Amazon Prime Day: We pick the best electronics, PC, and mobile deals
But for its second Prime Day sale, Amazon has promised more appealing offerings with higher inventory—and the online retailer seems to have made good on its word. Sort of.
Amazon seeded us with an early look at its Prime Day deals, and most offerings appear better than last year’s Sharpies and Tupperware at first glance. For example, we found Prime Day deals for 4K TVs, popular mirrorless DSLR bodies, and high-end 802.11ac routers. The catch Most of these deals are for older, open-box items, and their discounts vary (open-box items are typically products that were purchased and then sent back to Amazon for refunds). Getting up to 40% off a returned 2014 Android phone is hardly the stuff of giddy bargain hunting. That said, consumers should still have some reasons to be excited.
After carefully sifting through the information Amazon sent to a select few media outlets, we found you can get some brand-new tech items at a good price—even if you don’t have time to sit and watch the Lightning Deals, which are short, timed sales that vary in duration and can end with an abrupt halt if their allotted inventory runs out fast. We’ve listed the most notable all-day deals below, sorted by their Amazon categories.
Our picks err toward smart home and entertainment gadgets, as well as gear of interest to Windows and Android users. Unfortunately, Amazon doesn’t seem very interested in discounting Apple-oriented gear and accessories.
While we prefer other headphones for sheer audio quality, plenty of people still like Bose, and these prices reflect a solid discount. The cheapest we’ve seen on the SoundSport, for example, has been in the range of $70 to $80.
However, if you’re only after cans that sound good, we have a couple of alternative recommendations priced about the same as their Bose rivals. If you don’t need the SoundTrue II’s microphone capabilities, try Puro Labs’ Bluetooth headphones (reviewed here), which is compatible with all Bluetooth-equipped phones. And for in-ear headphones, try Sennheiser’s MX 686G Sport earbuds (reviewed here).
Getting a Samsung 4K UHD TV for $550 is practically a steal—especially since Vizio, which has had a lock on affordable 4K UHD TVs for a while, currently is selling its own 55-inch 4K UHD TV for $650.
Heck, for $650, you can instead get a curved Samsung 4K UHD TV, if you’re into such a feature. (We don’t believe a curved screen is necessary for a TV, though.) Inventory for these two TVs likely won’t last very long.
It wouldn’t be Prime Day if Amazon didn’t have discounts for its house products. While the savings are relatively modest, these prices at least match, or are a little more generous than, the best sales we’ve seen. The exceptions are the Amazon Echo, which was cheapest during its $99 pre-order promotion, and the Amazon Fire TV Stick, which was $19 during its pre-order promotion.
Some discounts in Amazon’s PC category might please some very specific business users (like 20% off 3M Gold privacy filters). But just a couple of deals stood out—partially for price, and partially because they come with a “buyer beware” caveat.
Let’s talk prices first. All three items are the lowest we’ve seen for those capacities. The USB drive usually sells for $30, while the previous best price for the 960GB SSD was $180. The 480GB SSD’s discount isn’t quite as steep, as it hovered around $100 during mid-to-late November last year, but $95 is still very good.
That said, you may be rolling the reliability dice with these drives. While I’ve personally had a positive experience with the 480GB SSD, enough user reviews speak of heat issues (for the flash drive) and full drive failure (for the SSDs) to warrant caution.
Happily, this is a true deal. These prices are some of the best we’ve seen for Doom (reviewed here), an excellent remake of the classic ’90s first-person shooter. The only downside, if there has to be one, is that these are physical copies of the game—so you won’t get the same immediate gratification as a online code.
Many of the best Prime Day tech deals fall within this category. Fans of mobile virtual network operators like Cricket and Republic Wireless get a bit of a break, as do folks who prefer inexpensive unlocked phones. Folks who love Huawei are in for a particular treat: Not only do the Nexus 6P and Honor 5X get hefty discounts, nine variations of the Huawei Watch do, too.
Cricket Wireless charges $10 for a SIM card purchased online, and $20 in-store. At $1, switching to the AT&T subsidary becomes much cheaper if you’re bringing your own device (BYOD).
Republic Wireless currently charges $180 for the same Moto G model on its website, so $130 is a very good price for what was last year’s best $200 smartphone. (Note: Republic Wireless phones will only work on Republic Wireless’s network.)
If you need a bring-your-own-device for the same price, you can instead opt for the Honor 5X. At $200, it was already a good choice as a starter phone. Knocking $80 off the price makes it an easy buy.
The discounts on the Nexus 6P (reviewed here) drop an excellent phone down to equally excellent prices. Both the 64GB and 128GB versions are the lowest we’ve seen: Previously, the best price for a new 64GB Nexus 6P was $469 with a $50 retailer gift card bonus, and $500 for a new 128GB Nexus 6P.
The list price for the Huawei Watch starts at $350—so if you’ve been waiting for it to drop in price, now’s your chance to grab one for a lot less cash. The base model is almost 50% off, while other models with blingier designs that use gold-plated metal and/or Swarovski crystals also have gotten large price cuts.
Note: All pricing reflects information available at press time.