Black Friday Mop-up - 2007

Here is what I did:

Stayed up all night on my computer to check for updates on FatWallet... (got
a 100$ mouse for 6.99 from amazon) hoping for a good online GPS deal...
I really hoped the TomTom LE would be available again online but no
chance... I went to check the line at my local BB at 2 Pm yesterday there
were already 50 people...went back at 9PM there were like 100 already!
I knew I had to forget about the LE...

I finally went to Staples at 5:30 this morning, there were maybe 80 people
before me... but I still got lucky and got a One 3rd edition... I got lucky
because they were going away FAST! Not as fast as the NAVIGONS tho... I
guess more people should have read your blog!
Also to my surprise, the TomTom was sold 124...but you got an extra $20
Staples gift card with it! (just with Tom Tom GPS) That was a nice surprise.

I am gonna wait until sunday before hopening the TomTom box just in case i
find a better deal on Amazon or Wherever (I'll keep an eye on your blog too)

I hit Staples as well - total madhouse. The one I went to had a system whereby you could only get GPS units at the checkout registers as you were leaving the store, but they didn't tell anyone until once in the then jam-packed store. The TomToms were blown out. But even though I had to wait a good long while in the checkout lines, I still got a Navigon 2100t. At this store, however, they limited me to getting one only. So, they curtailed my gift-getting somewhat. To make up for the lost TomTom gift, I went to Radio Shack and picked up a MIO 320 for $149. There were no lines at RS and plenty in stock. I only hope that the MIO lives up to the TomTom wanting gift recipient.

I got to staples at 530. They were handing out tickets for the One and Navigon. I got the last ticket for the Navigon...they had 25.

Then I realized I didn't have to wake up so early and I coulda gotten it on their website for the same price!

Oh well at least its in my hands now!

Yes I am very upset to see that I could have just gotten it on the website and the shipping is free too!! How messed up is that?? I got up at 3 am for BB and it was ridiculous and went to Staples and waiting in line for hours only to come home to see the same deals online!! That sucks but at least I got my navi now!

I bought the Nuvi 260 from staples online yesterday (t-day) for $262. I saw that price and figured it was worth $12 to avoid going out today!

Online this morning it was at the $249 advertised price though. I might call to see if they'll price-match my unshipped unit... save the $12...

Actually, the website still says expected delivery in 1 business day for the Nuvi 260... which im assuming means "in stock." Still $249...
11am EST.

I thought people were excited about this one? Seems like a good deal to me. :X

I hit the Staples line at about 4:45 this morning and was about #25 in line. They had 13 Navigons and 28 Tom Toms in stock (and I was able to get one of each). They had everything very organized. While you were in line they passed out a numbered list of the door buster items, from the front and back pages of their circular. When they opened the doors they had a table inside where they had tickets for each item on the list. You gave them the numbers for the items you wanted (limit of one of each item per person) and they gave you your tickets. you then went to the back of the store where you received your merchandise from another associate. They opened the doors a few minutes early and I was in and out by 6:10. They had an associate at the door controlling traffic by only letting a few people in at a time so there was no big mob at the ticket table. Nobody gave him any trouble as he was about 6'6" and weighed about 300 lbs (great choice for that job).

The Nuvi 260 is also available at tigergps.com for $249. Sale is on through the 26th.

Radio Shack in Round Rock TX. Got there at about 5:45, line was about 30 deep. Got in at 6, went to the counter and waited behind about 4 people. Bought a TT1 3rd for $139.00. Left the store. Whole thing took 30 mins, give or take. I returned the Navigon 2100 I bought earlier this week. I really did not care for it at all. Very hard to use. THis one seems better, easier, and I can tell already that it has more POI. Some of the mapping is a bit strange but I need to check the settings. Overall seems pretty cool.

My wife and I hit Circuit City at about 4:45 also. What a zoo! No less than 500 people in line in front of us. Nuvi's and C220's were gone by the time we got in, but store associate came out of the back room at that moment with a whole new box of C220's. Bought 2 for gifts at $99 each, then went from there to Radio Shack and grabbed a Mio 320 for my mom for $149. Too damn cold in the northeast to be standing out there all night.

