Although they do not cost pennies, Vizio’s two E1i-A3 TVs are surprisingly cheap considering they both sport whopping screens – sixty and seventy inches respectively. Furthermore, Vizio has crammed a whole heap of features into these monsters, so the question is are they a good choice for buyers chasing screen real estate at a relatively low price?
Pros:
- The E601i-A3 is of great value at the current price, offering users maximum color accuracy for minimum expense.
- Set also performs well under bright lighting.
- Smart TV content is plentiful and the interface for accessing it is good.
- Remote control scores well for providing a QWERTY keypad.
- Slim bezel and sleek look make the E601i-A3 a winner for style.
Cons:
- The product suffers from poor black levels performance as well as having some uniformity concerns.
- The smart TV user interface is basic and old-fashioned.
Vizio Model E601i-A3 Reviews
Design
Courtesy of its slim-line bezel, the E601i-A3 shapes up as a nice looker of a television. The bezel measures just under one inch wide across its sides and top, and a whisker slimmer along its bottom.
This has the effect of making the Vizio seem as if it’s more or less nothing but the screen to users who behold it from in front. In profile, it is wafer-thin, which in combination with the glossy deep black of the plastic propels the Vizio into the styling top league. Sadly, one trick Vizio missed was to permit the TV to swivel when it is mounted on its stand.
Remote control
As befits a television in this cost bracket, Vizio has endowed the E601i-A3 with a fully specified clicker. That means two sides of operation: buttons on one and a QWERTY keypad on the reverse. The keypad might not match the quality of those found on some smartphones, but it comes in mighty handy.
When using the zapper to change channels and whatnot via infrared, we found that it was necessary to point it directly at the display.
As regards the clicker’s front side, it is fair to say that many keys are fiddly and excessively small, plus there is a lack of differentiation between buttons.
The best thing about the clicker, however, is its provision of special buttons for Netflix and Amazon Instant. On the flipside yet again, the omission of backlighting is a heavy minus point.
Menus
Vizio has once again seen fit to bestow the E601i-A3 with similar menus as those used on others of its television range. This menu style is somewhat like an app in the way it is presented to the user. The menus respond gratifyingly speedily and there are useful explanations available to explain any function that appears mysterious to users.
Features
Vizio’s E601i-A3 certainly hits the sweet spot as regards the technology used to bring this baby to the plate. The set employs LED backlighting at its screen edges but gets rid of local dimming. To the set’s credit, there is 120 Hz video processing available to users that want it.
Vizio is to be commended for rolling out some good Smart TV services on the E601i-A3. Although the interface’s implementation may not be terribly fancy, it works well enough. However, finding specific apps can be a chore as it requires scrolling through a tiny ticker found at the page bottom. This can be simplified somewhat by zapping unwanted apps.
Although the interface is not bristling with style, the actual selection of content is second to none. Vizio has seen fit to include more or less every major service, although sports fans will not find any good sports app.
One thing users don’t benefit from is a web browser; however, that’s not a big loss in our estimation.
For anybody who wants to pipe more apps into the TV, the place to do it is at Yahoo’s Connected Store. There are certainly some useful services there such as eBay and SnagFilms, but finding the wheat among the chaff can be a chore.
Picture settings and adjustments
The maker of the E601i-A3 has made things simple for users who are not so tech-savvy: The picture modes provided use simple sports-based names such as Golf, Football, Basketball, and Baseball. The problem, however, is that the enhancement provided by each of these modes seems to bear zero relation to the sport referred to.
Users who like to meddle with advanced settings have a decent amount of options to get their teeth into. These include a color temperature menu as well as a couple of settings aimed at reducing unwanted judder.
Two things that are absent are full-color management and presets for altering gamma. Grayscale adjustment is available but it is basic as hell.
Connectivity
Vizio steals a march on some of the competition by giving the E601i-A3 four HDMI connector ports, plus a couple USBs, which is more than some sets have. There’s also a lone input for component/composite video and a VGA input.
Picture quality
To be fair, the picture quality on the E601i-A3 is serviceable enough. In some respects, it is superior to the quality obtainable on LED TVs costing a whole heap more. On the flip side, it doesn’t match the quality of Sharp and Panasonic sets sold at a similar price point.
Black levels
The E601i-A3 turns out to be among the poorest sets in this price bracket when it comes to outputting deeper shades of black. On the flip side, shadow detail wasn’t half bad.
Color accuracy
Although its black levels performance is mediocre, the overall picture quality of the E601i-A3 is good, especially when evaluated for color accuracy. Some minor color aberrations may be visible from time to time, but it is likely these can be ironed out using the available enhancement settings.
Video processing
Although it is a 60 Hz 720p telly at heart, the E601i-A3 does a decent job of interpreting full 1080p video material with something approaching the correct cadence.
There are two settings for further improving HD material. These are SME (Smooth Motion Effect) and RCM (Real Cinema Mode). The settings should be used with care as they undoubtedly introduce unwanted artifacts of their own.
Uniformity
As with any LCD TV, the best viewing experience is obtained by sitting right in front of the E601i-A3 screen. Moving off-axis will lead to users being punished with strange colors and washed-out dark areas. Although these effects are noticeable, they are probably no worse than those seen on most other television sets of this type.
Bright lighting
Unlike some LED TVs, the E601i-A3 keeps reflections on its screen to a minimum. That is attributable to the fact that it sports a matte screen.
Related:
- VIZIO M550NV Review : 55-inch Full HD 1080p LED LCD HDTV
- VIZIO XVT3D474SV Review: Full HD 3D Full Array TruLED LCD HDTV 480 Hz SPS with VIZIO Internet Apps
Final Words
If you have around a thousand bucks to shell out on some serious screen real estate in your living room, Vizio’s E601i-A3 impresses for general screen quality and breadth of features. Any performance concerns are relatively minor so it gains a cautious recommendation from us.