Sound and Vision: Is it better to wait until Black Friday?

OPINION: Black Friday is a few weeks away but as is the case with this massive sales promotion, deals have already begun in earnest.

Back in ye olde days of Black Friday, deals were around for the actual Friday while the weekend was left to mop up items that weren’t snatched off the shelves beforehand. These days you’ve got a steady stream of deals that pretty much kick-off with the second Prime Day in September and intensify until you get to the end of November.

There’s no shortage of sales and discounts to go around which makes me wonder, do you really need to wait until Black Friday to get what you want? Well it depends.

There are also surprise deals that pop up during Black Friday, deals that you wouldn’t expect to see – but we don’t know what those will be in advance, so what would be the point in waiting for them to materialise out of thin air?

What’s available now?

If you’re looking for a TV, you can already get very enticing deals in the best early Black Friday promotions. Samsung’s already offering the kit and kaboodle with free soundbars and projectors to go with its Neo QLED 4K and 8K TVs. If you’re interested in Sky Glass, it’s now available to purchase in Currys and deals are already available from ￡33/month in store. LG and Panasonic TVs are being discounted, even though the latter has only been available in the last couple of months.

You’ll likely find deals on Sony, Bose, and Sennheiser headphones; along with the Sonos Ace (which has been discounted for weeks already), and the Dyson OnTrac, both of them are still relatively new to the market. Fancy a portable music player? The Astell & Kern SR35 is down to ￡599. What about a projector? Optoma’s lopping ￡200 to ￡300 off new projectors, including the recently reviewed UHZ55.

So why wait?

I’m sure there will be some stupendous, hard to miss deals come Black Friday but at the same time, if you’re looking for a TV right now, the deals are out there and you don’t have to wait Black Friday week to bag yourself a bargain. Arguably there’s FOMO over missing out on a lower price, but if you’re happy with your purchase, why would you split hairs over ￡50/￡60?

You can argue all day long about the merits of Black Friday, about whether it’s a good or a bad thing, whether we’re indulging too much in consumerism and over-reliant on it. For a large number of companies, the sales event pays the bill given the amount of attention it draws, and now that it’s stretched across several weeks, you’ve got plenty of time to make a decision.

If you don’t know what you’re looking for or want then there is sense in waiting – particularly as we’ll be bringing you the best handpicked deals in our Black Friday coverage – but if know what you’re looking for then there’s little point in waiting until Black Friday to get it. Odds are that the best deal you’re going to get is already right there in front of you waiting to be scooped up and put in your basket.