Hy all;

Well I started out at 5am driving over an hour to get to the Closes Staples store near me here in Rural Kansas, when I got there it was Packed, after 25 min of trying to get around people in the Store, I finally got to the Back area of the store were they had a whole lot of G.P.S.'s left, but not 1 of them was a Navigon 2100, and since that's the only 1 I wanted I decided to just to leave, as I turned around here comes a young Lady with 2 units that she was returning to the Table, So I grabbed 1, and asked her why she was returning them she said they told her she could only buy 2 units of each kind. So I said thank you to her, proceeded to to the check out line, A gentleman came up to me and offered me $200 cash if I would sell it to him, and of course I said no, so after 45 min on line I finally walked out to my car, well the guy comes up to me, and says I really want that unit, and offers me $225.00 again I said sorry but No, Well turns out I get home, and start going thru thru the unit, and to me this is way to Complicated of a system compared to my Magellan 3100. So now I don't want it, and I am not sure if I should bring it back to Staples and get my Money back or do what a friend Recommended, and Sell it on EBay ?? What do you think guy's ??

Have to say I read a lot of reviews from here and others before heading out to bowling green, KY for deals.

I hit Staples and was able to get the Garmin nuvi 260 for 249.99 and I got two Navigon 2100t at 99.00 a piece. Wanted one for myself in my truck and one for gift. I had a ticket for the Tom Tom 3rd, but decided the Garmin would be just fine for me and spend the 100.00 on a 11 inch digital frame. Also got the 4 gig USB drive. Had the Garmin out and on by the time I left the lot. Accurate to home and text to voice was great. I think it was a great buy. Hope to play with the Navigon later today.

Went on the HSN site yesterday and found a deal on TomTom One 3rd Ed. The deal is two complete units for $299, plus you can split up the payments.

I borrowed my sisters old garmin while visiting over thanksgiving. I was passing by Radio Shack. They had a black Friday $139 deal on TT 1 3rd edition. I set it up and it worked great. However after the first hour I realized it did not have text to speech. I really want that feature. I will bring this back and find one that is as small but has text to speech

I just picked up the TomTom XL-S at Office Depot for $299 and it has a $49 rebate. I haven't opened the GPS box yet, can someone tell me if this is a decent GPS for the cash? I have been reading allot of info on this great site and it appears that the Garmin is #1 followed by the TomTom brand. I stood in the Radio Shack line at 5:00 am and was able to get the Mio 320 but I am taking it back because it has a fairly complex menu system.
Happy Holidays
-Ray

I was able to get on the Staples website at about 1am this morning and order myself the Navigon 2100T. It was nice not to have to wait in line, but I do have to wait until Tuesday to play with it.

I live in Los Angeles, so I decided to go for the Navigon, with it's traffic feature, over some of the other GPS systems. In reality, I bought the Navigon just to whet my appetite for the Dash Express coming out next year. Once the Dash is available, I'll likely either sell or gift the Navigon.

I took advantage of the $299.99 deal on the Garmin Nuvi 650 on Costco.com on Thanksgiving Day...no lines, no hassles, and I got to sleep in this morning!

I went and stood in line at staples this morning hoping to get the navigon 2100 but they were gone so i bought the tom tom 3rd edition instead. I then went to Radio Shack and bought the navigon for $150 with free traffic alert. I also ordered the tom tom for $149 through dell and online i also bought the magellan 3100 at bb for 149.00. I haven't picked that up yet and dont think i will unless i should buy it and try to sell it. Same with dell purchase-i could keep and sell. My dilemma is which one to keep-the tom tom from staples for $125 or the navigon for $150.00 with free traffic alert. I don't travel alot but when i do i always get lost!!!!! Any suggestions

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I think that the TomTom is a better unit. I love the idea of free traffic for life, but the odds of you NOT liking the Navigon are higher than the odds of you not liking the TomTom.

Who wants a GPS they don't like?

