Sony BRAVIA KDL-40W5100 floor model for $800. Worth considering?

It's a very good HDTV, especially at it's price class.

Looks like going rate is about $1k now.

I wouldn't buy a floor demo unit without getting the 3-year all-inclusive warranty though. I don't recall if you can bring up the number of hours of operation the TV has on it out of the service menus or not. If the hours are really high I'd push them to throw in the 3-year warranty or drop the price so that most of the warranty is included.

Don't let them try and sucker you in on the "We will sell you these $120 HDMI cables for our cost of $70" BS rather than cutting a pricing break. Just go to monoprice or bluejean cables and get the HDMIs for $10.

I picked up some hdmi cables from a place that was going out of business. They are monster brand (big deal...I know) and I got them for cheap (I think $5-10 bucks or something like that).

I am really leary of a floor model especially on a discontinued tv. I would guess it has been on every day, all day for a LONG time.

its at the blue big box store that I never consedered the best.

I dunno....

if I can get it for $800 with their 3 year you say go for it? or still no if it has tons of hours... which is a fair guess

"or drop the price so that most of the warranty is included."

Meaning drop the TV price so that when you pay for the extended warranty you're getting the HDTV and the 3-year warranty for $800+tax out the door.

(you probably figured out that was what I meant)

Reason being, some places can't give you the extended warranty for free. You have to pay for it. It's just the way the sales computers are programmed.

posted at same time.....

anything else in the $800 range I should consider instead? (needs to be less than 38 inches wide which this one is)

I'd even go down to a 37 or 32 if worth it for quality at that price

IMO buy new..

cayman

You have to check for both running hours and people jabbing their fingers into the screen. Those screens scratch easily, I'm sure there are some floor model HDTVs out there with nicks and scratches in the screen from people poking them or running their fingers on them.

$800 including a 3-year warranty is an ok deal, not good, not great - because by the time you are done with taxes, it's $900 and it looks like you can get one new for $1k-ish online and pay no taxes and depending on the vendor, you get free shipping.

Regarding the warranty:

One theory is that if it hasn't died yet, it probably won't, and _any_ degradation of the picture in the next three years would be ground for them to likely replace the set with a new comprable model since it will be discontinued and most equipment doesn't get repaired anymore.

Another theory is buy new at the going rate of $1k online and foret the warranty. If the set dies in a few years (unlikely for a Sony without external causes like a lightning strike on the cable lines or power line problems), it'll be outdated anyway.

damn, my spelling sucks this morning....

yea... I think I will pass.

but I do need to find something in the 800-900ish range fairly quickly. My wife is in Puerto Rico and I like to buy at least one big purchase every time she leaves town... its sort of a tradition.

$1399 at amazon though

KDL-40V5100 is $793 at amazon. That big of difference?

The grand extent of my pricing research was to look at this one page for about 8 seconds - so maybe it is still fetching a bit higher price:

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?client=opera&rls=en&q=BRAVIA+KDL-40W5100&oe=utf-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=9495301998801056632&ei=hnfIS4zNF4WKswPiuqD1BA&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CBsQ8wIwAg#ps-sellers 

$800 f/d w/ 3-year warranty versus $1400 new - that kind of changes the deal.

looks like a new one can be had at $969 delivered.

too bad the one directly from Sony is a refurb

I got a 37" Vizio at Costco for $750 a couple years ago. They have new models with all the goodies for that price, now.

KDL-40V5100 is the entry level HDTV from sony.

Honestly, aside from the lack of software goodies, I'm not sure how different it is than the W-series. Or more accurately, _IF_ there is any true picture difference, would anyone notice in the average home use setting? Probably not.

It's not like we are comparing the V and the XBR9 (their top of the line HDTV) - the V and W are only one step apart from each other, and I suspect the only difference is the features, the case/ergonomics and maybe an extra set of inputs.

The V and W both have the same 120MHz motionflow and dejudder circuits. I wouldn't be surprised if they have the same screen and all other picture electronics, I don't know if they do, but I would not at all be surprised if they do. The main difference just seems to be that can't stream web content and netflix and **** to the V-series whereas on the W you can.

http://tinyurl.com/y4lqcye 

There's the 37" Vizio for $530.

#18- reviews seem to be hit or miss?.. looks like a

good deal though.

cayman

Vizios are not good tvs. Many design problems both electronic and software.