len_mullen

If you go to http://www.sonystyle.com, select the discover tab, and click outlet, there will be an offer for a sony credit card on the right. You get $150 off your first sonystyle.com purchase of $299+ Since the PS3 is $399, your net cost is $399 - $150 or $250. Free shipping too. Also good for purchases made at sonystyle stores (never heard of them). Only caution I'd advise is that the ps3 has changed from preorder to backorder. Since you have to place an order within 45 days of getting the card, and there is no guarantee that the backorder will be filled by then, you may end up having to cancel. I'd probably call sonystyle for clarification. The preorder was supposed to ship in September.

Depends on the ads and the lines. I'm not interested in pitching a tent I've started at Kohls once and Staples every other year. Probably start at Staples again this year. Their deals are pretty good, they handle the line well, and the line never gets *too* long. I could also see myself outside Radio Shack. Walmart has long lines but moves people and merchandise as well as it can be done. The other Big Boxes are further away and the lines are bigger, so there is no chance I will begin at a CC or a BB.

Typically, inexpensive bundles are comprised of inexpensive components, but these printers and monitors are something of a commodity these days, so an inexpensive printer or monitor may do the trick for you...especially if they are bundled at or near $0. Dell, for instance, bundles a lower quality monitor. You can upgrade to a noticeably better monitor, but if you never saw the nicer monitor, you'd probably be happy with the bundled one. In some cases, the deficiencies will be apparent and unacceptable -- maybe you don't want a 17" lcd or a CRT. I wouldn't take something I didn't want -- not even for free.

I vote for Sansa as well. We have a View and an e280 and have purchased the accessory bundles on ebay. I don't think the ipod has a voice recorder. this is much easier than taking good notes at a meeting. grabbing music and videos from my library is easy, and downloading training is easy too. I have reviewed a gadget bundle and document the dvd conversion process on my (personal) web site... http://danvilledelivery.com/sansa/ I actually had a free ipod for a while -- never really used it. We were watching some youtube clips on a 36" tube using the bundle's video cable this morning. I was surprised how good they looked.

If you can wait, I think there will be good deals on what is leftover to make room for the Christmas stock. BF is right around the corner, too, and I expect to see some deals then.

I just (11 hours ago) finished my shopping and purchased a PS3. I will share my decision making process in case it helps you. - the xbox, to me, is very similar to a PC and we have good game machines - xbox online use is $50/yr vs free for PS3 - PS3 is also a blu-ray player - sony is running a promotion -> 9/15 that will put an 80g ps3 under your tree for $250 - xbox has had reliability issues - we have PSPs - i think PS3 is far from its potential (compare early ps2 games to current to see what i mean) - ps3 is media hub while xbox is a media endpoint - local kids all have ps3 really, though, for $250, if I made a mistake, I can get the xbox and have a good, inexpensive blu-ray player with built in storage and connectivity. also, i think your kids are gaming you ;-) tell them to decide amongst themselves which one they want and let them know you can wait for next year if the decision is too tough. If they really want different machines, sit with them and see why. Have them list and rank the features/games they must have -- if there is common ground, flip a coin to let one kid choose whether he wants to pick the system or the games. One kid picks the platform and the other kid gets his favorite games first.

Well, kids, I'm going to make you all very happy, I think. First, I want a big, bright HD LCD to plug my new PS3 into. I think these will be *very* inexpensive before, during, and after BF. I have been reading that demand for panels is way off and some manufacturers are planning to close plants. Look here, for instance... http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/07/133_27908.html Turns out not many people were/are affected by the digital change and the economic slow down has slowed the upgrade market. For those hoping for a PS3 or Blu-ray player, BF is RIGHT NOW! If you sign up for a Sony credit card, you get $150 back on your first $300 purchase from SonyStyle.com. Use this card to pre-order an 80g ps3 ($400 and free shipping) and you have a $250 PS3/Blu-ray player without waiting in line. I can't see a better deal coming along. The offer expires 9/15 and the new 80g PS3 will not play PS2 games (but it's quieter and more energy efficient). For those looking for a desktop, I think the deals are RIGHT NOW too. I've bought three Vista machines in the past year. I paid $300 for each and each included Vista Home Premium, a 320g disk, 2g of ram, and a 2+ gigahertz dual core amd cpu. I use one of these everyday and am very happy. Each had a PCIe slot as well and I have upgraded video and power supply for ~$100 on the two my kids use -- these play games great. I've seen deals on desktops on BF, but often the machine is not good to go (Vista Basic, 1g of ram) and sometimes expensive to retrofit (slim cases, proprietary connections, no PCIe slot). I think I will be shopping for an inexpensive laptop, though, for DW. And, of course, I'll be hoping Santa brings that way-too-big LCD!

