Top Black Friday travel gear deals

With just over a week until Black Friday, now is the perfect time to start planning your shopping adventure. We sat down with the founder of one of the largest Black Friday deal sites to talk about the deals this year, and how stores deal with the inevitable leak of their top secret ads.

Brad Olson runs Blackfriday @ Gottadeal.com, and he’s been dealing with the shopping event since the first ads started leaking out back in August. Since then, it has been a never ending task to keep readers updated with the latest bargains, and add them to his handy deal database.

After the jump, you’ll find our interview with him, and the top twenty travel themed bargains from the currently leaked or published Black Friday deal listings.


Gadling: Have you noticed any stores taking a more liberal approach to their ads being “leaked”? I know some (like Home Depot) are very strict, but do others actually encourage the ads to go out in public as soon as possible?

Gottadeal: Overall stores have been more liberal with their Black Friday ads in the last couple of years. The peak of the legal threat nastiness was more in 2006-2008, but since then I think stores have realized that having their ad leaked early isn’t the end of the world and can actually benefit them.

Gadling: Any big trends this year for shoppers? It seems like there is no real “hot” gadget this season in electronics or toys?

Gottadeal: As for trends this year, it’s probably electronics again. People want deals on HDTVs and Blu-ray players. iPods are always popular, especially with a deal like Walmart’s with a free $50 gift card.

Gadling: Will you be out shopping on Black Friday, and what will you be looking for?

Gottadeal: I will likely be home again. I’m usually up all night Thursday night updating the site with what BF ad items people can buy online at the sale prices, and I usually do that non-stop until around 7 in the morning, and then while everyone is out shopping I get some much-needed sleep, lol.

And here are twenty of the best Black Friday travel gear deals. Some of these deals link directly to the store product page – and you will not see the low Black Friday price until Black Friday!

  1. Best Buy – $159.99 JVC Everio GZ-MS230 Dual Flash Camcorder
  2. Best Buy – $149.99 Compaq 10″ Netbook 1GB / 160GB
  3. Office Depot – $279.99 15.6″ Lenovo Celeron laptop 2GB/250GB
  4. Best Buy- $129.99 Garmin Nuvi 1300LMT 4.3″ GPS with lifetime free traffic and maps
  5. Gander Mountain – $99.99 Garmin Nuvi 1300 4.3″ GPS
  6. Kmart – $79.99 7″ Dual screen car portable DVD player
  7. Kohl’s – $37.99 Prodigy Hudson 5-piece luggage set (early bird)
  8. Office Max – $74.99 TomTom Portable One 130 3.5″ GPS
  9. Pep Boys $49.98 Magellan Roadmate 1440 GPS
  10. Radio Shack – $4.99 Targus travel 4 port USB hub
  11. Sears – $9.99 music travel pack FM transmitter, mount, charger (early bird)
  12. Sears – $99.99 Samsung C20 Camcorder (early bird)
  13. Sears – $109.99 Sony Bloggie HD camcorder
  14. Sears – $9.99 Capri 21″ Carryon upright luggage (early bird)
  15. Target – $19 30″ Embarq rolling duffel bag
  16. Target – $49 RCA 7″ portable DVD player (4 colors)
  17. Walmart – $99 Flip UltraHD Camcorder (early bird)
  18. Walmart – $29 Philips 4GB MP3 player (early bird)
  19. Walmart – $49 Philips 7″ portable DVD player (early bird)
  20. Walmart – $198 eMachines 15.6″ Celeron Notebook 2GB/250GB (early bird)

These are obviously just a very small selection of some of the bargains you’ll find on Black Friday. For an overview of all the deals that have been published so far, head on over to Black Friday @ Gottadeal.com.

Gadling’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals guide

Yes – Black Friday is almost here again, which means brave people will once again be out of bed at 3am so they can stand in line with 500 others, just to save $100 on a TV. Before I mock those people too much, I too will be one of them. Even though I don’t need any new gadgets, I enjoy being part of the madness that is Black Friday.

If you don’t get too excited by this concept, or you’d rather be shot than be part of this once a year event, then check out this massive lineup of great online deals we have collected for you. Shop from the comfort of your own home, without the risk of being trampled to death in a mass of slow moving shoppers.


Double your gift certificate with James Hotels

Gift certificate promotions are nothing new – but this deal from James Hotels is truly a great way to kick off our lineup. To celebrate Cyber Monday (Monday November 30), you can buy “James Credits”, and double your purchase for free.

James Credits can be applied towards a room, but also the restaurants and bars (only exception is for the spa and private events). James Credits can be purchased up to $500, which means a $500 investment gets you $1000 to spend at their hotels. One minor piece of fine print – the free credits need to be spent before March 31st 2010. Click here for the deal, and more details on James Hotels.

Callpod Black Friday / Holiday bundles

Callpod is one of my personal favorites – they make some of the best portable device chargers on the market. To celebrate the Holiday season, and kick off Black Friday, Callpod has put together three bundles of their products.

