Costco blog/discussion forum

Costco warehouses and costco.com have a great deal on a digital picture frame, but I think you should pass it up.

A digital picture frame seems like a great idea at first, then you realize that it must be plugged in to work. This rules out mounting it on any wall.

The Pandigital 7.0" LCD Digital Photo Multi Frame Collage (Costco item #286024, Pandigital model number PAN7004MU01) is selling for $89.99 which includes a $40 manufacturer's instant rebate. (If you buy through Costco.com, they will add shipping costs, which is about $10 for me.) This $40 off deal is good from June 2, 2008 to June 15, 2008. For comparison, you can buy the same product from amazon.com for $130 and from Sears for $50.

This digital picture frame includes a 128 MB internal memory, a memory card reader, and also has two 4x6 frames and one 5x7 frame for printed photos. The biggest drawback for this digital picture frame is the resolution of the 7 inch LCD screen. It only displays 480 x 234 pixels. Any picture displayed on a 7 inch screen is going to look like a postage stamp that was xeroxed at 400% zoom. It just cannot look that good.

Previously, costco.com was offering this same product for $99.99, which included a $30 off manufacturers instant rebate. This was effective from May 15, 2008 to June 1, 2008. It looks to me that this product is being liquidated. If you really have to have it, a better price will probably come along. If you are interested in quality, shop around or wait until the next model from Pandigital is released.