Budget-priced TVs can be appealing, especially if you haven't yet made the jump to 4K and are daunted by $1,000-plus price tags. Be careful when you see a great deal on a TV, though, even if it says 4K HDR. It could be a steal, or it could be a disappointment. Performance among budget TVs varies wildly and trends toward the mediocre. You might find a few good deals, like the TCL Q7 Class that manage to combine excellent picture quality with a reasonable price. You are also likely to find a sea of cheap TVs that don't measure up in one way or another. Don't count on big names to be reliably high-quality in their budget lines, either. Although companies like LG, Samsung, and Sony can make some incredible flagship TVs, their inexpensive models generally aren't any better than baseline models from more budget-centric brands like Hisense and TCL—and they're usually a bit more expensive. As always, our reviews (and the picture quality tests we perform) can help you find a screen that doesn't trade quality for the price. For the top budget-friendly models we've tested, head over to our story on the best cheap TVs.