Maybe it’s because consumers are finally more tech-savvy, but Black Friday Deals are finally getting better.

Every year, I peruse the reams of paper fliers that arrive at my home and the scads of online Black Friday deals for the real forehead-slappingly bad deals. You know the offers that are too good to be true or will lead you to eventual gadget dismay if you do buy them as gifts.

There were, on balance, far fewer of them this year. I mean. I saw honest-to-goodness deals on tech toys I’d want to buy.

I also saw a decent amount of bad gift ideas. So, while I do believe you’re in better gadget-giving shape this year than ever before, I still have some fresh guidance on what not to buy this Black Friday. Here are the deals you should avoid: 

Cheap HDTVs

No deals are more ubiquitous this season than the amazing offer on a big-screen HDTV. I came across dozens of sub-$500 55-inch TVs, even a few $300 ones. I urge you, though, to pause.

There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with theses HDTVs. They have enough HDMI ports, and built-in Wi-Fi, but there are caveats. Most will run only a passable 60Hz refresh rate, as opposed to the more sports-friendly 120 Hz. However, what I notice most is that they’re thick and heavy. Take this amazing deal on a 55-inch Samsung Ultra HD LED. According to the spec sheet it weighs a beefy 33 pounds and is 2.5-inches thick. 

The cutting edge of OLED HDTVs is something LG calls the “Wallpaper TV.” It’s 3/16 of an inch thick and can hang on a wall like, well, wallpaper. No one should spend $7,000 on an HDTV gift, but you also don’t want to hand anyone HDTV’s past. Pay attention to size, weight, specs and utility (can it rotate on that stand?) when buying gift HDTVs.

Cheap Hoverboards

Remember the hoverboard craze? That’s dead, but hoverboards are still on the market and for some incredible prices. However, beware of prices that are too good and the plethora of random brands out there. Yes, all are now UL-certified, meaning they won’t blow up, but quality at the low end will vary widely and some hoverboards might not last through the holiday break…because they’ll break. Also, don’t buy your kid a hoverboard without a helmet and knee, arm, and hand protection.

Instead buy: An electric skateboard. There are a handful of quality board producers and some decent Black Friday deals. Plus, your kids will probably get a lot more use out of an electric skateboard since hoverboards are banned on city streets and frowned upon pretty much everywhere else.

Camcorders

There are a still a few camcorders showing up on Black Friday Deals, but unless you’re a video pro, just say "No!" to these single-purpose devices. You can shoot excellent video on your smartphone, and even edit and post it from there, too. 

Instead buy: A better smartphone.

Cheap drones

It’s hard to imagine a better tech gift than a drone, but there are a lot of duds out there. Buy a sub-$50 one and two things are guaranteed: It will break, and you will lose it. Drones, especially low-quality ones, are hard to control and they tend to fly into the nearest wall or tree. Even if you can control them, you will probably lose it within the first hour of operation. 

Instead buy: A $500 drone and a gift certificate to Drone pilot school.

Cheap Windows 10 PCs

I warn you about this every year. Windows 10 is an excellent operating system that includes awesome support for touch and pen input. It also needs decent hardware to function well. PCs built with Celeron, Core i3 or worse mobile CPUs, 32GB of storage and just 2GB of RAM should be avoided at all costs. RCA’s laughable $99 Cambio which I found among Walmart’s Black Friday deals is a perfect example. Can it run Windows 10? According to the photo, sure! But I doubt it will run smoothly, especially once you start opening apps and browser windows. 

Blu-ray player

Unless you have a big Blu-ray library (and even if you do), I see little reason to buy a Blu-ray player, especially when all the content you want to see is available online. I have a Blu-ray player at home that I haven’t used in 8 months. 

Instead buy: A set-top box and a subscription to one or more streaming services and you will have more content at your fingertips than a house full of plastic disks.

Wi-Fi boosters

I get it, the Wi-Fi in your house is terrible. It works in the living room, but is terrible upstairs. You have a great connection in the bathroom, but nothing for the backyard. The Wi-Fi router your ISP gave you isn’t doing the job, so you consider giving your family the gift of connectivity with a Wi-Fi booster or extender. Don’t. First, most of them don’t work that well. Second, setup is a pain.

Instead buy: A mesh network system like Eero or Plume. Setup is easy, and they’re smart enough to grow your network coverage every time you add another Eero or Plume device.

A standalone GPS

Without GPS guidance, I get lost all the time, but I would never give someone a GPS device when they already have one in their pocket. You best navigation assistant is Google Maps, Waze or Apple Maps. Want to give someone a smart mapping gift? 

Instead buy: a car mount for their phone. Logitech’s Zero Touch is not a bad choice.

Cheap tablets

Amazon pretty much chased away the bargain basement tablets with their affordable and effective line of Fire HD devices, many of which cost less than $100. However, there are still some bad ones out there. Do not give someone a 7-inch tablet when they can get a higher-quality 8-inch Amazon Fire HD for almost the same price.

Off-brand charging cables

When purchasing stocking stuffers, you might consider putting a few third-party charging cables next to the gift cards and fidget spinners. This is a good idea along as you didn’t buy garbage cables. Apple’s own iPhone lighting charging cables are, at $19, a little pricey. But if you find a $5 charging cable it’s probably not Apple certified and may not properly charge your gift recipient’s Apple gadget. It might even harm it. 

Instead buy: Cables from Belkin, Anker and Griffin.

Flip phones

Who am I kidding? Who wouldn’t want a $10 LTE flip phone? This thing looks awesome.