The Boston Diaries

Tuesday, February 04, 2003

A camera buying expedition

I was able to return the empty camera box to CompUSA in Deerfield yesturday. When asked about the availability of the Olympus D-550 Zoom they said that while they're still listed as being sold, they had none in stock but there was one at the CompUSA down in Plantation we could try.

Gregory mentioned wanting to go, since he had to pick up some equiptment for his job today we drove all the way to Plantation (or I should say, he drove all the way, I went along for the ride) to check out the store. Of course the one model they had was the display model; no other units in stock.

Not deterred, we decided to try next door at Circuit City. This time no Olympus D-550 Zoom cameras in sight. But that still left Best Buy across the street. Might as well try there.

And it was a good thing we did. Not only did they have one left (the display model) but they were willing to sell the unit for $50 off the price (making it only $250), although I did have to suffer through the hard sell (“Do you want the extra-extended-super-safe-warranty? How about software? Or batteries? Or memory?”). As an added bonus, not only did I get the 16MB smart-card that comes with the camera, but the 64MB card the store had put into the camera (and that goes for about $50). The camera, despite being a show model, is in great condition and Spring is very happy with it.

And so am I.