Early is good. Once the flyers hit the streets we -- and the Big Boxers -- can begin to work on the pre-BF sales.

I usually just stand in line in warm clothes. This year, though, if the pickins are good, I'll head out with a chair (I have two chairs I was going to throw out at the end of camping season) and my mp3/4 player (it plays movies).

Next year will be the year of the LCD tv. LCDs are inexpensive, use less energy, and are about to get very good. Two new technologies will put LCDs under everyone's tree: 1) the refresh rate will double (Toshiba already sells 120hz sets). This will make the sports nuts happy. Replacing fluorescent backlighting with LED backlighting will dramatically improve image quality -- so much for laser projection sets. The third development will be that 1080p will become the standard -- less jaggies. Everyone knows this so the vendors will need to compete on features and price. Good for us , of course. And this year's technology will need to be cleared out, so maybe you can put a 42" lcd in the garage PCs will be hot again next year. Vista machines are worth buying this year -- but none of the machines worth buying were offered at BF prices. Next year I expect Vista laptops and desktops to be the rage. Big LCDs, big disks, fast cpus, memory, and video cards are getting cheap. Readyboost devices are in freefall. Vista sales are not meeting expectations. We are going to see some amazing Vista computers on the shelf next BF. Big change will be that laptops will finally run games well as AMD leverages their ATI purchase and Intel teams with nvidia. My kids got vista desktops this year, so we will be looking at excellent laptops next year. Finally, a Digital SLR in every stocking. It really doesn't cost anything to make a good digital camera. Now that we all have point'n'shoot cameras and the early adopters are broke, the DSLR makers will give us all amazing cameras. These same folks will deliver the first useful solid state video cameras next year -- but not for BF (64g solid state drives are under $1000 now). And I need a GPS that listens to me -- "take me to Disneyworld." See you all next year!

Marc, I think you messed up. I had planned to get a TT and a 2100t from staples then return one. I was only able to get the 2100t. I've been using it for a week and I don't know how you can beat it for $100. As a GPS it tickles me. I switched from 2d to 3d and back. Great options. When I approached a complex exit, I appreciated the lane view of the highway. I like the speech to text too. Yesterday I activated my traffic updates. Free for life? Wow! On my way home tonight, I was warned three times of traffic problems and rerouted around them. It may be slow and the keys may be small, but I don't notice. I'm just enjoying my new co-pilot. Thanks for hosting this thread. It was a lot of help to me.

For me, it was worth it. I decide to go out on BF if there is one store that, if I get in on time, will make my day a success. This year, that store was Staples. I got up at 4:00 and arrived at the store at 4:30. I got in line with ~30 others. The manager started handing out vouchers at 5:30. When I got one for a $100 gps (navigon 2100t), it was worth it. The $80 500g usb drive, thumb drives, DVDs, and 11.4" digital frames were all icing on the cake. Best part -- I was back in bed by 6:30!

I shopped Staples first this year. I was amazed at how well they handled BF. I arrived at the store at 4:30 expecting to sit in my car for an hour. There were already 30 people in line, so I joined them. At 5:00 the employees arrived. A manager came out and thanked us for our patience and promised to be out shortly with the tickets. She came back out about 5:30. Thanked us again for our patience and distributed the tickets. Shortly before 6:00 she came out again, thanked us for our patience, and explained that people with tickets for TVs should use the two leftmost registers, people with tickets for GPS devices should use the two rightmost registers, and that everyone else should use the middle registers. As we entered the store, she thanked each of us. I grabbed a few items and headed to the rightmost registers. I was in my car by 6:30. The experience was pleasant and very well organized.

I arrived at Staples at 4:30. I expected to sit in my car for an hour, but was surprised to already see ~30 people in line. I hopped in line and waited for the fun to begin. The manager arrived at 5:00 and announced he would be out with vouchers in a few minuted. I was concerned that I might miss out -- plan B was to hit Radio Shack. There were 19 2100t vouchers -- I got #17. Then came the TTs -- there were only 12 and i wasn't even close. The manager walked away with 3100 vouchers. So, fate and a late start selected my GPS for me. I had to open it right away. After a minute or so, a map popped up showing me a couple hundred feet from my road. I added my work to my favorites and looked at some POIs. I had no problem entering data. The user interface is intuitive. It was sluggish entering a destination as it tried to 'autocomplete' my entries, but I got used to that quickly. The traffic card was right in the box. I'm looking forward to being re-routed around traffic jams on my daily commute. I don't know how this can be beat for $100. The couple behind me in line were TT users looking for a second GPS. It was great to be able to talk to someone with so much hands on experience with a TT. He got a 2100t as well.

