Best way to buy an iPhone 5S

The easiest way by far is to order it online. It does take an extra day or two of patience but it beats waiting in line. 

The more logical approach however would be to go to the Verizon store today and just buy a Moto X.  Far superior phone.  lol
(My Moto X is showing up in the mail today.  woot woot)

Speaking of intolerance and complete sentences and grammar ...

I'd order online from Apple. Beats dealing with the madhouse and incompetence at the Verizon or Apple stores. 

I also have a 3 year old iPhone 4. Really want a 5s but I don't want to lose my unlimited data so I would have to pay the full $650 for the 16gb version. Ouch...

Might be worth looking into.

Enjoy your Moto X.  I've been drinking the Apple Kool-Aide too long.  yeah, I know there are "better" phones out there  (HTC One is nice too), but I don't want bigger (take that Galaxy), and I don't need or want a lot of silly features.  I want a slick, fast smartphone.   And I sooo want that fingerprint sensor!

I spoke with a friend yesterday and he said that when he ordered his iphone 5 shortly after it came out, it eventually took it 5 or 6 weeks to show up at his door.  I can wait a few days- but I'd go nuts if it was backordered for a month. 

I'm thinking of checking out my local verizon store when it opens on Friday.  If there aren't too many people and I can get a phone, great.  If not, I guess I'll order it on line.  But then...

Do I order it from Verizon... or from Apple?  Who delivers first and are there any benefits to either way?  

The few hands on reports I've read on it were impressed at how quickly it read prints from all angles.  If it doesn't work, then- I guess it would be no worse than every other phone.  If it does work, then it's an amazingly cool feature that no other phone has.  A feature that I would use 30 times a day, every time I turn on the phone rather than punch in a 4 digit code.  Likely far more secure as well.

but really- I know there are other phones out there (that copied Applies innovative ideas).  This thread isn't intended to be a 'which phone is best' thread.  I can just say- that I'm informed about the various models out there, and I'm much better at knowing what I want then you.

Could just be my location, but the Apple store here is full of incompetent fools that can't accomplish any task no matter how minuscule. It is a huge waste of time to even try to buy anything phone related from them. We were in there over 2 hours trying to get our 4's with Verizon and they never could get it right so we finally got fed up and left.

Went to the Verizon store and were in and out in 20 mins.

Of course this is all likely to our local Apple store just being horribly mismanaged, but my n=1 says to go to the Verizon store. 

Fellow Tucsonan.  Well, I'm a Verizonite, so I won't be bumping you out of line.  But what you point out is what I'm looking for, such as the trade in allowance and upgrade deal.  

read this today:

iPhone 5s inventories are said to be very limited at launch, according to reports from several different publications sourcing employees at Apple Retail Stores and cellular carriers.
One source told AllThingsD that an unnamed carrier will have "grotesquely unavailable inventory" and another said they were disappointed with the shipments of the phone from Apple. BGR likewise said 5s supply would be "severely constrained".

So maybe ordering on-line directly from Apple is the way to go, at 12:01am?

Oh well.  Might have to be happy with just enjoying iOS7 for a few weeks on my old iphone 4.  Why can't those Chinese factory workers just put in 20 hour days instead of 12 hour days, so I can have my instant gratification!

followup:

I walked up to a local Verizon -owned store this morning, about 45 min AFTER they opened.  There were 15 people in line in front of me, plus those at the counters.  It took 15-20 min before it was my turn, and I walked out with a new iphone 5S.  The store employees were offering water bottles to those in line, and there was someone out in front kinda' checking everyone in, asking them what they were there for and going over the options so that by the time you were inside, you weren't wasting any time about what you wanted.

A friend who drove past the store about 15 min before it opened at 8am, said he saw about 20 people in line.

they didn't have any gold ones.  by a little after 9am, their stock of silver/white phones no longer included any 32Mb ones.  they still had all combinations of the grey/black phones. 

anyway- a pretty painless experience.  Very unlike what I saw on TV from NYC.

FWIW- the fingerprint sensor is friggen amazing.  works perfectly and fast, every time.  and only for the finger I programmed.  No more entering a 4-digit code every time you want to access your phone!  Haven't tried out the new camera features yet, but everything else is slick.  Siri seems to be a little smarter too.  

I heard they just changed the name to the...

iPhone 5nSa  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSJqBJ1TF-E

^^^^

Love it!