of savings. Naturally, this puts the C-series OLEDs in the sights of consumers, who want the best picture performance for their money, and this year is no exception.
We’ve seen loads of LG C3 deals crop up already, although this might be the best one so far. You can currently get a 55-inch C3 for roughly £100 more than the 48-inch model, meaning upgrading to the larger model is kind of a no-brainer; unless you specifically want a 48-inch TV that is.
Right now at Appliances Direct, you can get the 55-inch LG C3 OLED TV for £1195, whereas the 48-inch LG C3 OLED seems to be fluctuating around the £1080 to £1189 price point depending on where you look. For that extra £100 you can seriously upgrade your viewing experience with the bigger display – something we’d certainly recommend doing.
Now we need to address the elephant in the room. We gave the 65-inch LG C3 four stars in our review, citing its higher price and lack of notable improvements over its predecessor as areas of concern, so naturally that sentiment carried through to the 55-inch model.
The good news is that now the C3 has been on the market for the best part of a year, the price has dropped significantly, and of course, Black Friday is playing a part in this currently. This negates the criticism we initially had regarding the higher price point, as this has now driven a wedge between the once similarly priced (and better performing) Sony A80L.
The 48-inch C3 OLED got a hearty recommendation right out of the gate, earning five stars from our reviews team. This is because there isn’t exactly a lot of competition at this price point, and while we did gripe with the inflated price tag, we ultimately felt that this was still the best 48-inch TV around.
We have reviewed both the 65-inch and 48-inch C3, so we’re comfortable in recommending the 55-inch based on the merits of these models, as there should be plenty of performance overlap.
So why are we recommending the 55-inch over the 48-inch? Well, for not a whole lot more money, you get quite a notable upgrade in screen size, making for a more cinematic and immersive experience. If you plan on keeping this TV for the foreseeable future, and debating whether to spend the extra £100 for the bigger size, we’d certainly endorse doing so.
There’s not much more to it if we’re honest, other than the fact that this is a good deal on a good TV, and it matches the lowest price we’ve seen for the 55-inch C3 since its launch.
So, now that we’ve cleared that up, it should make more sense as to why we’re recommending the larger model even though it’s technically not as highly rated. The real question is, what do these TVs have to offer?
If you’re a gamer, an LG C3 OLED is probably the very best TV to go for. With all four of its HDMI 2.1 sockets rated for 4K/120Hz as well as supporting VRR and ALLM, it’s a practically flawless experience for console gamers. Add a comprehensive Game Mode with quick access to key settings and you should be at the top of your game.
In terms of picture quality, the LG C3 is fairly evenly matched with its predecessor, meaning it’s quite the looker. Deep blacks and rich colours are two key characteristics of LG’s OLED TVs, and this is certainly apparent with the C3. Detail levels on both the 48-inch and 65-inch models impressed us greatly during our testing, so we expect the 55-inch model to do the same too. Overall, both C3 models that we tested carried balanced, authentic yet deeply engaging picture performances, especially when we watch content that supports Dolby Vision HDR.
Sound, on the other hand, is a bit of a damp squib on both-size models. We gave both the 65-inch and 48-inch sizes a 3 for sound, as the speakers have obviously been compromised in the pursuit of creating a TV with a super slim build. Both sets sound particularly dull and cluttered, with a distinct lack of energy and a noticeable distortion in the low ends when presented with anything mildly challenging. That’s nothing a Dolby Atmos soundbar can’t fix, and luckily there are plenty of deals on those to be had right now too.
MORE:
Check out the very best Black Friday deals
And our guide for which TV you should buy this Black Friday
As well as the best Black Friday OLED TV deals