-Scott

I set my alarm for 5:50am this morning. When it went off, I grabbed my laptop and went to Staples.com where I placed an order for a Navigon 2100t for $99 and free shipping. After the order went through, I went back to sleep laughing at everyone who waited all night/morning in the cold to get one at a store.

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Matt,

You're an evil man.... I was out there freezing in 32F weather. Think I might do the same next year!

-Scott

I ordered a TomTom One v3 from Crutchfield online for $125 + $10 shipping and no sales tax for me. Out of stock but the site accepted the order. We'll see if it ships.

I bought a TomTom from BB online for $120 /w 6% sales tax on Thanksgiving day... I think the extra $10 or so was worth not dealing with a mob of people.

Scott - Thanks for showing us what Christmas is about, that was a nice thing you did!!!

Around 3 am, I went online and ordered most of my BF wishlist to be shipped, including the Mio 220. Then I went back to bed and got up at 5am to check out the stuff I wasn't able to order online. Bought a battery backup, some external hard drives, and media cards. At 8 am, Circuit City still had a line, so I skipped that for the mall where I got some great deals on winter clothing. At noon I dropped by at Circuit City again. There were about half a dozen Mio 220s available on display, and a dozen or so Garmin nuvi 200s and Garmin Streetpilot 340s. On impulse, I decided to get my dad a GPS too, but couldn't decide between the nuvi 200 or the Streetpilot 340, so bought both and plan on returning one later. Not sure, but which is better for use in west Los Angeles area, the nuvi or the streetpilot?

Went to Gander Mountain at 2:30 on TG Day. Did what I was supposed to do. Waited in line, got a Tom Tom One 3rd for 124.00 less a $20.00 gift card they gave me. After check out and in front of a manager, I opened the unsealed box and no Tom Tom. By the time we got back to the counter they were gone. Manager by the name of Brad couldn't handle the situation. To make a long story short. I got the $199.00 Garmin C530 for the same price as the Tom Tom and another $20.00 gift card (cashier mistake). Net price $133.00 with tax less two $20.00 gift cards = $93.00. Is thais a good deal ???? LOL. By the way, TG Day = poor customer service because no one wants to be there.

Staples arrival: 6:10am (too late!) HUGE PACKED parking lot and store. Navi-GONE! I approached a confused looking guy with both TTOne and Navigon, and said i'd take Navigon off his hands - silly me told him advantages and disses of both, and he kept the Navigon coz i wanted it. Darn my honesty. So I got his TT-One for $125 with a $20 cash back. YAY. Plus some 25-pk jewel cases for $2.99 Then ran to Radio Shack where they still had about 10 Mio320s left for $149, and got one.

Am going to try both and see which I like best.

Kicking myself for not realizing till too late that I could have gone straight home and got the Navigon $99 Staples online.

Fred Meyer NICE pillows for $3.00.. Leather recliner la la la, but u don't wanna hear the rest of the day. I'm exhausted, and spent waaay to much money.

So far, I'm struggling with Mio, i can't even find my newly-built home street, in a new housing development. sigh. Only had it on 10 mins when the thing said, battery low. sheesh. i will keep trying.

A BIG THANKS, SCOTT and all others here all the info on this website. That's one quick education on GPS for this newby.

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Emily,

I am glad I could help. I think that you made out well with the TTOne.

the battery thing: If you have it fully charged, I KNOW it will last more than 10 minutes!

First I went to JCPenney's and got a Invion 350 GPS while I was there. Next to Walmart for the Garmin StreetPilot c330, next to Linen's and Things for Amcor 3900 GPS and then to Staples for the TomTom but was directed the wrong way so I didn't get one.

Could please tell me if you know anything about these models.
Thanks!
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Garmin is a great brand;and this SP C330 while a bit older packs a lot of punch. Up to date North American Maps, 5+ Million Points of Interest and an easy easy interface. The downside of it is that the unit is not flat, and it does not have a high sensitivity GPS Chipset. This means that it may struggle in Urban Jungles, where its view of the sky is obstructed.

So not the newest hardware, but a minor price to pay for a top brand.

