Cyber Monday is just a few hours away and we’re already seeing plenty of discounts available at Amazon right now. There are still a slew of savings on Tile Bluetooth trackers, Sonos speakers, Fitbit wearables, smartwatches, Bose headphones and iRobot’s Roomba vacuum cleaner. Especially worth your attention is that nearly every device in the Amazon stable — Echo smart speakers and displays, Fire tablets, Fire TV streamers, Kindles and Ring doorbells — is at or near its lowest price ever, including newer products introduced just this past fall. Our top picks from Amazon’s big sale are below, along with some pro tips for saving extra cash.
Pro tip No. 1: We found a “secret” deal, one reserved for those who already have Alexa-capable devices: Just say, “Alexa, order an Amazon Smart Plug.” You’ll then have the option of buying the $25 plug for just $5. (Note that this deal isn’t working for some. One theory: If you’ve already bought this plug, you might not be eligible. You also must complete your purchase via Echo, not the Amazon app or website.) This was still working for us as of Saturday morning.
Pro tip No. 2: Delivery dates are starting to slip to late December and even January on some products. Those may readjust to closer ranges, but be aware if you’re ordering anything that’s a must-have holiday gift.
Pro tip No. 3: Virtually everything you buy from Amazon qualifies for 5% cash back when you pay with an Amazon Prime Rewards Visa card. But Amazon has raised that to 10% for a lot of items — even sale items, like the DJI Mavic Mini and iRobot Roomba i3 Plus (see below). That makes this a good time to sign up for that card if you don’t already have one.
Pro tip No. 4: Cash-back service TopCashback is currently offering up to 8% back on select Amazon purchases (mostly Amazon devices). That would be in addition to the 5% to 10% back if you used Amazon’s Visa. Buy an Echo Show 8 for $65, for example, and you’d get 8% back here and 5% from the card. Real savings!
Finally, don’t forget: Amazon isn’t the only retailer still offering discounts as we transition from Black Friday to Cyber Monday. Both Best Buy’s Black Friday sale and Walmart’s Black Friday sale are still offering a variety of great deals as we move into the new week.
Amazon Cyber Monday deals
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This was already a bargain at $70, so $60 feels like a steal. The Bip S improves on the already-great original Bip in several ways, with more sport modes and a higher-resolution display. Take note that Amazon currently shows it shipping late December. If you want it sooner, look for a price-match at other stores (notably Best Buy).
Read our Amazfit Bip S review.
Chris Monroe/Bioreports
This jumbo-size Echo Show smart display measures, as the name implies, 8 inches diagonally, which makes it a great choice for watching cooking videos in the kitchen or making video calls. This sale price ties the lowest price we’ve ever seen for this model. Read our Echo Show 8 review.
Chris Monroe/Bioreports
“Wait for a sale.” That was the conclusion of Bioreports’s Echo Dot 2020 review, which praised the design and sound quality of the new model but rightly noted that Amazon’s mini smart speakers go on sale all the time. This, however, is actually the first time it’s happening; during Prime Day, Amazon discounted only the previous-gen Dot.
Note that you can buy the Echo Dot with Clock for $39, also discounted for the first time, also $21 off. And the fourth-gen Echo Dot Kids Edition is $49 (you save $41).
Read our Echo Dot 2020 review.
Tile
Tile usually makes you buy a multipack in order to get a decent discount. This is one of the best deals on record for a single tracker — which just happens to be one of my favorite products. Add it to your keychain, then use the Tile app when those keys go missing. Just as valuable, double-press the Tile button and it rings your phone (even when set to silent).
David Carnoy/Bioreports
Another Prime Day rerun, the Fire HD 10 tablet is an absolute steal at this price. Among the highlights: a big, sharp screen, expandable storage, a USB-C connector and a speed boost over the previous-gen model. It may be a while before we see the Fire HD 10 get discounted this much again.
Read our Fire HD 10 review.
Amazfit
Want something a little fancier than the Bip S? This ties the lowest price on record for Amazfit’s Apple Watch lookalike, which offers a lot of the same features and way better battery life (up to 14 days, according to Amazfit). It offers a vibrant 1.6-inch display (with an always-on option), built-in GPS and loads of fitness features. Plus, it works with both Android and iOS phones.
Amazon
This combo would ordinarily cost $75, but it’s on sale for $34. You get the all-new Echo Dot along with an Amazon Smart Plug, which you can use to control lights or appliances using Alexa.
This isn’t the only fourth-gen Echo Dot bundle, either. For example, if you’re more a fan of TP-Link smart plugs, you can get the Echo Dot with TP-Link Smart Plug for $47, saving $26. Read our Amazon Echo Dot (2020) review.
iRobot
This is the largest discount on record for this new Roomba, which not only navigates your floors with smart sensors but also empties its own dust bin. (I’m pretty sure this is how Terminators got started.) And this is another item that qualifies for 10% cash back when you pay with your Amazon Prime Rewards Visa card. That effectively lops another $39 off the price.
Don’t have that Visa? You should get one, right now, because there’s a $100 Amazon gift card in it for you.
