Vizio M-Series Quantum Review (M658-G1)| Tom's Guide

Our Verdict

The Vizio One thousand-Series Quantum 65-inch (M658-G1) remixes Vizio's affordable Grand-Series with an impressive display and a new, improved version of SmartCast.

For

Quantum-dot display delivers vibrant color
Local dimming for slap-up HDR performance
Decent audio quality
Flexible smart Idiot box features
Free content included

Against

Limited app selection on Goggle box
Remote pattern is blah

Tom'southward Guide Verdict

The Vizio M-Serial Quantum 65-inch (M658-G1) remixes Vizio's affordable K-Series with an impressive display and a new, improved version of SmartCast.

Pros

+
Quantum-dot display delivers vibrant color
+
Local dimming for great HDR performance
+
Decent sound quality
+
Flexible smart Television receiver features
+
Costless content included

Cons

-
Limited app selection on Boob tube
-
Remote design is blah

The Vizio K-Serial Quantum 65-inch (M658-G1) ($748) is a fascinating offer from a manufacturer best-known for its thrifty smart TVs. This year, Vizio'south play is to add together quantum-dot enhancement to its full range of TVs, from the premium flagship models to economy-class sets. In the G-Series, Vizio'south midrange line, the result is a surprisingly premium experience on a sub-$1000 TV.

The enhanced display delivers fantastic color and brightness, while Vizio's SmartCast operating system offers plenty of flexibility with its combination of free content, included apps and congenital-in Google Chromecast for enjoying thousands of additional apps and services. Overall, the 1000-Series Quantum is so impressive that it makes our list of all-time TVs you lot can buy.

Editor'due south Note: (eight/26/2020) The Vizio M-Series Quantum is still being sold, just it's on clearance from about retailers. We've updated the pricing and availability to reflect these changes. The original rating and recommendation remains unchanged.

If yous bought the Vizio M658-G1 last yr, you're probably due to refresh the software. Check our guide to learn how to update your Vizio TV to the latest version of SmartCast.

Vizio M-Series Quantum (M658-G1) price and availability

While we looked at the 65-inch model of the M-Series Quantum line, the breakthrough-dot- enhanced smart Telly is available in other sizes, ranging from 43 inches upward to 65 inches.

This range of sizes – every one equipped with quantum-dot enhancement, HDR support and full array local dimming – ways there's a model that should fit your home, whether y'all're crowded in a tiny flat or have room for a larger fix. Though we've merely tested the 65-inch model so far, the similarity in feature sets and designs ways that virtually of our conclusions from this review will apply as to other sizes in the model line.

However, two of the models that were originally sold equally role of the Thousand-Series Breakthrough line, the Walmart-exclusive models 55-inch (M557-G0) and the 65-inch (M657-G0), are similar, but slightly lower-priced models. (The appear now to be out of stock.) These models offering far fewer backlighting zones than the more expensive versions sold through All-time Purchase. The cheaper 65-inch model has twenty dimming zones instead of the xc seen in our review unit. The 55-inch (M557-G0) has only sixteen.

Vizio M-Series Quantum (M658-G1) design

The overall design of the Vizio M-Serial Quantum is largely unchanged from the previous year, but this is definitely an instance where at that place'due south cipher that specially needed irresolute. Slim black bezels surroundings the elevation and sides of the brandish, with a thicker bezel running along the bottom border. In the bottom right corner of this is a silverish Vizio logo, the only pregnant feature on the front of the set.

The Television measures 57.3 x 35.6 x two.8 inches without the stand. The back of the Goggle box isn't quite as bland as y'all'll see on almost TVs, thank you to a patterned texture that covers the rear of the cabinet. Made of black plastic, the TV's construction is reasonably sturdy, and weighs 53.4 pounds.

The Chiliad-Series Quantum delivers outstanding functioning for a prepare that sells for less than $i,000.

Included with the Telly is an attachable stand up consisting of two boomerang-shaped metal feet that attach fairly quickly with a Phillips caput screwdriver. The stand up does have a deeper footprint than the 2.8-inch thickness of the TV, so it requires a tabletop that tin can accommodate 11.8 inches of depth. If you would rather hang the Vizio on the wall, information technology tin be attached with a 400 x 200 millimeter VESA mountain.

Vizio M-Series Quantum (M658-G1) ports

On the back of the TV is a collection of ports, divided into a row of right-facing connections and down facing ports. I'm not generally a fan of this input configuration, since it virtually guarantees that some of the ports will be hard to reach regardless of how the Idiot box is gear up upward. This is an admittedly small quibble, since most users will set upward their Goggle box once, and merely occasionally change what devices are connected to the set.

Regardless, the M658-G1 is outfitted with four HDMI ports (two on the side and two on the bottom) with one offer audio-return channel (ARC) support for elementary connection of soundbars. At that place's a single USB port for connecting a flash drive or powering a dongle and an optical connectedness for older digital surround-sound systems. RCA stereo jacks are besides available for plugging in speakers. And finally, at that place is a connectedness for HD antennas – a characteristic only reintroduced on last year'south Vizio TVs.

For network connectivity, the TV has an Ethernet LAN port and congenital in 802.11ac Wi-Fi. Information technology does not, notwithstanding, take Bluetooth, so you won't be able to connect wireless headphones to the TV without some sort of plug-in adapter.

Vizio 1000-Series Quantum (M658-G1) performance

With a combination of quantum dots to boost effulgence and color and full assortment local dimming for deeper blacks and brighter brights, the M-Serial Quantum delivers some really outstanding functioning for a set that sells for less than $1,000.

Watching a movie filled with vivid colors and fast activeness, like Spider-Man: Homecoming, I was pleased to see that colors on the M658-G1 looked true to life. A daytime shot of the Washington Monument was filled with red, white and blueish flags, lush greenish landscaping and plenty of moving people, and it all looked appropriately smoothen and vivid.

With support for both HDR10 and Dolby Vision, high dynamic range (HDR) content looks great on the M658-G1, besides. A night fight scene of Spider-Man duking it out with a villain on a dark beach was sufficiently dark, but punctuated with bright flames and glowing lights. And unlike the performance we saw on last twelvemonth'due south P-Series Quantum PQ65-F1 (Vizio'south commencement quantum-dot display), the individual backlighting zones didn't cause the sort of distinct flaring that was and then prevalent on that set.

Fast action was also very shine, with none of the choppiness you might come across on some affordable sets. The 60Hz brandish ably kept up with fast-paced action, whether it was Spider-Human swinging through the city or a Replicant fistfight in Blade Runner 2049.

Cheers to a partnership with PlutoTV, Vizio gives y'all over 100 gratuitous channels, including sports, news, cartoons and movies.

The M-Series Quantum turned in first-class color quality in our lab testing, as well. When measured with our 10-Rite colorimeter and CalMAN professional calibration software, the Vizio's panel reproduced 99.92 per centum of the Rec 709 color space. That's in line with the TCL 6-Series Roku TV (99.96 pct) and the Samsung Q6F QLED Boob tube (99.93 percent), the G-Series Breakthrough's closest competitors.

Color accurateness, on the other hand, was slightly off, with a Delta-Eastward rating of 3.half-dozen (closer to zero is better). That's slightly less accurate than either the Samsung Q6F QLED (one.49) or the TCL half-dozen-Serial (1.i), and last yr'due south P-Serial Quantum was better (slightly) at 2.viii. In actual viewing, the color errors were hard to see, but whites tended to skew blue, and greens were slightly oversaturated.

MORE: Best 55-inch TVs

Finally, the M658-G1 managed to exist quite bright, driving 647 nits of peak brightness. That'due south even better than the TCL vi-Serial (607 nits) and more than double the 300 nits that are normally seen in this toll range.

We as well connected the Vizio to our Xbox One X to check out the gaming capabilities. The Boob tube supports 4K gaming at 60Hz (likewise as 24 and 50 Hz), and 10-flake color. HDR support is available for both games (HDR10 simply) and app content (HDR10 and Dolby Vision). But with a lag time of 29.9 milliseconds, it's not the most responsive display out in that location. It will do fine for the coincidental gamer, but for competitive players who desire a TV that can keep upwards with twitchy fast-action games, we commonly recommend sets that test at 20 milliseconds or less.

Vizio M-Series Quantum (M658-G1) audio

Vizio outfitted the M658-G1 with a pair of xx-watt speakers designed to match audio quality to the enhanced brandish. And overall, things sounded great – and impressively loud.

Listening to Ramin Djiwadi's "Lite of the Seven" from the "Game of Thrones" soundtrack, the dichotomy of deep cello and emotive piano and violin was reproduced very well. However, the bass-heavy cello did suffer from some distortion equally the volume crept upward above 60%, and the faintest hint of cabinet fizz could exist heard at ninety% volume.

Aside from this, however, the speakers produce excellent volume and impressive bass for not having a dedicated subwoofer. There was too some clipping at high volumes, and what should accept been bright notes were slightly muted.

Vizio M-Serial Quantum (M658-G1) smart features

With this latest circular of TVs, Vizio has rolled out SmartCast iii.0, the latest version of its smart-Tv platform. The update has a richer interface than previous versions, with an added row of recommended content and a richer selection of locally installed apps.

The new lineup has expanded to 30 apps, including Netflix, Amazon Video, Hulu and Vudu. Thanks to a partnership with PlutoTV, Vizio besides offers a defended streaming channel called WatchFree, which gives you a linear TV watching experience with over 100 free channels, including sports, news, cartoons and movies.

YouTube is generally included in the app lineup, merely at the time of our testing, a temporary outcome meant information technology wasn't available. Vizio says they're working with YouTube to fix whatsoever issues, but in the meantime, users tin still enjoy all of the YouTube apps using their telephone and the Television'due south built-in Google Chromecast. (Editor'southward Note: Vizio tells us this outcome has been fixed, and YouTube is again available. Yous may demand to update your SmartCast software.)

MORE: Who Makes the Smartest Smart TV? Hither Are the Results

That Chromecast functionality is an added treat for anyone that has a telephone total of streaming apps, since it allows you to cast the app right to the Television without any loss of performance. And added in this year's TVs is back up for Apple AirPlay2, letting you share just as easily from your iPhone or iPad.

You can besides pair the Telly with an Amazon Alexa product or Google Home smart speaker for voice control, and Apple HomeKit2 volition let you control your smart-habitation devices with Siri, if you lot're an iOS user.

Vizio M-Series Breakthrough (M658-G1) remote control

Vizio TV remotes have a distinctive look and feel, and you'll either love it or hate it. The slim design is rectangular, but with an oval profile that makes it very comfy to hold. A large square directional pad sits in a prominent position, to a higher place the numbered buttons and channel and book controls. I don't specially love the plastic surface or the by and large featureless directional pad, but it'south a serviceable pattern.

I much prefer the accompanying Vizio app, which includes a remote control function. All of your remote buttons are replicated on the touch screen, and give you full control of the Telly set. The app too includes streaming and casting options that brand information technology easy to either share stuff to the TV or enjoy the same content on your phone.

Vizio M-Serial Quantum (M658-G1) verdict

Vizio has made major strides in the last couple of years, and this yr'southward quantum-dot push button has kept upwardly that momentum by offering an excellent display at a great value. For a set that is arguably the center kid in Vizio's lineup, the M-Series Quantum delivers cracking effulgence and HDR performance, solid color and picture quality, and better-than-average audio. With an evolving smart-Telly platform and plenty of ports and features, the Vizio G-Series Quantum 65-inch (M658-G1) gives you a lot to love for its under-$800 price.

The Grand-Serial Quantum is proficient enough that it unseats our previous favorite in this price range, the TCL half-dozen-Series Roku Telly. While the TCL's Roku platform and overall functioning are both excellent, the Vizio Yard-Serial Quantum 65-inch (M658-G1) edges it out with the vibrant breakthrough-dot display and always-improving smart-Tv functionality.

Credit: Vizio

Brian Westover is an Editor at Tom'southward Guide, covering everything from TVs to the latest PCs. Prior to joining Tom's Guide, he wrote for TopTenReviews and PCMag.