Kogan Series 9 MU9500 (55-inch)
IT DOESN’T GET MUCH CHEAPER, OR SIMPLER, THAN THIS.
KOGAN IN 2017
KOGAN HAS BUILT a huge company off the back of its incredibly affordable TV sets, and the Kogan KALED55CUHDUA is a great example of how. For less than $800, users are getting a 55-inch television set that also just happens to be curved, a feature that some buyers associate with premium TVs. Obviously, there are going to be some severe trade-offs to get the price this low.
For starters, it uses a relatively basic LCD panel. As our results show, it had the lowest native contrast ratio of the lot, at just 1,853:1. It’s also one of the dimmest, with a maximum brightness of 384 lux, yet it chews up a relatively high amount of juice for such a small panel, at 105W during testing. There’s also no internet connectivity at all, nor HDR support.
However, it is still a full 4K panel, and the inclusion of USB ports means you can plug in external hard drives to act as a PVR. Playing back 4K video files looked fine, and the smaller size means it’s in some ways better for standard free-to-air viewing, as there’s less noise to be seen due to our HD signals. If you’re looking for the absolute cheapest 4K set on the market, there’s not much around that can beat the price of this set. Unfortunately, Kogan didn’t respond to our request for information about their line-up in 2017, so we’ve had to do some internet sleuthing and crystal ball gazing to see what it appears their strategy for the year might be. It appears they’re going to continue to focus on the value end of the segment for the rest of the year, and they’ve made no mention of adopting any of the more exotic TV technologies in the near future. As such, it’s safe to assume that they’ll continue to rely on LED technology for the future, until technologies such as OLED and Quantum Dots become much more affordable. A quick look at their website shows that they continue to expand into other product categories, making TVs less of a pillar of their success.
The vast majority of their existing TV range sit between the $300 to $700 price point, with the most expensive Kogan set being the new Series 9 65-inch MU9500 Curved 4K. At a mere $1,399, it’s obvious that it’s going to forego the likes of Dolby Vision or 4K Ultra Premium, despite the fact that Kogan is promoting the fact that it is using a Samsung panel within.
What the company will continue to expand upon is its use of big data analytics to get shoppers to hit that buy button when perusing the company website. According to a recent interview with SBS, owner Ruslan Kogan said, “Whatever consumers want is what we’ll make, so what they are searching for on Google, what they are purchasing in local marketplaces and what they are requesting is what drives our private label strategy,” he said. “It’s a strategy that works for people who are value conscious, and that is a lot of people.”
So don’t expect any massive product innovations from Kogan in 2017 — it’ll still be focused on delivering affordable big-screen TVs to the masses.
KOGAN KALED55CUHDUA
$799 www.kogan.com/au
CRITICAL SPECS
3,840 x 2,160; 4 x HDMI; S/PDIF out; no internet connectivity
USERS ARE GETTING A 55-INCH TV SET THAT ALSO JUST HAPPENS TO BE CURVED, A FEATURE THAT SOME BUYERS ASSOCIATE WITH PREMIUM TVS. OBVIOUSLY, THERE ARE GOING TO BE SOME SEVERE TRADE-OFFS...