Five Black Friday deals you shouldn't miss

The lust-worthy Sprint MiFi 2200 will be free on Black Friday.

(Credit: Sprint)

Here we go: one week until Black Friday. Am I excited? Pumped? Polishing the ol' credit card for a day of deal-crazed madness?

Eh.

Don't get me wrong: I enjoy BF as much as the next cheapskate. But I'm weary of the month-long hype machine, what with all the "leaked" ads, pre-Black Friday sales, and so on.

What's more, I have never, and will never, set foot in a retail store on Black Friday. I don't enjoy crowds, especially the deal-crazed variety. Oh, and 5 a.m.? That's sleep time, not stand-in-line-in-the-freezing-cold time.

My other issue: Like last year, the deals I've seen so far just aren't that great. Know why? Because everything's already dirt-cheap all year. Regular Cheapskate readers have seen the $50 GPS, the $80 Blu-ray player, the sub-$300 32-inch HDTV. Sadly for retailers, there's just not much room to go any lower.

All that being said, what kind of cheapskate would I be if I didn't give this hallowed shopping holiday a little love? So here you go: five deals/offers/promotions I'm liking this year. Want more? Dealnews has some of the best Black Friday coverage around--including these tips on using price-matching in retail stores.

• Acer Aspire One Netbook If you're going to stand in line for something, make it the Acer Aspire One 10-inch Netbook for $149.99 at Office Max. Needless to say, that's a seriously smoking deal--though I still wouldn't get up at 5 a.m. for it. Would you? Update: This deal is unconfirmed and should be treated as a rumor until the official Office Max ad appears this week.
• Bing Gold Rush Many people really like Microsoft's Bing cashback program, and with good reason: After buying stuff you were going to buy anyway, you get money back. Three percent here, 10 percent there--it adds up. Starting Black Friday, retailers like AT&T, eBay, Gap, Sears, and Wal-Mart will be raising their cashback rates as high as 35 percent. Microsoft didn't give me any specific details, but if you're planning to shop online, Bing is probably a smart place to start.
• Fast Video Converter Pro Normally $24.95, this handy utility is available free, no strings attached, as part of a Thanksgiving promotion. FVC Pro supports just about every video format on the planet, from 3GP to Divx to WMV. It's perfect for converting videos to play on, say, your iPhone or Zune. Don't wanna wait until Turkey Day? You can actually grab this freebie right now, and up until Nov. 30.
• MiFi 2200 One of my favorite gadgets of 2009, the Novatel Wireless MiFi 2200 is literally a Wi-Fi hotspot in your pocket. It's normally $99.99 with a two-year Sprint contract, but Best Buy will be selling it free with said contract. I don't know if they'll be offering the same deal on the Verizon version, which I suspect many people would prefer. But I do think this will be an in-store-only offer, so plan on a trip to your local BB.
• Navigon for iPhone As part of a Thanksgiving-weekend-trip-to-grandma's promotion, Navigon's MobileNavigator app [iTunes link] is on sale for $69.99. You can also grab, in-app, the new Traffic Live feature for $14.99, a combined savings of $30. Then grab yourself a basic windshield mount like this one and you can put your old, crummy GPS up on eBay.

Well, deal fans, what do you think? Anything look good here? Let me know what bargains are going to roust you out of bed this Friday--or if you're planning to stay home under the covers.

[Dan7637]

also bfads.net is a great place to start preparing for what you are going to buy as it already has most black friday ads for the major retailers such as bestbuy, walmart, target

[elmoramos]

I really like that walmart is selling an 8gb iPod touch and a 50$ iTunes card for 195$

[rickbroida]

Sure, but you can get a refurb 8GB Touch for $149 shipped. Just sayin'... :)

[parallelrhymes]

"Sure, but you can get a refurb 8GB Touch for $149 shipped. Just sayin'... :)"<br /><br /><br />and with the Wal-Mart deal you are basically getting a brand new one for 4 dollars cheaper before tax...

[jayhawk73]

no, you're getting an iPod for $149 - the Wal-Mart deal requires you to spend that $50 you "save" at their store. Yeah you might go there and spend it anyway, but then they get ya and you really didn't save anything at all. Gift card rebates are the easiest way for retailers to make their so-so deals look like great deals. <br /><br />If you want choice then go somewhere else and REALLY save $50.

[greywolfcomputer]

Given the way that Navigon abandoned their customers that paid for 3 years of quarterly map updates and aren't getting them; I'd be careful of spending $70 for their Iphone app. When they pulled out of the North American GPS device market, they promised to fulfill their commitments to their map customers. They have not delivered. It's a shame, because their devices were really good devices.

[benignotx]

Does anyone know how Walmart is going to proceed with their BF sale? Walmart is supposed to be open 24 hours on Thanksgiving day, and then somehow "release" the BF deals. Where are all the people going to line up or crowd inside the store to await on grabbing the goods?

[Kayehareeh]

When I shopped there last year they had all the deals in the main aisles and you stand in little lines from the big ticket item that you want. There's usually a sales associate there to make sure you don't put the item in your cart until the designated time. I found it was less chaotic than other stores.

