Gadget Lovers: 4 Sites That Offer Big Savings

Getting the latest in cutting-edge consumer electronics doesn’t mean you have to pay full price -- especially not these days.

Electronics sales fell 10% in March compared with last year, according to the National Retail Federation. The drop was just the latest in an eight-month-long string of year-over-year sales declines that has forced many retailers to slash prices in order to clear their shelves, says Larry Chiagouris, a marketing professor at Pace University’s Lubin School of Business in New York City.

But hunting down deals for gadgets is much more involved than finding a sale on chicken at the supermarket. Electronics retailers tend to carefully control their sales rather than blanket shoppers with storewide 20%-off coupons, he says. Consumers are also more particular about what they're looking for than they are with other purchases. (They aren’t just searching for a computer, for example, but an HP laptop with a 15-inch screen and a 160GB hard drive.) “The category is such a sophisticated one that people cut to the chase and look for the lowest price on the exact item they want,” says Chiagouris.

The best place to start that search: online deal-hunting sites that focus on finding the latest sales and price cuts on consumer electronics.

Here are four sites that SmartMoney put to the test:

DealNews.com continuously posts updates with the latest in in-store and online sales, coupons and deals, says Steve Koenig, director of industry analysis for the Consumer Electronics Association, an industry group. (Click on the “tech” button at the top of the page to hide deals from other retail categories.) Users can sort deals by the time they were posted, by category or by “hotness” to see what other visitors are checking out.

Not sure how the sale stacks up? The DealWatch feature tracks prices in popular gadget categories and forecasts future sales. Check out the coupon feed to narrow your focus to the latest online codes and printout coupons. (Follow DealNews.com on Twitter here.)

Sample deal: Save 10% on Dell (DELL) Inspiron Mini 12 notebooks by using coupon code 4TZ9XWDLSKXZSM at checkout. Offer expires April 30.

Think of this site as one-stop shopping. Not only do users have access to extensive reviews (both by CNET's expert reviewers and other users), but it also helps them hunt down the best price, says Chiagouris. Comb the listings of the latest sales and coupons and use the site’s price-comparison feature to find the best deals on a specific model. Sign up to receive an email newsletter of the best sales and coupons that the site turns up on popular items.

Sample deal: Amazon.com (AMZN) currently has the Canon (CAJ) PowerShot SD880 for $245 -- a discount of $55 off its regular price. You’ll save 18%. (No end date listed.)

This gadget-focused site offers up-to-the-minute price comparisons. Enter the specific gadget you want, and you’ll also see the median and lowest prices over recent months. Check the deals section for the discounts that other users have found, and vote for your favorites to push them higher in the listings. If the discounts you see still aren’t deep enough, set a price alert to be notified via email when a store lowers the price to the level you want. (Not all price-comparison search engines are created equal. For more of our favorites, click here.)

Sample deal: The lowest price for a Samsung LN52A650 52-inch LCD television set (regularly $2,700) was $1,800 at Fry’s. The store had dropped its price by nearly 34% just days earlier. You’ll save 31%.

Woot posts just one item per day, but its prices are typically the best around, says Koenig. A new item goes up at midnight Central Time, and is available for 24 hours or until it sells out, whichever comes first. (Follow deals on Twitter here.) Many of the offerings are discontinued or overstock electronics. Recent deals include a Pentax Optio E60 digital camera ($80 compared to B&H’s $115), a fourth-generation Apple (AAPL) 8GB iPod Nano ($100 compared to J&R Music’s $140) and a Philips 1080p DVD player ($30 compared to NewEgg.com’s $60). You’ll also occasionally see home beer-making kits, Star Wars bobble-heads and other off-the-beaten-path finds.

Sample deal: Friday’s item was the Digital Concepts AC/DC Battery Charger for $10 (plus $5 shipping). BuyDig.com sells the same device for $24 (shipping is free). You’ll save 37%.

(Looking for more coupons? View our list of all-around favorites here. We also have lists for parents and for savings on groceries.)