len_mullen

I have never bought a TV on BF. I closely monitor the deals. Generally, the ordeal associated with acquiring a tv of suffcient value is not worth the discount. On that others may disagree, but it's difficult to argue with the proposition that there have been BF type discounts offered from September to December. My favorite being this one which also earned me $100 in Discover Cashback. The set still graces my living room. My tip for you is to start shopping now. Read reviews, look at TVs, and set a budget. Watch and search the deal sites so that you know how inexpensive each of the sets on your wish list has been or can be. As soon as you see a set that meets your quality/size/features/budget criteria, buy it. Then keep watching for opportunities to return/price adjust. When the BF ads come out, compare what you have to what they offer and decide if you want to sit in line for the difference in value. This is dated but still relevant.

Just wanted to close the loop on this. I have read a lot of reviews and recommendations and can honestly assure you they are meaningless. It turns out that for every good review of a mattress or foundation or bed there is a scathing dress down. Even $3,000 mattresses have their detractors. My advice is to get an inexpensive coil mattress and a matching foundation. If the pair fails to satisfy, you can try something else without feeling bad. Here is what I ended up with... http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002L5JEPE/ref=pe_175190_21431760_M2T1_ST1_3p_dp_1 http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_08214474000P?lid=IExTrans_ItemNumber_link&rioptype=SC&sid=IEx20120830TransSearsOrderConf&eml= http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_08214489000P?lid=IExTrans_ItemNumber_link&rioptype=SC&sid=IEx20120830TransSearsOrderConf&eml= I'll update this topic once we have slept in the bed for a while.

That's a great question. Market conditions say no, but my eyes tell me something else. Prices for spinning disks peaked after the floods in Malaysia and never really came down. BUT I got a 2t usb 3 seagate disk at staples a couple weeks ago for $63 -- which feels BFish to me. I am seeing solid state disks fall as well. Internal spinning disks are getting no bigger and no cheaper. Last ones I purchased were 2t@$60 ea. I think we are going to see a lot of deals on tablets. Looks like Amazon and Apple are fixing bayonets and Goodle has entered the fray. HP has a new tablet, the new windows tablets are out, and there are a lot of crazy cheap chinese tabs that aren't half bad. Definately TVs. What B&M doesn't already have an 80" Sharp on display? Don't they look good? LOL. I put a 42" 720p plasma in my kid's room for $270 earlier this year. I can see 50" plasmas at $300. Windows 8 is out. I'm hoping for some really good deals on ivy bridge computers running win8. My kid wants a new desktop with a screaming video card. Come on Staples... Can't wait!

I'll be checking out SAMs, BJs, and BigLots tomorrow. Thanks for the suggestions.

I worked for a department store that was open all night one Thanksgiving when I was in school. I had dinner with my family then headed to work. The place was dead for most of the night. We just kind of got ready for Friday. The manager sent us across the street for breakfast -- on the store -- in pairs through the night. It was kind of fun. I enjoy holiday shopping from either side of the register.

I'm good at shopping for TVs and computers. I can manage the purchase of a new car. I have NO IDEA how to shop for furniture. We are in the process of replacing the flooring in our bedrooms and the connecting hallway. My kids are now teens and I'm thinking it's time to refresh the bedroom furniture. I am looking for links to deal sites, discount sites, and best practices for purchasing bedroom furniture. I am looking at least for three queen size beds and mattresses. I'm OK with sets that include dressers. I am looking for reasonable quality -- something between sauder and heirloom. We are in southern New Hampshire, so please limit regional merchants to the north shore of Boston. I am also interested in recommendations for mattresses and the adjustable beds. I know I'm grasping at straws in posting this. Thanks, in advance, for your contributions to this discussion.

No, not the door busters. Maybe these go on sale going forward, but there were a lot of unsold TVs. Also, Staples STILL had door busters this morning -- still at the BF prices.

The article is more about projections and expectations than register receipts and may be self-promotion. My experience is that a lot of merchandise went unsold. No doubt online sales were up, but B&M sales are still so much more important that these stats do not make or break a BF. Also, there is the matter of returns. If the unsold stock blows out, I may return some of my purchases. Were I a betting man, I would say that increased hours translated to increased traffic but that purchases were of less expensive items. Time will tell...

My oldest and I went shopping after supper. Seeing so many 'door busters' languishing on various web sites, I wondered how B&M sales went. We were in Salem, New Hampshire. First stop was Sears and there were a LOT of TVs on the floor. The sales associate told me sales were 50% of expectations. Next stop was Best Buy. They had a lot more TVs in the aisles than Sears. The store was very busy, so I didn't talk to anyone, but there were hundreds of sets of all sizes piled up throughout the store. Last stop was the Super Walmart (we needed milk and eggs for the morning). I have never seen so many TVs in my life. When you walked through the door, there were 19 and 22 inch sets -- maybe three pallets. After that were at least forty 55 inch sets. When I turned into produce, there were twenty more. And smaller sets too. Mostly Vizio, but Sanyos too. And we never left the grocery area. I asked our cashier if anyone had showed up for BF. She said yes, but that TVs are arriving at the store faster than they can sell them. When I picked up my Fires at Staples, I inquired about their BF preview and the associate told me that no one showed up. Tomorrow, I'll be in Plaistow and will visit Home Depot, Kohls, Staples (I need one more Fire), and Walmart. If this is representative, we can expect some amazing discounts as stores try to lure us to buy their excesses. Did anyone else voyage out tonight? Were shelves picked clean?

