HAVE YOU noticed? The holiday bargain hunting has already begun for electronics gizmos.

Major retailers like Wal-Mart, Sears and Best Buy are already into the "Black Friday" (day after Thanksgiving) sales frame of mind, in recent weeks offering crazy come-ons like name-brand Windows 7 portable computers for as low as $249, 10 megapixel digital still cameras under $100 and GPS trail blazers as low as $69.

Come Monday, Amazon.com starts running its full array of Black Friday promotions - four days early!

Pundits predict that sharp pricing will remain in place long after the leftover turkey is gone.

Clearly, the recession has both manufacturers and retailers running scared this year. According to the market research group In-Stat, 34 percent of respondents have no plans to purchase a CE product this year, compared with 19 percent in 2006 and 2007 and 24 percent in 2008.

Yet other analysts believe the picture remains pretty good, with sales improving this year vs. last for high-definition TVs - thanks to pent-up demand, the end of analog broadcasts and steadily dropping set prices.

iSupply notes the average price for a 42-inch LCD TV will fall to $639 in the fourth quarter, down from $768 a year ago, and that pricing for premium brand, 32-inch LCD and 42-inch plasma sets will be as low as $299 and $499 respectively on Black Friday (Nov. 27).

Getting revved up to bring home some goodies? These tips will start you out on the right foot.

PULL AN ALL-NIGHTER: If you're determined to score an extra-cheap Black Friday doorbuster, you might as well stay up the night before.

Best Buy starts handing out reservation tickets for its limited-quantity loss-leader items at 3 a.m. And to avoid a repeat of last year's tragedy at a Wal-Mart store in Valley Stream, N.Y., where an employee was trampled to death by the opening bell rush, that discount chain will keep all stores open around the clock Thursday into Friday and will have clearly marked displays where you can line up peacefully for a goody going on sale at 5 a.m. Nov. 27.

DO YOUR HOMEWORK: Are you positive your daughter wants a pink phone? Are you sure your son will be happy with a "mere" 8GB iPod Touch? It pays to ask ahead of time.

Also useful, get a firm grasp on the return policies of online and "bricks-and-mortar" stores. While 30-day returns are the norm, there are often exceptions for such things as computers and camcorders, with some retailers charging a "restocking" fee as high as 25 percent of the purchase price if the item's been opened. (Stores have finally figured out the scam of "buying" a camera to shoot a wedding or party, then returning it the next day.)

PREPARE TO NEGOTIATE: Memorize these mantras: "Is that your best price?" "I saw it online for less."

In this economy, wheeling and dealing sometimes works!

AVOID EXTENDED WARRANTIES AND SUCKER-PUNCH ACCESSORIES: Stick with a reputable, "first tier" electronics brand and the likelihood that the product will fail is greatly reduced, so why buy an expensive extended warranty?

If you're buying a TV, audio component or video game system, take it home, turn it on and leave it on for a day or two. Most defects appear when a gizmo heats up.

If the finked-out item is merely a few days old, the retailer will often feel shamed to take it back, even if the product guarantee says "return to the manufacturer."

A premium-priced ($50-$150) HDMI cable to connect your new HDTV set to a cable TV or satellite box is another big profit source for the retailer. If your cable needs to be only one or two meters (3.28 to 6.56 feet) long, you can get away with a bargain ($10 or less) cable from an online outlet.

BUNDLE UP! There's sometimes truth to the expression, "The more you spend, the more you save." Target is offering a $10 gift card for every $100 spent from 5 a.m. to noon on Black Friday, plus gift card bonuses of up to $30 for buying an iPod or Nintendo DS bundle. So if you buy groceries there on Friday, that rebate will subsidize the purchase price of the nonessentials.

"Special" Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 hardware/software bundles being touted for Black Friday also make sense, since you're got to have something to play on that new system, right?

Several retailers will have a $299 deal on the new PS3 Slim that tosses in, "for free," two worthy video games - "Gran Turismo 5 Prologue" and "Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction," plus the Blu-ray movies "Step Brothers" and "Black Hawk Down" - also playable on this extra-dexterous, multimedia machine.

AVOID BUYER REMORSE: The $100 (or less) Magnavox and Sylvania brand Blu-ray players that some retailers will be pushing next Friday are fine for watching high-def and standard-def movie discs. But these bargain boxes don't allow for the Internet connectivity needed to access "BD-Live" downloadable content and interactivity (available with many Blu-ray movie titles), or for streaming movies, TV shows and music from sites like Netflix, Vudu, YouTube and Pandora, as players in the $150 and up price range do offer.

You'll also pay a bit more, up front, for a high-def TV that sports on-demand, Internet-access features - but you'll likewise be happier with it in the long run.

E-mail Jonathan Takiff at takiffj@phillynews.com.