Went “Boxing” :\

I believe it was the fourth year now I’ve headed out on Boxing Day. Living close to the mall (with the ‘tech’ stores helps!).

I actually didn’t notice too much worth while in the flyers this year as most of the sales were pre-Christmas. (ex. Tab 2 7” was $150 before Christmas, boxing day it was $200). I am happy I didn’t wait until Boxing Day to pick up my tablet though. Future Shop had one Nexus 7 in stock and it was an “open box” only (for only $20 off). Not worth it.

The main thing I wanted to pick up this year wasn’t actually on sale. A cover at Chapters for my Nexus 7.

It was $30 but about the only cover I could find.

Being at Chapters this meant waiting around (from 6am) until they opened (8am).

I will end up returning this for two reasons.

1. The middle part seems like it will eventually wear out from bending back.
2. It actually makes holding the device quite a bit heavier.

I’m just going to stick with my homemade case, which actually has more protection anyways.

Anyways, why be at the mall for 6am? A last minute decision to upgrade my point and shoot. Future Shop’s website had a Nikon camera listed on sale for $70 AND with a new camera with HD video I was going to need a new SD card -- which they had on sale for $10 (16GB Class 10).
The card seemed limited in stock (compared to previous years) but did pick one up. The camera? Nope. The first employee made it seem like the model never existed.

So that meant waiting until 7am for Walmart, where my “backup” choice of camera was. Sat in the mall by the Walmart entrance for at least 30 minutes. That was a mistake. Mall entrance never opened. This meant walking through Future Shop, outside then to Walmart.

Unfortunately this new Walmart, despite it being ridiculously close, it is horrible. Not a single thing was in stock that I was looking for.
Next stop was Zehrs just to look around.

Now the wait for 8. At about ten to went to Staples and waited. I was looking to upgrade my 12 year old Labtec speakers with a pair of Logitech ones.
Despite the $35 price tag, they simply didn’t sound nearly as good as my current ones. Did get a Retail Plus hard drive enclosure, however that was regular price. Not a bad deal since it actually has a fan in it.

From Staples ended up going back to the mall to Chapters to pick up the cover.

Then I was going to go to Food Basics, but when I got to the store they weren’t opened. Rather odd since they open at 8am 7 days a week, and usually open at 7am after holidays.
Went back and spent about 20 minutes sitting and waiting in the mall, however just went to Dollarama to pick up the same items (though cheaper).

After Dollarama ended up heading home to drop off the stuff purchased, then headed down the street to Shoppers Drug Mart, where cameras were listed on sale.

Go figure, the Coolpix S30 that I was going to buy at Future Shop, SDM had (though $20 more). Seemed to do what I wanted (HD video at 30fps) and was solid/rugged for the bike.

In the past four/five years of heading out on Boxing Day, this was the worst yet.
Last year wasn’t much better as all I picked up was a Logitech game controller for the PC (which ironically Staples has on sale this week).

The best deal at Boxing Day seems to be my desktop computer. $900 machine on for $600. Great deal at the time. Still runs exceptionally well today!

My old point and shoot on the left (Kodak) and my new point and shoot on the right (Nikon).

I can’t complain about the Kodak mind you. The pictures were quite good (for a 5 year old camera), it took A LOT of abuse and held up with only some scratches. It will be nice to finally have better videos, without having to lug around my DSLR.

I’m happy with the video quality of the Nikon, more so during the day (when most of my videos are taken).
Picture wise I am also happy with during the day and well lit areas. Night and low light aren’t the best mind you. It only has two flash settings; Automatic and No Flash.
Again, this is mostly for bike rides and outdoors anyways. My Kodak was pretty bad at night as well.

Some pictures with the new camera (unedited)