Black Friday--EDC style
I want to get this out there as soon as possible, so I am going to probably miss a few things. The idea here is to give you links and info, then lay out some strategies for maximizing your dollars.
Links and Sales
The site's sponsor, Blade HQ is blowing out the doors on quite a few items. Here is a link to Blade HQ all proceeds benefit the site when you purchase things through this link:
Blade HQ
One of them is a new fixed blade sent to them by Kershaw. It is the Skyline fixed blade. They sent me one for review and while the review is not finished, I can tell you that this is a pretty nice little fixed blade. The sheath stinks, but for the sale price of $18.99 you get a very solid blade with a great handle shape in Sandvik 14C28N steel which is one of my favorites. That's a steal. A good enough buy in fact that you can scrap the sheath and get a custom kydex one made to handle horizontal and vertical carry (which, with a knife this thin, would rock).
They also have a ZT knife on sale for under $100, a really cool looking set of "urban balisongs" which might be the only balisong I consider buying, well, that and the Benchmade balisong 62, which is also on sale. Being Blade HQ and one of the major auto knife retailers in the country, they also have a slew of autos on sale.
FourSevens, a good friend of the blog and regular review sample provider, is running the same promotion they did last year, with a new light chosen to run at a discount each day for seven days, starting 11/21. The Preon 1 is first out of the gate and is selling at a 30% discount. That is a good, good light at a great price. I'd stay tuned for what's next. Last year a few titanium lights were discounted and sold out before the next light was announced. I don't know about you but I am waiting for the XM-18 to go on sale. I'll be able to afford one with a 93% or great discount.
Battery Junction is also running a few good promotions. Here is a sneak peek page. The best deal looks like batteries, but the best light deal is probably the Olight Warrior M20, a few good 2 cell light with a high output that is selling for 30% off. I'll touch on this below, but these are ideal lights to buy on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
FenixGear is giving you 10% off everything with the code HOLIDAY12 and they have a good stock of, um, well Fenix lights, right?
REI, the go to place for knives for those of us that live in non-knife friendly parts of the country, is running a "winter sale" and will have additional deals on Black Friday, info found here. Note that the G2XPro is on sale for a really good price of $63.95. Go buy it, great light.
LA Police Gear, a good general supply place, has a discount code, BF10, for 10% off. Note, that excludes Surefire and 5.11 gear. Booo....
Optics Planet, a place that has a very good selection of flashlights, has a coupon code BWEEK for up to $200 off certain items. I am sure this applies to their collection of incredibly expensive scopes and not, say, Surefire lights, but it is still worth a look. I will note that they do not have real time inventory (like Blade HQ) and I have ordered things only to receive an email a week later saying they are backordered.
UPDATE: Chestnut Ridge Knife Shop, one of best places for kydex sheathes on the web, has a bunch of stuff on sale. This is where I got the RD-7 last year and though the price is not QUITE that good this year, a lot of this stuff is very competitively priced.
Leatherman doesn't have a sale per se, but they are always loss leaders at the big box stores. Plus, they have been great friends of the blog.
Goggling "EDC Black Friday Deals" turns up a lot of one off deals through Amazon and the like. They are probably all one shot, until stock is gone deals.
Strategies
First, here is the article on this point from last year.
