Should you pre-order the LG C5? This 5-star OLED TV is excellent, but there’s a catch

Myself and the What Hi-Fi? reviews team finally finished testing the LG C5 last week.

After arduous amounts of comparative testing in our dedicated viewing rooms we gave it a perfect five-star rating and reported:

“LG's latest C-series OLED TV delivers a rich, punchy and crisp image that's easy to enjoy, while its four HDMI 2.1 sockets continue its legacy as a go-to gaming TV.”

This is a big achievement as C-series OLEDs have been staple sights in our best TV, best OLED TV, best gaming TV and best 40-inch TV guides for over half a decade.

It also explains why, if you’re after a new OLED TV, you’re likely hovering over the pre-order button on the LG Store.

But before you do, as a reviewer who has helped test every C-series OLED since the line launched, I have one bit of advice: unless you’re an early adopter who insists on only buying the latest model, you’re probably better off waiting.

Here’s why.

We don’t recommend new TVs straight away for a reason

What Hi-Fi? always reviews with performance-per-pound/dollar in mind. This means that while we have a baseline standard we expect any product to hit if it’s going to get a recommendation, our advice does shift over time.

This is particularly true of OLED TVs, which tend to get very hefty discounts after they launch.

This is why, as I noted many moons ago covering this exact debate about the LG C2 and LG C3, we don’t often recommend buying new TVs straight away.

This remains true of the LG C5, which costs a lot more than its outgoing sibling the LG C4 right now.

You can pre-order the 55-inch LG C5 we reviewed for £1900 / $1999 and the 65-inch LG C5 for £2699 / $2699 on the LG Store.

There are benefits to pre-ordering, including a free (three-star) LG USC9S soundbar. In isolation the price is also impressive in that it matches the C4’s launch RRP. Most electronics’ launch prices are going up due to inflation.

But, myself and the wider What Hi-Fi? team would still currently recommend investing in a heavily discounted LG C4 instead if you need a new OLED this very second.

If you shop around you can find some stellar deals on the C4. For example at the time of publishing the 55-inch LG C4 was selling for just £1099 / $1199 and the 65-inch C5 for £1499 / $1499 on Amazon.

That’s not to say the C5 isn’t better. During testing it delivered higher peak brightness levels and much better colour volume, particularly during low light scenes. But it’s not a big enough upgrade to justify that much extra cash.

Even if you’re dead-set on the C5 being your next TV and have no interest in the C4, I’d still recommend waiting as C-series OLEDs in particular follow a pattern when it comes to price.

Look at the graph tracking LG C4 prices on Amazon below and you’ll see they tend to get their first big discounts at the end of June / start of July.

They then outright plummet the year after, when LG announces its new models for the year at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.

I’m expecting the pattern to repeat with the C5, so we think it’s worth waiting until at least then. For a couple of months’ worth of patience you could save a lot of money.

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