Tested: Englaon 32in Smart LED TV

Many caravans sold new these days, even the bigger, pricier ones, only come standard with a pretty small and basic TV.

Usually mounted on an adjustable arm close to the bed or lounge/dinette, RV TVs usually range from 19 to 24 inches in screen size and, apart from free-to-air TV, can usually play DVDs (despite the shiny discs going out fashion in recent times!)

Contrast this to most home TV set-ups, where 60in ‘smart’ TVs, streaming movies or Youtube videos through surround-sound systems, are the norm.

Fortunately for those who seek the comforts of home while holidaying in their caravan, help is at hand with an increasing number of larger screen ‘smart’ TVs available for RV applications.

One of the more impressive is the latest 32in, full HD Smart TV from Englaon, which are built in China and sell factory-direct via an online retail outlet in Australia.

By all accounts, 32 inches is the largest size currently available in Australia for 12V-powered caravans or motorhomes (New Age offers a 28in TV in some of its models), so we were keen to see how it worked in practice.

Like your TV at home, the Englaon TV comes with two support legs, so after screwing them in we placed it on the kitchen benchtop of a 16ft Nova caravan, plugging in to the 12V TV socket (a 240V plug is also supplied with the TV).

With an additional fitting at the back of the TV (about $40 from Englaon) we could have slotted it into the adjustable arm already fitted inside the van, although the extra-screen size might have proved a squeeze.

The upside of the bigger screen though, is that it offers a better view for those sitting further away on a lounge/dinette. Boasting a 1000:1 contrast and 1920 x 1080 resolution,, the Englaon also delivers better-than-average picture quality, while sound quality and volume is also decent considering the small, in-built speakers.

While we didn’t hook the unit up to the rooftop aerial and tune in to some free-to-air TV, we did test out a few of the ‘smart’ technology features. To do this you first need to connect the TV wirelessly to the internet (we did this via a wi-fi connection from our mobile phone), using the supplied remote control unit to navigate the various on-screen menus.

Like most TV remotes, it took us a few minutes to work out all the buttons and arrows, without having to refer too much to the supplied manual.

Pressing the ‘input’ button brings up a side menu, providing access to all the various features available including digital TV. PC, media, DVD, HDMI (for external media players) as well the operating system used to browse the internet, stream movies, TV shows or play music on demand.

The TV works off the latest Android 7.1.1 ‘Nougat’ system and comes pre-loaded with various apps, from news sites like the NY Times and CNN, to Fox Sports, Youtube and Google. It's a bit clunky navigating web pages like Google using the remote control, so we'd recommend connecting a computer mouse via the USB socket at the back of the TV, if you're planning on doing a lot of web 'surfing' on the TV.

Where the Englaon TV really pays off is streaming shows and movies via Netflix or free-to-air ‘catch up’ apps like Tenplay, SBS On Demand or ABC’s iView. We watching a couple of shows on iView and it worked a treat; almost as quick to load as our home-based smart TV and Apple TV systems, with no buffering or other streaming issues.

Of course, the TV comes with numerous other features we didn’t get time to explore, such as photo and video libraries. There are also multiple connections at the rear of the TV, including an HDMI inlet, for hooking up accessories like hard drives.

Despite its size, the whole unit is easy to carry (it weighs around 5kg) and fairly slim, although the DVD player at the rear adds to overall bulk. There’s also a $20 cheaper version available without the DVD player.

However even with the DVD player, the Englaon 32in TV is sharply priced at $619.95 (not including delivery costs), or better value than a couple of rival products we spotted online.

Click here for further details.