A complete guide to Black Friday deals, advice, and Ratings

We’ve been busy here getting ready for the holiday shopping season, which—despite its early start this year—traditionally starts on Black Friday. In addition to following deals and offering shopping tips here on the Electronics Blog, our reporters and testers have been updating the buying advice for a host of products at ConsumerReports.org. They’ve also been hard at work in our labs, as the flood of new product Ratings within the last week and a half can attest.

If you’re among the brave ones venturing out in search of deals this Black Friday weekend, we hope this buying guide will help prepare you. For buying tips and deals throughout this holiday season, be sure to check back with the Electronics Blog periodically. Check in also with Tightwad Tod, who is following deals for a number of products and offering useful shopping advice.

BLACK FRIDAY DEALS
Our reporters have combed through a number of Black Friday deal sites and retailer circulars. Below are the fruits of their labor. Many deals carry through the weekend. Even if they’re only valid on Black Friday itself, you might be surprised at what a little haggling can accomplish. And be careful of tempting bundled or package deals—sometimes they aren’t as great a value as they appear.

Laptop, desktop, and netbook computer deals
Digital camera deals (Some of these deals are advertised as available through Wednesday, though others may continue until stocks are depleted.)
Blu-ray player deals

GPS deals

PRODUCT RATINGS
We’ve recently added model Ratings and recommendations to a number of product categories. Read the reports to see what's new or go straight to the charts (available to subscribers).

BUYING ADVICE
Along with the Ratings, we've updated our shopping advice for a number of product categories to better address the issues you’ll face as you research your purchases. We’ve also added some new categories—like e-book readers and pocket camcorders—and updated our descriptions of video game consoles.

TVs

MP3 players

E-book readers

Pocket camcorders

Video Game Consoles

Computers

Cell phones