HELP! I need two new TVs!!!

[Minnie_me]

In 2004, we bought two Sony WEGA 32" flat screen TVs --- NOT flat panel, but you know the kind with the flat screen, and the HUGE FAT BACK. Those suckers must weigh a thousand pounds. Anyway, we have one in our living room, and one in the girls' rec room. Everyone makes fun of my TVs, but they work, so I've never seen a reason to get a new one.

Until now. The one in the rec room is slowly dying. And since we bought them at the same time, I'm assuming that the living room TV will go soon as well.

So my plan is to scoop up two nice flat panel TVs on Black Friday.

But I have never ever ever shopped on Black Friday!! We are always away visiting family. This year, however, we will be home --- so I can do it!

What's my best strategy? I'm thinking of SEARS, since I have a credit card and I think I'll get a year to pay with no interest?

I'd love your advice!!!!

 

[Judique]

In 2004, we bought two Sony WEGA 32" flat screen TVs --- NOT flat panel, but you know the kind with the flat screen, and the HUGE FAT BACK. Those suckers must weigh a thousand pounds. Anyway, we have one in our living room, and one in the girls' rec room. Everyone makes fun of my TVs, but they work, so I've never seen a reason to get a new one.

Until now. The one in the rec room is slowly dying. And since we bought them at the same time, I'm assuming that the living room TV will go soon as well.

So my plan is to scoop up two nice flat panel TVs on Black Friday.

But I have never ever ever shopped on Black Friday!! We are always away visiting family. This year, however, we will be home --- so I can do it!

What's my best strategy? I'm thinking of SEARS, since I have a credit card and I think I'll get a year to pay with no interest?

I'd love your advice!!!!

First, decide what you want and what size. 32 inches may be smaller then what you want now.

There are a lot of choices out there and they go on sale often, not just Black Friday. I bought one of my flat screens on Black Friday several years ago and it works but for a little more cash I could have gotten quite a lot more tv.

You have some time to do your homework and to see if there is anything up that will meet your wishes.

 

[hercamore]

Samsung are numbered one rated tv by consumer reports. 2nd is Vizio.

Walmart has a good price on Samsung in today's ad.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

The cost of TVs has dropped dramatically.

WalMart's everyday pricing and Rollbacks are worth checking out. They often sell floor models that are an additional 20% off, too. (We bought one and it worked out well.) You can also walk into the store around this time of year and find super unadvertised specials. I'm not sure the savings would be worth fighting BF crowds. If anything, shop online on BF - really, the day before (IMO).

I'd also really think about whether to pay extra for warranties when the cost of replacing a TV is so inexpensive today and technology is changing rapidly.

 

[bgirl29]

Also TVs go on sale just before Superbowl Sunday so if you want to wait a bit for one tv or something that would probably work too.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

If the image on your TVs is just getting dimmer and dimmer, they're actually not dying: the bulbs are going out. It's an easy, cheap fix to replace those, just get the model of your TV, go online to Amazon and order new bulbs (manufacturer only - the generics don't last nearly as long).

The Sony WEGA is a projection TV and the bulbs aren't expected to last forever; the TVs were made so that the bulbs are pretty easy to replace. We had to do this just last month to our TV, so I got a fast, crash course in it from DH. (Here's a how to, but it's really easy. http://www.ehow.com/info_12264947_replace-sony-wega-projection-lamp.html

If you WANT a flat screen, OTOH, go for it; with Christmas coming up you should be able to get a good price.

 

[snowwite]

I had considered getting one at Sears too but the prices at Walmart were so much better. We went to the store to get a Vizio which was on sale but ended up getting a Sanyo with built in DVD player which was cheaper and not mentioned in the paper.

 

[rszdtrvl]

We just got DS a new tv a couple weeks ago. We thought about waiting for Black Friday, but got him a nice Vizio 24" at Wamart for under $200. HD 1080pi.

This one :

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Vizio-E241-A1-24-1080p-60Hz-Class-LED-1.57-ultra-slim-HDTV/21924120

It is great for a child's room! The picture and quality are wonderful!!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

If the image on your TVs is just getting dimmer and dimmer, they're actually not dying: the bulbs are going out. It's an easy, cheap fix to replace those, just get the model of your TV, go online to Amazon and order new bulbs (manufacturer only - the generics don't last nearly as long).

The Sony WEGA is a projection TV and the bulbs aren't expected to last forever; the TVs were made so that the bulbs are pretty easy to replace. We had to do this just last month to our TV, so I got a fast, crash course in it from DH. (Here's a how to, but it's really easy. http://www.ehow.com/info_12264947_replace-sony-wega-projection-lamp.html

If you WANT a flat screen, OTOH, go for it; with Christmas coming up you should be able to get a good price.

This was the case with our 50" Mitsubishi rear projection but we didn't know it at the time. It was $400 to have a repairman come out and have the bulb replaced. Dh watched him the whole time and said next time he could easily do it himself. So when the next time came, which was 2 yrs ago, he decided he'd rather have a sleek new LED and weighs 1/10th of what the last one did. He really wanted a 3D tv so he "had to" have that though we never use it. The kids thought it was cool for video gaming for a couple weeks but it was a total fad & short-lived at that.

We got a Samsung from Amazon and most large purchases qualify for 0% on an Amazon card. The length of time you're given to pay it off with 0% varies with the amount you're spending. We had 24 mos to pay it off & finished a couple months early last month. Back then shipping to NJ made purchases tax free and only a handful of states currently pay tax for Amazon purchases. That made the difference for us between buying online and buying in a local store, even when prices were the same. It was either that or driving to Delaware for tax free shopping.

Prices keep coming down & sometimes smaller isn't much cheaper. With the case of my new computer monitor, I didn't really want this huge 24" that I have but it was the same price as a slightly smaller one.