The other two - I have not used, and can't really talk intelligently about them.

-Scott

Originally, I planed to buy a TomTom one at Staples on Black Friday. Since I heard lots of people talking about GPS, I though it would be hard to get a GPS at Staples store. Luckily, I bought one at Amazon.com at $124.99. Though no $20 gift card, but no tax. It will be shipped next tuesday.

And on Black Friday, I went to Pepboys to buy some car parts at 4:45AM. (They opened at 5AM) I was the second in the line and the employee handed out $10 gift card at the entrance. By the time the store opened, there were about 10 people and everyone except me rushed to buy Mio C220. It seemed they have about 12 units and everyone could get one. They could use the $10 gift card, so the actual price for Mio C220 was $69.99 after rebate. Wow!

And I went to a local staples store for portable hard disk. The GPS units were gone way before I entered the store, but I could secure one of portable hard drive.

I am still excited about what I got and eager to see the GPS unit I ordered.

Went out today with both the navigon 2100t and garmin 260. Between the two, the navigon seemed to get linked with sat quickest. Really liked the screen details on the navigon. Seened to show more detail. Saw upcoming points of interest on map. May have to work some settings on Garmin to see them. More POI listed on Garmin. Both were right on target with directions point to point. Both had minor mistakes in point of interest locations (wrong side of road). The ease of use edge went to the Garmin (in my opinion), but once set up and driving, I liked the Navigon a little better. Text to Voice on both was great. For 99.00 compared to 240 for Garmin, I will keep one of the navigons and give the other to my dad. Maybe Navigon will have the 99.00 deal for Christmas. If you get past the initial extra steps at set up, it has a lot to offer.

Was going to go to 6AVE of Jersey City for the TT One 3rd edition or XL-S but there was about 70 people on line when we arrived @ 5AM. Went to PC Richards (shorter line about 20 person in front of me) instead for the TT XL-S but the salesman said they don't have that model so decided to get TT ONE 3rd edition selling for $124.97 (w/c I think is a good deal). When I read the review here I found out it don't have Text to Speech feature w/c I would like to have since i drive in the city mostly. So went online & checked for any deal on the XL-S: BB was selling for $299, Walmart for $259.86 but was out of stock, lastly checked Amazon.com & they have it for $259.99 w/ free 2nd day shipping or $3.99 for next day shipping if you sign up for their Free Trial of Amazon Prime w/ no obligation. So decided to sign up & get the TT XL-S w/ the next day shipping totaling to $263.98 w/o 0 tax w/c I should get by Monday. So I will be returning the TT ONE or maybe sell it on EBAY;). I love BLACK FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!

i got to BB at 8:40am and was able to grab one of the last 4 (out of 25) Garmin Nuvi 660 units for $399 + a $49 - 4 year service plan. They were all sold out online so I figured I was kidding myself even going to the store. I guess I got lucky.

Scott, was the service plan worth it or should I return it? Your thoughts?

I couldn't be happier with my 660 living here in Boston, it is unbelievable. I was also very pleasantly surprised to find that it paired with my new LG Venus phone, too! since it wasn't listed on the Garmin website as bluetooth compatible. What an awesome unit!

I've never shopped a Black Friday before, but the ads were so good I thought I'd give it a try. Boy, was I innocent! My thought was that I'd buy an assortment of sub-$200 units, play with them for a week or so, keep the one I hated the least, and return the rest. I didn't use Best Buy as a source since they charge 15% for returns, but the office stores and Radio Shack have no-hassle returns.

I got to my local Staples about 5 minutes after they opened and of course all the TomTom and Navigon GPSs were gone. I had no clue about "tickets" but I guess there are no bargains for the sane.

After breakfast, I went over to Radio Shack and picked up a TomTom ONE for $15 more than Staples' price, no waiting. I also got a Magellan Maestro 2100 for about $10 less than Staples' price. Radio Shack had the Navigon 2100 with the free traffic update but it was $50 more than Staples and my two closest stores didn't have any anyhow. Too bad, I wanted to play with that.

