TCL QM6K Mini-LED TV review

The TCL QM6K Mini-LED TV is great value for your money. It's not a replacement for an OLED TV if you want the best picture quality money can buy, but at its current $599 price point, it's a great consolation prize for those shopping on a budget.

This quantum dot-enhanced Mini-LED TV has a lot going for it. Thanks to those two aforementioned display technologies, the picture quality is impressive, even in brightly lit rooms. It gets even better when you turn on picture settings like Filmmaker mode or Dolby Vision IQ HDR, which you can turn on with ease with just a few button presses.

It's not a perfect TV. The sound quality is inconsistent enough that you'll probably want a soundbar. It handles glare fine enough, but it could still be better. The 85-inch and 98-inch panels feature a matte finish that greatly improves the glare handling, but there's no such help for those of us stuck with mere 75-inch or smaller displays.

These shortcomings aren't enough to stop this TV from being a best TVs contender, though. I won't be shocked if it eventually becomes our choice for best budget TV. Here's why the TCL QM6K is a great option for anyone.

TCL QM6K Mini-LED TV review: Pricing and availability

Despite this being a new model for 2025, the TCL QM6K is already on sale at multiple stores. That means you can score what was already a decent value at hundreds of dollars off.

I’ve listed the most up-to-date sale prices of each model in the series below.

• TCL 55QM6K (55-inch): $599.99
• TCL 65QM6K (65-inch): $799.99
• TCL 75QM6K (75-inch): $999.99
• TCL 85QM6K (85-inch): $1,499.99
• TCL 98QM6K (98-inch): $2,299.99

There's one major difference between these sizes when it comes to the viewing experience: The 85-inch and 95-inch versions of the QM6K feature a special matte finish designed to cut down on glare.

I haven't seen this matte finish in action, as my review unit was a 55-inch display we purchased from Amazon. But our Senior TV Editor Michael Desjardin saw it in action at CES 2025 and said it was effective in cutting down glare.

Not sure which size TV you need? Check out our ‘What TV size should you buy?’ guide.

TCL QM6K Mini-LED TV review: Design and remote

The TCL QM6K isn't an art piece like Samsung's The Frame, but it's relatively sleek for an inexpensive TV. I currently have a Hisense U6N set up where the TCL QM6K used to be in my office, and the Hisense is noticeably thicker and has noticeably larger bezels.

To keep the display upright, TCL includes a pair of slim, wide-set feet that slot into place with the assistance of a few screws. I found it easy to set up on my own.

If you opt for a wall-mount setup, that's painless too. The only thing you'll need to do is remove two screws from the middle of the back of the display panel housing to ready the 300 x 300 VESA hole pattern for wall mounting.

The remote is the one thing about the TCL QM6K that confounds me.

It's sleek and ergonomically pleasant to hold. But the Home button is off to the side to make the Google Assistant microphone button front and center on the remote.

That's great for Google's marketing team, but I found myself constantly hitting the Assistant button instead of the Home button. Still, because I otherwise really liked the design of the TCL QM6K remote, it's not a dealbreaker for me.

TCL QM6K Mini-LED TV review: Ports

Ports are not lacking on this TV. The QM6K comes loaded with two HDMI 2.1 ports that support a 144Hz refresh rate. The other two ports are HDMI 2.0 and only support up to 60Hz refresh rate.

The good news is TCL has conveniently labeled everything, including which HDMI ports are which. It has also labeled which of the 60Hz, HDMI 2.0 ports doubles as an eARC port.

Aside from that, there is a USB 3.0 port and a USB 2.0 port. There's also an ethernet port, a digital optical audio output and a cable/antenna input. In short, this TV has just about everything you could ask for without making all four HDMI ports HDMI 2.1.

TCL QM6K Mini-LED TV review: How we test

At Tom's Guide, we follow a standard testing protocol for every TV we review. Our benchmarks include technical and subjective tests designed to rate the set’s performance.

For our technical tests, we use a Jeti spectraval 1501-HiRes spectroradiometer, a Klein K10-A colorimeter, a Murideo 8K-SIX-G Metal pattern generator, and Portrait Displays’ Calman TV-calibration software to take measurements. We also use a Leo Bodnar 4K Input Lag Tester for determining the TV’s gaming prowess.

Subjective tests vary based on the reviewer, but usually feature anecdotes from a diverse selection of movies, TV shows, and other content reflecting the types of things you may actually want to watch on the TV. For a more detailed look at what we do and how we do it, check out our “How we test TVs” page.

TCL QM6K Mini-LED TV review: Performance and test results

The performance metrics of the TCL QM6K are impressive. Across the board, it holds its own in our objective testing and is brighter than most panels at a similar price point.

The biggest knock in the performance testing was the input lag. At 13.1ms, it's sluggish compared to most of its competition.

