The Black Friday/Cyber Monday Shopping Cheat Sheet
Amazon
All hail the king. Amazon kicked off its Black Friday deals at the beginning of the month with a “Countdown to Black Friday” sale and now that it’s the week of everyone’s favorite shopping event, it has switched to “Black Friday Deals Week,” where it updates deals every five minutes. The biggest online store in the world will run its holiday sales stretch through December 22nd, with your chance of getting the absolute best deals happening during the Turkey 5, Amazon’s name for the period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday.
Amazon Brand Products
Of course, Amazon is bringing deep discounts to its own devices: Tap Bluetooth-enabled speaker - $89.99; Fire tablet - $33.33; Fire HD 8 tablet - $59.99; Kindle reader - $49.99; Fire TV - $74.99.
TVs
Amazon is promising some serious price drops on televisions for every budget: 32-inch 720p LED TV - $69.99; 32-inch TCL 720p Smart TV - $125; 43-inch 4K Ultra HD Smart TV - $199.
Other Electronics
Music lovers can scoop these up: Denon HEOS 1 Wireless Speaker - $99; Sennheiser HD 598 Cs Closed Back Headphones - $99.95.
Entertainment
TV junkies should look out for deals on some serial favorites: $50 off The Walking Dead Blu-Ray set; Breaking Bad: The Complete Series Blu-Ray will drop from $299.99 to $98.99; the complete Game of Thrones book series will be 20% off.
Target
Target probably has one of the most anticipated Black Friday and Cyber Monday events, because it tends to do some solid and reliable price slashing. It’s having ten days of deals, starting on Saturday, November 19th with different items being featured each day until Black Friday. Black Friday officially begins at 6 pm in the stores and midnight online on Thanksgiving. There will be lots of good deals on electronics, making the store pretty competitive with the other options on this list.
Gaming
Target is selling two Xbox bundles for $249.99: the Xbox One Battlefield 1 Bundle and the Xbox One Minecraft Bundle. Guitar Hero is $10 off at $39.99 and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare is $20 off at $59.99.
Entertainment
There are a variety of $10 Blu-Ray films available, and Apple TV models are 25% off.
TVs
Your best bets for TVs are the 43-inch Element Smart 4K TV at $199.99 or the 40-inch Samsung Class 1080p LED Smart TV for $247.99.
Other Electronics
Target is advertising its lowest prices ever for the Fit Charge HR, which comes down to $89.95 from $129.95, and the Powerbeats2 Wireless Earphones, which you can save $110 on when they drop from $199.99 to $89.99. Beats Solo2 Wireless Headphones are $180 off at $119.99, and Beats Tour 2.5 In-Ear Headphones come down to $64.99 from $129.99.
Microsoft
People are getting really excited about Microsoft again since the arrival of its Surface PCs, and it’s probably hoping to capitalize on the buzz this holiday season by offering some really great deals on devices in the series. The main Black Friday sale will start on midnight on Thanksgiving, but a few items will get a price cut on Sunday, November 20th, and there will be Cyber Monday sales to follow. So if you’re looking to wean yourself off the shiny, silver Apple teat, this might be the weekend to do it.
Tablets and Laptops
Products in this category will be up to half off: Microsoft Surface Pro 4 128GB tablet - $799 (from $999); Microsoft Surface Pro 4 256GB - $999 (from $1428); HP Notebook Signature Edition laptop - $299 (from $499); Dell Inspiron Signature Edition Laptop - $699 (from $999).
Gaming
Microsoft is doing some major price slashing for Xbox One, which includes price drops for games, too: Up to 50% off FIFA 17, NBA 2K17, and GTA V; $50 off Xbox One S (down to $249.99) + $25 Gift Code + 1 Free Game; Xbox Wireless Controllers are $39.99 each (from $59.99).
VR
Jump on the VR trend with these gift codes: $100 gift codes for HTC Vive VR System and Oculus Rift VR Headset.
Best Buy
Best Buy is doing both an online and in-store Black Friday event like usual. There will be deals online all week before Black Friday, which begins at midnight online on Thanksgiving and will run through Saturday, November 26th. If you do decide to brave the store, doors open at 5 pm on Thanksgiving and close at 1 am. It will reopen on Black Friday at 8 am for the hordes of barbarians. Best Buy can always be counted on to offer worthwhile clearances on both Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and the Cyber Monday sales are usually better than Black Friday. It is offering free shipping on everything through New Year’s Eve as well.
Entertainment
Several hit movies are up for grabs for $7.99, including Deadpool and Captain America: Civil War. Other choices are also lower, like Creed and Furious 7 for $5.99.
Laptops
Certain Apple MacBook models will be $200 off.
TVs
This is in-store only, but it’s one of the best deals Best Buy is offering: 49-inch Toshiba 4K Ultra HDTV - $199.99 (from $450). Online, though, you can get a 32-inch Insignia LED 720p HDTV for $99.99.
Tablets
Check out the major price cut on the Apple iPad: $125 off the iPad Pro and iPad Air 2.
Gaming
Whether you’re a PlayStation or Xbox fan, you can get games for both systems for $19.99-34.99. Xbox One consoles are $50 off, bringing them down to $249.99, and controllers are $39.99. The Sony PlayStation 4 Console Uncharted 4 Bundle is also $249.99.
Gamestop
Like Best Buy, this is another online and in-store Black Friday combo, with the sale running through Sunday, November 27th. Gamestop stores will be closed on Thanksgiving and open at 5 am on Friday, but you can start shopping online deals on Wednesday. Sales for consoles are the same here as it is at Microsoft and Best Buy. Gamestop hasn’t released the details for Cyber Monday yet, but it’s usually similar to the Black Friday ones.
Consoles There are two main console bundles to choose from: the PlayStation 4 Uncharted 4 Bundle or the Xbox One S Gears of War4 Bundle, both are $249.99.
Games
There are several game sales: 3 for $20 pre-owned games; Batman: Arkham Knight - $9.99; Doom - $19.99; Mad Max - $19.99; Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare - $59.99; Call of Duty: Black Ops - $34.99; GTA V - $34.99.
Walmart
Like Target, Walmart is going to pull all the stops to get you to its site and in the store for Black Friday. There are sales going on right now, but prices are going to fall on Thursday at midnight online and stores will open at 6 pm. There are lots of specials on TVs and video games are under $10. There’s no word yet on its Cyber Monday deals, but they tend to be about the same as the Black Friday deals.
Gaming
Walmart will have a bunch of PS4 and Xbox One games for under $30, the Xbox One S Battlefield 1 Bundle and the PlayStation 4 Uncharted 4 Bundle for $249.99 each, and the Xbox 360 Forza Horizon 2 Bundle for $129. PS4 and Xbox One controllers will both be $39.99. The Call of Duty: Black Ops collections for both PS3 and Xbox 360 are both $25.
Tablets and Laptops
The Apple iPad Mini 2 will be $199 and the Lenovo Android Tab will be $99. Get a Samsung Chromebook 3 16GB laptop for $119.
TVs
You have several options under $200: 40-inch Element 1080p LED HDTV - $125; 40-inch Hisense 1080p LED HDTV - $125; 32-inch Samsung LED Smart HDTV - $188; 24-inch Samsung LED HDTV - $98.
Entertainment
If you’re in the market for a streaming device, the Roku Express Plus will be on sale for $25. DVDs will be as low as $1.96 each, too. There are also Bluetooth speakers from $19-$39.
Other Electronics
Several models of the Fitbit will have price drops: Flex 2 - $69; Charge - $129; Alta - $99. The GoPro Hero Session Bundle will be $179.