Deal Finders

A few sites, such as Cairo ( www.cairo.com ) and SalesCircular ( www.salescircular.com ), are geared toward finding sale items in your area. Cairo didn't have listings for the iPod Nano, but it did offer sale information on older iPod models. SalesCircular's search function failed the two times I visited the site. But you can select your city and a product category to browse items on sale in that category.

Best for Cheapskates

Not only does Yahoo Shopping offer good prices, it also calls your attention to bargains in different categories of electronics and computer equipment. For the ultimate bargain hunter, I recommendPriceRunnerandYahoo Shopping( shopping.yahoo.com ). Technically, PriceRunner did the better job overall, finding the lowest base price on the hard drive and tying Yahoo for the best deal on the DVR. But because PriceRunner lists sellers of questionable status, I found Yahoo a good alternative.

Yahoo tied Shopzilla in second place for the best base price (behind MSN) on the camera. Its hard-drive results matched the average of the nine sites. What's nice, though, is that Yahoo features a dedicated category for sales and promotions (MSN does, too) and provides links to used and refurbished products, which could mean more savings.

To browse for more bargains, it's worth sorting through the clutter ofMSN Shopping( shopping.msn.com ). MSN recently partnered with Shopping.com, so it should pull from both databases and produce lots of results. It worked for my camera search, finding 45 stores--the most in my test--and it located the lowest base price, too. It even listed eBay auctions.

But it was impossible to see all of the search results at once. The site initially returned 19 listings, one of which was a generic link to 27 additional stores (I couldn't tell whether those were from Shopping.com's database or from MSN's). If you browse quickly, it's easy to overlook those merchants; and you can't compare their results to the original listings. Another annoyance: MSN does not provide a bottom-line cost.

If you're just looking for a great deal on a camera or other gadget and aren't particular about the model, specialty sites StealDeals.net ( www.stealdeals.net ) and Techbargains ( www.techbargains.com ) feature deals of the day. For instance, StealDeals lists online bargains in categories such as computers and home theater, while Techbargains helps you ferret out coupons, as well as online and local deals--it even searches eBay. (Disclosure: Techbargains powers PCWorld.com's Bargain Finder .) Both sites also let you sign up for e-mail alerts if your desired product drops in price.

Best for Research Fanatics

Pricegrabber provides the best tools for people who want to do a little product research first. Say you want a new camera but aren't sure which one to get. Use the buying help at certain comparison sites.

PriceGrabber's( www.pricegrabber.com ) features impressed me the most. The site presents information neatly, letting you tab between product details and user and professional reviews. You can even find out about a store's return policy, business hours, and special services by clicking on the Merchant Info link.

Become( www.become.com ) looks as if it should be helpful--it gives you an option to research a product (not just shop and buy). But its database currently is sparse. My searches for the three products yielded few results, finding only the Maxtor drive. Research results weren't helpful either: I received a few links to reviews and info, but more of the links pointed to merchants selling the product.

Although average in most respects,NexTag( www.nextag.com ) offers an interesting tool: a price history chart showing a product's cost over time so you can get an idea of whether you should wait to buy. And it includes a downloadable Internet Explorer toolbar to give you instant access to its search engine.