It's something that the TCL QM7 struggles with as well, and the TCL Q5 that I own for my bedroom TV is also a bit slow to the punch. So, based on my experience, it seems to be a TCL problem more than a problem with this specific model.

Our testing shows that the TCL QM6K is plenty bright. It's not as bright as the TCL QM7, which puts up a stunning 836 nits in SDR. However, the 688 nits you get in SDR is better than most other TVs at this price point.

Subjectively it showed in my testing. My office gets bright thanks to a ton of natural light, but I had no problem watching everything from "Dune: Part Two" to live sports.

Now, admittedly, a lot of that viewing was in HDR, as the TCL QM6K comes loaded with support for HDR10, HDR 10+, HLG and Dolby Vision.

I tested out HDR content a lot and found that its performance was largely impressive. Granted, the HDR brightness isn't a massive leap over the SDR brightness, but when watching "Killers of the Flower Moon" in 4K Dolby Vision IQ HDR, I was certainly impressed.

The only time I had concerns was while watching "Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi," but I'm convinced Disney Plus was to blame there. "Killers of the Flower Moon" and Top Gun: Maverick" both impressed me when using Dolby Vision IQ.

But for me, the TCL QM6K really shines in Filmmaker mode. I put that to the test with "Dune: Part Two" (see above) and was blown away by the picture quality and color accuracy.

Unfortunately, Filmmaker mode isn't always available, nor is Dolby Vision IQ. I found myself opting for the Movie picture mode in these instances.

In the photo above, you can see the Movie mode in action, presenting an accurate picture of a live sports stream on YouTube. When I used other picture modes, the field turned an awful highlighter green, looking like a biohazard instead of a field.

So as long as you use the right picture settings, the TCL QM6K will produce vibrant, accurate pictures in a variety of formats whether you're watching a movie, show or live sports.

TCL QM6K Mini-LED TV review: Audio

If you read other reviews of the TCL QM6K, you'll see the audio called out as a negative.

Here's the thing — I didn't think it was that bad. Almost all built-in TV speakers these days are mediocre to downright awful. You'll want one of the best soundbars 99 times out of 100.

But the 40W (2 x 10W, 1 x 20W) Onkyo 2.1 speaker system on the TCL QM6K was a step above mediocre for sure. It was surprisingly full sound, though a bit lacking on the lower-end frequencies. Sometimes the dialogue was a bit tinny, but overall I felt it came through relatively clearly.

Obviously, the TV sounds way better now that I have it plugged into a Sonos Arc Ultra (our top soundbar). But if I had left it in my smaller office rather than my larger family room, I could have probably lived with the stock speaker setup.

Samsung DU8000 LED TV review: Gaming

My days of marathon gaming sessions are behind me, but I wish I had this TV when I was sinking 8 hours at a time into Destiny 2.

The TCL QM6K is loaded with gaming features for improved performance. The panel runs a native 144Hz refresh rate, which you can access from the two HDMI 2.1 inputs.

However, Game Accelerator 240 can digitally boost the refresh rate to 240Hz VRR (in 1080p). In years past, this was limited to the higher-end models in the TCL Q-series, so it's nice to see a more affordable model get it.

The TCL QM6K also has an Auto Game Mode, which is TCL's term for Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM). This feature can be combined with the TV's built-in AMD FreeSync Premium Pro for a buttery-smooth gaming experience.

Admittedly, there is one negative aspect of the TCL QM6K's gaming performance. While it is loaded with all these features, its input lag time is relatively poor. As mentioned, at 13.1ms, it's notably slower than most of its competitors, except for fellow TCL TVs.

TCL QM6K Mini-LED TV review: Smart features

I hate the Samsung Tizen smart TV OS. And I'm not the biggest fan of LG's webOS either.

Thankfully, the TCL QM6K uses Google TV, which is my preferred smart TV OS for the most part. Roku and Fire TV have some apps that Google TV doesn't, particularly the screener apps I use to watch the latest shows and movies.

But for the average person, it's got everything you need: Netflix, Max, Apple TV even. If it's one of the best streaming services, it has an app on Google TV.

Samsung DU8000 LED TV review: Verdict

The biggest knock against the QM6K is that it's not significantly different from the TCL QM7. They're about the same price, but the QM7 hits a significantly higher peak brightness.

However, the color accuracy on the QM6K is superior. If you opted for the cheaper QM7, I wouldn't blame you, even though the QM6K is the slightly better TV.

But if that's the biggest knock against this TV, then frankly, that's relatively high praise. It delivers what you expect and more, and the areas where it falls short are areas where you expect it to fall short. Yes, it still suffers from some glare in incredibly bright rooms and the sound is inconsistent, but these are shortcomings you expect from a TV that costs less than $600 for a 55-inch display.

If I had to round up my review in one sentence it would be this: If I didn't already own this TV, it'd be the TV I'd buy with my own money. Its feature set, picture quality and price point are the perfect combination for anyone looking for an affordable TV.