Black Friday roundup: My favorite deals

This is the best Black Friday had to offer?

(Credit: Circuit City)

Wow, what a colossal disappointment this Black Friday has been. I've spent the better part of the morning looking for eye-popping, never-before-seen, gotta-have-it deals, and you know what I've come up with (besides a sentence ending with a preposition)?

This: Amazon has a 16GB iPod Touch (1st-generation) for $199.99 shipped. Whoop-de-do. I mean, that's pretty good, but I just couldn't muster much excitement for anything else. There's Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Edition for $59.99 (Xbox 360 or Wii). Yeah, OK, not bad. But everything else? Meh.

Now, if you were crazy enough to pitch a tent at Wal-Mart at 10 o'clock last night, maybe you snagged a Memorex Blu-ray player for $129--far and away the best deal this Black Friday had to offer. The thing is, I think margins are so razor-thin already, and so many e-tailers offer so many bargains year-round, the best the retail stores could do was match their online counterparts.

What do you think? Did you score a fantastic deal today? Or did you find Black Friday '08 as disappointing as I did? Either way, hit the comments and share your thoughts.

[oneplus999]

amazon has two other good videogame deals: left4dead for $20 and wow:wotlk for $26. both of these pc games are very new and its suprising to see any discount on them (regularly $50 and $40 respectively)

[rickbroida]

Links, please? I'm not finding that price for Left 4 Dead. Which platform?

[bcranmer]

I would totally agree. There was no motivation at all to go shopping this year. Many, or should I say ALL of the black friday's deals are the same type of deals you could find during the entire year. I feel like some retailer is waiting to surprise us at the end of the day with some AMAZING special. SURPRISE!
Jokes on us!

[walterwood]

I did not get up until 5:45 AM. I got to the local Office Depot by 6:05 and picked up two webcams for $10 (for the pair) after mail-in rebate and a wireless laser notebook mouse for $5 after mail-in rebate. (Not crazy about the mail-in part but thats life.) Those buying laptops and TVs were still in a dfifferent line waiting for them when I was out the door.

I then hit a locat dept. store for a necklace that my wife wanted and got it gift-wrapped for free. That was 60% off.

I was back home by 8 and now at noon I am ready for turkey sandwiches and a nap afterwards.

[johnisnotcool]

I hate to tell you guys this but last year was for the most part the same... I worked at sears and 90% of are "awesome" black friday deals had been on sale for the same price two weeks before. We had some no name mp3 players on sale for 20 bucks and we couldn't get rid of them. They put them in the ad for black friday at.... 20 bucks!! And its suddenly a big deal, they all sold out in the first 15 mins and two guys got in a fist fight over them. Black friday stopped having great deals awhile back, now its all about the public thinking they are great deals. Of course this doesn't apply to everything but I'd say 90-95% easy.

[gabewintner]

I'd disagree with the post. Personally, I was in the market for a PS3 and snagged one two or three weeks ago when Walmart offered it for a day for $400 and gave you a $100 walmart gift card - essentially a 25% discount (granted, that wasn't on BlackFri itself and no deal remotely as good for the PS3 is available today, but hey). I was also in the market for a new router, and found that Amazon had excellent deals on some new Linksys ones (particularly the WRT54g, WRT110n, and WRT 160n). To my total surprise they also had a great deal on the Sony HT-CT100, a virtual surround sound bar + subwoofer set that CNET rated very highly and which - pretty awesomely - obviates the need for an A/V receiver. I saw that the Sony BDP S-350 Blu ray player could be had at a pretty great discount for $180 - forget Memorex, that's a HIGH quality SONY brand blu ray player for less than $200! Unthinkable a while ago! Still, at an effective price of $300, the PS3 won out for me, but for someone that's a great deal. Finally, I advised a friend on some gifts and he got a DS bundled with the new super mario bros. game for $135 - essentially $5 for a $40 game, along with a snazzy red DS. He also got a Sandisk Sansa Fuze, a fantastic MP3 player, for a deep discount from the lowest price mysimon could find.

Hey, I wanted a Sony SR12 camcorder, and you definitely weren't going to find a deal on that. What can you do. But with a little flexibility and luck, if you happen to be in the market for certain things, you could do pretty well, I'd say. Down with the naysayers!

[shabooty542362]

How much was the HT-CT100 on Amazon? I can only find it for $299. Best buy had it for $199.

[shabooty542362]

nevermind, found it for $199 also.

[WavingLights]

I find it amazing that people actually get up, and go out there for these so-called deals. Your chances of getting them are slim to none. The quantities are ridiculously low and they don't offer rain checks. I have worked at various retail locations and the people that show up at these insane AM hours are the rudest, selfish people you could ever stand in line with. (i.e the poor door greeter at Wal Mart this morning in New York.) Even more repugnant to me is the amount of people who bring their small children out at that hour and subject them to a wait, sometimes hours, to be amidst such an unruly crowd. Does anyone think about these poor employees who are forced to endure such working hours.
If all retailers would agree to open at a certain time, a more reasonable time; oh, I don't know maybe when the sun is out; no one would lose anything and apparently now lives may be saved. Kmart makes there employees work on Thanksgiving Day itself. I find that reprehensible. Mr. Kresge would roll over in his grave. Has materialism and the need to get the get replaced common sense and decency?

[rolegp]

I agree WavingLights, but I would add, people that get in lines the night before or at 3 or 4 in the morning are absolute morons. I would rather pay the extra $5 to $50 instead of standing in a stampede of rude people. Most of the stuff that lure you in are junky or lowest end of the product lines that are not that great, if a small savings is the difference between buying and not buying you cant afford it. I guarantee if your kid does not get that toy or video game they will still love you, and if they don't its your fault for creating such a materialistic kid.

[timhodgson]

I agree.

I do go out on Black Friday, but have learned to wait until about 10am. I may not get every insanely low priced item, but I do get a few and with a fraction of the crowd.

It isn't worth it and I don't need to have it that bad.

[HlLLARY CLITON]

I think better deals are to be had AFTER Christmas, of course does no good to wait if you need to buy a gift for someone. I'm waiting until after the holidays and all the miserable sales reports come out and then I'll go out any buy me some presents

[unwritten_law9]

I'm holding out as well. I bought the refurb xbox 360 rick posted last week, but other than gifts for others i'll be saving my cash for after christmas.

[14tihaar]

That's exactly why I'm giving cash as Christmas gifts to the nieces and nephews.

[ronin4740]

For the Radio Control fans Hobby Lobby (http://www.hobby-lobby.com) has a killer sale going! Otherwise Black Friday just means more people at the mall to me.

[Chuckles013]

I got up at 3 AM & had cofee with my brother & Mother then we were off to get gas (whoo 1.91) then we were driving through our small town & by the highschool we saw what looked like a body in the road we turned around & it looked like someone was hit so we go down to the police & get help & it turns out the guy was passed out drunk in the middle of the road

Anyways the rest of the day was fine (except for some lady with a cane pushing my brother out of the way to get to the escalator) no AMAZING sells that i couldnt pass up

i did hear there were 7 arrests at the BB & 2 fist fights at walmart

I was Suprised though usually the employees seem miserable today they seemed extra friendly... prob scared of the crazys

[karpenterskids]

Here where I'M at, gas is down to $1.58.

:)

[loose_screw]

I thought the deals were kind of blah, just like it has been for the past couple of years. The people who waited in line the night before have ruined the chances of getting any decent deals. I slept in and got a 8GB Cruzer USB drive at Staples for $15.99 (with $3 easy rebat), and that was it. I am not disappointed though, I'm sure with the state of the economy, we'll be seeing more "black friday" prices for some time to come.

Also, I have learned that electronics prices are always in a free fall, so unless you need something NOW you're not really getting a good deal by buying and holding on to it. The blueray player mentioned in the article may seem like a good deal now, but in a year or two it'll be obsolete and seem overpriced.

