To try to better understand how long a TV should last, we're running 100 TVs through an accelerated longevity test for the next two years. We've just posted our results after eight months, see our latest updates.
We've bought and tested more than 35 Vizio TVs. Vizio offers competitive performance in each price bracket their products cover. For many years, they were a leading brand for value compared to price as their TVs tend to perform great in dark rooms, but they've slowly lost their lead over the past few years as the brand's release schedule has slowed down. They don't release many models anymore, so their models are now older, and most of them are hard to find.
Updates
- 02/09/2023 Vizio M6 Series Quantum 2021 updated
- 10/19/2022 Vizio M Series Quantum X 2022 reviewed
- 10/11/2022 Vizio V Series 2022 reviewed
- 10/06/2022 Vizio M6 Series Quantum 2022 reviewed
- 08/04/2022 Vizio V Series 2020 updated
Best Vizio Smart TVs
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Best Vizio TV
Mixed Usage8.7Movies9.2TV Shows8.1Sports8.5Video Games9.1HDR Movies8.7HDR Gaming8.9PC Monitor8.7The Vizio OLED 2020 is the best Vizio TV we've tested. It's an older model, originally released in 2020, and delivers the best picture quality of any Vizio TV. Like more recent OLED models from competing brands, it delivers perfect blacks in a dark room, with no distracting blooming around bright areas of the screen. HDR looks incredible thanks to its nearly infinite contrast ratio, as bright highlights stand out.
It's excellent for gaming, thanks to its low input lag, for a responsive gaming experience. It also supports a variable refresh rate feature, significantly reducing screen tearing in games. Sadly, it's not as good as more recent TVs for recent consoles, as it can't display 4k @ 120Hz signals properly in 'Game' mode. It's also very hard to find this TV brand new, so you might have to look for a refurbished model.
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Best Upper Mid-Range Vizio TV
Mixed Usage7.6TV Shows7.2Sports7.4Video Games8.3HDR Movies7.4HDR Gaming8.4PC Monitor8.0The best upper mid-range Vizio TV we've tested is the Vizio P Series Quantum 2021. While OLEDs like the Vizio OLED 2020 are fantastic for dark rooms, go for an LED TV like this if you want something for a room with many bright lights, as it has the peak brightness needed to fight glare. It has excellent SDR peak brightness and better reflection handling than the Vizio M Series Quantum X 2022.
HDR content looks incredible thanks to its fantastic contrast ratio and decent full array local dimming feature. Combined with its good peak brightness in HDR, bright highlights stand out well, with very little blooming around bright objects in dark scenes. It also has great gradient handling and an amazing color gamut in HDR, so overall, it delivers an impressive HDR experience.
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Best Mid-Range Vizio TV
Mixed Usage7.4TV Shows6.8Sports7.1Video Games8.2HDR Movies7.3HDR Gaming8.3PC Monitor8.1The best mid-range Vizio TV we've tested is the Vizio M Series Quantum X 2022. It's a very good TV with high peak brightness and amazing contrast. Combined with this TV's decent full array local dimming feature, HDR content looks great, as bright highlights stand out well and look the way the content creator intended. It also has an excellent wide color gamut and great color volume, so your favorite HDR content looks vivid and realistic.
It's also a great gaming TV, with low input lag and a great response time, so there's little blur behind fast-moving objects. It has a few gaming features, including FreeSync variable refresh rate technology (VRR) to reduce screen tearing. It supports 4k @ 120Hz gaming, but sadly it only supports HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on one port, so you can't take full advantage of two consoles at once. It performs similarly to the more expensive Vizio P Series Quantum 2021 but has much worse reflection handling, so it's not as well-suited for a bright room.
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Best Budget Vizio TV
Mixed Usage6.7TV Shows6.2Sports6.4Video Games7.4HDR Movies6.5HDR Gaming7.7PC Monitor7.4The best Vizio TV in the budget category we've tested is the Vizio M6 Series Quantum 2022. It's an okay, budget-friendly 4k TV that's surprisingly well-equipped for a budget model. It has many of the same features as the Vizio M Series Quantum X 2022, but it delivers worse picture quality overall, and it's limited to a 60Hz refresh rate. It's still great for gamers who want to enjoy a nice 4k image with the latest consoles but don't necessarily care about high-performance gaming.
