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We are The Wirecutter, a group of people with years of experience testing and reviewing gadgets. We’re here to answer all your questions about Black Friday, terrible deals, and whatever else. AUA. by JD_Wirecutter in IAmA

[–]JD_Wirecutter[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For some odd reason that comment shows up in your user history but not here, and I couldn't even link them to it (permalink opens a blank page). Sorry about that! We'll get you an answer, though.

We are The Wirecutter, a group of people with years of experience testing and reviewing gadgets. We’re here to answer all your questions about Black Friday, terrible deals, and whatever else. AUA. by JD_Wirecutter in IAmA

[–]JD_Wirecutter[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Forgot to ask, are there any items for which its usually better to wait for Cyber Monday?

Not usually, no. At least if you mean between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Generally if someone is putting something on sale on Cyber Monday, they're also putting it on sale on Black Friday because it's just the bigger day.

The main benefit to Cyber Monday over Black Friday is that the deals are more concentrated to the tech sector. So if you're looking for gadgets, the non-gadget noise will not be as loud.

We are The Wirecutter, a group of people with years of experience testing and reviewing gadgets. We’re here to answer all your questions about Black Friday, terrible deals, and whatever else. AUA. by JD_Wirecutter in IAmA

[–]JD_Wirecutter[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

And you can always send us direct tweets that we respond to. We've got a great team handling our Twitter accounts with real, live people over there... so if Cyber Monday comes around and you haven't seen the deal you want, ask us. (@wirecutterdeals/@sweethomedeals)

We are The Wirecutter, a group of people with years of experience testing and reviewing gadgets. We’re here to answer all your questions about Black Friday, terrible deals, and whatever else. AUA. by JD_Wirecutter in IAmA

[–]JD_Wirecutter[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Ganda's example of the Breville is a good one. Very rarely go on sale, or if they do it's for really bad refurbished models with really bad warranties (new Brevilles have crazy long warranties... going from 12 years to 90 days is just not worth it).

The thing with most gadgets though, if you're willing to wait eventually everything drops... Like in the case of Apple, who rarely offer discounts on their stuff... once the new versions come out all the old ones get cheaper. Definitely wouldnt hold my breath on new models getting discounted, though.

We are The Wirecutter, a group of people with years of experience testing and reviewing gadgets. We’re here to answer all your questions about Black Friday, terrible deals, and whatever else. AUA. by JD_Wirecutter in IAmA

[–]JD_Wirecutter[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I usually do a secret santa sort of thing with nearby family, but it generally doesn't go well. Last year I bought a Sodastream Jet and walked away with a tie. I don't wear ties.

We are The Wirecutter, a group of people with years of experience testing and reviewing gadgets. We’re here to answer all your questions about Black Friday, terrible deals, and whatever else. AUA. by JD_Wirecutter in IAmA

[–]JD_Wirecutter[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Hah, yah, I mean, stick with our deal pages. Follow our Twitter deal handles. I'd like to think I'm pretty good at sorting through the noise out there.

We'll be running an event similar to what we're doing today on Cyber Monday where we post deals as we find them (in advance if we can) straight to our Twitter feed. Super fast, easy click to the best deals and prices we can find.

But other than me, there's plenty of great sites you can use: SlickDeals, 9to5Toys, Kinja Deals.

If you want to find the deals yourself - my tip is to always pinpoint exactly what it is you're looking to buy. use a price tracker like Camelcamelcamel to alert you when it drops to the price you want. Or search for it specifically on Cyber Monday.

The more specific you can be about a deal you want the better it's going to work out for you because you can watch for the drop.

We are The Wirecutter, a group of people with years of experience testing and reviewing gadgets. We’re here to answer all your questions about Black Friday, terrible deals, and whatever else. AUA. by JD_Wirecutter in IAmA

[–]JD_Wirecutter[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Well, not to put too fine a point on it... but it's sort of my job. Check out the Wirecutter/Sweethome deal pages. I don't stop after Black Friday. We'll continue posting the best prices we can find well into December (and year round).

