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The Toshiba 32RL858 is one of those TVs where you find yourself forever double checking that its price is really as low as you thought it was. After all, it offers online smart TV functionality, a Freeview HD tuner, a Full HD resolution, DLNA and USB file playback, Edge LED lighting and even 100HZ processing, despite costing under £400.
It's also remarkably attractive for what's ostensibly a budget TV, thanks to its extremely narrow bezel, unusual silver finish and slim rear end.
It even provides a surprising amount of adjustment options for getting pictures looking exactly how you want them to.
In short, the Toshiba 32RL858 feels like a mid-range TV at a budget price.
We liked
The amount of features the Toshiba 32RL858 carries for its money is outstanding. The Freeview HD tuner and network/multimedia features are particularly welcome, given the set's second-room potential.
The TV's extremely slender design is a great find at the sub-£400 price level too, as is the set's all-round impressive picture quality.
We disliked
Dark scenes lack a little shadow detail versus some more expensive sets. There's some very minor evidence of backlight inconsistency, too. The set's audio is average to the extent that it struggles to convince during action films, and finally there's not as much content on Toshiba Places as there is on rival online platforms.
But then having any online functionality at all on the Toshiba 32RL858 is arguably a bonus. In fact, all of the TV's negatives are small within the context of its lowly price.
Final verdict
Toshiba has been quietly but surely making the budget end of the TV world its own in recent years, and the 32RL858 is a perfect example of just how much Toshiba has learned, and why the brand is now hard to beat for anyone on the hunt for a good TV for not much cash.
The TV looks much better than most budget models, with its unusual silver look, exceptionally narrow bezel and ultra-slim rear. It's also got way more features than most budget TVs - most notably a Freeview HD tuner, Full HD resolution, 100Hz motion processing, smart TV functionality and network multimedia playback capability.
Best of all, though, is its picture quality, which neatly sidesteps nearly all the usual problems associated with budget TVs.
