You never need a portable television until you need one.  Personally, I’m a big fan of TV.  Mad Men, the Venture Bros., 30 Rock, the Biggest Loser, Battlestar: Galactica, Sons of Anarchy, I could go on and on.  We’re truly living in a golden age of television programming (except for the Tonight Show, natch).  Even with all those shows that I refuse to miss airing, though, do I really need a television that I can carry around with me everywhere I go?  Most of the time, it doesn’t seem like it.  But that isn’t always the case.

Have you ever taken a long car trip with a small child?  I hadn’t, until this Christmas.  Somehow, I was put in charge of getting my 7-year-old nephew from Texas to Florida in time for the holidays—his parents were meeting us there after disembarking a cruise.  One of the interesting things that I learned during that two-day car trip is that 7-year-olds don’t like shutting up.  I would have paid virtually any price for a portable TV with a car adapter, just like today’s deal of the day.  That’s why I’ve snapped up a 7-in. Dynex for myself already.  If I ever have to cart my nephew cross-country again, he’s going to spend 17 hours plugged into the portable TV’s headphone jack.