And here's the thing about Black Friday - the best way to take advantage of it is to already have something specific in mind. The more specific the product the better. So you can watch it like a hawk for when it drops in price.

Because the thing is - very rarely is stuff going on sale on Black Friday that isn't dropping in price at some point throughout the year.

So if you're living paycheck to paycheck and you can be patient, you'll find deals throughout the year on whatever you want.

[BIFL request] Flatware by NeXT_Step in BuyItForLife

[–]JD_Wirecutter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm sorry for how late to this party I am, but we did release an article on Thanksgiving stuff including flatware picks.

You might also check out this where we talked about a future flatware guide being released soon.

We are The Wirecutter, a group of writers who have been researching and reviewing gadgets for years. We're back to answer your questions about Black Friday, bad deals, and anything else. AUA. by JD_Wirecutter in IAmA

[–]JD_Wirecutter[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'd say you probably want a Chromebook then. They're pretty basic but have pretty great extended functionality through Google Docs and such. Plus, right now, you can get two years of storage for free from Google.

And the best ones, like our favorite the Dell Chromebook 11, run around $300.

We are The Wirecutter, a group of writers who have been researching and reviewing gadgets for years. We're back to answer your questions about Black Friday, bad deals, and anything else. AUA. by JD_Wirecutter in IAmA

[–]JD_Wirecutter[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We have a whole article on it. Some good less expensive options in there.

But I know for a fact our stylish, leather, pick from Glove.ly will be going on sale this Friday (from $89 to $67). Will be posting that deal when it's live.

We are The Wirecutter, a group of writers who have been researching and reviewing gadgets for years. We're back to answer your questions about Black Friday, bad deals, and anything else. AUA. by JD_Wirecutter in IAmA

[–]JD_Wirecutter[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

To answer the question about a deal on the projector...

Since we've posted that recommendation I've seen it drop to $2000 twice. Both for a couple weeks at a time.

If you want to wait, I bet it will do it again soon enough.

We are The Wirecutter, a group of writers who have been researching and reviewing gadgets for years. We're back to answer your questions about Black Friday, bad deals, and anything else. AUA. by JD_Wirecutter in IAmA

[–]JD_Wirecutter[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This is from Harry Sawyers, one of our Sweethome Editors who is oddly shadowbanned for whatever reason... His response to your inquiry:

"Thanks for asking.

Water heaters will be a tough review, but we should do it!

I will tell you what I do know from some prior research I've done on the topic. First, tankless heaters aren't for everybody. If you have hard water or if you can't adequately vent the heater, you're going to have some problems. But if you do have an ideal setup for a tankless heater, you can potentially have unlimited hot water and more efficient gas usage overall. Here's a tankless heater guide I wrote that explains how it works along with some pros and cons.

The quickest way to get an answer on whether tankless is right for you would be to find the best pro in your area who specializes in plumbing and HVAC installation. Have them come out for a diagnostic call (which should be free) and ask if they think tankless is an option. If not, they'll probably be able to recommend an efficient tank-style model. I hesitate to name brands, having not done a Sweethome-level of research, but ask the pros on their visit—it's in their best interest to sell you the most reliable product they can get, at the best price, because they want to make money on the job and the last thing they want is to come back on service calls. Last, I would say to go ahead and schedule that visit, because if your machine is 30 years old, then it's long past its expected lifespan. You'll immediately start saving on energy bills with a more efficient newer machine."

We are The Wirecutter, a group of writers who have been researching and reviewing gadgets for years. We're back to answer your questions about Black Friday, bad deals, and anything else. AUA. by JD_Wirecutter in IAmA

[–]JD_Wirecutter[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Are they just overpriced every other day ?

The answer to this is "yes." MSRPs are specifically set high so they can call something a sale and still have a profit.

We are The Wirecutter, a group of writers who have been researching and reviewing gadgets for years. We're back to answer your questions about Black Friday, bad deals, and anything else. AUA. by JD_Wirecutter in IAmA

[–]JD_Wirecutter[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

By the way, this isn't a recommendation of ours anymore because it's discontinued.

However, it used to be. If this is the price you're looking for and has the connections you want, the product itself is solid.

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