[cikesef]

It's a great Black Friday for gaming. I scored a wireless 360 controller from amazon for 30 bucks and two last-generation games (FFXII and Prince of Persia: Warrior Within) at Hollywood Video for $4 each.

[abrandtbost]

I was disapointed as well, last year I camped out to purchase one of Best Buy's laptop deals. This year I didnt go out at all. I had already found and purchased my big item a 32" HDTV and got a much better deal than any of so called deals the stores were offereing today. A big disapointment, but I could see it coming, they just cant afford to let things go for less when they are already having a difficult time economically. Why would I want to wait in line for 8 hours to purchase an off brand hdtv for the same price I got one two weeks ago that is a much better name brand and quality.

[plarsen111]

Yes, people tell me what they want, I buy it, and I don't second guess myself. Could I save money waiting for deals? Sure. But Christmas would not be that much fun.

I bought the Wii for my son two months ago. Now they are $50 to $75 cheaper elsewhere with extra remotes. I don't care, because all my Christmas shopping is done. Now I am going skiing, hunting, and fishing.

If people would focus more on other things in their lives rather than how they are going to wait in line at 4:00 am they would actually save themselves money in the long term. Take a college class, update your house insurance, clean out your closet. All those things could do more for your wallet then worrying about standing in line for a computer.

[gerrrg]

Every day should be Black Friday. (EDSBBF), and it is true for a lot of etailers that carry weekly and daily specials. That's where the good stuff really is.

[wowza3]

Brothers in arms hells highway at gamestop for 20 bucks, I think several retailers had that deal, but I couldn't pass that up

[johnosmmtille]

I was so happy to be at a store all night long instead of spending time with my family. I mean, that's what the holidays are all about, right? If you ask me what gives me more joy in my life, my family or some stuff I got real cheap after waiting outside all night in a parking lot full of strangers I'll tell you every time, the cheap, meaningless crap takes the cake. I mean, your family you've got your whole life, saving a couple of bucks on a blu-ray is a once in a lifetime thing. So in short, I'm glad to be able to fill the void in my life with discounted consumables. Thanks walmart! I hope the family of the man your company killed today sues you for so much that the color in the ledger for today is the same color that is on your hands. Blood-red.

[TheCheapestofSkates]

Picked me up an iPod Touch from Amazon. That was an awesome deal. Also picked up a Ryobi 18v power tool set including drill, circular saw, vacuum, flashlight and two extra battery packs (3 total) from Home Depot for only $60! Earlier in the week I hopped on the 6th Ave deal on the Panasonic TH42PX80U 42" plasma for $660.

Beyond those deals I didn't see anything amazing this year. I do think that the deals I got were well worth it. Looking forward to that new TV delivery on Monday!!

~~TheCheapestofSkates~~

[hawaiiinsomniac]

Black Friday was awesome! Macy's had a great online sale and so does levi's ($40 off $100 purchase), Amazon was great. Apple was a DUD, macmall had better deals (I'm still holding off until MacWorld anyways). Bluefly.com is good today if you're looking for winter wear.

I got to Walmart at 2:30am, and with my team of 4 we were able to get all the items we wanted.

http://hawaiiinsomniac.blogspot.com/2008/11/black-friday.html

[aethobby]

Down in the Houston, TX we had a deal from the HEB Plus, Ninitendo DS Lite (just the system) for $99.99. Now they only had 100 of them, but all of the local Wal-mart's matched that price, not too bad to get that system for almost 25% off.

[1Stevieboy]

Rick, come on man. You have to admit that the Hauppauge PCHDTV from Circuit City for only $19.99 was a great deal. Normally $79.99 and it works great. Sure there is no remote to it, but for the price, who needs it. I got it so I could watch sports while traveling or at work. Just pop it on and let it go. Since it is my laptop, the picture is awesome.

Just checked and the offer is still going on people. Look for the $19.99 price. Heres a link:

http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/Search.do?c=1&searchType=user&keyword=hauppauge&searchSection=All