The Chargepod Uno is on sale for $39.95, the Chargepod Duo for $49.95 and the Chargepod multi-device charger is just $59.95, with three adapter tips and a voucher for three more. You’ll find the deals on their holiday special offers site.

25% off iBend artist series iPod and iPhone stands

iBend sells very simple cool looking iPhone stands. They normally retail for $7.99, but you can get one for 25% off. Head on over to myibend.com. The promotion begins today and ends December 25th 2009.

Portable grilling on the go – buy 2, get 2

Yeah, grilling season may be over for most, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of a great deal on a fun disposable grill. The EZ Grill can be stored until you need it, and when you are done (and it has cooled down), you simply throw it away. These normally retail for $19.95 per pack of 2. But between now and December 25th, when you order a pack of two “party grills”, you’ll get 2 for free. Head on over to ezgrill.com to order.

Moshi voice command alarm clocks – up to 40% off!

We took the Moshi voice command travel alarm clock for a spin on Monday – and proclaimed it ” the cure for the crappy hotel alarm clock”. Between the 27th and the 30th of November, you can get up to 40% off your own Moshi alarm clock. This means you can order a voice command travel alarm clock for just $19.99! Head on over to moshilifestyle.com to order.

ACES Black Friday shopaholic train + hotel discount for NYC shoppers

South Jersey shoppers who want to make their way to New York City for some Black Friday action can sit back and relax on the Aces Shopaholics train. The train leaves Atlantic City at 10:02 am on Friday the 27th. All passengers will receive a “signature ACES shopping tote”. Hardcore shoppers who want to spend the night in New York can stay at the Ace Hotel and enjoy a 10% discount by using coupon code “ACESTRAIN”. This code is valid on stays from November 27th through December 30th.

$25 rooms at the TradeWinds Sandpiper resort in Florida

What better way to enjoy Black Friday than booking yourself a relaxing $25 room at a luxury resort in Florida. The Tradewinds Sandpiper resort is offering these discounted rooms “as low as” $25 to early bird Tweeters and Facebook fans on the 27th, starting at 6am (EST). The rooms will be available for select dates in January and include the resort fee. The $25 rate is a discount of almost $200.

The only way to get the fantastic rate is to follow the resort on Twitter.com/TWResorts, or visit the property’s Facebook Fan Page Facebook.com/tradewindsislandresorts.Good luck!

20% off all purchases from booq bags

Booq bags are extremely popular – and once you see their lineup, you’ll see why. They make really good looking bags, with a very smart design. On Black Friday, you can order anything from their store with a sweet 20% discount and free shipping. You’ll need to use promo code SWEET during checkout.

40% off all Ten One Design products

Do you ever get annoyed by trying to type on your iPhone or iPod Touch? Did you know that there is actually a stylus that works with it? Ten One Design invented the Pogo Stylus, and is selling all their products with a 50% discount on Black Friday. In addition to this, the 50th customer to place an order on Black Friday will win a free iPod Touch! The discount is valid between the 27th of November and the 30th, which means you can sleep in on Friday (unless you want a chance at winning that iPod Touch!). Head on over to tenonedesign.com for their products.

50% discount on be.ez notebook bags

be.ez notebook bags and sleeves are on sale with a whopping 50% discount on Black Friday. The deal is only available through their Amazon storefront. In addition to this, all netbook sleeves are free with the purchase of any 10.2″ netbook on Amazon. The following bags ar
e on sale:

  • LA besace 13″ Addict Wasabi Messenger Bag (Black/Wasabi): 50% off MSRP
  • LA besace 15″ Lime Drop Messenger Bag (Grey/Lime): 50% off MSRP
  • LA besace 15″ Classic Messenger Bag (Black/Orange): 50% off MSRP
  • LA robe Sleeve for MacBook 13.3″ (Black/Pumpkin, Black/Wasabi, Black/White): 50% off MSRP
  • LA robe Netbook Sleeve 10.2″ (Black/White, 2Blue, 2Green, 2Pink, Red Kiss/White): Free with purchase of any 10.2″ netbook

Head on over to the be.ez bag store at Amazon for these deals. The promotion starts on November 26th, and lasts till December 30th.

Cyber Monday hotel deal – 15% off an Affinia hotel stay

Right after you recover from Thanksgiving and Black Friday, you can once again become immersed in deals on “Cyber Monday”. This new deal day was invented by online retailers as a way to get some of their own attention.

One of these deals comes from Affinia Hotels where you can book a room for 2010 with a 15% discount. The reservation can be made until Sunday November 28th 2010. In addition to the 15% discount, the first 50 people to create or update their “My Affinia” profile and book a room with a discount will receive a $50 Amex gift card when they check in.

The discounted rates are available at any Affinia hotel in Chicago, New York or Washington D.C. and can only be booked on Affinia.com on Monday November 30th between 12:00 EST and 11:59pm EST. To book a discounted room – be sure to use this special link.