Damion Chaplin
03-18-2006, 03:54 AM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0%2C1759%2C1937193%2C00.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0%2C1759%2C1937193%2C00.asp</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Shopping retail is hell. Big-box outlets, awash in ill-informed clerks, underpaid salesmen, and poorly labeled products are, in a word, useless. No wonder people are turning to the Internet in droves. Still, for big purchases, many of us feel the need to try before we buy. So we set out, cash in hand, to find the best HDTV deals at brick-and-mortar stores. With dozens of brands and hundreds of models, it was a challenge. Getting the features you want at a good price requires preparation—and patience."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/0,1425,sz=1&i=121693,00.jpg" /> <br /><br />This is an interesting and amusing article describing what many of us here must encounter all the time: Trying to find an item - any item - and dealing with lousy displays, lousy salespeople, lousy selection and/or lousy inventory levels. Their conclusion was that Best Buy and Costco had the best 'shopping experience', but mostly because they actually had a good-looking HD demo loop running. They tried to limit themselves to $900, so the amount of TVs they were even able to review was small, but was still quite enlightening regarding sub-$1K TVs. Personally, I buy just about everything online unless a B&M has it cheaper for the very reasons outlined in the article. So, I'm interested: