Amazon Black Friday Deals: How Good Are They?

We've been eager to know what kinds of Black Friday deals Amazon has this year and now we have a good idea. You'll need a bit of vigilance and effort to take advantage of them, though, as the holiday specials kick off on Friday, Nov. 20, and run for eight straight days, with new offers introduced every five minutes.

There will be 10 Deals of the Day announced at midnight on Thanksgiving, plus 10 more on Black Friday itself, with Lightning Deals sprinkled throughout the entire eight-day shopping event.

Some of the Lightning Deals will be available only through the Amazon Mobile Shopping App. Look for them, starting at 3 p.m. on Thanksgiving, Thursday, Nov. 26, on the “App Only Deals” tab. As we previously noted, Amazon Prime members will get a 30-minute jump on most Lightning Deals.

The retailer will aggregate all the deals at the Amazon Black Friday hub. This year, it has also instituted a “Watch A Deal” feature that alerts you on a mobile device when the deal you're interested in goes live.

TV Deals

Amazon says it will cut prices by up to 45 percent on select Samsung and LG TVs this year. Here's our take on the retailer's specials:

A 32-inch Samsung 1080p TV for $178. Not sure which model it is, but the Samsung UN32J5003 will be included in Dell's Black Friday sale for $238, plus a $100 Dell gift card.
A 75-inch Samsung 1080p smart TV for about $2,000. If it's the Samsung UN75J6300, this is a common Black Friday price. Sears, among others, also has it.
A 49-inch LG 1080p TV for about $370. Not sure of the model, but the 49LF5500 is $448 at a number of places.
A 60-inch "top-selling" UHD TV from an unnamed brand for $800. Can't confirm it's a Samsung, but Best Buy will have a Samsung UHD TV for $800 in its Black Friday sale.
A 55-inch TCL Roku smart TV for $348. No model number given, but Walmart will have the TCL 55FS3750 for the same price on Black Friday. We tested the very similar TCL 55S3700.
A 55-inch Hisense UHD smart TV for $448 in an app-only deal. Unless Hisense has a new model, this is the 55H7B2. Walmart will offer this set at the same price.
A 50-inch 1080p TV from an unnamed brand for $150 in another app-only deal. No idea what TV this is, but the deal rivals the $149 Toshiba special Best Buy will have for Black Friday.
A 40-inch 1080p TV for $145.
A 32-inch TCL Roku smart TV for $125. Walmart will have the set for the same price; in an earlier post, we speculated it was the TCL 32S3700.
A 32-inch TV from an unnamed brand for $75. Probably a 720p set.
An Acer home theater projector for $300. We haven't seen many projectors in these holiday specials, but it could be the Acer H5380BD, which sells for $473 on Amazon right now.

Electronics Deals

In addition to the Black Friday deals mentioned below, the retailer will slice about $50 off video game console systems, which is comparable to what we've seen in other holiday deals. But Amazon has several bundles from which to choose.

2.1-channel VIZIO 38-inch sound bar speaker system, $80
Sonos two-room streaming music starter set, $49 off
Polk Audio Omni S2 Wireless Speaker, $40 off
Denon HEOS 1 Wireless Speakers, up to 35 percent off
Sony Extra Bass Bluetooth headphones, 50 percent off
Sennheiser HD 598 Special Edition over-ear headphones in black, which the retailer claims is an Amazon Exclusive, at more than 50 percent off
Jawbone UP3, $99
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, $99.99
Amazon Kindle and Kindle for Kids bundle, $30 off
Amazon Fire, $35
Amazon Fire Kids Edition, $85
Amazon Fire TV, $25 off
Amazon Fire TV Stick and Amazon Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote, $15 off

There are also deals on computers, tablets, memory cards, and printers.

Over the next week, we'll be compiling a list of the best Black Friday TV deals we've seen, so keep checking back for news on where to find the biggest bargains. In the meantime, take a look at our top 10 Black Friday shopping tips and our Countdown to Black Friday calendar.