I wanted to like the Magellan because I'm familiar with the ones that Hertz puts in their rental cars and found its user interface comfortable, but it struck out on POIs, not knowing a few places that aren't that new or obscure that I've been to before. I got the sense that it was more "yuppie" oriented. It'll probably go back.

The TomTom ONE is so popular it's probably worth a fair shot but I haven't given it one yet. After a couple of hours, I decided to try the on-line update to see how that worked. It updated the firmware but the map update not only didn't work, but eventually blew out the US/Canada maps. After several calls to Tech Support they admitted that there was a problem with the web site (blamed it on high volume of users because of the holiday bargains, but I doubt that) and that I wouldn't be able to get the proper map files until Monday. The real problem was that one file in the batch was corrupt, the one that activates the maps. I was bummed that they couldn't e-mail me that one file or post it somewhere on their web site. I guess "tech" support isn't all that "tech," though one person did help me do a manual installation from the files that were saved on my computer, which of course didn't work, but that let me figure out what the real problem was. Anyway, I'll have something to play with next week.

The week before, I picked up a Becker Traffic Assist Highspeed 7934 which I don't think I've seen reviewed here. ($119 after the $70 rebate). That was my first GPS toy. I really wanted to like it because it's also an MP3 player (one less gadget to take along when I travel) and it had the nicest mount of any of the batch I have here. But it crashed on me a few times, took longer to acquire satellites than the others, and I kept pushing the wrong buttons (lack of intuition, not clumsiness - I thought what I was looking for was HERE and it was somewhere else).

Does anyone have any experience with the Becker?

'Scuse me. That was the Magellan Maestro 3100, not 2100. But you probably knew that.

For those like me who missed out at Staples, check out Westmarine.com. They have the GARMIN Nuvi 200W for $215, and the Tom Tom One 3rd for $139 (after rebate). They have other Garmin models as well. Internet only but free shipping. I ordered the Garmin after reading reviews indicating Garmin has the best route program.

Hy all;

Well if anyone is still Interested in buying a brand new Navigon 2100 with LIFETIME TRAFFIC, just not yearly, and a 3 yr extended warranty then look me up in Craigslist Kansas City under Electronics

I was told by a friend up north that the Navigon 2100 was a pretty good unit so I decided to go to Radio Shack to pick one up. Got there an hour before opening and the line wasn't TOOO long. Got in and was told the Navigons 2100 had been recalled and they don't have any and weren't issuing any rain checks. So I got a Tomtom instead - but still not what I wanted. Then I called around to the other Shacks in the area and they told me the same thing - they don't have any and they're not giving rain checks. So I called my buddy up north (whom is a manager of a shack) and asked him about it. He told me they were correct that they were recalled however, they should all have the new units back in stock as his and the surrounding stores have gotten the Navigon 2100's in stock to sell.

What a crock! Bait in switch IMHO. I wrote the Shack complaining but don't think it'll really do any good.

So I now have a GPS that I didn't really want but at least it'll get me there. Though I will jump at my chance to get the Navigon if given at the price they were advertising.

I rcently brought a Garmin C330 from Walmart for $128 and a TomTom One LE from BestBuy for $119.00 on Black Friday. I wasn't sure which unit was the better deal so got both to check out since I'm new to the GPS world. Going to use the unit mostly for taveling between appointment for my job everyday in several counties around the area where I live. Will use it a few times a year to travel to family.
Thanks for any help deciding whch unit to keep. haven't opened the units yet.

Thanks

I scored two Navigon 2100's at at Staples on bf.I am considering upgrading to the lifetime traffic and wondered if I would be able to use the same traffic code I buy to activate both units?

FWIW I think the Radio Shack recall happened the day before t-day. I went to one to buy one on Wednesday since I had a trip and they had two but wouldn't sell them to me. They said they wouldn't have them for BF either and they were pretty upset at the store since the ad had already come out. I don't think it was an intentional ploy by RS to do this. They were recalled because there were scratches on the units. The guy showed me one. I would have bought it anyway but he said no.

