Best Buy started offering Black Friday deals earlier than everyone else (on Halloween — scary!), but at this point in the season, it's hardly the only store in Black Friday mode. Most major retailers' holiday discounts are already live well ahead of Black Friday proper on Nov. 28, making the competition pretty ferocious.

After spending way too long combing through Best Buy's virtual shelves and cross-checking its prices, I can tell you that lots of its Black Friday deals are being one-upped elsewhere. Many big-screen 4K TVs, Beats headphones, Sony portable speakers, robot vacuums, and other gadgets carrying its "Black Friday deal" badge are anywhere from two cents to $84 cheaper at other retailers with overlapping inventories. Amazon is the biggest culprit, as per usual.

That said, you'd

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