[tmeesseman]

Yeah, Walmart is the best place to be... when I was there at 5am last year, all the deals were in the aisles and covered with cardboard or shrinkwrap. Then, at 5am on the nose, an announcement was made of the PA and people were allowed to just rip into stuff. <br /> <br />Associates would go around and pick up the trash. <br /> <br />It was far less chaotic than Circuit City and Target the year before.

[moementos]

Couldn't agree more Rick. Well put.

[QueSeraSera]

You won't catch me waiting in line at 5 AM on BF. What a stupid thing to do.<br />I don't want to be trampled to death by a bunch of crazy losers for a 20 bucks DVD player.<br />I'll just shop online and save more from the comfort of my home.

[buddystar1657]

Well aint you special?

Bigga Deal!!! Not looking for the latest tech device, not shopping at all. Much as I know the economy is waiting for me to open up my wallet/bank account the fact is I don't need any acquisitions. My wife is doing the job for me by buying gifts for the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker, our grown daughters and their husbands and family, my granddaughter's boyfriend, idle acquaintences, et al. Poverty row is on the horizon.

[bbrooks29]

Christmas is for children not adults. Buying a gift for another adult who you are not married to is wrong

[guest18934367]

Are you serious? Christmas is for everybody, don't be ridiculous. And it wouldn't be "wrong" if this person wanted to get a gift for another adult, why would you say that?

[Marcus Westrup]

Then I must be a terrible person for giving gifts to everyone in the office!

[samuraix20]

So wait, is the Acer Aspire One Netbook for 150 bucks actually confirmed? Because I was really want to get it. I don't know, some people are saying it was a mistake while others says office max lessen the line and chaos... then there was that cease-desist letter given to every black friday site.<br /><br />So is it confirmed?

[rickbroida]

Nope, not confirmed. Every advanced BF ad should be treated as rumor until you see the real thing. (Sorry, should have mentioned that.)

[RobIsAHuman]

No it is a fake...... just waiting for this article to be taken down.

[HKPK_2005]

here is one deal that trumps them all...<br /><br />http://www.notebooks.com/2009/11/14/black-friday-sony-vaio-vgn-nw-laptop-w-blu-ray-player-for-479-at-bestbuy/<br /><br />a blu-ray equipped laptop with a bunch of added bonuses for less than $500.

I'm pretty stoked about the Fast Video Converter deal.

[jim stone]

TRIED TO LOG IN ALL DAY FOR THE CONVERTER DEAL...WONT DOWNLOAD...GRRRRRRRR.

[myles taylor]

PC only? The Mac is no longer irrelevant and they need to realize that. Any software needs to be cross-platform.

[RobertAPierce]

Sorry myles taylor, the mac is still irrelevant and will continue to be irrelevant until more than a tiny percentage of people actually own one.

[Burnout_90]

Thanks for the FVC Pro deal! I just got an iPhone, and already, I'm using FVC. It's really handy.

[lazycat202]

why do you need it?

[Burnout_90]

Umm, to convert videos?

[lazycat202]

convert videos to what?;) your iphone can't play avi format?

[styymy]

The iphone can play avi, but you can convert to an iphone specific format which is optimized to the iphone's screen resolution and it saves file size as well. The results are clear picture/sound. No pixies whatsoever. Got great results with I Am Legend and BSG Razor so far.

You guys are so Lucky! Wish we had the same deals for our turkey day without having to cross the border to get them. Kinda blows the savings spending money for the gas and or hotel.

[Dan7637]

HKPK_2005 i already mentioned that a couple of posts back<br /><br />also go to bfads.net to see al the released official scans for black friday

I did the download on the FVCP and when I try to activate it with the supplied activation code, I was told it was an invalid code...any help out there?

[RCDheliracer]

Make sure there isn't a space before or after your key code if you copied and pasted it in. I had a space before mine and it gave me the same message.

[Digiti]

I had the same problem with FVCP activation. I uninstalled, downloaded it again from a different site,tried to get another license, but for some reason the key finally activated after all this.

[debiannj]

most of the sites got a C&#38;D letter from Office Max and had to take the ad down. Anyone know if this is online too or in store only?

[RobIsAHuman]

Neither, it's a fake ad..... got confirmation today. Just wondering how long it's gonna take OfficeMax, and then in turn CNET, to retract this.

[the_iceman]

I will shop on-line myself. The minimum 2 per store &#38; no rain check game the retailers play isn't worth it to me, sorry.

[bryanb867]

Downloading FVCP now. Been wanting a deal on one of these programs since I got my iPhone (about 2 months ago)! THANKS, Rick!

Hi Rick,<br /><br />I'm having difficulty getting the activation code from the Fast Video Converter Pro website. <br /><br />When you go to the DVDFast website there is a box asking for you to "Enter the names of persons who you want to say "Thank You", and you can get a free license of Fast Video Converter PRO.". <br /><br />So you type in a person's name (I tried names and email accounts), and then type in 4-character verification code Click on submit. <br /><br />The problem is that clicking on submit doesn't do anything.<br /><br />Anyone else have this problem?<br /><br />Thanks,<br /><br />dave