Finding the Best TV For You

When I started elm in 2008, the example I gave during our fund raising pitch was always “It’s not how you find the best TV out there, it’s how you find the best TV out there for you”. The process of understanding all the specs and new technology terms was overwhelming, and usually drove people to go to the store to buy a TV (6 in 7 sales start online but end up at a local store). To prove that you can confidently buy a TV in your pajamas, we did an experiment and tracked the top 20 selling TV’s on Amazon using their “Best Sellers Link” (50 TV’s made the list during the month). For me, the fact that those TV’s are selling well means that they are the right combination of quality and price to make them enticing to buyers. Now which of those TV’s is best for you?

You can get the full answer from our HDTV buying guide, but by far, the two biggest points that drive TV purchase are size and price, so we looked at those two variables across the best sellers. Here is what we found:

Size – Size is critically important, because your picture quality is affected by how far you are sitting from the TV(see our chart in the guide for your ideal size). Whether you are looking for the ideal size for optimal viewing, or a specific size based on other factors, here’s a breakdown of what you can expect to get in each size range. Pay a little more than the average price, and your picture quality and size improve.

Price – Everyone watches their pocket book when it comes to big ticket purchases, so I did a similar analysis as above, but broken down by price range and what you can expect to get for your money. Here again, the higher you are in the range, the better picture quality and larger TV you can expect to get.

Just as a reminder, the information above reflects only best selling items, so it’s a measure of what people are actually buying not what you get for the MSRP price, which is then heavily discounted and therefore useless. If you want help choosing one of the 50 TV’s studied last month (or new best sellers as we update the list) please try our guide. It’s free and you are only a few minutes away from the right TV and a better understanding of your needs.

More products to come soon…