The awesome Sony A80L is cheaper than ever for Black Friday – but you shouldn't buy it

The Sony A80L and LG C4 TVs photographed next to one another with the same image of a golfer being sprayed with champagne on both

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Full Swing)

The Sony A80L is an absolutely stunning OLED TV – so much so that it more or less romped to victory in last year's What Hi-Fi? Awards, leaving rivals including the LG C3 in its dust.

And now, for Black Friday, the 55-inch and 65-inch versions of the Sony A80L have hit their lowest-ever prices: the 55-inch Sony A80L is down to £1149 at Amazon, while the 65-inch model is £1549 at Amazon.

On the face of them, those are great deals, but I'm here to tell you that you shouldn't buy the Sony A80L right now, despite how good it is. That's because the LG C4 is newer, better – and even cheaper.

Yep, right now you can pick up the 55-inch LG C4 for just £1144 at Amazon, and the 65-inch LG C4 is just £1498 at Amazon.

LG was rather taken aback by how much its C3 was trounced by the Sony A80L last year, so it set out for a big upgrade with this year's C4. The result is a TV that's even sharper, punchier and crisper than the A80L, but with all of the additional niceties we've come to expect from LG's OLEDs, such as the super-slick webOS smart platform, excellent picture presets, and four HDMI 2.1 sockets that all support the 4K/120Hz, VRR and ALLM gaming features.

And while the C4 doesn't sound as good as the Sony A80L, it does sound decent by TV standards. Besides, picture quality as good as this demands a dedicated sound system, so I heartily recommend that you budget for at least a soundbar regardless of which TV you choose.

Of course, you can buy an even better TV than the LG C4. The Sony Bravia 8 is touch better, but it's a few hundred pounds more expensive. Ditto the LG G4 and Samsung S95D.

Ultimately, the LG C4 is the very best performance-per-pound TV you can buy right now – there's no other model that I would spend my own money on.

MORE:

Here are all of the best Black Friday deals

Here's our full LG C4 review

These are the very best TVs you can buy right now

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Tom Parsons has been writing about TV, AV and hi-fi products (not to mention plenty of other 'gadgets' and even cars) for over 15 years. He began his career as What Hi-Fi?'s Staff Writer and is now the TV and AV Editor. In between, he worked as Reviews Editor and then Deputy Editor at Stuff, and over the years has had his work featured in publications such as T3, The Telegraph and Louder. He's also appeared on BBC News, BBC World Service, BBC Radio 4 and Sky Swipe. In his spare time Tom is a runner and gamer.