This holiday season, with the economy in shambles, you might be wondering what kind of Christmas gift to get for dad. Well I think I have the perfect gift for the dad that loves TV shows like Survivor Man with Les Stroud or Man Vs. Wild with Bear Grills.

Les Stroud from Survivor Man is releasing a new book on November 11th in the USA. The title of this book is Survive!: Essential Skills and Tactics to Get You Out of Anywhere – Alive. If you live in Canada, which is Les’ home country, the book is being released there on November 4th. To get the Canadian version, click here.

While the Canadian version is going for $21.95, the US version only costs $13.57 at Amazon.

I can say from my own experience that I love both these shows, and I think this would be an awesome Christmas gift. Even if dad doesn’t watch these shows but hunts, fishes, or hikes, this book could end up saving his life! Any outdoorsy person would love it.

Finally, after 3 years, Canon has officially released the new update to the every popular Canon 5D. The new model is a big jump, but after 3 years, what else can be expected. The unit is coming in at $2,700 for the body only and $3,500 for the Lens Kit with a 24-105mm lens.

Last night I added the tracker for this new unit as it is sure to be a hot seller in the professional and pro-sumer markets. In fact, preorders for the body only unit sold out at Amazon within a few hours just to give you an idea. Sign up to our FREE in stock alerts to be sure you get your hands on one of these units as soon as they are released to the public in November. Visit our 5D Mark II Tracker for all the details.

Added the new Zune 120GB to the Zune Tracker. If you would like in stock alerts visit this page and sign up to the FREE alerts to be notified as soon as stock is available or view the available preorder options. As more store add this unit to their inventory I will add them to the tracker.

I just added two new trackers to the site. These are both for new digital cameras that are to hit the market in full swing in the upcoming weeks.

The first tracker is for the Canon 50D which is the follow up version to the 40D targeting the pro-sumer DSLR market. To get FREE in stock alerts visit the Canon 50D In Stock Tracker.

The second tracker is the Nikon D90 which is the follow up to the highly successful Nikon D80 which targets the entry-level DSLR market. This new camera is already hitting the streets in the Lens Kit form. Those of you in search of the D90 “Body Only” version will have to wait a few more days it appears. Sign up at the D90 In Stock Tracker to be notified as soon as the Body Only unit hits the street.

Remember these alerts are always FREE and are always SPAM-FREE! Visit the tracker page of the unit you would like to be notified of and click on the Free In Stock Alerts option of your choice on the left.

I wanted to shed some light on the recent alerts that have gone out for Amazon for both the Wii and Wii Fit. These units have indeed been in stock, just not that many at a given time. These are most likely the result of canceled orders from Amazon or customer cancels. When the units are released back into the system, there are very few units in stock. As a result, my spiders pick up that stock, but by the time the majority of you get the alert and make it to the site, the stock is already gone and it looks like I am throwing errant alerts. This is not the case.

Every time I spider a page and see stock available, I store a cached snapshot of the page to ensure I am not throwing these errors. Below you can see the most recent cached snapshots for both the Wii and Wii Fit. Also, when it comes to the Wii, Target has been selling Wii’s through Amazon, but when they do, they only release about 5 or less at any given time. This was the cause a week or two back when Amazon Wii alerts were going nuts.

Wii cached page w/Target as seller from yesterday the 28th of August:

Wii Fit cached page from today the 29th of August:

Again, this is just part of the tracker business. Remember, you are using the trackers as a backup to normal Wii and Wii Fit hunting so limit your expectations, but at the same time remember we have been successful for thousands of people.

Hang in there, NowInStock.net will get you one!
Justin

I have just completed the addition of mobile TXT alerts for the Wii Fit Tracker via Twitter. To sign up for these alerts, please visit the Twitter Alerts page for all the instructions. For those of you already familiar Wii mobile alerts of the past, login to your Twitter account and follow “NISWiiFit” within Twitter to receive the alerts. Do not forget to “turn on” Device Enabled under your Following list.

For less internet savy people, Twitter is a web service/micro blogging platform I use to send out mobile alerts to users. By creating an account at Twitter, entering your mobile phone number, and following my Wii Fit account at Twitter (NISWiiFit) you will be able to receive TXT alerts whenever the Wii Fit becomes available. If this is your first time using Twitter, or need a refresher, please read ALL the instructions on the Twitter Alerts page.

PLEASE NOTE: Not all stores are set up to be alerted via mobile alerts. Only those marked within the tracker with a “()” after them will be sent via mobile alerts. This helps limit the number of messages you receive.

I am back in the maintenance and working mode again; and quite frankly, I am loving it!

I have added two new products to the site, if you couldn’t tell from the title of the post. The two new products are the Guitar Hero World Tour Tracker and the Nikon D700 Tracker. The GH World Tour is not going to be released until October 27th, but I wanted to get a tracker up ASAP so that people would know it is coming and where they can preorder. I have a feeling this is going to be a big one this holiday season, if the economy doesn’t get in the way.

The Nikon D700 tracker was requested by two people. The unit will not be released until August, maybe a little earlier, maybe a little later. I have help the professional/pro-am photography community in the past, and there is no reason to stop now.

If you want either of these products, just sign up for the free email alerts and I will let you know when they are in stock. Or, if you choose, I have the preorder tracking on so you have options now. Both products also have Google Groups setup as an option to receive alerts. I implemented Google Groups as an option because the group alerts are MUCH QUICKER. The downfall, is that you can not specify which stores or models you want, so emails can get a little redundant but I will control this from my end as inventory demands are met. I highly suggest all of you use this option when it is available for any of the tracked products.

