My Black Friday experience

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: manly
It seemed as if every OTHER person at Best Buy was carrying around a Mintek 2110 DVD player, waiting in the line snaking around the whole store.

Of course I knew better. I also picked up the hackable APEX AD-1500 DVD player at Long's Drugs where hardly anyone was shopping.

I'm not sure if it's as nice (hackable) but Walgreens has an Apex 1200 for $59 (could be $49 or $69 can't remember).

 

[LethalWolfe]

I've done 3 BFs and thats 6 too many. I value my time, and my sanity more than my money I guess.

Plus I hate seeing the greedest of greed on a day that is supposed to "start" the season of giving.


Lethal

 

[manly]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: manly
It seemed as if every OTHER person at Best Buy was carrying around a Mintek 2110 DVD player, waiting in the line snaking around the whole store.

Of course I knew better. I also picked up the hackable APEX AD-1500 DVD player at Long's Drugs where hardly anyone was shopping.

I'm not sure if it's as nice (hackable) but Walgreens has an Apex 1200 for $59 (could be $49 or $69 can't remember).

I just returned two APEX AD-1200s at CC (on sale for $50 + tax out the door, no rebates). They used to be easily hackable (a special key combo) but units built starting in July are no longer hackable. It's also an ugly ass unit with no front LCD. And the latest revisions no longer play VCDs.

The Mintek 2110s at Best Buy are reasonably hackable, but with a few issues (the substitute firmware screws up some of the front panel buttons). It was just funny to me how many DVD players were all over the store, in shopping carts and clutched in weary arms. There were still a lot of units stacked in the back but I figure they've sold out by now. I actually bought one since I was already there, but it ain't for me.

The APEX AD-1500 is a relatively basic unit, but easily hackable (burn firmware to a CDR and pop it in!), IF you have an old revision (which you can check on the outside of the box). A post from Garfang in another AT HD thread mentions that he did research and the AD-1500 is the current cheap, hackable DVD player champ (as long as you get the proper revision). It's not very pretty, but it's a definite step up from the AD-1200.

From my research, the AD-3201 was one of the best cheap, hackable APEX units but shopping wasn't on my radar a few weeks ago when it was on sale for $60 somewhere.

 

[IBuyUFO]

6:10am I showed up in Best Buy and saw a tv van outside. Went in and the place was a mad house. TV crew was filming people shopping and checking out. I scored with 300 blank cdrs Next I went to Staples. Only saw 2 people waiting there at around 6:45 am. Wanted to get 3 sticks of 512 megs ram but only gave me one. I bought it and went back in again thinking the guy would remember me but he didn't which was cool and I got a second stick. Went to another staples and bought my 3rd stick. I'm a happy man and my computer does not crash any more from the ultra generic ram I purchased for it.

 

[catnap1972]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674
I never saw so many TV's bought in one day. There were carts as far as the eye can see full of TV's. Everything from 13" all in one units to 72" Flat Plasma Monsters everywhere, can't tell me people don't have money.

They've got something better--PLASTIC!!!! They'll be paying interest on all that money they saved today! LOL

 

[tcsenter]

I went to Office Max late today, didn't get my butt up in time. They had no Cendyne DVD-ROMs and there was no mention of a substitute, I'm going to call them and ask because I heard that some locations have substituted the Pacific Digital 16x DVD-ROM.

No Verbatim CDRW left, but there were three qualifying SKU's: Verbatim, Cendyne, and, of all brands, a Polaroid CDRW! I wanted the Verbatim, thinking there would be a greater chance of it being a Lite-On, but I took the Cendyne, anyway.

Got it home, opened the box and the free CD-R disc had "Lite-On" labeled on it. Uncovered the drive and it says "LITE-ON IT CORP" right on the drive label. Cendyne doesn't even try to pretend they make their own drives, apparently. haha

Model # LTR-48125W

Now to download Lite-On's latest firmware and flash away with my fingers crossed....

 

[ir0nw0lf]

Originally posted by: RGN
Dude, sucks to be you. I went at 11:00 and got a 4x drive for the same price... They were substuting them.

I did ask the sales manager for a substitution, he told me a big fat no. That did kind of set me over the top and I was <--> that close to losing my professional cool with him. The four-letter words were about to come out hehe. You lucked out, glad to hear that someone didn't get the BF from OM.

 

[poopaskoopa]

Played Age of Mythology against my stepfather all day, and then at 5pm I went out to get some gifts and stuff for myself. I picked up a pair of shoes, leather jacket, & gifts for others from 4 shops and came back before 7, I think.... Seemed like a typical weekend to me, but then again I don't live in this town(home for the holidays), so....

 

[thelanx]

double post
See below
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[thelanx]

I got to best buy at like 4:45, and I was about the 70th person in line. Fortunately I got mostly what I wanted, except the video card. The store had like 5 of them. After me, there were maybe another 100 ppl or so. The line wrapped around the store, and the parking lot was full before the store even opened. They regulated the number of ppl entering the store an hour after it opened.