best place to buy a flat screen tv

[b-rabbit]

Hey guys,

Haven't posted in a long time. Hope you are all doing well. I am in the market for a new tv. I'm thinking 40" inch, 1080p, 120 Hz...something with a great picture and good for gaming. I was wondering where you guys think I will find the best prices, online or in-store. Also, I am seeing a lot of "refurbished" tvs on bestbuy website and others for seemingly great value. Any thoughts? Thanks for the help.

[badandy519]

I bought my 46" Samsung back in January during the after christmas sales. When I was looking, I shopped around online and at Fry's, Bestbuy, Sams, Walmart, etc to find the brand and model that had the picture and features that I was looking for and went from there.

Do that and after you find on what you want, I'd check online vendors like NewEgg, Ecost and even Amazon to see what you can find it for. The cheapest I could find mine in-store was $899. I ended up paying $849 out the door from Newegg, no tax, no shipping and it got here in 3 days.

When I was looking, the online prices were alot more volatile than the in-store prices, sometimes up and down $100 day to day, sometimes free shipping, sometimes not, just have to time it right.

As for the refurbs, I'm not anti-refurb at all, I've bought a few. Just depends on the price break they are giving you over a brand new one and it has to be good. Visa/MC typically double a warranty up to 1 yr total (so if the refurb only gives a 6 mo warranty, and a new one is 1 yr, it's a wash). If they're knocking 20%-25% off the price for the refurb, I'd def think about it.

Last thing, what size room are you putting it in? I went from a 52" old school 4:3 big screen, which is a ton larger screen area compared to what I have now, but my living room is only about 15x14. If my living room was any bigger, I'd def regret not getting at least a 50".

[allena]

Nice choice of brand. Go for it.

[bode]

costco, ainec. Use the costco amex and get 3% back and a 3 year (basically) no questions warranty.

[b-rabbit]

Thanks Andy. My roommate from my previous place had a 40" and the living room is a similar size to my new place. That size works well for me.

[WildBobAA]

newegg.com is where I buy most of my electronics. You usually can find a great deal on pretty much anything.

[BennyLaRue]

Hey guys,

Haven't posted in a long time. Hope you are all doing well. I am in the market for a new tv. I'm thinking 40" inch, 1080p, 120 Hz...something with a great picture and good for gaming. I was wondering where you guys think I will find the best prices, online or in-store. Also, I am seeing a lot of "refurbished" tvs on bestbuy website and others for seemingly great value. Any thoughts? Thanks for the help.

I'm shopping too. I'd buy refurbished but not sight unseen...need to really experience viewing angle and motion lag problems for yourself. These are things that specs can't often tell you since the listed specs are often either "creative" or subject to particular conditions you might not be replicating. They really needs some standards in this industry because I'm finding some of these claims pretty ridiculous.

As for 120Hz, it's probably less important than I originally thought, provided the response time and picture processors are good. Especially with off-brands, 120Hz can actually make things look worse...makes film look like video. I've heard of some people paying more for 120Hz, then turning it off, which is totally depressing.

[b-rabbit]

Benny

Do you know of specific places that have refurbished TVs in-house that I can go stare at for a while?

[BennyLaRue]

In Canada, Tiger Direct (always), Best Buy and Future Shop (sometimes). No idea about Virginia, sorry.

[badandy519]

Benny

Do you know of specific places that have refurbished TVs in-house that I can go stare at for a while?

Typically, you won't even know something has been refurbished without them telling you either in the advertisement or by a label stuck on the box. If you see a refurb being sold somewhere and you want to check it out, you can go look at a display model anywhere and see what the picture looks like.

Electronic refurbs can be anything from damaged packaging, scratched screen, cracked plastic that's been replaced, bad circuit board, to who knows what.

[gabe]

buy it on craigslist. if it doesnt work then smash it with golf clubs and pumpkins

[philly and the phanatics]

maybe ive just had bad luck, but anything "refurbished" that i have ever bought has sucked ass...i have bought:

refurbished xbox
refurbished nikon digital camera
refurbished 12'' kicker l7 squares solobaric or w/e

and none of them worked worth a shit for longer than like 2-3 days

and before anyone asks i had a 1500w audiobahn amp pumping through the 2 12's and they still sucked (and i had awesome wires and a sick head unit), and the subs were in a custom ported box....figures id go all out on everything but skimp on the actual subs -____-

[kiwiMark]

Prolly universe hates you cos you're never in pots anymore

[BennyLaRue]

Pretty sure you bought refunbrushed. That's totally different. That shit is just free of tangles.

[Galapogos]

buy it on craigslist. if it doesnt work then smash it with golf clubs and pumpkins

Yeah but where's the best place to buy golf clubs?

[BennyLaRue]

I always get my pumpkins from farmers. They usually have a stand on the side of the road with all these unmanned pumpkins and complimentary boxes of money. It's the best.