led tv

It Pays To Do Consumer Research, Because It Pays Yourself!

by Bruce Simmons on December 19, 2011

This is a consumer advice piece about how smart shopping can save you a lot of money, if done right. Read on and check out how I just saved almost $90 buying simple, ancillary items for my electronics!

If I were to be ask you if you would like have an extra $30 today, would you say yes? What if I asked you if you would want to have an extra $60 in your pocket? Would you say yes to that?

$60 can go a long way towards any number of things these days. Gifts for the kids, the wife, um, yourself… or even taking the family out to a nice dinner experience and knowing it won’t hurt the wallet too much because you literally have an extra $60 in your pocket.

Wouldn’t that be awesome? I think so.

Now what if I told you that you can actually give YOURSELF that extra $60? No joke! And no, I’m not talking loan sharks. I’m talking about forming consumer habits that can help you save that kind of money as a consumer.

Here’s my first example of saving that kind of money:

Here under my Consumer Bits column, I wrote up an product review of a Sony Bravia LED TV. Near the bottom of that article I made an interesting observation about the cost of peripheral cables for TVs or Blu-ray players.

I had noticed that while looking at TVs & Blu-ray players and such, that the HDMI cables that go between my TV and a Blu-ray player. cost anywhere from $45 to $75. But I knew from my own research that I could get the same type of cables on the internet for $2 and up.

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Consumer Product Review: Sony Bravia LED TV

by Bruce Simmons on December 17, 2011

in consumer, product review

A word upfront: This Consumer Product Review about my Sony Bravia LED TV is not a technical, behind-the-scenes, what’s in the guts, kind of review. I won’t be telling you how many millions of colors my new TV put out (Besides, we can only see thousands of colors), or tiny nuances like that.

No, I’m the average Joe like you, who just dropped some bucks on something, hoping it won’t screw me over. I’m a regular consumer like you. When I buy things, I do my research, try to buy smart then tell you what happened after I bought it!

I also want to preface this consumer review article by saying, if you’re loyal to a brand, I understand. I’m not pushing Sony on you. It’s the brand I’m learning to be loyal with, unless something else comes along that impresses me. With that said…

In the beginning of September, 2011, I had put out a piece about shopping for a new flat screen TV. At the time, I had gone through the various factors to think about before buying a flat screen TV because I was going through the process myself and it felt a bit harrowing. [How to buy a flat screen TV]

In the end, I had chosen to purchase a Sony Bravia LED flat screen TV, a KDL-32EX523. I also wanted an internet-ready TV… that cost a wee bit more, but it was worth it, at least for me.

[Point/Reminder: LED TV's are better for the environment because they use LED back-lighting instead of the LCD fluorescent back lighting, which contain mercury]

Flat Screen TV’s on Amazon

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