Sarah Tew/Bioreports
At $100 off, we haven’t seen the Sonos Move priced any cheaper. This is the first portable Bluetooth speaker from Sonos, but of course it also works with other Sonos speakers as part of a whole-home sound system using a Sonos wireless mesh network. You get an 11-hour battery life when it’s not sitting on its discreet charging pad. Read our Sonos Move review.
Looking for something for your media room? Amazon is also discounting the $399 Sonos Beam soundbar (on sale for $299). Read our Sonos Beam review.
Sarah Tew/Bioreports
Normally $30, the new-for-2020 Fire Stick Lite continues to see a solid discount ahead of Black Friday. This entry-level streamer delivers 1080p video with HDR support (but not 4K). The big missing apps are HBO Max and Peacock (for now), but the Alexa-powered voice remote is top-notch.
Read our Fire TV Stick Lite review.
Sarah Tew/Bioreports
Ebooks: awesome. Reading ebooks on a phone or tablet: less awesome. Good luck settling in with email, Twitter, TikTok and text messages clamoring for your attention. Plus, those screens aren’t too easy on the eyes. That’s why I’m a big believer in a dedicated e-reader. The entry-level Kindle is superb, with an integrated light and an improved design.
Read our Kindle 2019 review.
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Available only in arctic white at this price, the Bose 700 was dubbed Bioreports’s pick for “top noise-canceling headphones” last year. It originally sold for $400 but has been hanging out at $379 more recently. At $299, this ties the lowest price on record.
Read our Bose 700 review.
Chamberlain
This deal isn’t quite the same as the initial Black Friday offering, but $10 off is still nice for this super popular smart home gadget. I own one; works great.
Rick Broida/Bioreports
It just hit the market about a month ago at $50, so this is a pretty major price drop. The Band 5 packs a wealth of fitness features — heart rate and blood oxygen monitoring, music controls, even Alexa — into a wearable that can run up to 15 days on a charge. You can read my first take on the Amazfit Band 5 here. It’s not in stock until January but if you buy today then you’ll still get that low price.
Also worth noting: The Amazfit GTS smartwatch is on sale for $100, tying the lowest price ever. It’s an Apple Watch lookalike with way, way better battery life.
César Salza/Bioreports
Not everyone wants to wear a smartwatch, and the Fitbit Charge 4 was called the best all-around fitness tracker of 2020 and received Bioreports’s Editors’ Choice Award — read our Fitbit Charge 4 review for details. Note this is sold out at Amazon but is going for $100 at Best Buy.
DJI
Finally! We’ve been hoping for a discount on the rarely discounted Mavic Mini, which is a simply fantastic personal drone. This isn’t the lowest price we’ve seen, but it’s definitely the best deal we’ve seen in a while. Same goes for the Fly More Combo, which you can grab for $449 (a $50 savings).
Yes, there’s now a Mavic Mini 2, but it starts at $449. Is it worth the extra $90? That’s your call, but the original is pretty sweet.
Note that the Mavic Mini qualifies for the aforementioned 10% cash back (instead of the usual 5%) when you pay with an Amazon Prime Rewards Visa card. That lowers your net cost to around $323.
Read our DJI Mavic Mini review.
Ian Knighton/Bioreports
In Bioreports’s hands-on tests, we found AncestryDNA to offer the best integration of DNA analysis and historical research. And now the service is on sale for more than half off.
Read our analysis of DNA test services.
Sarah Tew/Bioreports
First, the good news: This just about matches Walmart’s all-time-low deal from yesterday (which sold out rapidly, no surprise). The bad news: Amazon shows an in-stock date of Jan. 31. So you can still buy at this price, but don’t expect delivery in time for Christmas.
If you’re willing to wait, this is literally one of the best deals ever on an Apple Watch. I own this model; no complaints.
Instant Pot
This is the lowest price on record for this particular Pot, which holds six quarts of pretty much anything you want to cook and has a digital display. In addition to pressure cooking, it does sous vide, rice, yogurt and even cake.
Read more: The best Black Friday Instant Pot deals
Sarah Tew/Bioreports
The Versa 2 is a powerful hybrid smartwatch and fitness tracker that combines many of the things Fitbit does especially well — like excellent sleep tracking and detailed analytics about your workout habits — with smartphone notifications, Alexa integration and a wide selection of watch faces. We’ve even given this model our Editors’ Choice Award; read our Versa 2 review.
While saving $50 is nothing to sneeze at, $130 is still higher than $100, the lowest price ever for this fitness watch.
Want to score some great tips for Black Friday shopping? Look no further than this episode of the Cheapskate Show podcast:
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How to win Black Friday in 2020
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Bioreports’s Cheapskate scours the web for great deals on tech products and much more. For the latest deals and updates, follow him on Facebook and Twitter. You can also sign up for deal texts delivered right to your phone. Find more great buys on the Bioreports Deals page and check out our Bioreports Coupons page for the latest Walmart discount codes, eBay coupons, Samsung promo codes and even more from hundreds of other online stores. Questions about the Cheapskate blog? Answers live on our FAQ page.