There are a few other things to bear in mind. First, low margin items, things like new single cell EDC lights, probably aren't going to go on sale, so if you have a discount code, those are the items to target. Second, some brands do not offer or allow sellers to sell at a discount. Surefire is probably the most notorious of these brands (though for woodworkers, Festool is equally stingy). So, again, target these brands if the discount codes or coupons will work on them. They probably won't, but check here first. Third, be aware of what is going out of production or what is being upgraded. The REI G2XPro sale is hitting right before the lumens upgrade (200 to 320) goes into effect, so the old model is discounted. Similarly, many Spydercos are going out of production and they are discounted all over the net. Here is the list of the knives being discontinued:
C14SBK Rescue 93mm Black FRN SpyderEdge
C36GPLE Military Left Hand Black G-10 PlainEdge
C75STP3 Kiwi3 Stag PlainEdge
C83GP2 Persian2 Black G-10 PlainEdge
C94PBK UK Penknife Black FRN Leaf PlainEdge
C94PSBK UK Penknife Black FRN Leaf CombinationEdge
C94PBK3 UK Penknife Black FRN Drop Point PlainEdge
C94PSBK3 UK Penknife Black FRN Drop Point CombinationEdge
C94PBL UK Penknife Blue FRN Leaf Blade PlainEdge
C94PSBL UK Penknife Blue FRN Leaf Blade CombinationEdge
C94PBL3 UK Penknife Blue FRN Drop Point PlainEdge
C94PSBL3 UK Penknife Blue FRN Drop Point CombinationEdge
C94PGY UK Penknife Gray FRN Leaf Blade PlainEdge
C94PSGY UK Penknife Gray FRN Leaf Blade CombinationEdge
C94PGY3 UK Penknife Gray FRN Drop Point PlainEdge
C94PSGY3 UK Penknife Gray FRN Drop Point CombinationEdge
C94PMR UK Penknife Maroon FRN Leaf Blade PlainEdge
C94PSMR UK Penknife Maroon FRN Leaf Blade CombinationEdge
C94PMR3 UK Penknife Maroon FRN Drop Point PlainEdge
C94PSMR3 UK Penknife Maroon FRN Drop Point CombinationEdge
C101GS2 Manix2 Black G-10 SpyderEdge
C105GP2 Persian 75mm Black G-10
C128GP Leafstorm Titanium w/ G-10 Overlay PlainEdge
C132GP Chokwe Black G-10 PlainEdge
C133SET Bug Set SS
C135GP Perrin PPT Black G-10 PlainEdge
C139GP Jason Breeden Rescue Black G-10 PlainEdge
C140GP Superleaf Black G-10 PlainEdge
C143GP Lum Large Chinese Folder Black G-10 PlainEdge
C145GP Jens Anso Zulu Black G-10 PlainEdge
LFGS3 Ladybug3 Foliage Green FRN SpyderEdge
FB28WDP Puukko Ironwood PlainEdge w/ Leather Sheath
C121S Embassy Aluminum w/ Black G-10 Inlay SpyderEdge
C121BKS Embassy Aluminum w/ Black G-10 Inlay Black Blade SpyderEdge
BY03BKPS2 Cara Cara2 Black SS Black Blade CombinationEdge
BY08GP Raven Black G-10 PlainEdge
BY09GP Crow Black G-10 PlainEdge
BY20GP&S Wings Black G-10 Dual Blades PlainEdge and SpyderEdge
I have bolded the knives that I think make good EDC choices. Here is the Leafstorm review.
I hope this has been helpful. Post deals in the comments section to help out your fellow EDCers. Oh yeah and I am thankful for folks being readers and manufacturers sending stuff to review.
Links and Sales
The site's sponsor, Blade HQ is blowing out the doors on quite a few items. Here is a link to Blade HQ all proceeds benefit the site when you purchase things through this link:
Blade HQ
One of them is a new fixed blade sent to them by Kershaw. It is the Skyline fixed blade. They sent me one for review and while the review is not finished, I can tell you that this is a pretty nice little fixed blade. The sheath stinks, but for the sale price of $18.99 you get a very solid blade with a great handle shape in Sandvik 14C28N steel which is one of my favorites. That's a steal. A good enough buy in fact that you can scrap the sheath and get a custom kydex one made to handle horizontal and vertical carry (which, with a knife this thin, would rock).
They also have a ZT knife on sale for under $100, a really cool looking set of "urban balisongs" which might be the only balisong I consider buying, well, that and the Benchmade balisong 62, which is also on sale. Being Blade HQ and one of the major auto knife retailers in the country, they also have a slew of autos on sale.
FourSevens, a good friend of the blog and regular review sample provider, is running the same promotion they did last year, with a new light chosen to run at a discount each day for seven days, starting 11/21. The Preon 1 is first out of the gate and is selling at a 30% discount. That is a good, good light at a great price. I'd stay tuned for what's next. Last year a few titanium lights were discounted and sold out before the next light was announced. I don't know about you but I am waiting for the XM-18 to go on sale. I'll be able to afford one with a 93% or great discount.
Battery Junction is also running a few good promotions. Here is a sneak peek page. The best deal looks like batteries, but the best light deal is probably the Olight Warrior M20, a few good 2 cell light with a high output that is selling for 30% off. I'll touch on this below, but these are ideal lights to buy on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
FenixGear is giving you 10% off everything with the code HOLIDAY12 and they have a good stock of, um, well Fenix lights, right?
REI, the go to place for knives for those of us that live in non-knife friendly parts of the country, is running a "winter sale" and will have additional deals on Black Friday, info found here. Note that the G2XPro is on sale for a really good price of $63.95. Go buy it, great light.
LA Police Gear, a good general supply place, has a discount code, BF10, for 10% off. Note, that excludes Surefire and 5.11 gear. Booo....
