teej626

I received the VIP invite as well, but I'm not a Plus Member. I have been a Sam's Club member since 1991 so I don't know that that has anything to do with it, plus I have Sam's Credit. Anyway, looks to be a pretty good event with some decent deals.

I bought the T3i on Friday at Best Buy. Here's the trick...go to Best Buy's website, go to the Cameras and Camcorders section and look for the link referencing the deals on the lenses. Choose the T3i on the popup window, then close it. Select the T3i with the 18-55mm lens and pick a zoom lens. I got the T3i with the 55-250mm EF-S lens, bag, and camera for $630, much cheaper than anyone else, including B&H. I added a 32GB Sandisk Ultra SD card for $29.99. I printed out the shopping cart with the prices, went to my local Best Buy and they honored the price. Regular price would have been close to $800. I've been looking at this camera and lens combo for about 6 months now, and finally got the price I wanted. I doubt it would be cheaper on Black Friday.

A lot of it is what it "used to be" since stores open much earlier now, but one of my traditions is I always go to Best Buy on Wednesday evening to get a rough idea of how many of the doorbusters they have in stock, get an idea where they will be placed, etc. Turkey day my family always goes to a local flea market at dawn for some great deals (they have new stuff) and some amazing food. Then over to the parents house to finalize the ads and make the game plan. When Best Buy would open at 5am, we would camp, but the last few years we were able to get there right at 5am, get inside within 10 minutes and get everything we wanted. Love this time of year.

The last time I camped (2006 at BB) we took digital pics of the first 100 or so people in line. My father and I were 19 and 20. We had a blast with everyone that night, and sure enough around 4am the linejumpers started to hover around the front of the line. We had a police presence, and sure enough 3 teenage girls jumped a few places ahead of us. They refused to leave, even after a lot of pressure. Once the tickets arrived, all 100 of us ratted them out, and all but 1 left the line. The remaining girl finaly left the line after the cops and management told her she has to go, and as she's walking away and we're all cheering, she turns, gives everyone the finger and says a big "eff you" to the crowd. The cops grabbed her, cuffed her and put her in a car. the other girls ran away. Great way to start BF and got some amazing deals that day. As far as what I do now, I simply don't camp anymore. I miss it, but I've been able to get everything I want by getting to the store at opening, waiting in a short line and everything is still in stock. I still love Black Friday.

Didn't really go out for a lot this year. Got to BB at 5:15, the line was still going into the store. Hopped to the end and was in within 5 minutes. Got the $139 23" Samsung Monitor, which is all I really wanted. My Bro-in-law was there for the $369 42" Plasma. Couldn't find it anywhere, but I noticed 7 up above the aisles in their overstock area. Got ahold of one of the BB employees and my bro-in-law had his TV! I don't think anyone really knew they were there. Went to Boscovs for a pair of boots for the wife, no good on either one she wanted. Headed to Target and got the women's bubble vest for $7.50 and the glove/hat combo for $2. Pretty much all I wanted and was happy, home by 6:30am.

Checked BB in both Moorestown NJ and Cherry Hill NJ. There were about 30 people in line at Moorestown - all chairs and no tents. First time I've evern seen that. Rode to Cherry Hill and there were about 25-30 as well with a few tents. Also the local Philly news station had their truck set up.

My BF experience... First year in many years I decided not to camp out at BB. I got there around 5:45am, found a close parking spot and walked right in the store. It obviously was crowded, but I could have gotten any of the doorbuster laptops. Also, I got the $199 Sony receiver (my sole reason for going) and to my surprise not one had been sold yet. I got Transformers on blu-ray for $10 and Cloverfield on blu-ray for $17. I checked out within 10 minutes too. Keep in mind, this normally is a very busy BB during any part of the year. I was very surprised. I then went to Boscov's for my wife and got her some boots for $29, which she clearly wanted. Store was pretty empty. Finally I went to Lowe's, got the $29 Shop Vac, (about 10 left), some $10 tool kits and went home. Wednesday I got some good deals off Newegg.com. Overall, this was the easiest BF I ever had. I did this as a test, not camping out to see if I could still get everything I wanted, and it worked. I think every doorbuster was still in stock at BB, which surprised me. Anyway, off to breakfast.

Depends on the BB and also what are you there for? If you are getting ticket items only, then get your tickets in line, but when you go inside, go right to the TV section and let a worker know what you want. They will usually bring it up front for you and have it ready. You can then go through the checkout line and pay for everything. This is how it usually works at my BB, yours may differ. With a big item like a TV, you really can't wheel it around on a cart on BF. I would check with the workers though when they hand out tickets. Ask for advice.

Like I said, I can't confirm or deny it. I'm just going on what I saw and what I was told. This BB stages their laptops behind the main counter, and the Toshiba's in the ad were there, but no others. The HP was also there. No Sony's or other ones, which leads me to believe there won't be any sub $300 laptops. Now, I may be wrong, but this is what I saw. I went there for this purpose, to check things out.

Doesn't surprise me. I was at a local BB tonight doing recon, and I saw about the same amount of the Dynex TVs, but I did count about 125 of the 32" Samsung models, as well as about 100 Samsung Blu-ray players. Tons of laptops too, but all were the ones in the ad. I know the GM there, and he wouldn't confirm any "secret" sales. Also, they had a pallet of about 50 Wii's out for sale, and they were already going quick. As of 10pm, no one in line at this BB or one about 5 miles away. They also had a disclaimer note in the window about the $279 laptop mistake from earlier. Makes me believe what we see is what we get in the ad. This sucks. I will be there however to get the Sony 7.1 receiver for $199 and some $9.99 Wii games.

Yea, I was a little mad at that as well, and it did sound too good to be true. Regardless, I did just order the antec Nine Hundred case and 4GB of RAM, all with free shipping. Also I got a free 4GB USB flash drive with the memory, so overall not bad. I spent less for all this than the regular price for the case alone. So far, I'm satisfied. Also, the 42" LCD for $499 is a heluva deal too.

heh, my thoughts exactly. Either boot drive, or if I can get 2, RAID. Usually they limit 1 per, but who knows....

I'm anxiously waiting for that email too. I will definitely be getting the Antec case and the Velociraptor drive as those are great prices. We'll see what else is in the ad, hopefully a killer memory price. I may be staying home this bf if these ad prices are good.

I guess I'll have to do my recon early this year. People already in line? Nuts. I'll check out BB and CC in Mt. Laurel NJ as well as BB in Cherry Hill NJ. I could walk to my local Wally World, but I honestly don't see anything worth camping for. Yea, it is a fun experience, my dad and I did it 2 years ago at BB when the sales were actually worth camping for. The crowd was great, and we policed the line to perfection. Anyway, I may take my video camera for some Youtube fun. The only thing I see worth buying personally is the $199 7.1 Sony receiver at BB, which noone is talking about. I think I can get to BB 6am on bf and just pick one up. We'll see