The Portable TV in ARC Raiders sits in a strange spot: it looks like a trinket, it behaves like a recyclable, and it quietly takes up three kilos of your carry weight. Understanding what it actually does helps you decide whether to stash it, break it down, or turn it into straight cash.
Portable TV basics
Portable TV is a Rare recyclable item. It’s treated as regular loot, not a quest object or workshop ingredient, and it doesn’t appear in any “keep for workshop” or “keep for projects” lists in the game’s item tables.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Item type | Recyclable |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Category | Recyclable item (not a Trinket) |
| Loot location | Residential areas |
| Weight | 3.0 kg |
| Stack size | 1 |
| Base sell price | 2,000 Raider Coins |
| In‑raid description | “Can be recycled into crafting materials.” |
Portable TVs are found by scavenging, typically in residential loot spots. They don’t drop from ARC units and are not tagged as keys, trinkets, or blueprints.
Recycle vs salvage: what a Portable TV turns into
Portable TV can be broken down in two different ways, depending on where you are:
| Action | Location | Output | Materials gained |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recycling | Raider Den (workshop) | Full breakdown | 2 × Battery, 6 × Wires |
| Salvaging | Topside (during a raid) | Partial breakdown | 4 × Wires |
Recycling back in the Raider Den always gives the full component set. Doing the same during a raid yields a trimmed-down version: you only get wires, and fewer of them.
Coin math: sell it or recycle it?
Because ARC Raiders lets you sell both intact items and basic materials, there’s a real trade-off between dumping a Rare item straight to a vendor or breaking it into smaller parts.
| Option | What you do | Result | Approximate coin value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell intact | Sell Portable TV as-is | 1 × Portable TV | 2,000 Raider Coins |
| Recycle in Raider Den | Break down, then sell parts | 2 × Battery, 6 × Wires | ≈ 1,700 Raider Coins |
The important detail: when you recycle, you end up with component value that totals roughly 300 coins less than the original item’s sell price. That small loss exists across many Recyclables and shows up in some Expedition requirements that count the coin value of items you donate.
In practical terms:
- If you need basic materials (Battery and Wires) for crafting, breaking a TV is a quick way to top up both at once.
- If you care more about raw coins – or you’re feeding high-value items into an Expedition Project tier that checks monetary value – selling the TV intact is more efficient.
Crafting roles: what the Portable TV supports
Portable TV itself doesn’t show up as an ingredient for benches, projects, or quests. Instead, its value comes from the two materials it breaks into.
| Material | Tier | Category | Used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Battery | Uncommon | Topside Material | Workshop upgrades, quests, Expedition Projects |
| Wires | Uncommon | Topside Material | Workshop upgrades, quests, Expedition Projects |
Batteries and Wires appear in multiple recipes and long-term Expedition requirements, and they are also part of standard loot tables. Portable TV is simply one of the more coin-dense ways to convert a single 3 kg slot into both at the same time.
Quest and progression relevance
Many recyclables in ARC Raiders double as hidden progression currency: they’re quietly required for bench upgrades, Expedition Projects, or specific story quests.
Portable TV is not one of those items. It is not flagged in any of the “Items to keep” categories that cover:
- Quest items (for missions like “Movie Night”, “The Trifecta”, or “Unexpected Initiative”)
- Hideout items (for Raider Den bench upgrades and Scrappy upgrades)
- Expedition Project items (for the multi-tier seasonal progression track)
No known quest asks for a Portable TV directly, and no workshop line lists it as a required component. That makes it fundamentally different from items like Tick Pod, Hornet Driver, or Surveyor Vault, which you can soft-lock yourself by selling too early.
For inventory management, that effectively classifies Portable TV as a safe-to-sell or safe-to-recycle piece of loot.
Portable TV and your Raider’s room
ARC Raiders decorates your Raider’s bedroom with items you’ve collected: snow globes, lemons, apricots, and assorted oddities end up on shelves and surfaces. Players have reported small Portable TVs showing up there alongside projectors and rubber ducks, which fits that system’s behavior.
The room doesn’t use a separate “display-only” version of these objects. Items that appear on shelves are drawn from what you actually own. If you sell a showcased piece, it disappears from the room on the next refresh.
That matters if you care about the vibe of your hideout. A Portable TV is good display material: visually distinctive, nostalgic, and obviously “loot” when you glance at your room. If you like seeing it there, keep one copy in your stash and treat additional TVs as fodder for recycling or sale.
When to keep Portable TVs and when to drop them
Once you know the numbers, the decision comes down to carry weight and what you’re short on.
| Situation | What to do with Portable TV | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Early on, storage is cramped | Sell intact | Free up 3 kg and get the maximum coin value in one slot. |
| Need Batteries and Wires for upgrades | Recycle in Raider Den | Convert a single item into two core materials without relying on random drops. |
| Working on Expedition tiers that count item value | Prefer donating intact | High-value rares are more efficient in value-based contributions when left unbroken. |
| Building out bedroom aesthetics | Keep one copy in stash | Ensure the TV can appear in your Raider’s room while still monetizing extras. |
| Mid-raid, over weight limit | Salvage or drop | Four Wires are better than nothing, but not worth dying over if better loot is at risk. |
The main thing to avoid is holding onto every Portable TV “just in case.” Unlike the rare recyclables that gate bench upgrades, TVs have no hidden progression hooks. Treat them as flexible value: either compressed coin (sell intact) or a compact material bundle (recycle later).
Handled that way, the Portable TV turns from a confusing, heavy curiosity into a simple economic lever you can pull whenever your stash, your materials, or your bedroom shelf needs a little attention.