The frames show videos as well, so wide screen is probably for that.

They will be better, cheaper, and bigger next year. I'll probably get another one This is my third.

I'm going to arrive at Staples just before 5:00am. If I judge the line to be too long, I'm off to RS. If RS has a line, it's back to bed I think GPS prices are going to be flat between now and Xmas.

I have always BF'd at Staples and buy most of my tech toys there. In the past, they have been up front about the BF deals and helpful during reconnaissance missions. This year the manager is 'not even sure if they will have the items in the leaked ad.' He has no idea how much merchandise he will have on hand and most of the BF items are not even on display. The Navigons were on the display counter but powered off -- defective units, he said. If I buy the Omnitech 11.3" frame sight unseen or have to compare two GPS devices *after* getting them home, that is just me dealing with their tactics. If the manager is unhappy about this, I can't help that. I don't understand the secrecy surrounding BF. If I were trying to sell lots of great merchandise at great prices, I'd want everyone to know that I had plenty of the right stuff at the best prices. When the merchants are coy, I think they are probably hiding the fact that their prices are not the best or that they don't have enough merchandise. I don't do Walmart for this reason. Next year, I may pass on Staples too.

I guess we all agree. This is not good -- I'll have to get up earlier. I'm Staples bound. I plan to get a 2100 and a tt-one. If you are undecided, buy both and decide later. Don't feel bad about taking merchandise off the shelf -- if Staples had made these available for examination before BF we would not need to go this way.

You're a coward, Marc, but I agree with you. I like the real time traffic enough to pay for map updates. Besides, next BF we may be waiting in line for the next generation of GPS hardware. I think market forces will lead to free/cheap/third party map updates for all -- even if the maps are sponsored by Google Same for expanding the POIs.

I haven't seen one that does not, but there are too many to say for sure that they all do. Google the models for features and see what you see. If you cannot find information for one, post the model/ad here and I'll see if I can.

There are not two LCDs in the box -- just one LCD and two interchangeable frames that are mounted to the LCD. My pandigital came with a wood grain and a black frame. For all these frames, I highly recommend a little scouting. Image quality, package construction, and user interface vary widely. If the frames are not yet out for display, buy extras and return the ones you don't like to be sure to get the BF price.

Minor mention of the Navigon 2100 on the Short List. Was this compiled before you saw the review on gpslodge? Reading the review and visiting the experiencenavigon site, I think it has more going for it than free traffic service (which covers a wide area around the 68 cities). I'm going to grab one of these and a TomTom. If the traffic feature works as advertised and the user interface is even tolerable, I think the Navigon 2100 is the deal. Text-to-Speech and Reality View are icing on the cake. Who can't afford to make a $100 mistake?

I think the 7" frames are the smallest that look good, but I can see smaller frames on a desk. The 7" frames are ~$50 -- I got one at Staples for that price last month. Offciemax has a Pandigital 5.6" frame for $30 (after rebate; maybe hard with a gift). The 11" frames are striking and will be <$100 at RS and Staples. I think these are the sweet spot right now. Resolution is different than size. Just as important, but different. When I got my Pandigital last year, I was disappointed with quality of the images I was loading from my (older) digital camera. The photos I scanned and images from a newer, higher resolution camera looked much better. If you are going to load images from a camera, check the resolution of the camera -- it should be as high or higher than the resolution of the frame. If you want to gift one of these, load it with images ahead of time. While geeks like the cool technology, others are intimidated by *any* technology. Shifting the focus from the frame to the images will make this a better gift for technophobes.

I found it right here on this site. Go to... http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/BlackFridaySales/Store/RadioShack Search the page for photo and click the camera beside Digital Photo Frame with 11.3" LCD Display. That will bring up... http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/black-friday-3538-DigitalPhotoFramewith113LCDDisplay.html which is kind of generic, so I went to RS and asked to see the 11.3" frame that would be $100 on Friday. This is the frame I was taken to. If I search the RS site for the part number in the scan, I find... http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2911612&cp which is a 10.4 frame. This *may* be the frame I was looking at. I didn't have a ruler and this is the right price and manufacturer. It looks the same. The image was big and beautiful. If the 11.3 number is incorrect, I won't complain...much.