Good Deal?

[skynyrd]

Hello,

I was visiting a retailer today, and I noticed that they had a 40" Samsung 1080P LCD tv.. I didn't get the model number, but I know it had 3 HDMI ports, VGA, and several AV and Composite inputs (enough for me) and a 30,000:1 contrast ratio for $799. I was just about ready to buy it (this tv i think was about 1100 regurally), but when I asked about it, they said that that one was the only one they had in stock, and thats why it was marked down. I asked them how long they had had it on the floor, and they said since January.. Here's some more points:

--> They are offering the full manufactures warranty on this TV (which I would say means from the day I purchace it, I'll have whatever th normal term is on the warranty.

--> The TV has a scuff on the base (I guess its expected, its a floor model.. Its on a shelf)... I can live with that.

--> I asked if they were negotionable on the price, and they said that that price came from Corporate, and they couldn't work with it.

Does this sound like a good deal? I would buy it, but I guess i'm concerned with the TV being on probably 7 days a week all day from January to April as a show model.. Should that really matter much? would anyone buy a floor model TV, full warranty or not?

 

[jayn_j]

I have totally stopped buying floor models from Best Buy because when they put something on the floor, they immediately toss all the manuals, accessories and the remote. The problem is that some of this stuff is important, and replacing it costs a significant part of the savings. Be sure to check with your retailer on what accessories are there and missing. If the remote is gone, you can replace it with a Harmony, but that will add another $50-100 to the true price. Cheap replacement remotes generally only control the basic functions, and a lot of the setup stuff can only be accessed from the remote.

Yes, you are losing some operating life. Say the TV has been on 12 hours a day, 7 days a week for 4 months. That's about 1500 hours. For an LCD set, that's maybe 2-5% of its life, so I wouldn't worry too much about that. If it were a CRT set, I'd worry about phosphor damage from that much time in torch mode, but that isn't an issue with LCD.

The warranty is good. You also know that it won't die from infant mortality as it has been well burned in.

If you can get that done, it might not be bad. One other thing. I would get the model number and compare the price on Amazon. You could very well find a similar price on a new unit without these issues.

Good hunting.

 

[KAB]

You can get a Samsung 42" 1080p plasma for about the same price.

 

[Stargazer]

I think you can shop around and get a new television of equal or greater size online for around the same price. I've seen new 50" plasma's for $900 online.

What is the life of a plasma compared to LCD? Isn't the disadvantage to some of the televisions is that they have a half life where they get dimmer and dimmer while other televisions will not get dimmer over a period of time?

 

[photogray]

I think you can shop around and get a new television of equal or greater size online for around the same price. I've seen new 50" plasma's for $900 online.

What is the life of a plasma compared to LCD? Isn't the disadvantage to some of the televisions is that they have a half life where they get dimmer and dimmer while other televisions will not get dimmer over a period of time?

Yeah I would definitely shop online. I had a plasma made by Sony purchased in 2004 and it still works fine. Got a Sony LCD also last year and it works fine as well. I think plasma and lcd are pretty even.

 

[tigerfan33]

Sounds like the Samsung LN40550. It is a good tv but I agree with the others and shop around.

KAB is right. A brand new Sammy 42" plasma can be had for $799 while the same 50" model is going to be around $999. These are 720p and not 1080p.