Best weekend HDTV deals: Panasonic plasmas at Sears
Like other brick-and-mortar retailers, Sears doesn't often offer the best price on HDTVs, no matter how much its circular ads in the Sunday paper say you're saving. But this weekend—a slow shopping time as people ring in the new year—looks like an exception if you're in the market for a Panasonic plasma.
Sears is advertising two sets from the 1080p G10 series, the 50-inch TC-P50G10 and the 54-inch TC-P54G10. While neither is priced at jaw-dropping lows, the $1,099.99 TC-P50G10 beats $1,331.16 at Buy.com or $1,283.99 at Newegg.com (price includes tax), and the $1,499.99 TC-P54G10 is lower than $1,718.85 at Buy.com and $1,734.35 at J&R's website (price includes shipping). Ironically, the prices on each are higher on Sears.com than are being listed in the print circular.
If you're looking to spend less than $1,000, Sears also has S1 series plasmas for cheap. The 42-inch TC-P42S1 is on sale for $649.99, which bests the $781.09 at Dell.com (including tax) or $798 at Walmart.com. The 50-inch TC-P50S1 is labeled as a "closeout" price at $899.99, which tops the $1,123.99 at Buy.com and $1,199.99 (not including tax) at BestBuy.com. Sears sells neither directly online, so if you want these deals, you'll need to suck up the sales tax and head down to the physical location.
Or you can just wait for more deals to come as the Super Bowl nears and the current generation of HDTVs crawl to the end of their lifecycles.