Pledge? LOL. Who leaves a bargain site...ever? Not me. Now, send me a shirt.

I grabbed the $200 xbox bundle from newegg. Seems like a good deal and what household doesn't have a PS3, WII, and XBox? LOL.

I grabbed a couple of the $240 37" Dynex TVs at Best Buy this yesterday. Pleasant surprise. After rewards, these cost ~$213.

definately the transformer. i love the keyboard dock and suspect this thing will run win8 eventually.

I think the streak is fine. Having had a Fire since launch, I have come to like the Amazon ecosystem. We are still in a Prime trial and have been downloading a game or app each day. I don't think I'd want a bigger tablet -- the Fire slips in my back pants pocket and I like that a lot. If you are just playing games and think the size is a bonus, then the Streak might be better for you. Get both and return one.

The T-301 is a less expensive, dated android tab lacking the amazon ecosystem. Get the fire for another $50.

Good supplemental read here... http://www.pcworld.com/article/241010/the_best_video_games_and_consoles_for_families.html

It's a combination of things. 1) You have to show up much earlier to get a door buster. 2) You will find nearly as good deals, in most cases, before, during, and after BF.

I know. I said it was a tough assignment ;-) The information is good. I just think the decision is complex. Maybe add the cost of the BD player and Live at the top of the bars and draw a line across the platforms. When I talk to people about game consoles, it's rare that a console specific franchise is the determinent. Usually it's price. WII wins. Then you talk about sd vs hd and netflix and Live and BD and people move towards the more expensive consoles. I think the best value on the market this BF is the Walmart $200 PS3 bundle. Start at ShopDiscover to get $20 in cashback and you have a $180 BD player that does Netflix and plays games. That price includes two great games and a controller. Add $80 for a move bundle that includes two games and you're still WII competitive.

This is a tough assignment. Isn't this really short term or setup cost? The PS3, Xbox, and WII only compare in that each play video games. The PS3 and Xbox also stream Netflix is HD while the WII is only SD. The Xbox requires an additional subscription fee to stream Netflix (which adds to long term cost). Only the PS3 is also a BD player. For someone looking at these things, the cost of the Xbox and especially the WII setup will be much higher than the cost of the console. If you are talking about long term cost, it's probably a good idea to estimate the cost of a list of top games. These tend to cost most for the PS3 and least for the WII.

for people looking for a 10" tab, jr.com has a 32g tab with cameras et al for <$300.

You just need to find one that runs windows -- acer makes an inexpensive one. Google windows tablets and click the shopping filter to find a bunch. FWIW, there are four inexpensive apps (office suite, quickoffice, smart office, and documents to go) that allow you to create and edit office docs on most android devices and, of course, there is google docs.

It seems like I have had this Fire forever. There are some things I hope they improve upon, but, overall, I am very happy with the device, Prime, and the level of unofficial support. Last night I brought it to my sister's house. Her inlaws were there and they are e-readers. Nana has a kindle and Pa has a nook. His is wifi only and hers is 3g. Both were taken with the Fire. He liked her kindle, but had a lot invested in B&N content and they actually exchanged devices from time to time to increase their library's depth. This morning, I installed the nook app on my Fire and it works great. I think they will be very excited about this. Since the Fire came home, my beloved Kindle has been collecting dust. Part of me wants to abandon it for a Fire...part of me knows better. When the battery ran out on my Fire, my youngest decided to investigate the Kindle. Within minutes he was enjoying some games. I was reminded about how much I value long battery life -- especially when traveling. I got an email from buy.com this morning. The 16g Playbook is down to <$200 and it has a case/stand with full keyboard for <$43. http://www.buy.com/prod/blackberry-playbook-prd-38548-003-7-64-gb-tablet-computer-wi-fi-1-ghz/221285920.html http://www.buy.com/prod/leather-stand-case-w-wireless-bluetooth-keyboard-for-blackberry/225255432.html There are good reviews for the Playbook with it's hdmi out, gps, and dual cameras. http://www.berryreview.com/2011/01/09/blackberry-playbook-has-two-charging-ports-usb-and-magnetic/ Most glaring criticism seems to be that it is not an android device (read the comments too). http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/252476/20111118/kindle-199-blackberry-playbook.htm Then again, it does run android apps http://www.berryreview.com/2011/07/21/how-to-sideload-android-apps-for-playbook-android-player-netflix-example/ and will runs most of them by february http://www.zdnet.com/blog/perlow/blackberry-playbook-20-android-support-a-work-in-progress/19118 this is very tempting for me personally. what do you think?

My kids love reading -- especially my youngest. He rarely climbs in bed or a car without a book in his hands. I thought he would love my kindle, but he does not like it at all. The fire is much more attractive with its games and videos. Take your kids to Staples or Best Buy and let them play with all the tablets and readers. You'll figure out what they like pretty quick.

Replacing a DVD player with a tab is going to be expensive and/or a lot of work. You need to get your movies in a format that the tab can play and fit those files in the tab's memory or tether a mass storage device that will hold up under road conditions. Easiest solution would be to get one that download appropriately formatted media or stream via 3/4g, but that would also be the most expensive solution. If you can live without the movies, you can fit a lot of games and books on a Fire. If you want movies on the go, you may be better off with a 3/4g device that can stream media on the road.

I like the transformer and think it could pull off the everyday computer role if it ran windows (next year there should be a win8 transformer), but a student will be more productive with a machine that runs windows and has a keyboard and mouse. Get an inexpensive laptop ($300) for school work and look at the $79 kindle for reading -- that will tide you over until the win8 transformer is available.