By the end of the week I will be adding another product, the MSI Wind Laptop, which is also in demand and stock is very limited.

Yes, they did have Wii Fit in stock earlier this hour. It only last a few minutes, 7 or so to be near exact, but they did have stock. This was what I captured from my cache, click to enlarge the image:

As I said prior and as a reminder to all… When visiting Best Buy after an alerts ALWAYS ignore the Sold Out Online on the Hardware page and click into the item you want.

The summer lull is upon us, and Wii seekers can begin to feel hope. This is the best time of the year to find a Wii if you are still looking for one. Once again, I am predicting that this holiday season will be quite competitive in the Wii hunting market.

So where do we currently stand? Typically inventory from July through beginning of October remains in stock longer. This is the result of demand slow downs and the Summer lull. I initially thought that demand as a whole would begin to die this summer, but from what I can tell, the inventory shipments appear to roll with overall demand. Nintendo knows demand is much lower in the summer so less units are shipped, which makes predicting demand that much harder. However, I have noticed that the bundles are lasting much longer and in some instances so are the consoles. This is mainly the result of Circuit City and Best Buy. I would like review the major Wii suppliers, and let you know what I have observed over the last 2-3 months by store. This information should help remaining Wii seekers find a Wii.

Amazon
Still need to be really lucky… even with the tracker emails and TXT alerts (best option). If you want a Wii from Amazon, one of the three places that still sell the Wii console unbundled for $249.99, sign up for the Wii TXT alerts. This is your best option. But, BE QUICK! Stock still sells out in 5-15 minutes.

This past spring Amazon killed the commissions on Wii sales. This was seriously bad news for us trackers, because this is how we pay our bills. Their associates program is one of the, if not, the best one out there.  Amazon felt the trackers, such as NowInStock.net were only contributing to the demand and helping the resellers. Their reasoning was that if we ban commissions on Wii sales, then it will only help inventory last longer. At least this is what they told us in a round about way. If they truly felt this way, how wrong were they? I wasn’t about to remove my tracking of Amazon because they removed commissions. My users want $249 consoles. Since this ban has been implemented, Amazon continues to sell out in minutes. So, removing those commissions really helped, huh? 😉 If NowInStock helps you acquire a Wii, please buy your accessories and games through us! We still get commissions on those items and it helps the site remain active for the next products to be in high demand… such as Guitar Hero World Tour tracker this fall!

Best Buy
After a late entrance into the world of online Wii sales, Best Buy finally did so last fall. However, they took off the 2007-08 holiday season greatly limiting online sales. This past Spring they have made a revival of sorts. At this time, Best Buy remains your best option in snagging a Wii console-only online. Inventory arrives about once every two weeks and lasts about 20-50 minutes. They are one of three stores to still sell the Wii console for $249.99.

Circuit City
One of the shops that still sells bundles, but not at gouging prices, at least in my opinion. You can get a bundle from Circuit City fairly easily, they are lasting for a day or two at a time. And, they replenish stock about once a week. For $360, you can get your hands on a Wii Console, extra Nunchuk, extra Remote, and a game. This is really not that bad of deal unless you plan on playing the Wii by yourself.

Newegg
Newegg has continued to sell bundles on a daily basis, but they do gouge you coming in at the $500 range. This is a little ridiculous if you ask me, but demand is still there for it.

Buy.com
Crazy bundles for crazy prices and not too often. Sometimes the bundles are even sold by third parties. It seems like Buy.com just doesn’t have the connections like Amazon does.

Sears & Kmart
The last store to still sell the Wii console unbundled. Honestly, this one has been a nightmare since the beginning, but it is definitely possible to acquire a console at the $249.99 price point. Their inventory system is essentially garbage, only providing relatively accurate information in a world where we command real-time inventory status. The best time to snag a Wii from either of these stores is after a lull in not having inventory. If they haven’t had inventory for over a week, the next alert you get, hurry as soon as the next one is sent! If there are none, stick around for a while and continue to try; you might just get through. Their inventory system is so bad, I chose to take it off the Twitter TXT alert system to ensure that TXTing fees didn’t get outrageous.

Walmart
One of the other “major bundle” pushers. They continue to pawn off $600 range bundles which is by far the most expensive we have seen in a while.

GameStop
They continue to sell the bundles online which are not that overly priced, however Circuit City still remains the better option in my opinion. The one thing with GameStop which can be of benefit is they always do a preorder sale telling you they will have the unit in a specified time. They never have inventory “in stock” always “pre-orders.” This can have its advantages when looking for a unit that you may want for a birthday in the future and want to ensure you get one without having to monitor the tracker alerts.

Target
Target is a tough one. Recently there has been stock availble in bundle form. The bundles are slightly over priced in the range of GameStop. In the end, it feels like during the off-season, the Summer months, Target will have inventory once in a while to sell. However, come holiday season the inventory appears to just flow directly to the stores and rarely rears its head online. Just the age-old tactic of trying to get you into the stores.

I hope the above information gives you Wii seekers a better look into where you might be able to snag the type of unit you are looking for. As we get closer to the holiday season things will begin to change again, at least in my opinion. However, you can never tell with the recession. Word is that Nintendo is limiting the inventory to the US because of the recession, but the retailers must not feel the same continuing to sell bundles.

In short, best Wii console-only options in order: Best Buy, Amazon, Sears & Kmart. Best options for bundled Wii’s in order of value: Circuit City, GameStop, Target, Newegg, then Walmart.

Looking for a Wii… sign up for our FREE alerts at the Wii Tracker.