Optics Planet, a place that has a very good selection of flashlights, has a coupon code BWEEK for up to $200 off certain items. I am sure this applies to their collection of incredibly expensive scopes and not, say, Surefire lights, but it is still worth a look. I will note that they do not have real time inventory (like Blade HQ) and I have ordered things only to receive an email a week later saying they are backordered.
UPDATE: Chestnut Ridge Knife Shop, one of best places for kydex sheathes on the web, has a bunch of stuff on sale. This is where I got the RD-7 last year and though the price is not QUITE that good this year, a lot of this stuff is very competitively priced.
Leatherman doesn't have a sale per se, but they are always loss leaders at the big box stores. Plus, they have been great friends of the blog.
Goggling "EDC Black Friday Deals" turns up a lot of one off deals through Amazon and the like. They are probably all one shot, until stock is gone deals.
Strategies
First, here is the article on this point from last year.
There are a few other things to bear in mind. First, low margin items, things like new single cell EDC lights, probably aren't going to go on sale, so if you have a discount code, those are the items to target. Second, some brands do not offer or allow sellers to sell at a discount. Surefire is probably the most notorious of these brands (though for woodworkers, Festool is equally stingy). So, again, target these brands if the discount codes or coupons will work on them. They probably won't, but check here first. Third, be aware of what is going out of production or what is being upgraded. The REI G2XPro sale is hitting right before the lumens upgrade (200 to 320) goes into effect, so the old model is discounted. Similarly, many Spydercos are going out of production and they are discounted all over the net. Here is the list of the knives being discontinued:
C14SBK Rescue 93mm Black FRN SpyderEdge
C36GPLE Military Left Hand Black G-10 PlainEdge
C75STP3 Kiwi3 Stag PlainEdge
C83GP2 Persian2 Black G-10 PlainEdge
C94PBK UK Penknife Black FRN Leaf PlainEdge
C94PSBK UK Penknife Black FRN Leaf CombinationEdge
C94PBK3 UK Penknife Black FRN Drop Point PlainEdge
C94PSBK3 UK Penknife Black FRN Drop Point CombinationEdge
C94PBL UK Penknife Blue FRN Leaf Blade PlainEdge
C94PSBL UK Penknife Blue FRN Leaf Blade CombinationEdge
C94PBL3 UK Penknife Blue FRN Drop Point PlainEdge
C94PSBL3 UK Penknife Blue FRN Drop Point CombinationEdge
C94PGY UK Penknife Gray FRN Leaf Blade PlainEdge
C94PSGY UK Penknife Gray FRN Leaf Blade CombinationEdge
C94PGY3 UK Penknife Gray FRN Drop Point PlainEdge
C94PSGY3 UK Penknife Gray FRN Drop Point CombinationEdge
C94PMR UK Penknife Maroon FRN Leaf Blade PlainEdge
C94PSMR UK Penknife Maroon FRN Leaf Blade CombinationEdge
C94PMR3 UK Penknife Maroon FRN Drop Point PlainEdge
C94PSMR3 UK Penknife Maroon FRN Drop Point CombinationEdge
C101GS2 Manix2 Black G-10 SpyderEdge
C105GP2 Persian 75mm Black G-10
C128GP Leafstorm Titanium w/ G-10 Overlay PlainEdge
C132GP Chokwe Black G-10 PlainEdge
C133SET Bug Set SS
C135GP Perrin PPT Black G-10 PlainEdge
C139GP Jason Breeden Rescue Black G-10 PlainEdge
C140GP Superleaf Black G-10 PlainEdge
C143GP Lum Large Chinese Folder Black G-10 PlainEdge
C145GP Jens Anso Zulu Black G-10 PlainEdge
LFGS3 Ladybug3 Foliage Green FRN SpyderEdge
FB28WDP Puukko Ironwood PlainEdge w/ Leather Sheath
C121S Embassy Aluminum w/ Black G-10 Inlay SpyderEdge
C121BKS Embassy Aluminum w/ Black G-10 Inlay Black Blade SpyderEdge
BY03BKPS2 Cara Cara2 Black SS Black Blade CombinationEdge
BY08GP Raven Black G-10 PlainEdge
BY09GP Crow Black G-10 PlainEdge
BY20GP&S Wings Black G-10 Dual Blades PlainEdge and SpyderEdge
I have bolded the knives that I think make good EDC choices. Here is the Leafstorm review.
I hope this has been helpful. Post deals in the comments section to help out your fellow EDCers. Oh yeah and I am thankful for folks being readers and manufacturers sending stuff to review.