PRODUCT REVIEW - 40" Sanyo E-LED 1080p HDTV (Sam's Club)

This particular review came about as the HDTV in question was bought by a close relative of mine. The fact that said product was of significant cost, and did not last hardly a year needed to be addressed for any future HDTV shoppers out there who might stumble across this same television. What is included in the following review is facts based on observations made of family actions, reactions, and inquiries dealing with their purchase and attempted product return. I also personally hooked up the HDTV, and saw it's state decline as the months passed, because my grandmother stays with me, and the television itself is in my house ...

In early - mid 2013 my mother went to the local Sam's Club to buy an HDTV for her own mother (my Grandmother). She was looking for the best deal, and the best HDTV that she could afford. It just so happened Sam's Club had a deal on a 40" Sanyo HDTV. The end cost was about $400, or more when the tax was figured into the pricing. She purchased the television with no extra warranty thinking that it would last for a good while before going bad. The previous Samsung HDTV that we had bought from the same Sam's Club was after all still going strong. After purchasing the pricey television she brought it to me, so I could set it up for my grandmother. I hooked everything up as directed by the manual, and set the settings the way they were meant to be set. For the next several months, and only 50+ hours of use the once impressively working HDTV began to show signs of major malfunctions.

The particular model, and make that we had purchased was a "Sanyo 40" LCD HDTV (FVM4012)". This particular model was assembled in Mexico, and imported here to the US. I mention this for reference purposes. Regardles of the minor amount of usage by my grandmother the new Sanyo HDTV began having issues with starting up. At first (several months after purchase) it began to slowly turn on. The more it was used after that point the longer it took for the television to turn on. It got to such a point (around 10 days from the 1yr warranty expiration) that it would take anywhere from 30 minutes, to an hour to power on after the power button was hit, and the green power signal lit up on the front of it.

Needless to say we took the Sanyo HDTV back to Sam's Club hoping we had not missed the warranty expiration. Unfortunately by the time we got it there the warranty had been expired 8 days. We were SOL, and the only other option made available to us (by Sanyo) was to take it in to the Sanyo dealer, and pay them labor costs only. The thing about this is the parts, which were going to be free of charge would have not cost anywhere near the cost of the labor it would take to fix the television. It was a bad deal all the way around. With lesson learned about the warranty out of date we accepted the huge hit to the wallet, and went elsewhere to buy my grandmother another name brand television that would hopefully last longer.

If you are also a person shopping for a new HDTV I strongly advise against getting one of the same make, and model television as the one we bought. The Sanyo HDTV should not have gone bad that soon with so little usage from it. It is my guess that the assembly process, or the parts included in it's construction had a huge role in it's short lived life cycle. As such I would not suggest buying a Sanyo HDTV, period. Even the Sam's Club electronic clerk had said to my mother that Sanyo HDTV's were mid-range quality at best. This definitely conflicts with the ratings that the television received on the official Sam's Club online store (http://www.samsclub.com/sams/40-60hz-led-tv-1080p-hdmi/prod7870030.ip).