 

[tvguy]

If the image on your TVs is just getting dimmer and dimmer, they're actually not dying: the bulbs are going out. It's an easy, cheap fix to replace those, just get the model of your TV, go online to Amazon and order new bulbs (manufacturer only - the generics don't last nearly as long).

The Sony WEGA is a projection TV and the bulbs aren't expected to last forever; the TVs were made so that the bulbs are pretty easy to replace. We had to do this just last month to our TV, so I got a fast, crash course in it from DH. (Here's a how to, but it's really easy. http://www.ehow.com/info_12264947_replace-sony-wega-projection-lamp.html

If you WANT a flat screen, OTOH, go for it; with Christmas coming up you should be able to get a good price.

I agree, fix them instead. I am just not impressed with the life span of current flat screen TV's, and it doesn't matter if they are plasma, or LCD....LED haven't really been out long enough to judge.
Are your current TV's 4x3 or 16x 9? Remember, the 16x9 TV's are going to me much shorter in comparison to the length than then old almost square 4x3. You're going to have to go a lot bigger, probably close to 56 inches in a 16 x 9 TV go get a screen as tall as a 4x 3 32 inches screen. It will of course, be much much wider.
And I'm not convinced that brand is a big issue anymore. All the TV's in a certain screen size tend to be made by the same company, no matter what the brand name on the front. For example, I think Sony makes almost all 32 inch flat screen LCDs.

 

[wiigirl]

Samsung are numbered one rated tv by consumer reports. 2nd is Vizio.

Walmart has a good price on Samsung in today's ad.

 

[amwildwood]

We got our tv from Costco last yr Thanksgiving weekend. The first one we bought - Vizio - did not work right out of the box. Vizio wanted to send a tech to fix it. That wasn't going to work for us, so we returned it and got a LG. LG is working great - decent enough price although may not have been the best. We just like the Costco return policy and extra warranty year. Shopping at Costco also limited our choices which is a good thing for me.

The LG is a 3d tv, but you need to have polarized glasses, and a 3d bluray player. There is a 3d mode to make normal tv 3d and that works ok, but its weird sometimes. I can't remember the last time we watched 3d tv.

Before the flat screen, we had a 25" 13 yr old analog tv, so this was a major upgrade!

 

[akcire]

In 2004, we bought two Sony WEGA 32" flat screen TVs --- NOT flat panel, but you know the kind with the flat screen, and the HUGE FAT BACK. Those suckers must weigh a thousand pounds. Anyway, we have one in our living room, and one in the girls' rec room. Everyone makes fun of my TVs, but they work, so I've never seen a reason to get a new one.

Until now. The one in the rec room is slowly dying. And since we bought them at the same time, I'm assuming that the living room TV will go soon as well.

So my plan is to scoop up two nice flat panel TVs on Black Friday.

But I have never ever ever shopped on Black Friday!! We are always away visiting family. This year, however, we will be home --- so I can do it!

What's my best strategy? I'm thinking of SEARS, since I have a credit card and I think I'll get a year to pay with no interest?

I'd love your advice!!!!

We had the same tv, except from like 2000. Ours died because a friend dropped it while moving. My advise if you are going to buy a TV, only buy 1. You may like or not like LCD, LED, Plasma. This way you don't have two you don't like.

Someone died and we got their nursing home 32 inch LCD TV. I actually hate it. Its certainly smaller but I'd rather have the old Sony.

On the other hand my husband bought a giant like 50 inch LED Panasonic. Love it! It is 3-D capable but we can only watch Finding Nemo in 3-D, so a waste, but it was the best overall deal. We weren't looking for 3D

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

Are you prepared to fight the mass amounts of people that flock to the electronics section, & get there several hours early just to take a chance on getting TWO?

One thing I will not purchase on black friday is an electronic. I was told once by a technician at Dell that companies make special editions just for black friday. They are cheap prices for a reason. I can't say wether this is true or not but worth mentioning. Also, I know a lot of people find the electronics deals to be hot items and sit overnight outside of stores to snag them up.

Do a little research now to get an idea what prices you can expect outside of black friday. You can find black friday ads already released online and do a little price comparing. If it is only $25 more to buy it now, then I would save myself the hassle.
Good Luck!

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I am not sure the savings on Black Friday would be worth fighting the crowds. I consider myself a pretty hardcore shopper but I've given up the Black Friday thing, it is just too wild. I thing 2010 was my last time on the battlefield.

 

[Swimalie]

We had the same tv, except from like 2000. Ours died because a friend dropped it while moving.

We have the same tv as well! We got ours in 2006 after my 21 year old GE died.

Have fun shopping for a new one!

 

[pantherlj]

This site posts great deals on TVs - I saved a lot a few years ago on a TV when the size/features of a TV come up for sale.

http://www.fatwallet.com/led-tv-deals/

And, I agree with someone else said about the quality not being great. I have had both a Sharp and Panasonic have issues - a line running up and down the tv (one a green line, the other a red line).
I just submitted a claim for the Sharp with the warranty I purchased on Square Trade - HIGHLY recommend them - great service. Sign up on their site and they will send you 30% off promo codes once every few weeks.

 

[pantherlj]

This site posts great deals on TVs - I saved a lot a few years ago on a TV when the size/features of a TV come up for sale.

http://www.fatwallet.com/led-tv-deals/

And, I agree with someone else said about the quality not being great. I have had both a Sharp and Panasonic have issues - a line running up and down the tv (one a green line, the other a red line).
I just submitted a claim for the Sharp with the warranty I purchased on Square Trade - HIGHLY recommend them - great service. Sign up on their site and they will send you 30% off promo codes once every few weeks.