Top 5 Black Friday 2012 Deals: Real Deals Or Just Hype?

Top 5 Black Friday 2012 Deals: Real Deals Or Just Hype?

Now that Black Friday has officially launched, let’s take a look and figure out if some of these popular deals are real deals – or just a bunch of marketing hype.

We have settled on a shortlist of popular deals here based on rankings from a number of sites plus feedback we are receiving from readers.

Walmart – $38 Blu-ray player.

One of the deals that we have received email about is Walmart’s $38 Blu-ray player. It’s part of Walmart’s ‘In-Stock Guarantee’ program. Here’s what we thought of that particular program.

In researching the Blu-ray player, we find that Walmart does not provide a lot of details about it online. They do say it is an LG, and several online forums have identified its model number as LG BP-125.

Interestingly enough, there’s no information on a LG BP-125 model on LG’s site. And browsing through a wide range of online stores, we are not able to find this model in any of them. Perhaps it was made exclusively for Walmart.

In that case, what does Walmart normally sell the player for? Through Walmart.com, it normally sells for $44 (with an HDMI cable). At $38, it’s about 13% off it’s regular price. For comparison purposes, at Amazon, the cheapest Blu-ray player is $30 (an Insignia) and the second lowest is $38 (a Vizio).  Is Walmart’s $38 Blu-ray player a deal or a dud? We’ll let you call this one.

> Update – doing research for another story, we happened across a Toshiba Blu-ray player at BestBuy.com for $40 (regularly $80), with free shipping. Thought you might want to know.

Amazon – 32 inch Haier LCD  HDTV.

In our number two spot is a 32 inch Haier LCD  HDTV at Amazon for $97. This deal is being reported by BradsDeals.com. This HDTV has a retail price well over $300 (and this has been confirmed at other stores). It is currently listed at $179 on Amazon.

Now the trick here may be the timing. BradsDeals says they fully expect it to go on sale for $97, but don’t know when. If it can be had for $97, we’d have to call that a deal.

Barnes & Noble Simple Touch.

Number three – we’ll go with the Barnes & Noble Simple Touch. Not much mystery here as to the product or the value. Normally the Simple Touch sells for $99. According to B&N, for today only, it’s $59. A savings of $49. That we call a deal.

Best Buy – 40 inch Toshiba HDTV.

Lets jump back to HDTVs for number four, and Best Buy, who is famous for their Black Friday Doorbuster deals. They are featuring a 40 inch Toshiba HDTV for $180 on their site. They say the list price is $419. That’s about 57% off. Checking around, it looks like the numbers hold up. This same HDTV is $450 at TigerDirect, and $479 at Amazon. Deal.

Best Buy – iPads.

Sticking with Best Buy for our final deal – iPads at $60 off, Like the Simple Touch, this product is a known quality with a known price. Deal.

However, The Apple store is down right now for an update – will they be putting the iPad and other products on sale direct from Apple? Stay tuned to CP, we’ll let you know as soon as we find out.

Brag a little! Tell us about your best finds,  how much you paid, and where you got them, in the comments section below!


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Author Profile: Consumer Expert Cassie Sommers

Cassie is back! One of our founding writers, Cassie has returned to write for CP after taking some time off to travel across Asia. Cassie has a BS in Journalism and loves all things entertainment. If it has to do with games, movies, tv, or travel, she's on it.

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