It has a high native contrast ratio, allowing it to display deep blacks next to bright whites in a dark room. Although it lacks a local dimming feature, it has good black uniformity overall, with little cloudiness in dark scenes. It also has a fantastic color gamut, just as wide as the M Series Quantum X 2022, so HDR content looks surprisingly vivid, even though it's not that bright.
Compared To Other Brands
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Competitively priced.
For the same features, Vizio TVs are priced very competitively. In some cases, they're several hundred dollars cheaper than the competition. -
Great picture quality in a dark room.
All their higher-end and mid-range models have a full-array local dimming backlight, which helps to produce deep blacks. -
Good gaming features.
Vizio TVs usually include gaming features like FreeSync support, even in their budget-friendly models.
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Quality control issues.
From firmware issues to a cheaper design/look, Vizio TVs feel like they cut some corners. AÂ lot of the issues are eventually fixed with firmware updates, but not all of them. -
Sub-par upscaling.
Low-quality content like DVDs or SD channels doesn't look as sharp as it does on other brands. -
HDR experience leaves a lot to be desired.
You likely won't get a satisfying HDR experience unless you get the flagship LED TVs. Their low-to-mid-range TVs don't get bright enough to make highlights pop. -
Limited smart interface.
The Vizio SmartCast interface feels laggy and often crashes, and you can't download any extra apps besides the pre-installed ones.
Vizio vs Samsung
Generally, high-end Samsung TVs outperform Vizio TVs but cost more. Some people might not like Vizio's SmartCast platform because it has a lot of bugs. Samsung TVs are more versatile with options with wide viewing angles, and they tend to get brighter.
Vizio vs Sony
Unlike Sony, Vizio offers inexpensive entry-level TVs with good value. Sony TVs are usually brighter and have more polish in their construction, and they tend to have exceptional image processing. Plus, their Google-based smart features include Vizio's Chromecast capabilities and more. Sony TVs are usually more expensive, so they're not ideal if you're on a budget.
Vizio vs LG
LG's LCD TVs are nothing to write home about; Vizio has a better variety of entry-level and mid-range LCD TVs for sale, and they're better than LG's LCDs. However, LG has the widest variety of OLEDs for sale out of any TV manufacturer, and their OLEDs range from the entry-level 'A' Series to the extremely expensive 8k 'Z' series. These OLEDs are generally better than anything Vizio has to offer.
Vizio vs Hisense
Hisense is a 'budget' brand like Vizio, but they're much more active and routinely releasing new models. Not only do they have a wider variety of TVs than Vizio offers, but Hisense's offerings are of very high quality for the price, so you're more likely to find what you're looking for when shopping for a Hisense when compared to Vizio.
Vizio vs TCL
TCL used to be a 'budget' brand like Hisense and Vizio, but their TVs have been creeping up in price. Still, they're generally cheaper than the big-name brands and offer various quality TVs at every price point. They're much more active in the market than Vizio is, so much like with Hisense, you're more likely to find a good quality TV at an attractive price when shopping for a TCL than you will with Vizio at the moment.
Overall, Vizio TVs are well-priced and have great picture quality. However, they don't have the high-end feel of some other brands, and their OS is laggy at times and not as full-featured as the competitors, as there are often a ton of bugs associated with their TVs that can even get worse over time. If you don't care about your TV's smart features, most Vizios offer good value.
Lineup
Vizio's lineup is straightforward, as they have very few models, but they have made some changes that can be a bit confusing. Their entry-level 4k TV is the V Series, while the D Series has 1080p or 720p options. Moving up, they have the mid-range M Series Quantum, P Series Quantum, and finally, the flagship P Series Quantum X. Often, it's unclear from the model name which year it's from unless specified, but the model codes make it a bit clearer. For example, the 2021 TVs use J in the model code, and those from 2020 have H (M65Q7-J01 is a 2021 TV, while the M65Q-H1 is 2020).