Lucky Update from Emily:

I called my local Staples on Sat and explained I tried for Navigon and was a few mins too late, (and got a TomTomOne instead) and asked if there had been any returns. The nice guy said, 'No, but there may be'. I called later and he said, "We got one back, rush down here' but also did say, 'I can't save it for you' so I rushed like crazy and got it. Sale was still on, so I scored it for $99. YAY. Opened the box in the lot and used it then and there. Works easy, and great! Love it. Love the TTSpeech. Loving the green street signs that come up at major hwy intersections, love the speed limit signs that stay up (I'm always wondering), love the warning to move to the left to get ready to turn. Negs: I wish there was more color on the screen. As mentioned, tiny delay with entering, not bad, and letters are kinda small to type, but do-able. Don't like the printing on screen, grey on grey and hard to read a bit.

I also got the MioC320 at RadioShack on BF and struggled initially with it, today i took it out and finally had some fun with it - love the bigger screen, lots of color - blue lakes, green parks - nice! Love the Qwerty keyboard, love the clicky sound it makes when I hit a key. Love 'night vision', black and electric blue, love the printing on the streetnames, easier to read than Navigon. Negs: No text to speech, just 'turn in 5 yards'. This has more capabilities than I can figger intuitively. It seems just slightly 'off' with the timing to turn. Tells me to turn prematurely, and then quickly tells me the next turn before I am even near it. I live in SLC, most of our str addys have grid numbers (215 S 3300 E), so that was a little tricky to figger on Mio, but i got it.

The TomTomOne is next. I'll take it out tomorrow. More GPS offers in today's Sunday ads. I'm done and now comes the hard choices.

QUESTION: Of the TTOne(3ed), MioC320 and Navigon 2100T, do any have the 'route stacking option'? I work in healthcare and have to make multiple home visits. I want to enter all the stops and have the GPS sort them as to most convenient order (not nec in the order I enter them). I seem to remember from a discussion here that the Mio MIGHT do this, which is why I bought it to try it. Do the others do this?

Example: When I do yahoomaps, I can see on the map I build, if the multiple stops are in inconvenient order, and I can change it to make the route smoother. Yahoomaps does 'blear out' and freezes up with too many visits and if I make too many changes.

Is there a GPS that will suggest or just 'do' a 'best' route plan for multiple stops? Or do I need to enter the addys in order (knowing in advance the best general locational order for visits) (which I don't usually). The hardest part of homecare is mapping out home addresses intelligently. There's a challenge for you tech wizards. I go craaazy mapping out my day.

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!!

I got to my Staples at 5:30am. I was about #50 in line and got a voucher for the TomTom. They said they had 48 of them in stock and my voucher number was 38. I planned on getting the TomTom for my wife and the Nuvi 260 for myself using the instant $20 GC. However they only had 9 Nuvi's in the store and they were gone before I got in. Oh well, stopped by Pep Boys on the way home and got the last TomTom for $129 for myself. Like the unit a lot. Small and it seems quite accurate. We'll see how it does this weekend driving from RI to Long Island. Having trouble updating the maps though. I keep getting an internal server error.

Ordered two navigon 2100T from Staples on Friday am, got a printout of my order. When I checked the status later that day it was zero so I called and they told me that everything was ok they were just backed up. Late Saturday received an e-mail from staples stating that they were out of stock with no backorders. I called them and they were going to look into it. I called corporate Monday with no luck, they said that the time I placed the order to the time it was processed they were sold out. So I'm out of luck

I ended up going to Radio Shack to get a Navigon 2100; I chose one that is out of the way and has little traffic. When I got there around 9AM I was told by the Manager that they would be getting (5) Navigon 5100s instead later in the day FedEx-ed but would be offering them for the same advertised price as the 2100s. I pre-paid for one then left. The Manager called me a few hours later, told me it had arrived and I could pick it up any time. I swung by that afternoon and got it no problem. I was really impressed how helpful all the store people were; I've been involved in previous BF nightmares before and this really took me by surprise. I'm giving this as a gift for my wife; I can hardly wait to crack it open and see how it works...