Vizio names their TVs a bit differently from other manufacturers. Most of their current lineup was announced and released in the second half of 2021, and they call it their 2022 lineup. Vizio doesn't seem very focused on their TV lineup, as they stopped selling TVs in Canada entirely and have released very few new TV models since 2020. They released a handful of mid-range models in 2022 and have yet to announce new models for release in 2023.
Vizio Smart Features
Vizio TVs run the SmartCast platform, which is very basic, with a very limited selection of apps and no app store. Instead, it relies on its ability to receive content cast from your smart device. While the platform is versatile and has considerably grown in support from app makers, Vizio's implementation is far from perfect. The SmartCast app Vizio provides to access content and adjust settings isn't the fastest and most stable, and not everything is available for casting.
Interface
SmartCast features a more traditional home screen. Apps like Amazon Prime Video and Netflix are available, and featured links to content are found on the online TV service Pluto TV. Unfortunately, there's no app store, and apps aren't installed on the TV; they're links to web-based interfaces.
Vizio's improved the set of options you can change from the TV itself. You don't need to touch the SmartCast app to get the TV going properly; even complete calibration settings are available on the on-screen menus. However, we recommend using the app for more in-depth calibration since it's a lot more efficient for making a lot of adjustments.
Ad-free
For many years Vizio remained one of the few brands that didn't open their interface to advertisers. Starting with the Vizio M7 Series Quantum 2021 and Vizio V5 Series 2021, we noticed that there's now suggested content on the home page.
Apps & Features
Current Vizio TVs don't have an app store, and there's no way to add additional apps. The included apps cover many of the more popular services. However, it might not be enough for some people, especially if you rely on streaming services instead of a traditional TV service.
Voice Controls
Vizio finally added support for voice controls with the release of their 2021 TVs with the new remote (see below). It's pretty basic and not as advanced as other brands, but you can still ask it to change inputs and open apps, but you can't ask it to search for specific content in apps.
Remote
Vizio released a new remote with their 2021 models. It's stripped-down compared to the past version, as it lacks a Numpad, but you still get the short buttons to popular streaming services. It's not too big, but it's very basic and doesn't have backlighting.
Remote App
The Vizio remote app is great. It supports all the remote's functions, and you can even use it to enter text into some apps, which is rare. The TV's settings can also be controlled and adjusted directly in the app, including the TV's calibration. You can now do this on the TV itself, but changing the settings through the remote app is usually faster due to the slow interface.
Known Issues
The SmartCast platform isn't very versatile, and bugs are common. Some of Vizio's firmware updates are buggy at best, and users have reported that updates break certain features entirely. Vizio isn't very quick to fix these issues, either, and there are reported problems affecting 2020, 2021, and 2022 models that still haven't been fixed.
Recent Updates
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Jul 04, 2023: Added comparisons with LG, Hisense, and TCL and refreshed the text for accuracy and consistency.
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Mar 27, 2023: Verified our picks for accuracy and consistency, and refreshed the text.
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Dec 20, 2022: Verified our picks for accuracy and refreshed the text.
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Oct 19, 2022: Added the Vizio M Series Quantum X 2022 as the 'Best Mid-Range TV', and replaced the 'Best Budget' pick with the Vizio M6 Series Quantum 2022.
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May 30, 2022: Renamed the Vizio OLED to the 'Best Vizio TV' to reflect user needs and renamed the Vizio P Series Quantum 2021 to the 'Best For Bright Rooms'.
Conclusion
In general, Vizio TVs have great picture quality for their price, offering good value. However, there are often a ton of bugs associated with their TVs, so you have to prepare to face that if you want a Vizio. Their smart platform leaves much to be desired, though, and some people might want to consider upgrading to a set-top box like a Roku or NVIDIA Shield TV.